10 Tips for a successful event
Planning and organising an event can be a stressful process. With a multitude of moving parts and constantly changing scenarios. Planners/organisers need to be adaptable, resilient and effective in their problem solving.
Event Generals have several years experience, planning and organising events of all shapes and sizes. It’s safe to say we have picked up a few tips during our history. Here are 10 rules we swear by for efficient event management.
Begin planning early - For a multi-day, multi-discipline event. Event Generals usually start planning 6-9 months out. Initial meetings with major stakeholders and partners, contract negotiations, equipment requirements, staff roles and responsibilities and so on are prioritised to ensure all vendors are aware of whats going on from the start.
Flexibility in everything you do - Planning for an event can throw you regular curve balls. The moment you consider ‘locking in’ any component of your event, is the moment you start planning for a contingency. Whether its location, venue availability, speakers, price hikes or local law changes, you need a plan for a plan, for a plan.
Pencil in your equipment hire - Make contact with your equipment and production hire companies early. We guarantee that you won’t miss out on preferred equipment because it’s been booked out to another event and you can usually negotiate a good deal by being an early bird.
Assign responsibilities - As the planning stage suggests, assign job roles and responsibilities as soon as you have agreed to terms with your key personnel. As a guide, event managers should be able to trust their staff in important areas such as event marketing including sponsorship, production and compliance. Ensure you have regular progress meetings so the key personnel are on the same page.
Work off the cloud - If you don’t know what ‘the cloud’ is, we suggest you learn fast. Essentially, what we are suggesting is you work on a shared server that can be accessed at any time, from anywhere. These files allow your team to see updates in real-time. Some of the documents you need to ensure are universal in their access are;
Contracts
Local Law compliance including liquor licensing, traffic control, site plans and sustainability reports.
Attendee information
Event Schedule
Sponsor contacts
Engage the local community - Support from the locals is paramount to the success or failure of your event, especially if its a large scale, high impact music festival or similar. Ensuring the local community has a voice is extremely important to achieving buy-in from the local community.
Communicate regularly with your attendees - This is where your event marketing arm comes into the conversation. It is their responsibility to ensure your guests, partners and vendors are kept informed constantly. Not to mention the importance of promoting your event so tickets can be sold or so people know the details and show up to the right venue at the right time.
What is your contingency plan? - Like we said in point 2, plan to have a back up plan. There are always curveballs. Be prepared for wet weather, talent cancellations, equipment not being available, staff being sick and much more.
Run through one last time - Get your key personnel together in one room a couple of days or THE day before the event and run through every facet of the event. Start from the top and work your way down the list. This is your last chance to cross your t’s and dot your i’s. Anything missed here will need to be fixed on the fly which can be a nightmare mid event!
Debrief time - The event is over. Well done you made it! Have a day or two off and recoup. When you come back, it’s time to speak to your major stakeholders and attendees asking and providing feedback on the event. Take notes and apply any advice to the next event.
Event Generals are experts in event management, event marketing and sponsorship/activations. Whether you have an existing event, an idea for an event, you have a venue you would like to start running events from or you need sponsors for an event and basically anything event related. We can help!