In the world of event planning, things can, and often do, go wrong, even for the most seasoned of planners. It’s just the nature of the business where you’re dealing with so many factors and things are constantly changing. As you can probably guess (or may have experienced first hand) planning a party can create some stressful times. This doesn’t have to be the norm however, and there are several steps you can take to minimize the amount of stress that comes with corporate event panning.
Whether you are a professional event planner or you were given the task of planning an event for your business for the first time, it’s always good to know how to cope in stressful situations. Or better yet, how to prevent them from happening in the first place. Here are a few tips to help you take some of the stress out of planning your big event with careful organization, clear communication, and teamwork with you and your vendors.
Start with a Clear Concept
Any event starts with an idea, and from there you can begin to conceptualize and plan out exactly how you want your event to look like, feel like, and even sound like. This can involve picking a themeor choosing other important details likethe perfect venue, food, music, and decor.
Starting with a solid concept from the beginning means that you can clearly communicate your vision and your goals to the people and suppliers you’re working with, and this ensures that all parties are on the same page from the very beginningand that nothing gets lost in translation between you, the planning team, and vendors.
Don’t Neglect the Budget
Ask any couple about their biggest stresses in life and most will probably tell you it’s budgeting. The same is true forcorporate event planning. Every event has a budget and even those working with huge ones can still find that they’re stretching those dollars and stressing about overall cost.
So, before you start getting knee-deep in your planning, it’s important to confirm and create your event budget. Break your budget down into categories such as catering, rentals, venue, staffing, entertainment, and miscellaneous so you know what can be spent for each area. As you continue the planning process, check back to your budget often to ensure you’re on track and can make adjustments if necessary. Having a little wiggle room in your budget just means less stress for you come report time, and although you have planned efficiently, things tend to pop up and they can eat into your budget. Contingency plans are essential.
Avoid Communication Breakdown
In corporate event planning you’ll always be working with many outside vendors and contacts, so you’ll have a lot of people to talk to. Once you’ve signed those contracts with all your vendors, you’ll want to keep communication flowing between you. Long drops in communication could mean that once you get back in touch, you may find that things aren’t occurring as they were supposed to, which could cause unnecessary stress.
Keeping the communication flowing ensures that everything is clear and agreed up, and no one is going to be surprised with new details come the day of your event.Keeping detailed notes or email threads to reference later is essential.
Make Use of a Timeline
Most of the major stresses in corporate event planning happen because of tight timelines or last-minute issues when the crunch is on. To help minimize this as much as possible, it’s a good idea to plan a pre-event timelineof when everything must be completed by, paid for, signed, and.This can break down what tasks need to be completed by what deadlines (e.g. menus picked, deposits paid, etc.).
In addition, consider creating a day-of timeline for your event, often called a “run-down.” This document is your bible come event day and will have all of the important details mapped out with times to help keep you on schedule and ensure things run smoothly.Trust yourself or a second in command to keep to the rundown to keep the team on track.
