Author:
Lewis Jackson
Date Of Creation:
5 May 2021
Update Date:
1 July 2024
Content
Organizing events seems like a very difficult task, and things get even more complicated if you don't have a plan and plan ahead. So try to avoid this - by preparing months in advance and keeping calm during the event.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Plan months before the event
Determine the purpose of the event. Determining the purpose of your organization will help keep your event on track. Are you planning an event to educate the community? Convince potential sponsors? Praise a certain individual or group? Detail this purpose as much as possible. No matter what you are doing (educate, persuade, praise, etc.), why do you do that again
- Think of it as your statement of mission, or premise of your success. Once you know what you want for sure, you'll find it a lot easier!
Set goals.Exactly What do you want to achieve? Not the number of people appearing at the event, not the fact that it happened - how do you want the event to be? 5 new members to your organization? Raised 20 million dong? Change other people's mindset? Make everyone excited?- Think about the 3 outcomes you want the most from the event and focus on making them happen. You can weigh one financial goal, one social goal, and one personal goal - it's up to you!
Gather volunteers. You need good and good members in many different areas of the organizing committee. They can assist you with everything from scheduling, budgeting to sending out invitations, designing posters, welcoming guests and cleaning up after the event. In other words, they will help you get the job done. If possible, find volunteers you can trust!- Make sure the organizers as well as the event managers work according to the schedule you set out in the plan. Collaboration between the parties will make your job easier. When asking someone for help, be clear from the start about your expectations of them and the extent of their participation in the event.
- If you can't find a volunteer, hire an event team! This depends entirely on the type of event you are hosting. You can rent the venue with the event team, or hire from a third party.
Estimated budget. All expenses, income, grants and other extraordinary expenses must be included in the budget. If you do not budget, you will end the event with a thick bill of bills and an empty wallet without understanding what you just spent. Be realistic from day one to not be surprised later on!- Find ways to keep costs low. Can you hire volunteers to work for free? Consider locations that are cheaper to rent (for example someone's house)? Remember that a small, simple but successful meeting is much better than a luxury party that fails.
Determine the time and location of the event. This is the factor most important of the event. What should the time and place of your event be for people to say, "Yes, I'll be there!"? You want to host the event at a time when everyone is free and in one convenient location where you have enough rent!
- Check out the schedule of the community in which you live and consider who participates in the event. If you are targeting housewives, organizing day and neighborhood events are the best option (you can provide extra babysitting services). In the case of a student participant, hold the event in the city center one evening during the week. If possible, you should go to their place Assembly.
- Of course there will be many event venues that you need to reserve in advance. Please contact us to rent these locations as soon as possible. They may be more expensive than you think!
Consider logistics. You need to think about logistics in every respect. How will the parking be? The ability of people with disabilities to participate? What can you do with the event space? What equipment do you need? Will you need anything extra for a fee (eg speaker drinks, badges, publications)? How many people will it take for the event to go smoothly?
- It is very important to reflect and discuss with members of the organizers to consider all aspects of the event. Are there any obstacles that you can foresee and avoid? Do the guests need a place to stay? What exceptions are required?
Think marketing and advertising. While preparing for the event, build a draft of the poster. The poster should include information about the date, time, location, main guests, event name, and the event's theme or tagline. Since the preparation time is too early, you can spend a lot of time thinking through these contents carefully - but you should build up an initial draft to see what the sections are all together!
- Think about other ways to promote the event. Send emails? Mail mail? Providing information on Facebook, Twitter, or a series of online event sites (more on these later)? What do you need before events to engage people and what you need in events to hold them back?
Rearrange work. Maybe you are feeling very confused right now. Take a deep breath and open the Excel software. Prepare a draft schedule of activities at the event. Use a few Excel spreadsheets to organize your thoughts. It may seem like unnecessary paperwork at this point, but within the next two months you will be grateful to yourself for taking care of yourself.
- Develop a schedule of work (with deadlines) for each activity. Write down all the members of the organizers, when and where you need them. In this way, you can schedule your work and avoid questions later.
Method 2 of 4: Schedule the work for 2 weeks before the event
Make sure everything is ready. Identify time, location, key guests, event organizer, event name and tagline. Will there be anything Can we go astray? Can last minute changes happen? At this point, everything should be as clear as it is on black and white paper.
Meet with members of the organizers. Request approval to budget, schedule, etc. from the organizers as well as from event managers. Now is the right time to deal with questions. Everyone has understood their obligations yet? Are they comfortable with everything?
