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Today’s blog post is brought to by Cara with Eventbrite! She’s sharing four tips that’ll guarantee a successful event- no matter the occasion!
The planning process for any kind of event is undoubtedly challenging. From catering and a venue, to guest lists and entertainment, there are lots of decisions to be made. With these tips, you’ll be able to conquer any planning difficulties!
Budget Management-
Before any planning begins, it’s important to sit down and decide how much money you are able to spend on the event in total; a financial “blueprint.” Weddings and corporate events have different kinds of expenses, and having a clear understanding of which you need to spend on will be crucial when hiring vendors. Really think this step through, as there are many things that are easily overseen during the planning process – from vendors and venues, to parking arrangements and security. Having all of these things accounted for and in order will ensure the day goes as smoothly as possible. If planning a wedding, consider your non-negotiables. When planning a corporate event, think long and hard about the group you intent to have in attendance. Is music and entertainment most important to your audience, or could they do with some light background music and a playlist created internally by your team? Another vendor trick is asking if they offer options for submitting payments in advance to avoid having every bill due right before or day-of your big event.
Start planning earlier than you may think necessary-
Once you have a budget in place, create a prioritized list of dates you’d like to hold your event. Don’t wait to check the availability of venues, also most vendors won’t be able to quote pricing for their services until they know where the event is being held and on what date. There are certainly a lot of moving pieces involved in planning an event – so as soon as you narrow down a venue, look into caterers, rental companies, photographers, florists and entertainers as soon as possible. It is likely that not everyone you like best will be available on the date you have chosen, and that’s where the prioritized list mentioned before comes in handy. To help with this planning process, there are many checklists catering specifically toward weddings and corporate events alike that can make your life easier. Even if you don’t want to rely on a checklist entirely, they are great resources for double checking to ensure you have everything in order to make sure your day goes off without a hitch!
Get online-
Your venue is booked, your caterer and entertainment are chosen and things are starting to really come together! The next thing to worry about is getting your audience informed and excited. In this day and age, there’s no better way to reach an audience for all sorts of events than online. If planning a wedding, important things to accomplish online are creating a registry, inviting people to view it, and organizing accommodations via a unique wedding website (or consider building your own wedding website!). The attendance of a public event often relies heavily on spreading word through online registration platforms, where organizers can create an event page and share information to find the right demographic. Through online marketing and social media, events can easily reach people who are looking for events similar to theirs and brand-new fans. Use social media strategies such as creating facebook pages, creating an official event hashtag, create a content calendar and update it with posts and create a formal agreement with event partners to share information on their social media channels as well. Combining all of these online tactics will ensure your event is seen by a large audience.
Engage and interact with your audience-
Once the event is underway, the most important thing for your attendees to do is have fun! Draw your audience in by reaching out beforehand to inform everyone of an official hashtag, to start a conversation on blogs and social media, and more. For weddings, couple-specific hashtags are huge for blending people on both sides of the wedding party and sparking excitement for the future bride and groom. For corporate events, if attendees post photos and include the provided hashtag, interact with them by commenting or reposting from your own social channels. Also consider incorporating live polls throughout the event to receive direct feedback on what people are enjoying or questions they may have. Whatever you can do to spark interaction throughout the crowd will help with the tone of the entire event and promote your brand on the interwebs. Once the day has run its course, provide the attendees with an opportunity to give feedback as well, or best wishes. One of the most important elements of event planning is evaluation and it is far too often forgotten. If you want to determine how successful your event is, collect feedback from participants through online evaluation forms that can be short and anonymous to learn what people want to see more of.
