How To Think Like an Event Planner

Event planners are a unique breed, and when you part of the event planning world, you have to think about certain things from a different perspective. An event planner usually has a team behind her/him at some point with members who are brilliant in their own fields—but who aren’t event professionals. Help those around you recognize how you think!

Details are crucial, and thinking of solutions to help solve potential problems at your event can only help you. As the planner, you need to make sure everyone else around you is up-to-date; whether that is your co-workers, vendors, or your client.

Communicating what is coming up and what needs to be accomplished should be a top priority. While the event planner knows everything that needs to happen, others may not be briefed on what to do if something unexpected comes up. Be quick to catch them up and help them understand what the best solution is if something were to happen.

What it comes down to is communication. As an event planner and individual, you may have your own lingo, but it doesn’t mean anything if those around you can’t understand. If you need something done, take the time to explain the task to the person clearly so they can accomplish it perfectly the first time.

Make sure they understand your message 100%. As the event planner, you are in charge, but you can only complete so many tasks at once. Loosen the reigns and let those working for you do what they were hired for, and your event will run more smoothly!

To learn more about thinking like an event planner click here.

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A Day in the Life of an Event Planner

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The day in the life of an event planner is hectic and ever-changing. No one day is quite like another. That’s the exciting part of the job!  But you can expect your “typical” day to go something like this…

8:00 am: It’s go time! First things first, coffee. Once you get your morning jolt, it’s off to business. Communication is key. Email and phone calls are the start of almost every day. Make sure to check your messages in the morning so you can prioritize how the rest of your day will go. A to-do list is essential, not only to plan out your day, but your week and month as well.

9:30 am: Meeting with a new potential client (congrats!). Make sure you know their priorities before the meeting. Listen carefully to your client, and remember: this is their day. It doesn’t matter if this is for a party for five, 500, or 5,000. Every event counts.

Building a client list is crucial for an event planner, because if you do a good job they will likely come back, and recommend you to others.  Once you score your client (of course!) it is time to plan, plan, plan!

10:45 am: While you are starting to plan for your new client, you have to remember your other clients! An event planner usually will have more than one event going on at a time. It’s all about multi-tasking and keeping careful track of dates and times.

In a single day, you may have to call a caterer, a florist, a hotel, an event space, an AV provider, a speaker. and other vendors, partners, and suppliers. As it gets closer to the big day, you will need to go to the location to double check that everything looks right and is being set up correctly. It’s all in the details. Organization is an event planner’s most important skill.

12:30 pm: Lunchtime may be a break some days, but on others you may have to meet your clients to get updates, as this may be their only time to meet. It is important to continually be in contact throughout the event planning process. Make sure they are up to date. Share the good news about their favorite caterer and be honest if there are hiccups along the way.

2:00 pm: Throughout the rest of the day expect more calls and emails (remember communication!). Occasionally, you will have to meet with the hotels and florists, etc. to personally see everything is going according to plan.

6:00 pm: On most nights this will mean the end of your day, BUT we cannot forget about the events themselves. Of course, this means you get to attend the event you planned (for weeks and months!), and although you should enjoy a job well done, it is still your responsibility to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

This means checking microphones, table settings, food and more! Don’t forget the cleanup as well, either hiring a cleaning service or having your own staff do it personally. You can’t leave without the space looking the way it was when you arrived.

Event planning is not your typical nine-to-five job. Often, it involves nights and weekends. But, you get to be involved in a world where your imagination can run free. One of the greatest rewards is knowing that you are turning someone’s special day from their dream into a reality. Remember, planning can be stressful, but in the end it is well worth it all to see your event come to life.

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Finding the Perfect Sized Venue for Your Event

Finding the right-sized venue for your event can be a difficult feat, but with the right guidance you can determine the perfect size and atmosphere for your attendees.When serving food, 6-10 square feet of floor space should be given per guest:

6 square feet per guest
* Guests feel close and will have less ease of accessing food and drinks

7 ½ square feet per guest
* This is considered “comfortably crowded”
* Ideal for receptions and other similar functions

10 square feet per guest
* More than ample space for guests to mingle and easily visit food & drink stations
* Perfect for any luxury reception

For more information on number of buffet tables per guests and what size of buffet tables you might need you can access the article here.

