An event is a planned and organized occasion, for example a social gathering or a sports match.
Event planning can be stressful for even the most seasoned event planners. There are never enough hours in the day, and something always goes wrong. Anything you can do to become more efficient leads to a stronger event and less stressful life.
Have a Vision
Your vision is the heart of your event. It’s an analysis of what you expect from your event. You can highlight key areas such as revenue, attendants, media, and refreshment.
Record everything, and keep your notes organized for easy accessibility.
Organize a Team
You might not be as experienced as others. So, the moment you have gotten a vision, don’t start it all by yourself. Assemble a team that will realize it for you.
After you put your team together, use communication channels to keep in touch. You can use Chat Software like Slack to keep them organized.
Create a Budget
Finances are very Important when Planning an Event. Budget helps you balance the money you have at hand so that you don’t overspend or underspend. Without Budget, there won’t be a rational allocation of funds to the various sections of the event, and one part might end up getting the bulk of finance.
It can be argued that the best events are those that are well funded. However, with meager funds, a nice event can also be hosted.
Decide on a Venue
The Venue should be considerate of your participants. If it’s too far from where most of your participants are, then you might have low turn out. The Closer the distance, the more likely a participant will attend the event.
Choose a venue that is central, and can easily be accessed. Your ultimate goal in this is to reduce the stress of locating the venue.
Also, the environment of the venue also matters. If your participants are coming with cars, ensure there is enough parking space. Keep the Surrounding Neat and Tidy at all times.
Get Event Partners and Sponsors
They can be used to maximize your budget and extend your reach.
In addition to helping you cut costs, buy-in from larger players can open advertising and attendee exposure avenues you may not have had access to before, add stability to a smaller operation, and increase your chance for success. With more benefactors in the mix, your event poses a much smaller financial risk to your company or event firm.
Create Event Branding
If you’re on a strict budget, creating branded materials (especially for online marketing) can have little-to-no impact on your spending if you use the right tools. Graphic design tools like Canva, Piktochart, Pixlr, and GIMP offer some (if not all) of their services for free. Some come with pre-made templates to make the process even easier.
When making graphics and other marketing materials, optimize for each marketing outlet. Social platforms don’t follow a universal image size, and if you get it wrong your image can be cut off by dimension limits, or render poorly.
Keep this cheat sheet close at hand:
- Facebook: 1200px by 630px
- Twitter: 440px by 220px
- Instagram: 1080px by 1080px
- Pinterest: 222px by 150px
Leverage Technology
It makes the event appear professional and modern, making your participants to become even more interested.
If you want your audience to hear what’s going on and remain engaged during your event, you need some equipment.
Specific needs will vary by event, but most events require some combination of the following:
- Microphones
- Projectors
- Speakers
- Soundboards
- Lighting
If you don’t have this equipment on hand, check with the venue to see if they have anything you need. If they don’t, check with local music and equipment rental stores.