A professional event planner provides many services that the lay-person is unaware of. Here’s a brief list of some of the issues to consider when planning an event. As the size of the event or the purpose of the meeting changes these checklists become more thorough.
It’s fairly easy to schedule a conference room for 10 with a lunch buffet for a sales training event. It’s a whole different ball game arranging a multi-day event at a hotel with 500 attendees. The Orange County Event Planner can show you a more detailed break-down of an event plan, but here’s a rough outline.
Steps to a successful event
1. Preplanning – take the time to decide what your event needs to accomplish – a wedding is different from a share holder meeting – plan accordingly.
2. How many people will attend – the needs of 10 people are a lot different from 250 or 1000 – each size requires a different set of planning parameters.
3. Consider when the meeting will take place – will it conflict with other events, will the hotel and transportation services in the area be impacted or readily available?
4. Do you have time to reserve hotel rooms or other accommodations?
5. How much lead time do you need for invitations, producing materials for the event, etc.
6. Do you have a budget for the event? Budgets include licenses, insurance, cancellations, last minute expenses, contingencies. Do you have authority or a signature form someone with authority to allocate the funds?
7. Can you schedule speakers, entertainment or other parts of the event?
8. Can you book the right venue – a convention center needs to be reserved several months – up to a year – in advance
9. Inspect the site – unforeseen issues will arise when you see the loading dock, lack of power or other essentials to a successful meeting
10. Follow up to make sure all parties involved are satisfied with the event.