- Once again, meet with the organizers as well as the volunteers to think about possible problems. This is also the perfect time to plan your action.
- Make sure the organizers don't have any internal issues. Keep in touch with all department heads, organizers as well as volunteers.
Divide the work among different people and let a person with experience coordinate all activities. If this is a particularly large-scale event, assign multiple people to coordinate different activities under the supervision of one person. This leader must be trusted by members of the organizers.
- You should assign one to two members to spend time welcoming guests and chatting before the event.Basically, they are the receptionist, responsible for uplifting all the guests and letting them see that they are being cared for.
Make sure to keep all of the event-related online pages up to date. You probably already know Facebook and Twitter, but there are many other online sites you can use to promote, like Eventbrite, Evite and Meetup. If you have never heard of these pages, search now! In case your event is overseas and you want to sell tickets online, Ticketbud is quite useful.
- And, of course, update the event's online page, blog or Facebook page, if available. You can send event reminders, post photos, and manage event responses. The more active you are online, the more widely known the event becomes. If you're hosting an event related to gardening, home decoration or other creative fields, you can also use Pinterest.
Gather sponsorships and other sources of money from guests. There are many types of expenses that will arise in the coming weeks and you don't want to pay for it all yourself! Scramble a little for the start up costs - be it an event venue rental, equipment or banquet? You may also have to pay some of the above amounts before you start preparing for the event.
- Make sure you've built a system for handling documents, certifications, invoices and other documents. You need to keep all documents for future reference, so the sooner you are organized, the more convenient the future will be, especially when your partner works unprofessionally.
Event promotion. Prepare publications, publish advertisements, publish to the press, send invitations, phone calls, email contact groups, meet potential attendees or donors. How will people know and participate in your event? Make sure the information you give is complete, except for some questioning factors - the curiosity of the guest needs to be stimulated too!
- Think about your target audience. If you want to invite the elders, you will not waste time sending messages through Snapchat software. Go to places where they go or use the tools your audience is using.
Gather the necessary items for the event. These items may include a medal, game, souvenir, reward or certificate. There are many small and trivial things that inexperienced people cannot pay attention to, but you must know all the smallest factors. Don't forget furniture, appliances, tables, tablecloths and other large, important items!
- This is one more thing that you must take time to reflect on. Don't stop until you find 5 items you forgot to prepare - everything from ballpoint pens and first aid kits to batteries, ice cubes and extension cords. You will want to be ready for any situation.
Sort everything. Arrange for video recording. Organize transportation for guests. Arrange food for the cleaning team. The list can go on forever, but without sorting you won't be able to organize the event!
- Prepare food and drink. This is also a good time to arrange special accommodations, such as accommodations for people with disabilities. Check if any guests are vegetarian or have other specific dining needs. Many online event ticketing sites will have a "self-ask questions" section, which will help you evaluate the special requests of your guests.
- Prepare desks and chairs, backdrops, microphones, speakers, computers, projectors, podiums - anything that is required at the event venue.
Prepare your contact list. You need to have phone numbers, addresses and email addresses of the organizers. Make a similar list with VIPs (particularly important guests) and providers of goods or services. When someone doesn't show up or is late, this is a list you can use.
- Let's say the banquet team is late. What you will do? Get their contact list right away and give them a call. Oh, they think you will to the place to get it 90 pounds of shredded pork? Whatever. You give the list to Mr. A, he takes the truck and goes to the meat collection address on the paper. You have averted a disaster. Now you know that you shouldn't hire this service team or give clearer direction!
Go to the event venue with organizers. Observe around and rate the parking lot, toilets, rooms and doors. Look for places nearby where you can make photocopies, make phone calls and buy essentials. In general, have the event venue in hand.
- Talk to the person you contacted to rent the place. They should have a better understanding of the venue than anyone else. Is there a problem you should know about? Limited time? Is the door locked in certain times? Hopefully that won't happen - but you should also find out about fire alarm check schedules.
Method 3 of 4: Prepare in the 24 hours before the event
Keep calm. You can do it. It is especially important that you stay calm and not get confused or anxious. You have been preparing for months! Everything's gonna Be Alright. The calmer you are, the calmer your teammates will be, the more smoothly the event will be. Besides, everything will end soon!
