Tag: event planning

Large scale corporate event planning checklist: a how-to guide

A successful event begins with proper planning, whether offline or online. But for large scale events, such as those involving hundreds of attendees and notable personalities, you want to plan your event with utmost care and security.

The emergence of several live video conference platforms has prompted many businesses and hosts to schedule their events online. However, offline open-space events are here to stay.

A successful event begins with proper planning, whether offline or online. But for large scale events, such as those involving hundreds of attendees and notable personalities, you want to plan your event with utmost care and security.

Don’t feel lost; here are valuable tips to help you plan towards a successful large scale event.

1.  Get in line with all key players

While you may be going over the event planning with a sense of urgency, not everyone may be on the same page with you. But to successfully put together that monumental event, you need all executives to share the same goals and timelines with you. If not, critical decisions that must be made now may not be addressed early enough until the last minute.

Get in touch with your team members and decision-makers. Share ideas regarding venue, budget, party speaker hire, creative direction, and whatever is required for that specific event.

2.  Fix the date

Locking down a specific date is an essential aspect of large scale event planning.

Since there will be many guests, including notable personalities attending the event, it’s vital you lock down the date so that everyone knows what day to plan towards. This prevents a considerable number of potential attendees from being unable to attend because the date changed.

Reach out to all the executives involved to agree on a date that suits all relevant parties.

Once you have fixed this date, it’s time to inform your workshop leaders, speakers, entertainers, and all other parties playing key roles in the event.

It’s also a great idea to include a fun section that serves as a perk for attendees.

3.  Ensure the venue suits the event’s objective

Venue matters. For massive events, you want to have an extensive auditorium or field that can accommodate a large crowd. It is an added advantage if you can get a theatre-seating to enable all attendees to see the speaker from all positions.

If the event would involve some meet-and-greets, it’s wise to find a venue with several mixed-use spaces like conference rooms.

If you’re looking to attract attendees from far and wide, a venue with a tourism appeal can get the job done.

4.  Put security and crowd control in place

Remember that hundreds of people will attend the event, including renowned personalities in society. Therefore, well-rounded security is pivotal to the event’s success to ensure the life and property of every executive, guest, and attendee are safe. It’s advisable to hire security for event as this is an essential checklist for every large scale event planning.

You can get in touch with a private security company and give them the date, venue, and details so they can station the correct number of personnel at the right points. These people can also serve as crowd control. Otherwise, contact the proper party who can carry out this duty for you.

5.  Construct an emergency plan

Every large-scale event requires a clear emergency plan. From fire outbreaks to power outages and violence, the people need to know where emergency exits are located so they can scamper to safety when the undesirable occurs.

The security team you’ve hired would typically be involved in this.

Below is a safety checklist for crowded events:

Go over the venue before the show begins to ensure all emergency exits are open and accessible.

Create a sign or language by which all team members and security personnel can communicate, understand, and respond in case of emergencies.

Have a backup generator or lighting if the power goes out so attendees can find their way around.

Station security personnel in all high-risk areas and exits.



6.  Place proper signage

A large-scale event will most likely involve the registration of attendees and the availability of utilities. A vital checklist for such massive events should therefore include designated areas for:

  • Registration
  • Smoking
  • Toilet
  • Potential hazards
  • Staff areas, etc.

Put up signage and arrows in vantage points so that the attendees understand the environment and locate such areas with ease.

7.  Streamline check-in

An ugly beginning can ruin an entire event you’ve worked so hard to build. Your attendees may get frustrated even before the event begins if they have to stand in queue and wait for hours on end to register or check in to the venue. This can weaken the high-spirited mood you’ve intended right from the start, leading to a negative experience for your guests.

Some practical ways to avoid such frustrations include:

  • Stationing self-check-in kiosks
  • Creating an app for easy registration
  • Availing several entry points
  • Giving out tickets so attendees can simply present theirs at the points of entry
  • A help-desk to cater to attendees’ challenges without holding up the line.

8.  Expect worst-case scenarios

While planning for the best, expect the worst. Doing so will help you identify those things that can go wrong, thereby prompting you to plan for them as well.

Brainstorm with your team to identify these points and avail appropriate solutions beforehand.

Some things that can go wrong during an event include:

Problem: Poor weather grounds a speaker’s flight.

Possible solution: Involve thought leaders within the company in the topics to be discussed. In the unavailability of the guest speaker, such thought leaders can make speeches and conversations that would offer value to the attendees.

Problem: Generator or some other essential equipment going faulty

Possible Solution: Have at least a backup for all essential equipment. This would cost money but not having them can hamper the smooth flow and effectiveness of your event.

