How Do I
Plan an Event?

First things first, ask yourself these questions…

 
 

What is the events, or what is the event you want to organise?

 

This may sounds like an obvious question but sometimes especially if this is a new idea for an event you might not have the complete idea of what the event should be, before you can really start planning you need to have a clear picture of the type of event before you go forward.

 

 How much budget is there to spend on the event?

 

 You may need to do some research before answering this to make sure you are aware of venue costs and suppliers costs. Venue costs will generally be the bigger expense on an event, how much budget you have will dictate what venue you use.

 

Do you need to make revenue from this event to cover costs and potentially make a profit?

 

If you do then you need to look at how much revenue you can realistically get from sales on the event, you may need to do some market research to see what similar events charge 

 

Once you have answered these initial questions, then you can start thinking about planning the event

 

  • Create a Budget,  Typically budgets will be created using a spreadsheet, an event budget includes the costs of the event from the venue and other suppliers, budgets need to include all costs for the event however small.
  • Consider the Costs, How much do you want to, or are able to spend on each item for the event.
  • Revenue, How much revenue do you want to gather from sales of the event, how much can you realistically charge, you may need to do some market research for this if you aren’t already familiar with the industry.
  • Create a Project plan, In a project plan you can outline when you need to confirm or book each task, any deadlines you have for fulfilling the event from suppliers or event sales, along with all other tasks including communications for the event.
  • Supplier deadlines, Ensure all deadlines however small are included in the project plan, some suppliers may require more time to to deliver items for the event and make sure you note down any potential delays enabling you to plan ahead for this.
  • Marketing, what type of marketing are you going to do for the event and who you are marketing this event too, if this is a small invite only event then this would be to your specific guests, if you are promoting this event further afield then you need to look at how you will do this and what channels will be most effective for you to reach your potential audience.
  • Who’s doing which tasks, make sure you know who will be carrying out which tasks for the event and that they understand their role.

Remember to highlight when there are several deadlines colliding and ensure you get support at this time, if you plan ahead when you know you will be busy it makes it a lot easier to handle any other last minute request that may come up.

Think about when you need to communicate to not just the people involved with the event but also the attendees so they have all the information they need at the right time.