- Seriously, you can do it. You have done everything you can, thinking about all the possible problems - if something goes wrong, you know how to solve the problem. And remember: no one can blame you. A noisy guest, the food is not good - people will understand that you cannot control it all. Relax. You'll be OK.
Last check with members of the organizers. Make sure you talk to everyone about ways to get to the event venue and when to arrive. What you don't want the most is when the whole organizers call you on the day of the event because you don't know where the back entrance is.
- Even if no one says anything or asks you a question, do your best to gauge the attitudes of others. Are they all satisfied with their work? Do they get along with each other? If not, talk to all and try to remove the knot. Maybe someone will fit into another department or work with others.
Check all invitations and responses. List guests in an Excel spreadsheet and tally the number of people. For the majority of events, the number of confirmed participants will be are not shows the number of people actually participating in the event. You can have 50 validators, but in the end there are only 5 or up to 500 people participate. While you should know the number of validators, be ready to handle the situation when there are too few or too many attendees!
- Remind VIP guests about the event. You will be surprised by the number of people who say, "Oh, right. Tomorrow is not it?" With a simple call or text, you can avoid this.
Go to the event venue and check if all are ready. Is the room neat and ready? Are electronic devices installed and working? Can you pre-install any device, if needed? Has the staff fully prepared for the event?
- Check to see if the event has enough supporters. Naturally, it's best if you have more supporters than you need. You may have to ask someone for an emergency, need someone to take notice of a guest, or solve a problem you can't anticipate. Or, you know, you might need someone to pour you more coffee.
Prepare kits for event participants. This kit can include a water bottle, a candy bar, a sticky note, a ballpoint pen, a brochure, and any other information they need. It's also a good idea if you want to add small souvenirs.This is a great highlight showing that the event was well organized, and at the same time makes the guests feel valued.
- This kit could be for guests or organizers, or both! Who dislikes a granola bar and a ballpoint pen?
Schedule event information (running sheet or run sheet). Here is a list of all the necessary information divided by time and / or department. Prepare a task program in minutes with important activities. The template of the running sheet will be entirely up to you to decide. Just try to keep the information to a minimum for easy reading.
- If you really hard, build these species a different running sheet can be useful. Speakers are more likely to want to know the list of other guests who will be where and when. The organizers will want a list of equipment, timelines and cleaning plans. When you have enough time to build up the running sheet, you will find this quite helpful.
Make a list of items to bring to the event venue. How bad will it be when you get to the event, everything is ready, everybody are there, and you realize you've forgotten 12,000 cups at home? This is bad. You ruined it all. So make a list, check it one more time and bring along all the ingredients to prepare!
- If the items are scattered in different places, assign a specific task to each person. In doing so, you don't have to spend 8 hours running around and collecting these items in panic. "One tree does not make a young, three trees cluster together so the mountain is high" - said the ancient people.
Method 4 of 4: Control the date of the event
Arrive at the event venue early with organizers and volunteers. Make sure everyone is present and the electronics are working properly. Any last minute questions? If there is time, let's drink soft drinks, share, encourage everyone and rest! You can do it. You are ready.
- Make sure the organizer wears a special badge or carries some recognizable items on hand, so event participants can get help when needed. Sometimes khaki suits aren't enough.
All sorts of things, inside and outside. Do you need balloons on the mailbox? Posters in the corner of the room? What about the door and along the hallway? If your guests have to go through a chaotic maze to reach the event venue, you should put up lots of road signs.
- Welcome banners and other information boards in front of the building will be especially helpful. You want people to be able to recognize the event venue right from the street. There is nothing to wonder about this!
- There is a front desk and registered guests at the event. When guests enter the door, they should see exactly what they need to do. Otherwise, they will hover around in a state of uncertainty and discomfort. Do you remember the reception section mentioned above? Please assign someone to stand by the door to welcome and answer all questions of the guest.
- Floating music! Music will erase the shy atmosphere at the event.
Make sure event participants know what's going on. If a speaker is late, you'll need to give an event delay notice. If the meal takes longer than expected, guests at the event should be noted for any changes to the schedule. It is very rare for events to go as planned - so when schedules are not followed closely, make sure the parties keep talking.
Take a photo! You may want to make a note of this. At the same time, people will be excited to see someone holding a camera to capture the event's moments. Take a picture of your sponsor's banner, your banner, the welcome gate, the reception area, etc. You can also use these photos for next year!
- If possible, let a friend or professional photographer do the job. You have enough work to do! You need to chat and eat with the guests, so someone else should take care of the photo shoot.
