Five principles for event planning

There are many good reasons to organize events for business partners, the media, consumers (service users), or employees, but every good organizer must also count on the challenges that accompany them. One of the biggest is time. Time in the context of the period required for planning, but also the time in terms of weather conditions. If you plan to organize an event outdoors, in case of bad weather, you must always have an alternative location ready.

     1. Start planning on time

You need to start planning events as soon as you can. A well-developed concept will determine the rules of the game. If it’s a big event, you should start organizing four to six months in advance. It takes about a month to plan smaller events. For the event to go smoothly, conclude all contracts with suppliers (location, catering, production, participants) a few weeks before the event.

     2. Control costs

A timely budget is the basis of your “to-do” list and the detailed timeline you will develop. Always leave some space in your budget for unexpected issues that will almost certainly come up and you don’t want to be surprised the day before or on the day of the event.

     3. Make a priority list

The usual productivity advice is to know how to set priorities. In case of event planning, focus on the most production-demanding issues first, there is time for details later. Here it is necessary to distinguish between urgent and important issues, priority is given to urgent, then essential, and finally the details that make the difference.

     4. Set the timeline

Set a time frame for event planning and stick to it. It will help you organize and complete all the tasks on time, which will eventually lead to the desired results.

     5. Expect the unexpected

Be prepared for anything that may surprise you. Event Management is exciting precisely because it is unpredictable. Situations that you didn’t anticipate are inevitable, but be prepared to embrace them the moment they happen and find the simplest and fastest solution you can implement right away. Don’t wait for things to resolve on their own because that won’t happen.