Event Planning Tips to Minimize Stress & Increase Productivity
Event planning is incredibly stressful for even the most seasoned pros. There are never enough hours in the day, and something always goes wrong. Anything you can do to be more efficient makes for a better event and a less stressful life.
rganize your time and your workspace
Creating efficient work habits sets the foundation for productive event organization. Structure your days, systemize your workflow, declutter your desk, and make time for breaks. Even a 15-second break from your computer screen can decrease fatigue!
Set clear and achievable goals
Event planning is incredibly stressful for even the most seasoned pros. There are never enough hours in the day, and something always goes wrong. Anything you can do to be more efficient makes for a better event and a less stressful life.
Stick to a budget
“I love spreadsheets!” said no event organizer ever. Still, creating a budget — and sticking to it — is crucial to avoid slipping into the red.
Choose a reliable venue
The location of your event can make or break your stress level. You might be looking for a nontraditional venue that will create an unusual experience. But you also want one that’s safe, trustworthy, easy to deal with, and ADA compliant.
Tips To Choosing The Right Event Venue
Who is your target audience and what is the guest list size?
Before creating a short-list of event venues to look at, know who will attend your event and how many people you’ll invite. You’ll want to make sure that your venue can accommodate your expected guest list and is suitable for the audience.
Know how to cater to your target audience
Knowing the demographics of your audience is vital to the selection of your event venue. For example, know the average income of your attendees, what their likes or dislikes are, what they are accustomed to, etc. If your audience is a group of CEOs then your venue should reflect their tastes and needs.
What is convenient for your guests?
Selecting an event venue location in proximity to where your guests’ live or work often reflects on the number of people that will attend. Something to consider is alcohol consumption and transportation.
Weather
Keep an eye on the weather and adjust your needs accordingly. For example, if you’re organizing an event and it’s supposed to rain then have umbrellas on-hand or tents available for outdoor events.
Venue knowledge and experience
Before you decide to hire a venue for your event, ask them for a list of events they’ve planned, ask to see pictures of those events so you can see the various layout options, and ask for references.
Things to Consider When Choosing your Event Venue
When organizing an event, you are confronted by many decisions. Choosing a venue is the one decision that will have the largest impact on your event. The date of the event, catering options, and attendees’ pleasant experiences … all are partly affected by which venue you select.
When to Start Looking for a Venue
The earlier the better. Once you have a good understanding of the following 3 things, you can begin your search for a venue: budget, estimated event size, and space requirements.
Location
You’ve probably already considered this. For a local event, you may be looking for a venue within a reasonable distance from most attendees’ homes or places of work. If many attendees will be traveling from out of town, a venue near the airport or their hotels will be beneficial. In whichever case, don’t forget to consider traffic, transportation, and parking option. Also, “get an official contract with the venue provider just in case, because having to change the event venue is the probably the last thing you want to see.” says the founder of SoftwareHow, who organizerd an industry conference with 300 attendees.
Parking
Does the venue have a parking lot or valet parking? A venue with a parking lot is what dreams are made of. If that’s not the case, are there parking lots nearby which attendees can access and use? If there is no parking available
Capacity and Minimums
What’s the capacity? You’ll need to know the room capacity of the venues for a few reasons. First, 500 people (if it is your estimated event size) can’t comfortably fit into a room with a 250-person capacity. And second, there are fire and safety codes that the venue has to abide by.
What are the F&B Minimums? If your venue offers food and/or beverages and sets a minimum food and beverage spending amount (known as an F&B minimum), ensure that the past F&B records from the previous events are in line with the minimum. If you estimate much more F&B spending than what the venue requires, it means you would be a good customer to them. Negotiate whether they can provide complimentary service (e.g. upgrade Wi-Fi or A/V support) in return if your spending reaches a certain level.
How to make adjustment based on attendee feedback? It is important to be able to make an informed adjustment for a size of a room or F&B right before or during your event. You can easily headcount or collect instant feedback through live polling on an event app, which save you time and money. Here are 85 event survey questions and live poll examples in ready-to-use templates
How to Choose a Good Event Agency
Let’s be honest: Planning an event can be painful, and the pain level skyrockets if you don’t have an event management background. So what do you do? Luckily, you have the possibility to choose between planning the event in-house (ouch!) or hire an event agency.
You might bristle at the idea of hiring an outside agency to help with you event. A third-party agency will never know your company better than you and your team(s) does. How on earth can people from another company successfully set up your event if they know nothing about your brand?
Go for an event agency that is generous and creative with its content
A good way to gauge an event agency’s expertise level is by analyzing the way it promotes itself online. Obviously, an agency could just use Google AdWords or banners, but is that really enough?
Analyze your first interaction with the agency representatives
Sometimes, initial red flags can appear right off the bat. The agency representatives may not be very responsive, have an unfriendly demeanor, not comprehend your needs, or be careless with time-sensitive emails. If this happens, don’t just immediately write the agency off – first ask yourself if you provided all the necessary information about your event and were clear enough about your needs. If you feel you were, then proceed with searching for another event agency. You don’t want to want to work with an organization that’s toxic or unprofessional.
Take note of how the agency works
Before signing a contract with an event agency, make sure you understand the agency’s work process. What’s its planning protocol? What’s expected from you? What does the agency cover? What’s its specific approach to logistics?
What Makes A Great Event?
All great events have a few fundamental things in common. A great venue, an engaging event app and memorable guest speakers are a few of the essential ingredients. As an event professional, it’s your job to get these things right. Here are six things to keep in mind to make sure your next event gets the essentials right.
Networking
Networking is often the biggest draw of an event; it’s critical to overall event engagement and success. Attendees, vendors, exhibitors, and event planners are all looking to connect and it’s your job, as the planner, to maximize all of these connections. Our advice? Make the most of your event app to to help facilitate positive, memorable and useful connections
Speakers
As the event planner, it’s your job to research and vet the best possible speaker prospects. Create a list of desirable candidates, then watch any videos they have, or better yet, see them in person. Don’t be afraid to invest in the right speaker — this should be a priority
Whether you plan to have multiple guest speakers or only one, your speakers must support your bigger event objective(s). Once you have your lineup, share everything speakers might need to know, including any insights into your event goals, topics and audience. Be sure that you understand your speaker’s material and that there is no risk of polarizing your audience. There are many factors that go into booking the best speaker for your event. For more detailed suggestions, check out these tips.
Extra Activities & Creative Sessions
Extra activities often help cultivate connections that may not have been made otherwise. Consider adding ‘out of the box’ event activities such as a pre-event 5K run, a morning group yoga session, volunteer opportunities to support the local community — the possibilities are plentiful. Get creative when it comes to your sessions, and try one of our tips for shaking up the traditional breakout session.