Thursday 2 February 2012

Tips to Help YOU Become a Successful Event Planner

Hello everyone! Sorry for my delay in posting my first event planning tips post of 2012 but life just seems to be getting busier and busier...and I'm not complaining :)

Soooo let's just right into it! I wanted to provide some general tips to help you become a successful event planner. Know why? Because I want you to be successful!

So here goes: 

Onsite event clipboard. It's important to keep an clipboard with you at all times with all your event-related essentials. The clipboard allows you to reference important event information at a glance. It will keep you on top of everything and display professionalism. The clipboard should include a list of all your key contacts (venue manager, A/V staff, catering manager etc.), event schedule, venue/catering/A/V (audio/visual) contracts, event catering and A/V order, floor plans, registration/vip list and any other important documents that you will need to keep on hand at your event. Your clipboard should also have a couple pens and a highlighter.

Event kit. Along with having your clipboard it's important to bring an event kit with you onsite. The kit will contain all the tools that you need to put on a successful event. The size of the kit usually depends on the size and complexity of the event (eg. for a large conference you would bring a large kit and for a small workshop you would bring a small kit with some essential items). I'm not going to list everything that should be included but here are some key items to include:
  • Scissors
  • Pens - blue, black, red
  • Markers
  • Highlighters
  • Stapler
  • Pads of paper
  • First Aid Kit
  • Breath mints
  • Elastic bands
  • Paper clips
  • Tape
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Ibuprofen
End of day task list. This may not be for everyone but it definitely helps me. What I do at the end of every work day is a make a list of all my tasks listed in order of priority. This helps me manage my time, keep track of all the tasks that I need to complete and meet project goals. It's kind of anal but I have to make that list before I leave for the day or I just go CRAZY! :)

Event brief. In the beginning stages of planning your event you should create a brief which outlines all the details of your event in one place. The brief should include the following:
  • Overview of the event
  • Event goals
  • Event concept
  • Detailed schedule
  • Key contacts
Critical path. In order to keep track of all your event timelines and make sure your event goes as planned, it's very important to have a critical path. And what is a critical you say? It's a sequence of activities in a project plan that must be complete by a set project deadline. So for an event, it's a list of event-related tasks that must be complete in order for the event to be executed successfully. An event critical path lists all the event tasks, deadlines associated with each task and who is responsible for completing each task. If the deadlines are not met it typically creates a domino effect - one task not being complete will affect another and so on and so forth. It's really important to stay on top of your critical path and review it frequently to ensure your event is successful.

I do of course have other tips up my sleeve but I will leave that for another post ;)

Happy planning!

-Shira :)

18 comments:

Exclusive events in Israel said...

It isn't a good idea to put off your wedding event planning though. If you don't give adequate notice to the wedding event provider, it's likely that you'll end up being disappointed - they could be booked up to perform elsewhere in another wedding. Even if entertainment isn't that important an ingredient in the successful carrying off of a wedding, it isn't going to feel quite as satisfying, a wedding without the soundtrack of your choice.

Unknown said...

These are very interesting tips! Planning an event is really a very stressful job, and having a clipboard is helpful so you can focus on the things that needed more attention like contacts and event schedule. Your event kit is what I think a must-have, because it will definitely save you from the unexpected things that might happen during the event. Thanks for sharing! I find this very useful and hope people will see it the same way.

Garret East

ShiraG said...

Thanks for the comment Garret, glad you found the post valuable :)

Anonymous said...

Very helpful post and very well written too.

Unknown said...

Someone asked me this question over the weekend and I must have really raised an eyebrow or something, because the person went on to

Yacon Syrup say she really just wanted to have the BEST wedding possible and how do you go about getting it?Someone asked me this question over the weekend and I must have really raised an eyebrow or something,because the person went on to say she really just wanted to have the BEST wedding possible and how do you go about getting it?

Liza said...

Thanks for giving such information. Really Event planner job is very responsible as well as stressful job. I also know some of the  Event Planner who are experts in their field and do their job very well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this tips. O really want to know more about this kind of planning. I already found a venue and it was in Victoria Conference Centre Events those place there are really relaxing. You can also find it in my venue finder website.

Unknown said...

I always thought the clipboard was just for show, but your description actually makes a lot of sense. There is a lot of information that needs to be viewed at a glance. The most I've ever helped with for an event is catering-- I can't image doing it all. | http://www.barbagallos.com

Unknown said...

When I am looking for an events and its details that I can attend to with my special one, I always look at it online.

Drew Watts said...

All these tips you have shared here are really helpful to plan any event and celebration. I am also thinking to plan a small event at best event space San Francisco and I am sure your ideas will help me a lot to plan a wonderful party that I have in my mind.

Unknown said...

For being an Event Planner is a hard task, you should know every detail of your business. All you want need to know is here in this article. Great Job to the author :)

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Unknown said...

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