We love what we do, but often find that people do not quite understand everything that goes into planning an event. Being an event planner demands specific background, expertise and know-how. We serve as the PR people, marketers, copywriters, social media experts, negotiators, project managers and occasionally mind-readers and psychics. Here’s our breakdown of four common myths associated with events...ready to delve into the other side of the “glamorous” life of event planning?
When organizing an event, the event planner is the last one to relax. We are there to assure the good time of the attendees – not to be one of them. Let’s not forget that the event coordinator job was ranked as the fifth most stressful occupation of 2016! Events are all about preparation and months of hard work leading up to the actual event.
It is imperative to have a budget for your event – this should be the first decision made. After that, set goals and objectives to ensure you work toward achieving success from the get-go. Researching costs and collecting numerous bids can help gain insight into how much an event will cost. If you’re on a tight budget, look for venues that have built-in infrastructure included in the cost. Reach out to in-kind donors to serve as sponsors. You can even gain media attention through well-done (and inexpensive) media kits – be creative!
It is safe to say that most event planners are control freaks (I am no exception), but when planning an event, it is essential to rely on others to help you. In fact, it is a must! Include another person on all status meetings/calls regarding the event, so that you are not the only person who knows what is going on. Look to your vendors for their expertise and guidance. If you need volunteers, reach out to people that you trust to do a great job. And, delegate! You cannot do it all.
Having a rain plan is not exclusive to weather. Keep a catalogue of vendors in case one of yours falls through. Confirm and communicate continuously with your team and chosen vendors. If your event is outside and there is even the smallest chance of rain, make sure you secure an extra tent. We have a large toolkit (roughly the size of a person) that we take to every event to make sure we have everything we might need. It includes everything from extension cords, tape, various types of string and rope, every tool you could think of – you get the point. It is always better to be over-prepared than underprepared.
All of this said, we love planning events and consider ourselves lucky to have the skill sets needed to pull them off – hopefully without a hitch! But, those hitches do happen and while we are usually the only ones who know what went wrong, we constantly strive to be better. Up your event planning savvy even more by downloading our Event Planning Workbook.