Putting documents after the event. You must have planted some idea in the guests' perception, and you want them to leave the event with specific thoughts, reflection, or determination to act. So prepare a brochure or any item they can bring with them after event.
- You might consider polling for the recent event for this section. Provide a means for them to speak their mind, what to improve and what they want at the next event. And of course, how they can get involved!
Clean up event venues! Check your power counter, remove banners, clean furniture, and more. You'll want the site back to its original state - especially when you pay the rent and want to go back. You may also avoid the additional charges imposed by your venue provider. Divide the work evenly so that the cleaning process is as quick and gentle as possible.
- Check back to make sure no valuables have been left behind. If so, prepare a lost item claim form.
- If you damage something, please notify the person you contacted to rent the place. Honesty and frankness is always the best attitude.
- Remove as much trash as possible. The maintenance department will take over after that.
Take care of all post-event missions. Depending on the type of event you organize, you may have nothing to do after the event, or there will be a long list of people to thank as well as pending receipts. Here are some ideas for you to get started:
- Thank you to all the members of the organizing committee, especially the sponsors and volunteers. You can't organize an event without them!
- Complete and handle money matters. This should be done as quickly as possible, the less flaws the better.
- Host a party of gratitude to those who have helped you. You want your teammates to feel grateful, and at the same time want your sponsors to see that they have brought change and a good cause.
- Distribute souvenirs or other publications to interested parties.
- Transfer invoices to sponsors and others.
- Post photos on the event's online page.
Hold a meeting to learn from experiences and do better next time. After everything is over, what do you wish you would do differently? What works and what is not? Would you like to host an event like that? What did you learn?
- If you get a response from everyone, read all of them. Even if you do not receive any response from guests, ask the event organizers! How do they think? Did they enjoy that time? Probably just because the granola bar and the pen were free, right?
Advice
- List of documents to prepare:
- Provisional budget
- Schedule of events (time of each program in the event)
- Invitation
- Guest list
- Action plan
- Schedule of work (completion schedule)
- Documentation for press releases
- Speech
- List of attendees
- Speeches of the parties (attach resume of speaker)
- Work program
- The schedule is divided in minutes
- Contact network list (phone number of the organizer)
- List of items to bring
- List of tasks to be completed
- Event reports (to press and others)
- Prior to the event, assign individuals / departments to be responsible for the following areas:
- Donors
- The attendees
- Important guest, speaker
- Design, print, collect articles, and evaluate those products
- Rewards, souvenirs, gifts, banners, certificates
- Vehicles, catering, event venue arrangements, decoration, backdrops, parking
- Media, PR (external relations), Marketing
- Factors to consider when choosing a location and negotiating prices:
- Site capacity (number of participants, except for those who are not officially attended)
- Food availability (in the event that meals are included in the venue)
- Time (start and end time of the event)
- Lighting (in case the event takes place at night)
- There is air conditioning or not
- Required equipment is provided (microphone, speakers, etc.)
- Furniture (furniture, table towels, etc.)
- Can music and entertainment events be held at the venue (with less formal shows)
- Generator
- Easy access to the venue - whether the venue is in the city center or not (whether delegates can attend without any difficulty)
- Special room for the organizers, changing rooms, etc.
- total cost
- On the day of the event, assign the person / department to be responsible for the following:
- General coordination
- Restroom
- Food
- Works on the field
- Host (MC)
- Computers, projectors
- Photographer
- Receptionist
- Crowd control and PR with the crowd
- Parking area
- Protect
- Distribute documents and supplies (gifts and certificates to specific individuals as well as all event participants)
- Factors to consider when deciding on the event date:
- Will the main guest and other VIP guests be available for the day
- Which day is best for your target audience?
- At all times, you may not hand over your work and responsibilities to another person.
- Work is responsible.
- On time. If you are delayed, fully and immediately report the work to the person you need to report.
- When problems arise, do not blame others, do not think too much and cause more stress, find ways to solve the problem.
- Make sure you have an evacuation plan in place for emergencies. If your event is on a large scale, make sure police and doctors are on duty.
Warning
- Don't panic or stress. A calm posture will result in better results.
- Be prepared for any situation. Sometimes there will be things out of your control. If you're a member of the organizers, don't get angry when someone yells at you, that person might just be tense. If you are a coordinator, do not stress or panic. Please calmly do everything. Try to reflect on possible situations, and what you would do in those situations.
