What is event planning?
Event planning is the process of effectively managing and executing social or business events, such as conferences, festivals, weddings, and more. Event planners create a unique and memorable experience for event attendees. They are responsible for all aspects of the event, from budgeting and scheduling to selecting the venue and promoting the event.
Importance of Event Planning
- Budget and Time Management: Event planning assists in properly managing time and money. A detailed event plan lets you identify all event costs and resources. Organisers can prevent overspending by planning ahead and budgeting carefully. Creating an event timeline allows you to list all the duties and split them down into smaller, more manageable phases.
- Improves the Attendee Experience: A well-planned event makes attendees feel pleased, engaged, and educated. It is important to build relationships and loyalty with your target audience. If your event goes well, there is a greater possibility that attendees will attend your future events and also recommend them to others.
- Better Quality Event: A checklist helps you plan a better-quality event. It ensures that all the necessary details are taken care of. Overall, utilising an event planning checklist can save time and stress, improve communication, and reduce the risk of errors.
- Achieve Event Goals: Event planning helps you generate leads, promote a product, and increase brand awareness. By carefully organising and analysing your event results, you can understand what worked well and what needs to be improved for future events.
A Detailed Event Planning Checklist
3 Months Before the Event
- Define Event Objectives: Define the goals and objectives of your event. First, identify the purpose of your event and target audience, then create a list of prospective event objectives. These objectives will assist you in making strategies for the event that will contribute to its success. Here are a few examples of event goals:
- To increase brand awareness among potential customers.
- To generate leads for your sales team.
- To educate customers about your products or services.
- To launch a new product or service.
- To celebrate a company milestone.
- Set Event Budget: After determining the event objective, estimate your event expenses, as budgeting involves numerous costs, including:
- Venue rental
- Food and beverage
- Speaker fees
- Marketing and promotion
- Audio/visual equipment rental
- Decor
- Recruiting
- Other expenses
Do some research on event costs. This will give you a good understanding of the average cost for each expense. Eventually, create a budget spreadsheet to track your expenses.
- Select Event Date and Time: Select a date and time to maximise attendance and align with the event’s objectives. Consider your target audience’s most convenient days. For example, if you are targeting business professionals, you should avoid scheduling events on weekdays. Similarly, avoid scheduling your event on weekends and official holidays. Check if there are any other events happening on the same day. Your event category will determine its ideal time and day.
- Choose the event venue: Pre-book the event venue. Choose the venue based on the type of event. Prepare a list of your requirements. This will help you choose a venue that is appropriate for your event. Start researching venues once you decide your event budget, attendee size, and event type. Search online or contact a venue booking agent and plan to see the venue in person.
- Recruit Speakers and Performers: Select the best speaker and performer as per your event’s objective. Find speakers and entertainers who have previously performed at similar events and have different backgrounds and expertise. Once you select the speaker, let them know the date, time, and location of your event, as well as the specific topics you would like them to cover.
- Develop a marketing and promotion plan. Pick appropriate marketing channels to reach your target audience. Consider both online and offline channels such as social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and print advertising. Create a content calendar and marketing materials to promote your event, like landing pages, email campaigns, and press releases. Ensure your marketing materials are well-written and highlight the benefits of attending the event.
- Plan Event Agenda: A well-planned pre-event agenda helps to keep your event on track. It also makes the event look more organised and professional. List all the potential event topics and ensure your list starts with the most important topics. Overall, having an event agenda is an important part of planning a successful event.
- Book Vendors: Book vendors early to ensure a successful event, such as caterers, florists, photographers, videographers, and more. Before booking a vendor, get recommendations from family members, colleagues, and other event planners. Make a list of potential vendors and research them carefully. Look at their websites, social media pages, and online reviews to understand more about their service. After that, contact vendors and schedule a meeting with them to discuss your needs. Lastly, select the most appropriate vendor. Once you book your vendor, get everything in writing. This will protect you in the event of any disputes.
1 month before the event
- Send out Event Invitations: Make sure you have a complete and accurate list of all the people you want to invite to your event. After that, create well-designed and professional-looking invitations. Add all important details about your event, such as the date, time, location, dress code, etc. Once everything is finalized, send invitations to a list of individuals.
- Finalise Event Agenda: Finalise your event agenda 1 month in advance. Decide the length of each topic so that you can finish all of them on time. Allocate time for Q&A, networking, and interaction. Between the events, take a break to enjoy a cup of tea or have a meal. Once you finalize the agenda, create a draft schedule and share it with your team, speakers, sponsors, and other stakeholders.
