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.
Getting organized
The first stage of the planning would be a detailed client consultation. This would involve setting the event date, the guest lists and any protocols, the event theme and setting. It is god to be as detailed and as thorough as possible so that there will be no misunderstanding between you and the client. Preferably a follow-up list recapping the discussion should be forwarded to the client. You can keep all your correspondences per event in good order if you have in place a event management system.
The next step of your event planning should involve securing the venue and your vendors. Part of the event management solution you have in hand, should have options for you to plan your venue floor space as well as to keep a list of contacts and tasks for your vendors. There is nothing like keeping organized in a time stressed job! You will be most thankful once everything is running smoothly and you get the fair share of the limelight.
Starter tips
Some of the objectives and preliminary steps you would be required to prepare for the duration of the event involves the following:
- A timeline schedule – this is where you will have to set a dateline for each objective to be accomplished. It is always good to allocate some leeway time just incase things are delayed due to unexpected circumstances. This will give you some time to be able to fix or remedy the situation.
- A reasonable budget – this is important as you do not want your event to run out of funding mid way trough the organizing stage. Keep in mind that there will be vendors who may require a full payment or at the very least a hefty upfront deposit. This is where your negotiation skills are a big help. Try to negotiate for a credit line as this will help you a long way, Always keep a good paymaster relationship with your vendors.
- Have a backup plan – you may not think this necessary but even the best laid plans can sometimes go wrong. Keep a good list of reliable vendors, service team and entertainers. It is also good if you have extra help on hand that you can call in anytime if you run short of an organizing team.
- Documentation templates – you will know how valuable this is when you just do not have the time to sit down and create correspondence and vendor templates! Prepare a few in advance that will save you time, especially templates requesting venues, catering, setups etc.
In short, it is a wise investment to have an event solution that can help you keep organized and is also highly mobile. Being mobile is one of the greatest advantage as it allows you to keep track of things on the fly. You can keep in touch with your vendors, team and even client with real time updates. So regardless of if you are in event Malaysia or anywhere else, check out some event management solutions online. Select the one that suits your requirements best and have a great time organizing your events. In no time you will be a reputable pro!