New year, new resolutions. We don’t always keep them, but they are here to help us get a good start and remind us of areas of improvements as well as good practices… Here are the good resolutions of the event planner to prepare for the year in the best conditions.
1. Stick to your plan
It may be the ultimate resolution – one that is never completely kept despite all possible efforts! Organising an event is always filled with unexpected circumstances and setbacks. It is therefore essential to make a detailed plan in order to give yourself the best chances to stick to it, to prepare and spread out the workload, to anticipate major concerns, to prioritise and to delegate certain tasks.
2. Check out what others do
When thinking about your event, it’s important to check out what’s happening elsewhere, around you. Partly not to repeat what has already been done (and did not work) but also to understand how you can stand out, what were the experiences the attendees liked, and draw both good and poor practices. It is also an opportunity to find new service providers or creative ideas.
3. Delegate and manage your team well
Managing a team is not always easy, this is true whether you are dealing with 2 people or 20. Add the unavoidable time constraints pervasive to the event industry, and you really need to know you can rely on your people and trust them. Once you have allocated tasks, it is important to follow-up and have a strong communication to ensure the smooth running of your event while giving the necessary independence to each person so that they can fulfil their role.
4. Know how to take the time, even under pressure
In the rush of the organisation, especially a few weeks before the event it is important to take time to breathe. This allows you to take a step back and see things clearly, to make the right decisions and know how to bounce back (we’re talking about it below). And quite simply, it will prevent tensions in the team, with your service providers, or guests on D-Day.
5. Sell your tickets yourself!
(Re)gain control of your event and choose to use an online ticketing solution for your event. Integrate it to your website or use a mini-site to collect data about your audience, create your custom forms and many other features!
6. (Really) Know your audience
Get to know your audience by collecting the data that interests you. Who are they? Where do they come from? How did they hear about your event? Etc. This information will allow you to adjust your event so that it meets their expectations and surprises them. Analysing some of the data, you’ll be able to know where to focus your efforts and investments, which communications channels work best, what messages are most appealing, …
7. Build loyalty
Once the data is collected, you’ll have a better understanding of your attendees so you can reach them using the right message, the right tone of voice. Retain your participants by keeping in touch with them, have them be part of the event by offering them an unexpected and successful experience and asking for their opinion. Create a mailing campaign with a satisfaction survey, encourage them to share their comments on social media and their experience during the event! This allows you to have content from them and good visibility.
8. Know how to bounce back on the day and be flexible
Always think about plan B and even plans C and D, it allows you to keep your cool and anticipate problems to avoid stress and tensions before and during your event. Organising an event requires a lot of foresight and the ability to adapt to any situation. This job is full of surprises and will require thinking on your feet, great organisation skills and an A-team on which to rely.
9. Congratulate yourselves!
We sometimes forget, once the stress has subsided and the event is over, to congratulate ourselves and take the time to gather together to celebrate the success of the event. Planning an event can only be done with the help of a team, service providers and partners, loved ones … it is important to thank and congratulate everyone who helped make your event a success. At the end of your event or a few days later take the time to thank, write a thank-you note, go for a drink or gather together to thank all those who contributed to the organisation and supported you.
We will not end on a round number on principle! It’s up to you now to continue this list, to keep only the areas on which you must work, those you should pay more attention to. The purpose of good resolutions is to guide us all towards improvement however small.
This makes you want to organise an event? Start right now:
