Whether you’re a student or a professional, managing an event from scratch can be one of the most daunting challenges you have to go through. It just seems that there’s so much to do and there’s never enough time. Also, you’re constantly nervous that something will go wrong.
But you know that QIU’s Tips and Tricks are here to help. We got the QIU Event Planning Club to tell us the best way to plan an event from start to finish. They make it sound so simple!
If you want to know more about the club, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages here.
Let’s get to the tips!
Plan early
Begin planning as soon as you possibly can. As the old saying goes ‘the early bird gets the worm’, and planning early is always the best thing to do.
By getting things laid out ahead of time, you avoid running out of time to plan and organise the event. You also have more time to adjust to changes in the plan.
Listen to Your Audience/Participants
An event is a success if your participants judge it to be a success. Understanding the participant experience is key to managing a great event. It’s basically feedback from your customer.
Focus on the participants as much as your duties allow and talk more with the people who will be making your event a success. This will clearly show you which parts need to be improved.
Remain Flexible
Here’s a hard truth. No matter how well you plan an event, interruptions and changes will happen. Most of the time you can’t control how it happens, but you can control how you react to it.
For an event to work out, you and your team have to be flexible. From the outset, think about potential changes or unpredictable factors that could happen. List down your ‘Plan B’ to cope with the challenges.
Some of these factors could include bad weather, technical problems, a guest pulling out at the last minute, or a change of venue. By having a backup plan, you’ll unquestionably feel less panicked and insecure about what you will be facing in the future.
If various issues emerge later on, sort them out and choose whether an option can be found, or if it ought to be cut completely from an event.
Assign Responsibilities
Separate the job scope into different departments, such as marketing and social media department, design and decoration, logistics, etc. Assign committee members into each department according to their strengths and talents.
Each department should be led by a head. This way, they will be more clued-in to the changes in their area.
Do a Rehearsal
Always plan to have one or more rehearsals before the event. No matter how much you plan on paper, there will be certain issues that you will only realise once you go through the actual flow of the event.
Your team will be able to get a grasp and identify the potential mistakes that could happen, as every person involved has the opportunity to go through the motions and make sure they are on the same page. After all, practice makes perfect.
Share Documents and Resources
Don’t be stingy to share documents and resources with your teammates. In order to keep everyone on the same page, create a central manual or document that details everything to do with the event, including the rubrics, attendee information, and the floor plan.
With a shared document everyone can refer back to it if they are unsure, and your teammates will be updated with the latest version of the schedule.
