Congratulations! You have successfully acquired your first event. Before you pop that champagne bottle or feel totally out of this world, have you considered your next step? The field of event management involves a lot of back-end activities and preparations before the actual event date. Getting all these things organized and prepared requires good management skills and a lot of creativity.
As it is your first secured order, you would most naturally want to deliver the best and make an impression. This is where your skills in organizing and team work comes into play. Getting and keeping this organized is no mere feat, there are a lot of stages to look into such as catering, vendors list, delivery dates and financial matters among others.
Thinking of going into and dreaming of organizing your first event? You will first have to decide how familiar you are with event organizing. Have you done it before and did you enjoy doing it? What type of event organizing field you would like to be involved in? What is actually event planning and which category you would like to be involved in?
Deciding on the category of events that you would like to delve into, you would need to know your experience level. You would have to distinguish your area of speciality. You would also have to consider the business prospect of the event type you are considering and is it in demand. Once you have that worked out, focus on a particular core competency. Decide on what you can or cannot do and will you have the supporting team to manage what you are not able to do.
Great news! You secured yourself an event! Now, what do you do about getting organized? You have all your other things worked out. You know how to execute the event BUT what about your suppliers and vendors? There are so many items to consider before sourcing and selecting your suppliers and vendors. Among some of the issues are budget constraint, style, specialized items and your setup crew. Yes the last item falls in the same category as your vendors!
Make a list of what you require to organize the event. There are normally a few staples such as food and beverage, stationary, sound system etc. If you have planned events before, you will probably have an existing list.If you are just starting out then you would have to search for your vendors from a few sources. This could be by recommendation or looking up the local yellow pages and the internet. It is a good practice and tip if you could get some of your vendors in place before you even have an event. This cuts down time sourcing when you have a dateline to your event.
Thinking of becoming an event planner or you already are? Being an event planner entails a gazillion task at hand and managing those tasks are no easy matter! The success of your events depend on your organization skills. Which means keeping proper track of every minute tasks in detail.
If you are new to event management or an old hand at the game, investing in an event management solution like event management software is a good option. There are so many different types available and selecting the one that suits you best is something to be considered. Whatever the event you are planning there are always common tasks or components and it is up to you as the event planner to bind all these tasks and components to create a great event. Here are some ideas on how you can start your event plans and keep track of it:
How do we know if an event has been carried out successfully and that it has made the right impact? Do we know when everyone who attended has come away feeling what we want them to feel? Was everything running smoothly without a hitch? This is where the post mortem at the end of an event is indicative if you have performed greatly or poorly as an event organizer.
Post-event feedback is important to any event planner or organizer. Why? Because it provides the reality check of what went right or what went wrong during the event. Keeping track of feedback is important to progressively improve in the field of event management. It is how reputations are built or destroyed in this competitive field. Only by feedbacks and evaluations will you be able to see where rooms for improvements are required. Therefore improving your part of customer service. It also indicates what your customer's expectations were and did they feel that you did a great job and they will hire you again.
We all love a lively event! A great and successful event also involves great entertainment in the form of music. But, depending on your theme, the music selected is crucial to creating the right ambiance, If you are organizing an event, how would you know which genre of music would be the perfect choice? Consultation with your customer would be a good idea at this point. It is best not to assume. For instance, one might think that a wedding event should have slow romantic music. However, the customer might be thinking otherwise!
Getting the jitters because you have a presentation event coming up? The primal fear and challenge of any presentation is the ability of the presenter to grab and keep the attention of the audience. Having good content for your presentation is one thing but being a good presenter is another. It is actually not that difficult to do a good presentation. It is only natural when you step into a room, look at all those faces staring back at you that panic first starts to set in and eventually overwhelm you. Fear not, here are some quick remedies to put those butterflies in your stomach away and build a new confidence level. This is not meant to be a technical training blog on presentations but rather a lighter and practical side to giving a good presentation!
How many of us would not enjoy hosting a big lavish event, be it for our own personal celebration or a company event. But the big crunch comes when it is time to pay the bill. Off course we try to make our events as awesome as possible but without having to shell out tens and thousands of ringgit just to get it done, so how do we keep the cost down to a minimum without compromising on the impact we want to create and have?
First of all, during your event planning stage decide on the amount you are wiling to spend in hosting your event. To get a fair idea on how much an event would cost, you can get a rough estimate from event companies on a no obligation basis. Check out the event management application by Evenesis while you are at it. There is a nifty little function that helps you generate a cost maintenance list. Get an indication of a basic minimum that you need to set aside, bearing in mind that the more items and programs you add, the more the price will increase.
"What is so special about your company/product/brand that I or we should shell out costs to sponsor you?" That is the first and utmost logical question anyone would ask if you are approaching them for an event sponsorship. So better be prepared with a very good answer and presentation sheet to convince them.
Sponsorship for an event can be in the form of goods, services, food and beverage, print-out materials, banners, décor or even a venue in the ultimate case. Workout a list of what you think you would like to have sponsored to offset your event management costs. Make a wish list of items you feel you are able to persuade companies or individuals to sponsor you for. Pick a special niche in your event that you would like to highlight, giving you the edge over others who have or had approached your target sponsors before. The more special and unique your event, the higher the chance of confirmed sponsorship.
We all can't live without color in our lives, more so when we need to make an impact during an event. Holding an event is basically on a short term so it is important for us to make the right impression that will in all cases remain in the minds of people we come into contact with, or to attract visitors to our event.
Every event organizer will try to synergize lighting, sound system, décor and color to their best possible impact but the key to all this is color. You just might wreck your whole event if the color scheme is way off mark, unless off course if your intentions are to be notorious with a riot of mismatched colors! So how do you go about choosing the right color scheme for that special event?
Organizing an event is like building a bridge. It should be steady, stable and consistent from the start till the end. If a single nut or bolt is out of place, chances are, the bridge will collapse. An event is made of a series or a sequence of activities. Should there be a weak link in the chain of activities, the succeeding activities will be affected and could spell disaster in the end.
Event organizing comprises a long list of “to-do’s”. In order to prepare and psych yourself up with the “do’s”, it would also help to call your attention towards the ‘not-to-do’s or the “don’t’s” of events management:
Day 1 Opening day of event: A full house! You rejoice at the overwhelming attendance. After the coffee break, you see some vacant seats. You just say to yourself, “hmmm…maybe it just takes then a while to get some coffee..”. However, as the event progresses, people seem to get restless. You could hear their mindless chatter within earshot. Some take restroom breaks one time too often. Some walk out then never come back. And some just sit quietly, you heave a sigh of relief, until you looked again, they’ve dozed off to sleep.
You ask yourself, “what have I done?” You just violated the event commandment: ‘Thou shall not kill your event attendees with boredom’ ! Read more to find some tips on how to bring life and substance to your events:
Managing Your First Event
Different Categories of Events
Sourcing and Organizing Your Vendors Lists
Keeping Track of Your Event Plans
Post-Event Feedback & Evaluation: Why It Is Important And How To Do It Right
How To Choose The Perfect Music For Your Events
Develop Your Presentation Skills And Keep The Crowd Attention
How To Minimize Your Event Cost To Minimal
Securing Good Sponsors For Your Events – What You Need To Know
How to Choose Suitable Color Theme for Your Events
Following The “Don’ts” Of Events Management
Learn How To Revive and Bring Life and Substance to Your Events