9.  Make sure you have a team member for every function

Every organization’s success lies in the strength of the entire team, which is a function of each member’s contribution. So it is with an event. Although you may be the event director or project manager, each team member of your creative team will play a vital role as they all come with their strengths and weaknesses. While some reach out to speakers and vendors, some may be better at checking up with contacts or coordinating schedules with ease. Ensure you harness the strengths towards the success of this big upcoming event.

Conclusion

Where possible, allow your team to strive beyond their comfort zone. Communicate and seek ideas from them for your event, find out what they think rather than impose orders on them all the time, and you’ll realize how much creativity and insight they bring to the table.



5 Things to know and do to build a successful event planning business

Event planning industry has a bright future ahead, and that now is the time for a focused and motivated entrepreneur like yourself to start building your very own event planning business.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the event planning industry to operate almost exclusively in the online realm, that doesn’t mean that this sector isn’t booming. In fact, organizing events online is a great way to kick-start your own business in this field, but you also need to take into account the fact that live, physical events are going to come back in a big way as the pandemic subsides.

This means that the event planning industry has a bright future ahead, and that now is the time for a focused and motivated entrepreneur like yourself to start building your very own event planning business. With that in mind, here are the five key things you need to know and do in order to build a thriving business in this growing industry.

It all starts with market and competitor research

First and foremost, you can’t hope to kick-start a successful business if you’re unaware of the trends that prevail in your market, who your competitors are, and what potential clients expect from their event planners. This is why your first order of business is to research the event planning industry thoroughly and gather as much actionable information as you can before launching your business.

Market and competitor research will prove invaluable in shaping the core of your business model, defining your pricing strategy, creating your unique value proposition to set you apart, and more. Be sure to look for honest opinion pieces online, look for successful event planning businesses and analyze them mercilessly, track industry forecasts and statistics, and most importantly, educate yourself on how to plan events for maximum impact in the online and offline worlds.

Pick the minds of the leaders in the industry

Planning and organizing events for clients is a complex process with a lot of variables, and as the leader of your business, you will oftentimes be wearing many hats at the same time. If you want to venture into this field successfully, then you need to find out how other successful individuals have built up their businesses, and what their recipe for success was. Never underestimate the power of networking for the growth of your event planning business.

As an entrepreneur doing everything to improve their business, you should find and get in contact with successful business leaders in your industry and try to pick their brains for useful tips, tricks, and strategies. Be sure to attend online workshops and meetups as well to learn as much as you can about what it truly takes to stand out.



Find reliable and trusted partners

Probably one of the most important elements of success in event planning, especially as a new entrepreneur, is having a reliable network of partners. You see, your job is not just to make a plan for the event, it’s also to help your clients execute it. Sometimes, high-paying clients will ask that you completely take over the event planning process and handle everything related to the event online and offline.

You will be tasked with organizing the event online, but also finding event AV solutions and equipment rental partners that will provide you with all the resources necessary to create and execute your event plans without breaking the bank. These specialized partners in your network should be affordable but reliable and trustworthy, and they should use the leading digital and physical tools to bring your elaborate plans to life.

Be flexible and adaptive to new industry trends

Aside from surrounding yourself with trusted partners, you also have to build your business on the foundation of flexibility and adaptiveness in the face of changing industry trends. In other words, you have to be prepared for whatever the new trends may bring, especially now that event planning in the new normal is quite different than what it used to be before the pandemic.

Staying open-minded, innovative, and on top of the latest trends will one day allow you to turn your business around should you hit a rough patch, as well. Always remember that high-paying clients are looking to work with event planners that can adapt their strategies to every socio-economic shift that hits the market.

Invest in building a recognizable brand

Last but not least, never underestimate the power of branding in the event planning industry. Clients looking for reputable event planners probably already know who the trusted names in this field are, so if you want to get on their radar, you need to invest in comprehensive brand-building.

As any reliable beginner’s guide to branding will tell you, you need to define your brand’s values and strengths in order to build a trustworthy business. Your brand also needs to have a unique tone of voice and visual identity for your website to capture the attention of potential clients. Don’t forget about SEO optimization and be sure to spread the word of your new business by making quality content and disseminating it across the online world. After all, marketing your amazing brand is an essential part of long-term success in this competitive field.

Wrapping up

Event planning is an industry that is always on the rise, even during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no wrong moment to enter this industry as an entrepreneur, but that doesn’t mean that success is guaranteed. Be sure to use these tips to maximize your chances of success and obtain high-paying clients for your event planning business in the first month after launch.