So you want to organize an event. You have a reason, enthusiasm and a team…right?! That should be a recipe for what a great event should have, correct?! Actually, that is only the starting point. The very beginning of a starting point. If this were a race, you are just tying your shoes at this point and have not even walked to the starters block. How can you ensure that your event is going to be successful? There are a number of steps and things that need to be taken into consideration. I have been fortunate to have put on hundreds of events and the skills have emerged over time. At one time, I had to put together 20 events in 32 days…from scratch and a short timeline. It all worked out and one can collapse afterwards. Here are 11 practical tips to share:
1) Good intentions – It is great that you have the interest and intention to do an event. This is the most important part because you need to sell your event to others and if you are wanting to do it because you have a cause or reason, then others will follow you. Know what the end goal is in terms of what you would like to accomplish and then fill in the spaces as you go along. Your passion for the event has to be a constant through out and there will be times it is challenged but keep your eye on the end goal.
2) You need a plan – Start a simple document at the outset with key points and ideas and then add to them as you move forward. Be sure to have a ‘to do’ list as well so you know who is responsible for what. The plan will change over time so be sure to be open to that and create it in such a way that it is easy to shift, pivot and change. The plan needs to be included throughout the life of your event. Include things like: venue; catering; ticketing; volunteers and aspects like that.
3) What is your theme – As you build the foundation of your event, what is the reason people would come to the event? How are you different than the hundreds of events out there? You need to create something that is appealing and different to attract the audience. It is challenging to create something for everyone but who is your audience? If they are youth, they are likely not going to pay a huge amount. If your event is for professionals, they are giving up valuable time to attend so what are you offering them?
4) Build a team – You can not do this on your own. There needs to be a team of people around you to help along the way. The challenge is to find the right people. Often times friends will say that it is a great idea and I want to be a part of it but what happens is people have great intentions but their interest dissipates and you are left doing majority of their work. You may have an amazing vision but it might be secondary to those around you. You, or a couple of you, are in charge; however, duties need to be allocated and assigned. You need movers and shakers. The type of people who you do not have to manage. These are the people who will know their tasks and deliver. Find them and keep them. For those with great intention but delivery issues, keep them but put them at the implementation phase where they can take on roles and duties that need to be done as you near your big day.
5) Set a budget (a) – You need a budget. It is so important to see what the venue, catering and costs are and balance it against revenue from sponsorship and ticket sales. Keep your budget on the conservative side so that it is more realistic. You would be amazed at how unexpected costs can rise very quickly. There are base costs and then there are the secondary costs such as using a projector, AV equipment etc. What ever the capacity of your venue and your idea of tickets sales, understand that you are looking for maximum capacity…but what if ticket sales are not where they should be?
6) Set a budget (b) – Drop dead date – So you are gearing up for the event and costs are rising and tickets sales are not there. Confirm with the venue and caterers what is your drop dead date. A drop dead date is the point where you can pull the plug on the event and there is no cost to you from the venue or the caterer. What is important is you know what that is and do not pass it if you have to cancel the event. Don’t be afraid to cancel it because the opposite situation is that you run a deficit and all of a sudden you are forking money out of your own pocket. There is no shame in having to cancel and event. If people ask, just say that you are postponing it only and it is not cancelled.
7) Find the venue – Considerable thought needs to be taken into place when it comes to deciding where to hold your event. Is it near transit, is there ample parking, what are the hidden costs, am I allowed to bring in my own catering and so on. These are just some of the questions to keep in mind. Hotels are very expensive. It creates an element of elegance for your event; however, be prepared for a very high cost and if you then have to raise your ticket prices, how will that impact the number of attendees? Community centres, libraries and other venues are available but they need to be researched. There are always some very interesting and cool places to do an event so search them out.
8) Sponsorship – To supplement ticket sales, you may decide to seek out organizations and people as sponsors to your event. The benefit is that it adds to the revenue side but sponsorship is a challenge because so many companies are out there being asked about donating to their cause or to support an event. By building strong community relationships, you might be fortunate enough to get the buy in. You can not create a beautiful sponsorship package and send it out and hope for the money to come in. Unfortunately, it is more challenging than that. By creating those important relationships, they will look at your package in more detail. Another approach is to create smaller requests that are affordable for the smaller business that are looking for exposure. You have to sell any sponsor on why your event is worth attending. What are you offering your sponsors in return for their generous contribution? All of this needs to be incorporated into a sponsorship package.
9) Additional sources of revenue – I mentioned ticket sales and that is probably the most likely source of revenue for your event. Be sure that ticket sales are reasonable for what you are providing as an event. You do not want to have a high price to try and raise funds because you just might push yourself out of having a good sized crowd attend. Also remember that people are always last minute to register. Many times they will say that they are attending but forget to register so keep on them. There are also ticketing sites that are in place to make your life much easier. Eventbrite and Picatic are two systems and they make your life so much easier. What is great about these ticketing sites is that they will organize and create lists for you and you can see how much revenue you have accumulated. They will charge a small service fee for the use of their product so be sure to incorporate that into your ticket sales. Be sure to also realize that if you use a credit card system, there is also a service charge and you can choose to either incorporate it into your ticket price or not. To supplement ticket sales, there are a number of crowd sourcing avenues such as Indigogo and Kickstarter to name a couple. What is imperative is that you have to push these out because it needs to make it to main stream. Family and friends will support you but that might not be enough so reach out using social media and try to get buy in from influential people.
10) Document everything! – Note the exclamation mark. You have to ask yourself if this event is a one off or something you will do again. Documentation will help you record everything so that if you decide to do another event, you will use less time and resources. Even if you decide to do a different type of event, the basic information will help you out. There are a few systems in place to help you organize your thoughts.
11) Have fun and enjoy - Be sure not to forget that it is something you want to do. Have fun. Yes there are tremendous responsibilities and work ahead but most importantly is that you must keep it fun and engaging. The day of the event is the most intense but keep that spirit active and don’t make it a task. At the end of it all you will be able to sit back and appreciate what you have created.
Please share other tips known to you in the comment section.
KINGSMITH.
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