Event Planning Guide: How to Organise an Impactful Event

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Introduction

When it comes to an important event, whether it is a personal one or a business event, you want it to go off without a hitch. You want your guests to have a great time, but you also want to make sure that you stay within budget and get everything done in the process.

In this article, we will go through ways and tips that you can make sure that your event goes off smoothly and that you enjoy yourself at the same time.

1. Proper Planning is Essential

Whether it is the color of the tablecloths, or the number of ushers you are going to need, you need to plan everything down to the last detail. Where will everyone sit? How will they get to the venue? How early will you be able to go in and decorate it?

Sit down and walk yourself through the event in your mind’s eye as if you were a guest
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Are there any potential problem areas or spaces for confusion to set in? For example, as a host, putting name cards on the table is a great way to keep organized and everyone will know where they are sitting.

And it is a great idea. But how do the guests know what table they are sitting at? When there are only four or five tables, that’s not such a big deal. When there are a hundred tables, finding your name card without a seating chart is going to be a lot more difficult.

Get as much settled before the time as you can so that you are less stressed out in a day or two leading up the event.

It’s also a good idea to have a contingency plan in place – Like, what happens if the weather is bad and you are having an outside event? Is there somewhere that your guests can shelter? Do you need to call the whole thing off? Work through some of those worst-case scenarios in your mind – at worst, you will be prepared if something does go wrong. At best, you’ll just have spent a bit of time worrying about nothing.

2. Choose Your Suppliers Carefully

There is nothing worse than hiring a supplier and then finding out that they are going to let you down on the day. Get recommendations about which suppliers to use from people you trust and people who have dealt with them before.

This is somewhere that you want to be careful not just to go with the very cheapest option – you want a mix of value and service.

1) Is it possible to test them out?
2) Is it possible to speak to people they have dealt with in the past?
3) Can you find reviews of their service online?

3. Set a Realistic Budget and Stick to It

One of the biggest mistakes people make when planning an event is not setting a realistic budget. It can be tough to do this, especially if it is something out of the ordinary for you. A good way to start is to do a lot of research – What is it going to cost to feed everyone? What are your major expenses likely to be?

From there, you need to break down your budget into sections like decorations, food, drink, etc. That will make it harder for you to blow your whole budget before you have gotten through half the list.

You will need, however, to be pretty disciplined and be willing to put in extra effort when it comes to finding out how to allocate your budget. Do you have the discipline to stop spending when the budget is exhausted?

How will you deal with those nice sales people that are trying to convince you to spend more?

4. Put the Focus Where it Needs to Be

When you are getting caught up in the excitement of planning for an event, it is easy to lose sight of what is really important. Your guests are what is most important here. After all, without them there really would not be an event to begin with.

Plan with your guests in mind – Are those centerpieces that you love going to get in the way of the guests talking to one another? How much do you have to do while the event is running? Are you going to have time to spend with your guests or are you going to have to run around making sure that the program runs correctly?

5. Realizing When You Need Help

Running an event should be looked on as a marathon, not a sprint. The event itself is only a small part of the work involved and, while you might shine when it comes to taking part in an event, you might battle when it comes to actually organizing one.

The key to planning the event of the century is in realizing that you may need help. The more important the event is, and the more inexperienced you are, the higher the chances are that you are going to need help.

An event planner may be just the person to help you.

How Can an Event Planner Help You?

They do all the legwork for you – you get to sit back and relax and let them worry about the niggling little details. That means more time and less stress for you.

They know all the right people – having an event planner is having an insider in the industry. They know which suppliers are reliable and which are not. They have built up relationships with the suppliers that they can use to their full advantage.

As mentioned before, setting a realistic budget is extremely important. If you don’t know what you can expect to pay, however, it is also quite difficult. An experienced event planner will be able to look at your proposed budget and let you know whether or not it is realistic. They will agree on the budget with you and will show you options that won’t blow your budget. This means that there won’t be budget overruns and you will never feel as though you are missing out on something that would have been better.

They can lend you their experience – they know the venues, the suppliers, what decorations could work, color schemes and a range of other things that you might never have thought of. They understand the importance of contingency plans and will know who to call if your band doesn’t pitch up at your wedding reception.

They can be there on the actual day to make sure that everything moves flawlessly leaving you to mingle with your guests and enjoy the show as much as they have.

When it comes to throwing the event of the century, it isn’t rocket science – you need to plan each detail out with precision and need to ensure that there are contingency plans in place. Creating a realistic budget and sticking to it will ensure that every stage of your planning gets the attention that it deserves.

You need to ensure that your plan is centered on what will work best for your guests and that sometimes this will mean that you don’t get everything you want. Small sacrifices will be worthwhile in the end because both you and your guests have a blast.

Finally, it is important to know when you need help and to admit it if you do. This could be in the form of an experienced event planner, or enlisting the aid of a trusted friend. The key, though, is to understand that you don’t have to do it all alone. You always have help available to you if you need it.