We all want a successful event. An event is mentioned many times on social media before it’s over. An event like this will spread information about your business, mission, or industry far beyond your immediate catchment area. That means it is really important to get every event right. Here are some of the checklist for event planning.
12 Weeks Before The Actual Event
- Sign a contract with your main act. Ask your main act for promotional materials, such as photos and biography. You also need to organize the arrival and accommodation.
- You need to sign sponsorship agreements with the sponsors. Let each sponsor give you a promotional material such as logos.
- Make the presenters clear. Take a look at your network again and identify potential presenters, speakers, and moderators. Ask about the interest and availability of the individual.
- Take care of the catering, the entertainment, traffic signposts and security. Contact your event producers and reserve your appointments.
- Obtain event permits and liability insurance. Contact local authorities if permits are required for food, music, outdoor advertising, road closures or police protection. Liability insurance covers personal injury and property damage as well as other incidents at the event.
- Take care of the branding of your event and create an attractive look for your event. This look should then run through your promotional material, event decoration and promotional gifts.
- Your online registration form should get straight to the point and answer any useful logistical questions about arrival times, dietary needs and T-shirt sizes.
- Promote the event by creating a web site or creating an event or social media page. Post updates on speakers and confirmations of attendance from prominent guests.
4 Weeks Before The Actual Event
- Sign the contracts with your presenters and event producers.
- Buy or rent the necessary equipment. Ask your vendors what you need to deploy. Contact the premises provider to find out what is available. Contact appropriate suppliers to buy or rent anything missing. Prepare giveaways and product samples for your event.
- Get the texts and contents of all speeches and presentations. Request a copy of the speeches and presentations of your main act and presenter. Make sure that all content is appropriate and revise it with the presenters if this is not the case.
- Make a plan B for either bad weather or low participation and create an event program and a script.
- Identify your staffing needs and send an open request to all volunteers. Find the perfect role for any volunteer by asking for skills and interests in an online volunteer registration form.
1 Week Before The Actual Event
- Send a package with the event program, menu, information about the presenters, the contact details of other participants, or other useful information to achieve the goals of the event. This is also a good time to ask the participants about their expectations. If there’s an app for your event, let’s know how to download the app.
- Contact relevant media organizations with a list of presenters of the event to assess interest. Then give the presenters interview opportunities. Prepare press passes. If possible, set up a place for interviews at the venue.
1 Day Before The Actual Event
- Make a paper and a digital copy of each speech and presentation. Most of the time, something goes wrong when there is a lot at stake.
- Prepare everything. Make sure that all equipment and also the promotional gifts are on site. Build registration spaces, tables, chairs and stages.
- Instruct the volunteers. Assign responsibilities to the volunteers and assign them to small instruction-bound groups, each led by a member of your event team.
- Contact the media. Confirm the participation of the individual media organizations.
On The Day Of The Event
- Capture feedback in real time. Send feedback forms about the event during the program breaks . These surveys measure the success of the event in real time and give you the chance to take care of wishes and problems as soon as they occur.