- Have a Backup Plan: Keep an alternate venue in case of any unexpected issues with the primary location, such as maintenance, double bookings, or emergencies. Also, have backup equipment or technicians on standby to avoid technical glitches. Make sure that your team is involved in planning and executing the event. There are various other things for which you can create a backup plan, such as a backup speaker, an internet connection, and a communication system.
1 day before the event
- Send out final reminders to attendees: It is a good idea to send out a reminder 1-2 days before the event. You can do this via email. Write a short, friendly email that goes over the important event details. Include a brief overview of the event agenda and highlight any notable activities—express excitement about their attendance. Most importantly, personalise your reminders by adding the attendee’s name, your website link, and a Google map to the event location.
- Prepare Event Materials: Identify your event materials needs, such as badges, programmes, brochures, presentation slides, signage, and more. Make a complete list of all the materials, and make sure the content and layout of each one fit with the event’s theme and goals. Double-check that all necessary materials are ready to enhance the event’s overall experience.
- Test the Audio/Visual Equipment: It is essential to test the audio and video equipment before an event to ensure everything goes smoothly. Test microphones, speakers, projectors, screens, and any other audio or visual components to ensure they function correctly. Check for sound clarity, brightness, and visibility from different parts of the venue. Check your presentation slides or videos to make sure they run smoothly.
- Final Team Briefing: Take the final team briefing one or two days before the event. At this meeting, discuss the event’s objectives, expectations, roles, and responsibilities with your team members. A well-executed final team meeting will build confidence in team members, resulting in a smooth and successful event.
Day of the Event
- Arrive Early to Set Up: Arrive early to the meeting event to check the setup, like lighting, sound system, and other equipment. Make sure that all of the food and drinks are prepared. Also, verify that the event space is arranged in a manner that is suitable for your event. This includes setting up the stage, seating, and additional fixtures.
- Welcome Attendees: Prepare a welcome speech to create a warm atmosphere at the event. This will make attendees feel comfortable and honored. Practice the welcome speech in advance so that you can deliver it confidently in front of all participants.
- Monitor the Event: Use tracking tools to monitor your event in real-time. It will assist you in tracking attendance, engagement, and other metrics, which will contribute to event success. There are several ways to monitor events, such as
- Registration Software: This will allow you to track attendee registrations, manage guest lists, and collect data about participants.
- Video and Audio Analytics: Record event sessions or presentations and analyze video views and audience engagement to determine which content engages the most with attendees.
- Badge Scanners: Use badge scanning devices to capture attendee information like their names, job profiles, and company details.
After the event
- Thank Attendees: Send a thank-you email to your attendees. In a thank-you email, briefly summarise the key takeaways, highlights, and impact of the event. If possible, personalize your thank-you message for each attendee and include a call to action. For example, invite them to follow you on social media, sign up for your newsletter, or leave a review of the event. You can also share photos and videos from the event on social media and tag your attendees. This is a fantastic way to show your appreciation for their participation.
- Collect Feedback: Gather feedback from attendees regarding the overall performance of the event. Create a feedback form that is simple and short. In a feedback form, make sure to include questions about specific aspects of the event, such as the speakers, the content, and the networking opportunities. Prepare a feedback form prior to the event so that you can send it promptly after the event.
- Analyse Event Results: Depending on the goals and objectives of the event, you can track specific KPIs, such as the number of leads generated, the number of products sold, and more. Track all the expenses associated with your event, such as venue costs, food and beverage costs, and speaker fees. This information will help you make adjustments to your budget for future events. Plus, look at attendee feedback, surveys, and post-event comments to understand the participant’s experience and areas for improvement.
Additional Steps to Perform After the Event
- Share Event Highlights on Social Media: Share your event’s photos, videos, and engaging moments on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Use relevant hashtags that are related to your event, industry, and target audience. Also, write an engaging and attention-grabbing caption. This way, you can extend the event’s reach to a wider audience. Following that, encourage attendees to share their posts and leave comments. It will help improve the event’s impact on social media platforms.
- Write a Blog Post about the Event: Writing a blog post about a recent event gives you current, relevant, and shareable content that engages your audience and improves your online visibility. In this blog post, share key takeaways and topics that were discussed at the event. Start your blog post with a catchy introduction to grab the reader’s attention. Add images and videos to your blog post. It will make your blog post more visually appealing and engaging. Furthermore, publish your blog post on the website and promote it on social media.
What is a virtual event?
