Event planning and management is not only very exciting and rewarding but also a very nerve-wracking industry. If you are pursuing a career in event management and are about to go ahead with your first event it is natural to be nervous and clueless. Here are a few important things that will help you pull off your first event easily.
Source: HowNow Blog
Start as Early as Possible
If the event that you are planning is your own and is not outsourced by a third party client, you should start as early as possible, preferably more than 6 months prior to the date/ Some new event planners do not take their events as seriously because they believe they do not owe it to a client and it will not affect their clientele. As a matter of fact, as a newbie, the success of your events is the best measure of why a new client should trust your team. Moreover, your money is at stake which you would not want to go down the drain.
Planning early will give you quite a lot of room to pick your vendors, arrange your sponsorships and have a backup strategy. You will also be able to negotiate your contracts at cheaper costs if you book them well in advance. Most vendors will always charge you higher prices for last moment supplies.
Draft an Event Plan
When you are running in an event planning business, you need to understand that one plan does not fit all. Every event is a new business opportunity, every event will be different in terms of its costs, opportunities, and weaknesses, and you will have different objectives from each event. That is exactly why you need a dedicated event plan for every new event that you are planning. Your event plan should highlight the expected date, venue, the objectives that you are expecting to achieve from the event, your marketing strategies, strategies to get sponsorships and other similar elements.
Source: Etherparty
Line up the Vendors
Once you have your event plan sorted, shortlist the vendors that you will be dealing with. This can be the trickiest part of your entire plan. Your vendor costs take up a major chunk of your total event costs, so most newcomers get tempted to go for supplies that cost the cheapest. However, here is the catch. Imagine you are even is a few hours away and your vendor ditches you. Worse, your lighting or any other equipment fails in the middle of the event. Do not fall for a price that sounds too good to be true, because it probably is. It is always advisable to invest a few extra bucks but works only with a reliable event production company to get your supplies. It is recommended that you do your research and shortlist a few reliable vendors such as Visual Comet.
Budget and Feasibility
Once you have all the cost estimates, draft a budget and feasibility plan. Your budget should cover all your estimated costs such as premises, electricity, security costs, vendor costs, staff costs, etc. Figure out the amount of money that you expect to raise from your sponsors, tickets and other sources of revenues. It is important to calculate the scale of your event as accurately as possible or else you can end up either in a loss, in case of a low footfall, or a mess in case crowd is beyond expectations.
Source: The Savvy Couple
