We hope the following provides a starting point for planning your event - and without further ado, here are the ten steps!
Develop Your Event Goal and Objectives
The first step in planning your event is to define a concrete goal and objectives.
First, start by asking yourself: Why are you organizing this event, and what do you hope to achieve?
If you know your organization's main goals before planning, you can ensure that every part of your event is optimized for success.
Are you trying to raise awareness for a cause, or collect a predetermined amount of donations for your next project? Do you hope to attract 50 guests or 500?
Setting a goal with measurable success metrics will make it easier for your team to ensure you reach them.
Event Registration Explanation
Your concrete goals might be to attract 500 attendees, sell 100 products at the event, or raise one million dollars for charity. Your intangible goals will help achieve these concrete goals and may include increasing awareness of a product or cause, or recruiting volunteers."
Organize Your Team
Any event requires a team effort to handle all the details. Consider appointing a main event manager or event chair, as well as individual heads for subcommittees, such as:
- Venue Management
- Speakers
- Entertainment
- Publicity
- Sponsors
- And Volunteer Management
Assigning individual roles to team members creates a system of accountability, as well as preventing tasks from failing. Additionally, it will allow you to delegate - but don't forget to account for committee meetings in your event plan timeline!
Determine Your Budget
Determining your event budget is one of the most important parts of planning an event. I have seen many great ideas fail because the team that originally created them forgot to consider their budget before starting to plan.
Some important expenses you need to include in your budget are:
Venue: This cost should include the rental fee as well as any insurance you need to purchase.
Food and Beverage: This area is self-explanatory. However, remember that the amount you can afford here may also determine the number of tickets you can sell.
Entertainment: This field can be customized as you wish - whether allocated for speakers, a DJ, or even a talking pig, make sure you have plenty of room for travel and accommodation costs as well as any compensation.
Staff: This category is often forgotten, but it is essential to account for your staff's transportation and accommodation costs, especially if you are traveling out of town. Even allocating staff time can help you determine if that extra meeting is worth it.
Marketing: Whether you decide to promote your event via Facebook or go the traditional route by distributing flyers around town.
Software: If you are not already paying for any type of event management software, consider integrating it into the planning for this event.
Even if some of these items are not fixed costs yet - for example, if you haven't chosen a venue yet - it is important to keep in mind the maximum you can afford before making those decisions.
Set the Date
The date may be predetermined for a recurring event, but if this is a new event, make sure to consider the following before confirming your date:
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Give yourself enough time! Ideally, you should have 4-6 months to plan, if not more (depending on the nature of your event).
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Be aware of legal and religious holidays
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Avoid school holiday periods (winter, spring, and summer)
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Check dates with key participants - speakers, presenters, important guests, etc.
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Once the date is set (and your budget is already determined), you can start booking any external staff (such as caterers) you need immediately.
Create a Master Event Plan
Once you have a good idea of all the costs and timeline associated with your event, it's time to start the real plan! Creating a master plan for your event will allow you to ensure every aspect stays on track, as well as facilitate coordination with volunteers and event committee members.
Your master event plan should include all aspects of the event, including:
Venue Management, Logistics, and Catering (contracts, permits, insurance, etc.)
Speakers and Presenters (identification, confirmation, logistics, and management)
Activities and Entertainment
Publicity and Promotion (online and offline, such as webpage and online promotion; printed programs; media relations; signage; social media, etc.)
Registration (online sign-up and payment, tracking; on-site check-in, etc.)
Sponsor and Partner Management
Volunteer Management and Responsibilities
While planning your event, also consider creating a detailed timeline, so everything runs smoothly. Include when any permits or insurance documents need to be submitted, when registration ends, and a detailed schedule for the day.
Finally, if you or your organization have run previous events of the same type, reviewing any existing documentation at this stage can help you ensure nothing is missed.
Book Your Venue
Once the date is finalized, it is important to book your venue as early as possible. Your event must have a date and venue before you can start announcing it, so this task should be completed as early in the planning period as possible.
Brand Your Event
If you want your event to stand out, you need to choose a compelling and timely theme that sets you apart from your competitors. This means you need to come up with a dynamic overall theme and pay attention to the actual name, as it can be a major attention-grabber, especially in online media.
Brainstorming
When brainstorming the event name, think about:
How is your event different from other events in your sector?
What do you hope to convey through this event?
What are the key components of your event?
Create a tagline: Once you come up with a name, also try to craft a slogan - a short, memorable brand line that describes the event.
Design a Logo: The final step will be creating a logo to represent your event. A logo can be an effective branding tool - providing instant recognition of your event across all publicity and promotional items (such as t-shirts, water bottles, bags, and more).
Once you have your name and logo, use them in all your marketing materials so that people unfamiliar with your organization start to recognize your brand.
In addition to creating an event name and logo, create a hashtag for all your marketing materials and for attendees to use when talking about your event on social media. The shorter the better, but it should also be unique.
During the event, assign someone to monitor live posts using the hashtag: "Like" Facebook posts, "Retweet" tweets, etc., to amplify the buzz as the event happens.
After the event, you can search each individual social media platform for posts containing your hashtag to get an excellent post-event report.
Identify and Establish Partnerships and Sponsors
Are there organizations you can partner with or seek sponsorship from to cover costs and increase potential participation? Additionally, when you involve other people or groups in your event, they have a stake in helping spread the word and making the event a success - the more the merrier, right?
You might want to consider:
Seeking corporate sponsors to fund part of the event, as well as local businesses that might be able to provide goods or services, such as flowers for tables, gift bag items, etc.
Partnering with community organizations that might be able to provide a venue or help organize or staff an event.
If you are looking for companies to sponsor your event, keep in mind that they will be more likely to do so if they can see a clear benefit for themselves. If you have past sponsors willing to speak on your behalf, that's much better - but if not, be prepared to craft a compelling case for support.
Create a Publicity Plan
Even with the most amazing speakers or entertainment lineup, you need publicity to get people through the door. Event promotion begins with the initial notice or page on your website, the note in your newsletter or save-the-date email, then online and offline publicity, media relations, and ongoing communication to encourage registration.
Some components you might want to include in your plan are:
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Webpage Announcement
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Social Media
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Email
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Press and Media Communications
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Printed Materials
Finally, no promotional plan is complete without a post-event thank you, sponsor acknowledgments, and articles about the event's key messages or fundraising success.
Hire a professional photographer to attend and photograph the event, making it very easy to send the event for publication. Plus, it's a great thank-you gift for attendees!