Virtual events take place online. This may be done via numerous means, which include staying streaming the occasion, gambling a recorded video presentation that may be regarded each time a player needs it, or maybe via audio calls. The fundamental distinction between making plans for a digital occasion and a conventional occasion is that digital occasions widen the internet for audio systems and attendees. However, digital occasions require making plans simply for the old-style variety.
Types of Virtual Events
There are many specific sorts of virtual events, making plans with a view to ensuring that they’re fulfilling the needs of the attendees and making them all involved.
- Webinars
A webinar is often a one-off occasion used to offer instructional or promotional content. It’s supplied in actual time, even though it is additionally recorded so attendees can view it later. After the presentation, there’s a typical room allotted for a question-and-answer round. - Virtual Team-Building Events
A digital group-constructing occasion may be part of a bigger company occasion. It’s not distinct from group construction in person; besides, it happens online. The sports may be the same, which include icebreakers, organization health, etc. On some occasions, it will need to be retooled to be able to paint online. However, the purpose of constructing this is for more potent bonds among groups, between employees, or among the attendees joining the event.
- Virtual Conferences
As the call implies, this convention is online. It’s typically a real-time occasion that draws attendees of comparable interests, whether or not that’s associated with commercial enterprise or a few forms of hobby. They can consist of panel discussions, keynote speakers, online seller cubicles, or even digital cocktail hours.
- Virtual corporate events
Similar to a digital convention, digital company activities are extra focused. Attendees are all part of the larger corporation; however, the occasion itself can be for quite a few reasons. It can be an all-palms assembly or retreat, a wine-tasting occasion, another variety of commercial enterprises, or extra informal gatherings. - Virtual Social Events
Getting together and being true to each other has additionally gained in popularity. Many households that unfold geographically can reunite online; marriage events can consist of folks who can’t physically make it to the marriage; and pals who’re now not in the same locality can get together for a drink and catch up. - Virtual Hiring Events
One of the more revolutionary ways to apply digital technology is as a hiring platform. A digital hiring occasion gives personnel the possibility to interview applicants for open positions. As extra agencies are open to far-off jobs, digital hiring permits them to search for skills from throughout the globe in preference to simply commuting distance.
Online Event Planning Checklist
- Understand the Audience
Mapping out your online convention is just like making plans for an in-person or womanly occasion. It might be fine to have your target market’s questions in mind to set up a robust basis for a hit. Defining your target market will help you align your desires with their interests. The right knowledge of your target market will help you create an occasion that provides value. Besides, you may map out their attendee adventure and generate greater leads at every stage. - Create valuable content.
Your attendees are streaming your online event to examine knowledge. Therefore, choose a stellar subject matter and discover a pleasant keynote speaker. Avoid indistinct or huge issues; instead, recognize the importance of honing a selected discipline when you consider that digital events depend on consumable and entertaining content. In that manner, you need to discover precise angles on your subject matter to keep your target market involved as much as possible. - Choose your conference format.
What kind of occasion are you hosting? There are numerous virtual events, and you can take a look at your preferred formats. Some convention planners integrate greater systems to keep the target market engaged. However, the first-class choice might be a layout that resonates with your target market. Here are a few important things to take note of:
– Single keynote speaker: One presenter stocks a subject with the target market.
– Dual Speakers: Two audio systems entice the digital attendees with distinct views of the topic.
– Panel: Host a hybrid event with a set of professionals discussing a specific topic.
– Q&A: A panel of professionals or a speaker answers questions from the target market.
– Interview: Host an interview with an enterprise influencer. - MARKET THE EVENT
The attendance fee for your convention is predicated on your advertising strategies. If your advertising is right, your target market will flock to your stay-movement session. How do you sell your occasion? Begin with growing a convention internet site and occasion app committed to your occasion. Alternatively, you may create a touchdown web page optimized for search engines like Google and Yahoo to assist your attendees in locating the occasion. Social media is likewise critical in drawing a target market to the occasion. Therefore, you need to create a buzz on LinkedIn and a hashtag on Twitter to raise awareness. Email invites can also give attendees a nudge to sign up for your convention. - ORGANIZE YOUR TEAM AND ESTABLISH A BUDGET
Virtual activities have many shifting components and require a group to address all of the details. For an unforgettable digital experience, collect a collection of assembly planners that will help you with convention control. Assign character responsibilities to every group member to ensure accountability. You additionally want an occasion price range to make sure exquisite thoughts no longer fall to the wayside. If your group no longer takes into account the price range at some point in online convention planning, the occasion might also come to a grinding halt while you run out of funds. Some important fees to consist of are occasion control software, technical support, and advertising fees. Having an expected expenditure can even help in decision-making. - Pick the event date and time.