For a sit-down dinner (wedding reception, gala, corporate event, etc.), you can calculate the number of tables you’ll need by dividing the number of guests by the “comfortable” seating capacity of each table. This number will vary depending on the type of table. For example, a standard 8′ banquet table seats eight people, so if you were expecting 150 guests, your calculation would be:

150 guests / 8 (at 96″ rectangular tables) = 18.75  – Round UP to get 19 Tables Needed

You can find the capacities and calculations for other table sizes here.

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Event Hero Survival Guide: Week 3

Event survival tips part 3 - drink water

We’ve finally arrived at week 3, the final week of our Event Hero Survival Guide series. If you missed week 1 and week 2 go ahead and take a look at all of the great event survival tips we’ve shared there as well.

Use the following tips to make it through and be the hero of your meetings and events.

Take care of Number 1

Remember to take a break when you can. Head on over to the event office for a quick sit down. Have staff that can cover for you during a quick break. Pack your Event Survival Kit with of all the tools you need and make sure you have some energy bars for a quick snack.

If you are like us, just about the time you sit down for a bite, your spider senses start to tingle and off you go to save the day. Often, you just don’t have time for a real meal on event days.

Water, water and more water

A super event hero knows that it’s hard to take care of yourself and save the “event world” in one week, but drinking water and keeping hydrated in dry ballrooms and convention centers will make all the difference to the super event hero. Yea, we know you need your coffee, but make sure you drink lots of water as well.  A superhero cannot live on caffeine alone!

Social butterfly

It’s important to be a social butterfly and to let your super hero side be seen, but you need to keep your head about you and socialize responsibly. You may have many days ahead of you, so make sure you socialize in moderation.

You’re probably a bit dehydrated from all the running around and lack of a healthy diet, so watch your alcohol intake. If you do partake, drink a glass of water or two for each alcoholic drink you consume.

Grab some food to keep your stomach from rebelling and betray the event super hero you are! There is nothing worse than a super hero hangover or an epic case of digestive disasters to ruin your day at a successful event.

Celebrate your success with your team

You’ve managed your event with stealth like moves, handled VIPs like a highly sought after bodyguard, and led your event staff to another WOW! event. Now take a moment (or two) to celebrate!

Immediately following the event, set aside time to tell your staff “Great Job!” “Thank you for all you do!” Just a quick champagne toast or glass of wine and a pat on the back! This will suffice for a week or two until you can celebrate over a dinner…and start the whole process over again.

Don’t forget a personal or handwritten “Thank you” to the venue staff. Little, seemingly inconsequential gestures like this can make a big difference in how well your next event goes. Don’t underestimate the value of making someone feel good about the hard work they did for you.

Take a day or two for yourself

You’re in a beautiful location, you’ve managed a successful event, and everyone is happy! Schedule a day or two for yourself and hit the spa. Refresh yourself and get ready for the next event. You have work to do but even an event super hero needs to recharge their battery.

After all is said and done…

Now that you have produced another successful event and are back in the comforts of your own office, the final step of your process is to review. Do it now, while the event is fresh in your mind and you can remember what went exactly as you wanted it too and what could have used improvement.

Be perfectly honest with yourself. Some of us are better at finding the positive in everything and some are better at focusing on the negative, but now is the time to step back and evaluate your event from both sides.

If you took surveys, crunch the numbers. If you asked for feedback, consolidate the comments and make notes. Every event is a chance at learning how to perfect your skills. The real Event Heroes are those who continue to improve on what they know and what they have learned from their experiences and the experiences of others!

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Event Hero Survival Guide: Week 2

This week, we continue our three part series on surviving events and becoming the hero. Click here to read Event Hero Survival Guide: Week 1

The Big Day is here

On event day, make sure you have all your communication devices: cell phone, headset, radio and mobile devices, everything you need to stay in touch. Other items you will need include a printed schedule, speaker contacts, and contact numbers of all the people you may need to stay in touch with.

