Pointers for Planning an Event

Are you responsible for planning annual galas, community events or board meetings? With New Year's Eve upon us, I thought it would be a good time to talk about planning meetings and events. Hopefully you'll be able to incorporate these pointers in 2012.

For starters ... Location, location, location.

When searching for a location for your event ALWAYS tour the site and specific room you might reserve prior to confirming the date and signing any contracts. Many locations will put the room on hold without a down payment until they have the availability to show you the exact room.

Here are some questions to ask the on-site planner:

• What different ways can the room be set up and what would they suggest for your event?
• Does the room have a microphone and projector with screen?
• Can you pipe in your own music and control the volume?
• What color tablecloths are available?
• Will the facility provide any type of signage promoting or announcing your event?
• Do they have center pieces or do you need to supply your own? If they have center pieces, do they charge for them?
• Will they (the planner) be onsite for the event?

Here are some additional areas that often get overlooked in planning an event.

• Provide a little extra space. You want people to be comfortable after all. If you think you will have 75 people, get a room that will hold 100.
• Give yourself ample time. Arrive at least 1 hour prior to your event to make sure everything is set-up as requested, put out any decorations, test the audio system and speak with your servers so they are aware of your expectations. If you are planning an event in your office, give yourself a deadline that you will be ready 1 hour prior to when the guests are to arrive.
  • Speaking of decorations ... Plan ahead for floral expenses. Do you need flowers for your event? A client of ours mentioned to me once that she orders all of her flowers from a company called Growers Box. She said she has saved a ton of money doing it that way.
• Address seating. No one wants to sit in the front of the room, so put out reserved signs on the last rows or back tables to fill front seats first. If it is a smaller event and you know who is coming, you can assign seats with name tags.

• Create a comprehensive, but not overwhelming agenda. Plan enough time for each agenda item and be sure to schedule short breaks. Schedule an extra 5-10 minutes for each item as a cushion. If you are having a hard time fitting everything onto the agenda, you have too much to cover. Cramming too much in will only make for a long drawn out event.
• Tackle boxes aren't just for fishing. If you plan a lot of events, it can be helpful to put together what I call a first aid kit to hold miscellaneous items such as pens, scissors, name tags, paperclips, etc. A tackle box is a inexpensive way to organize and contain such items.
• Schedule time for entertainment. If you are having entertainment, be sure to schedule enough time. You don’t want to be the Grinch and end the fun like in this video.

Do you have some pointers or lessons learned to share? Please comment below. Good luck with your event planning in 2012!