Unless it’s a customary convention with a pre-set date, a number of attempts are going into selecting the occasion day. You cannot pick a random day on your calendar and connect it to the occasion. Before toning up the date and time, you have to keep in mind the time you want to make plans. Besides, your online convention needs to coincide with any statutory and nonsecular holidays. Study the demographics of your target market, like faith and nationality, to decide on availability. The daily sports of your target market are also a factor. If they paint some point in the week, it might be first-class to host the convention closer to the end of the week. Also, maintain time zones for your online occasion, making a tick list in case you host a global occasion. However, you need to beat yourself up in case you no longer discover a suitable time for everyone. Instead, you may add the recorded consultation at the convention internet site after the stay stream. - Choose a A SUITABLE and tools.
Before you attend a conference, you have to select a live-streaming platform. With the numerous streaming systems available, locating the perfect one for your event may need to be clarified. While most have the same simple functions, a few systems are appropriate for massive conferences, while others are pleasant for smaller meetings.Emphasize the inclusivity of the platform for all participants. It ought to additionally help with chat, stay polls, Q&A, and importing slides and pre-recorded content material in the course of a presentation. Check out the functions and use the free trial to verify if it is great for your conference. A dry run earlier than the occasion will assist you in double-testing the promptness of technical help and familiarizing yourself with the system. You ought to even have a plan to cope with technical problems and connection issues. Troubleshoot technical troubles in the course of the exercise consultation and feature tech help in case of glitches.
- Have a A FOLLOW-UP after the conference.
Follow-up is an important part of each occasion ticklist. You will acquire beneficial remarks and keep your target market for future conferences. An awesome way to get remarks is to send thanks in electronic mail or a post-occasion survey to attendees. You can also ship some highlights to folks who couldn’t attend to generate a touch of FOMO and create a hobby on your subsequent occasion. - PLAN ATTENDEE ENGAGEMENT ACTIVIES DURING THE EVENT
Audience engagement is an uphill venture for occasion organizers, particularly in online meetings in which an attendee logs out in the event that they lose interest. Therefore, you must be clean in the sports you want to have interaction with your audience. You can make use of Q&A sessions, gamification, and live polls to plan engaging activities and provide attendees with a memorable stay-movement experience. - REGISTER PARTICIPANTS
An excellent ticketing gadget is essential to your online occasion-making checklist. Even if you aren’t promoting tickets for the conference, you want a software program to control attendees and event registration information. The target market information is treasured for making plans for your subsequent occasion and customizing the net dialogue for every attendee.
Checklist in Different Stages
During the virtual event
- Engage digital occasion attendees
With or without a cell occasion app, interact with attendees at some stage in classes via stay polling, Q&A, gamification, and social media. Make positive attendees have a manner to interact with the content material and each other. - Capture attendee statistics.
Using digital occasion technology, seize engagement fees inclusive of consultation attendance, how long attendees interact in classes, and more. Attendee statistics permit you to construct strong attendee profiles to become aware of leads for sales. - Facilitate networking and one-on-one appointments.
Depending on the period and scope of your event, you’ll need to offer possibilities for attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors to interact. Fostering one-to-one appointments, breakouts, and networking sessions
After the virtual event
Send a comment survey.
Your comment survey will let you determine your success. Send attendees a comments survey that isn’t too tiresome to fill out quickly after the occasion to make sure you get dependable records.
Analyze the records from the digital occasion.
Using the digital occasion dreams as a guide, sift through the records to see how nicely your occasion is stacked against the dreams you set from the start.
Present the consequences of the occasion to key stakeholders.
No occasion is complete until you gift its successes and what has probably progressed to stakeholders. Using the records captured and attendee testimonials, gift the consequences in a difficult-to-understand manner that speaks to the focuses of diverse stakeholders.
Conclusion:
Virtual activities are a tremendous way to attain a worldwide target market and offer treasured content. They are also more cost-effective and simpler to arrange than in-person or womanly activities. When making plans for a digital occasion, it’s critical to remember the target market, budget, format, platform, content, date and time, marketing, registration, attendee engagement, and follow-up plan.
By following those tips, you could create a hit digital occasion to be able to tell and have interaction with your attendees.
FAQ
Defining objectives, setting a budget, selecting a venue, preparing logistics, marketing, registration, communicating with vendors, and executing the event are all crucial steps in event planning.
Examine the event size, location, accessibility, budget, and the facilities the venue offers. Check out the place in person to make sure it fits the needs of your event.