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Event Hero Survival Guide: Week 1

What you need to know to survive an event

What would Superman or Wonder Woman do if they were event planners? I can image a mild-mannered young woman dressed in a shapely suit, standing with a clipboard while she oversees all the attendees and happenings of the event. Suddenly, a call comes in from her sidekick and she rushes off to solve the problem at hand.

How does this SUPER event hero stay calm, cool and collected as she deflects bad sound systems, grumpy speakers, and lost PowerPoints for the breakout rooms?

We’ve come up with a list of ways for you to stay cool and save the day for your clients! Over the next three weeks we’ll progressively share our top fifteen tips for surviving an event and becoming the hero.

Pick a venue that works

When choosing an event venue, make sure you think about traffic flow. Are all the rooms on the same level? Do attendees have to travel a long distance between the general session, trade show exhibits, and breakout rooms?

Keeping all of the event spaces close keeps your attendees close. If they have to travel up and down the elevator or from one venue to the next, you are likely to lose a few.

Dealing with stairs and elevators is also hard on you, as the event planner, to try to manage event spaces that have a lot of distance between them.

Make sure you have an event office close to the meetings that are going on.

Stay close to the venue

Make sure your hotel room is close to the venue and whenever possible, stay on property. There might be times you need to run down to the ballroom or meet with one of your VIPs or speakers on site the evening before the event starts or bright and early in the morning. Staying close will make it easier for you to do so. Make sure you aren’t driving while tired or after dark in a strange neighborhood.

Having your room on property will also allow you to run to your room when you have a chance to freshen up or just escape for a few minutes.

Create your dream team

You will need all the eyes you can find for an event. Make sure you have introduced yourself and “made nice” with the venue staff. This includes the custodial staff, craft services, set up staff, sales and event staff, your tradeshow vendors, volunteers and your event staff. It takes a village to make an event happen. And remember: every person you work with is as important as your VIPs, and should be treated as such.

Dress for Success (and of course, work too)

We know you love those great shoes you just purchased and they look amazing with that pencil skirt, but leave the new shoes at home! Or save them for the dinner function where you get to sit down for a while.

We suggest you take shoes that will be comfortable for long days and many hours on your feet. We also HIGHLY suggest you bring a second pair. Switching out shoes midway through the day will keep your feet happy. And you rely on them for many days in a row – be nice to them!

NEVER take your shoes off and expect to get them back on again. Switching pairs will provide the same relief as taking off your shoes. Being barefooted is not acceptable in public places.

Wear clothing that will allow you to move easily and offer you the ability to bend, stretch, lift and look amazing. It’s a challenge, but you will build your event clothing wardrobe fairly quickly.

Dress in layers and take a sweater. Facilities often wait to turn on the air conditioning or heating until the night before the event starts, and you will want options during the event.

Preparing for event day

Before you turn in at the end of the day, make sure you have everything done for the start of the event. Check the general session room and breakout room/s to make sure they will be ready for your morning sessions. Check in with your event team and the venue team. Knowing everything is set and ready for the event will allow you to rest easy.

We even lay out our capes, super hero outfits, and shoes to make sure we know exactly what we will be wearing in the morning and for the day. In fact, we go as far as hanging our credentials (name tags and tickets) on the hanger with our shirts so we make sure we have everything we need to jump into super hero gear for any early morning emergency that might arise.  If we had a magic phone booth we could jump in and instantly be dressed, we would take that with us!

Be sure to tune in next week to see the next five tips to survive an event!

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Brainstorming: The Most Fun You Will Have Planning an Event

You need to get your creative juices flowing to plan your next event, but you just can’t think of a good theme and time is running out. You need to get down to the planning phase quickly! What to do?

Oh, yes, you forgot that little step of Brainstorming!   We told you it was important!  Who has time to brainstorm you may ask? You do!  Unless you are happy repeating the same event over and over again, then you can skip this step.

