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Today’s blog is for everyone who may be wondering where do you even start planning an event, and how do you know if you need to hire an event planner. It is all about the amount of work and the budget you have for your event. Today we are sharing with you a simplified checklist we like to use to get organized and also give you an overall idea of all the decisions that go into planning an event.
Create a Timeline
This is the most important step to begin with because you have to give yourself time to create a budget and event and if you are not working with an event planner then you need time to obtain vendor quotes and comparisons as well as time to save money for your budget.
Date Time and Location
After your timeline is done and you have this trusty checklist for everything you need to get done you can plan and time and date that will allow for the majority of your target audience to be in attendance and find a location that will suit the needs and feel for your event.
Define Event Type
Is it a party, fundraiser, proposal, dinner
Define Event Goal
This is where you sit down and decide what do you want the out come of the event to be. This is an important step for any event because when you go to make your budget and you have to allocate more funds to an area you can decide which categories will best help you obtain your goal.
Define Event Objective
Having a goal is not the end but deciding how you are going to accomplish this goal is important, in life and events. Whether it is a proposal or friend trip it’s always great to have a plan on how to make sure that goal is met.
Audience
What type of crowd do you want at your event.
For those who are planning a birthday or even a proposal it may sound silly until its the day of the event and you forgot to tell your mother who has the rings that you are proposing in 5 mins. In all seriousness planning any event will have a ton of details and it’s easy to get lost in them.
Catering/ Food Budget
We go in depth next week about event budgeting but always make sure you take the time and sit down to set limits and make decisions about which items get priority in your budget. Do not let the enticement of a certain item shape your budget.
Decor Budget
Rental Budget
Pay deposits
This is a good thing to have on your checklist because it is seen so many times in event planning where a client comes to us because they lost a vendor of venue because they missed the deposit deadline and now did not know what to do because they are short on time.
Create an Event Design
This includes all of the technical designs such as room and event program layout. Themes, invites, rsvps, and other personal touches to the event.
Also creating a theme design early on after your budget is formed for this section is a great way to market your event if that is the purpose or simply to begin comparing quotes on different vendors.
Hire Entertainment and Finalize Guest Experiences
Something you can do to have your event over the top is to remember that even if its your baby shower you are inviting guests and you should plan something for them to enjoy and experience so they have a great time.
Create back-up plans
Event Planners like to joke that our jobs are to plan 2 or 3 events per client because we know that even though we hope nothing will go wrong something normally does and if you are planning an event alone to have backup plans and consider the possibility of what can go wrong.
Finalize Event day of Logistic Outlines
This is as important of a step as budgeting. You need to have a timeline for your vendors and their staff as well as for you guest and your knowledge. This should be done a week out from your event so you can send it to your vendors and outside sources that you are working with and they can confirm whether the time schedule works for them.
Event Follow Data Collection
For larger events that are more professional and you do not know the guests as well this is getting feedback and seeing what went well from the guest perspective and what could be changed
For a more intimate event it’s a way to connect and see if anything was left and needs to be returned or if anyone had any comments about the event
Most importantly this is you way to end the event on a positive note no matter what trans passed on that day. It is to thank the vendors and the guests for accomplishing the goal of the event.
We hope you enjoyed a look into a simple outline of the event planning process. If you or someone you know needs an event planner email us at events@lifessweetmoment.com We work with you to create a planning experience tailored to your event and financial requirements.
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