When planning an the perfect event, whether it’s corporate, for a nonprofit, or for a concert or festival, event managers need to be well-organized. Event management is a demanding job that requires time-management skills and impeccable organization. The event’s success is riding on your shoulders.
Preparation Checklist for Event Managers
- Prior preparation prevents poor performance. These five P’s will help you ensure that your event is a success. Planning out everything from the “big picture” to the smallest details can help you pull off any event, whether it’s a small breakfast or a major concert.
- Pull together a talented team. If you don’t have to do it alone, don’t. Once you have a checklist of everything you need, delegate certain tasks and responsibilities to others on your team. Don’t have a team? Pull together volunteers. Having someone else help will make the event more fun for you to plan, and will take some of the stress off of your shoulders.
- Remember flexibility. You don’t want to schedule things so tightly that you don’ t leave breathing room in your event.
- Get creative! Once you have your bases covered, flex your creative muscles to figure out how you can put a special twist on the event to make it unique and give it that “Wow!” factor.
Event Management Checklist
To tailor a checklist to your own needs, first make a list of all of the aspects of an event you will be responsible for. These may include:
- The Location. Surveying potential event sites, procuring the site, negotiating the pricing for the site, working with security, crowd management, and decorating the location.
- Logistics. The when, where and how of an event. This will mean working with clients to make sure that you provide exactly what they want from an event. You may be responsible for planning the details and schedule of an event, and making sure that it flows smoothly on event day.
- Decorations and details. You could be responsible for hiring and working with decorators, or for coming up with decorations on your own –
- Budgeting. You may be responsible for coordinating the budget, making sure that the event stays within the price range of your clients, and also working with the supply chain and other businesses for catering, decorations or other aspects. You may also have the responsibility of managing cash flow, and in the case of a charity event, encouraging gifts and donations.
- You may be responsible for the technical details, including rigging, sound, lights and video.
- Publicizing the Event. You may have to be a one-person public relations bureau, ready to write press releases, make community contacts, and publicize the event through social media and traditional media outlets.
- Confirming Attendance. It may be your responsibility to confirm the attendance of your event.
Event Planning
Once you have a list of every aspect you’ll need to coordinate for the event, break each responsibility apart into “tasks” that need to be accomplished. These tasks should be very specific and as detailed as possible. Try not to be general with anything. Once you have this list of tasks, you can begin to delegate things to volunteers or other members of your team.
The tips in this event management checklist should help any event manager to plan and coordinate the perfect event, whether you’re 14 months away or three months away!