But, if you take pride in producing unique, customized events that fit your client’s individual needs, brainstorming is an extremely important step. It can make the difference between a good event and a great event that your attendees are talking about for years!

So what are the best ways to get a brainstorming session started?  We’ve created a list of our top 10 ways that we like to hold our sessions.  The key ideas we always keep in mind, no matter how or where we hold our sessions are:  have fun and no idea is off limits!

Brainstorming Tips

1. Create a place that is comfortable: Get rid of the office chairs and desks, those are for the serious thinking and planning!

Imagine walking into a room filled with beanbags in bright colors for seating arrangements. This will take your brainstorming to a whole new level. It’s all about getting out of the BOX and in this instance about creating a creative space.

Have a pajama party. Ask guests to wear their PJ’s (with strict restrictions) to the planning session. Just being comfortable can release the creative thinking gene.

2. Include your whole team: Don’t limit input to the creative / planning staff.

Include the drivers, set dressers, assistants, secretaries, etc.—everyone has a unique viewpoint that will add value to your session.

You’ll find that having the same people brainstorm over and over will end up in the same ideas resurfacing. Adding a member to your team who doesn’t think like the rest of the group will give you different perspectives immediately. You never know who has that next WOW idea, and it might not be the creatives!

3. Establish the RULE: No idea is a bad idea.

Create a judgement-free zone for your session. No one has a bad idea, everyone takes a turn, and everyone has input. Set up the ground rules in the beginning of the session and stick to them.

Decide who will be in charge as a group. This takes away any of the animosity that can occur in groups where the leader is appointed in advance. This is not a competition or a hierarchy like the office. It’s a free flowing, safe, and fun environment.

4. Have a large area to record ideas: This enables everyone to easily read and add their own comments.

Cover the walls in brown butcher paper, have plenty of writing tools available, and encourage picture-drawing to get the creative juices flowing.

Allow everyone a moment in the front of the room to write on the wall, or create spaces for each individual and let them draw or write in their space at any time during the session. They might need the space to write a thought down when the ideas start popping! Brainstorming can be kind of like popcorn…once the first kernel pops, the whole bag explodes!

5. Everyone’s ideas are equal: Nobody should feel shy or reserved.

Give everyone free reign to express their ideas. Brainstorming is about free associating and ideas that caused laughter should not be exploited in the office. You are building comradery and teamwork while gaining all sorts of ideas. Make sure this is one of the rules you set up in the beginning.

6. Collect and save all ideas: You never know when something mentioned in one brainstorming session will spark an idea for another event!

OK, so the crazy idea of flying the CEO in on an airplane cable didn’t work for this event. But it might work for another. Keeping all those ideas in a folder of ideas will help you create this event and many more in the future.

7. NEVER criticize anyone’s ideas: This will lead to self-censorship, which squashes creativity.

Be respectful of other’s ideas—you never know when one silly idea might lead to a brilliant invention.

8. Take turns being the leader: Giving others the chance to lead empowers and expands thinking.

Make sure when doing this that you only have one leader at a time. Otherwise, you could have conflicting power interests.

Changing up leaders will open up different areas of conversation.

9. Work in teams and mix teams up: Have the owner of the company team up with the part-time driver to come up with a theme.  You might be surprised what they create together!

Have team competitions for the craziest ideas, the most fun ideas, and the “are you kidding me?!” ideas.

10. HAVE FUN!  Brainstorming is the least stressful and the most fun part of event planning!

The most important guidance is to have fun. More ideas come out of relaxed conversation, laughing and giggles, sharing harebrained ideas, and drawings on napkins than any other way of communication. Have fun, build relationships with others, and great ideas will flow that will translate into great events for your attendees!

Finally!

We find brainstorming to be one of the most fun elements of our job. Just letting our hair down for a few hours, laughing at ourselves and our ideas, and usually coming up with some ideas to WOW our audience is what it’s all about for us.

We love finding those unique ways to thrill our audience and this is one of the ways we find works best for our team. Need some quick inspiration? Check out five of our favorite themes to get you started. 

What techniques do you use to stir up creative juices? We’d love to know!

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