In event management school if there were such a thing, when it comes to event planning you would be told to have a plan a, a plan b and then a plan c. To cover all bases, expect the worst, pre-empt and so on.
I am an event manager
Back in the day, I was a Senior account manager for an events company and we organised internal events for our clients such as sales conferences, thought leader events etc and we organised them attending externally hosted events like trade shows and expos. Both in the UK and overseas. It was due to this job I got to fly first class to Miami, go all over America and Europe and Dubai and it was equally due to this job I got to stuff envelopes with departure notices, be in hotel kitchens, survive on a few hours sleep and more. I have seen all sides, glam and not so glam, with event management.
The events industry
Did you know, according to an AI search, UK businesses spend varying amounts on events, with average conference budgets often cited around £27,000 to £49,600. And the UK events industry is valued at approximately £69 billion. Many companies achieve a 3:1 return on investment or better from their event programs, with average ROI falling between 25% and 34%.
So events are not a small investment and therefore you want to get them right whether a networking event or close dinner for 10 to a sales conference with external speakers and travel for 600!
What do you need to know if you are planning an event
As I said before, have a plan a then a back up plan then a back up plan for the back up plan.
What you need to plan or factor in will of course vary if you are organising an internal event like a sales conference, training day vs attending an external event as a stand exhibitor for example.
The things to think about can be broken down into pre event, on the day, post event.
Pre event management tips to think about
Dates
Venue, rooms and breakouts
Accessibility
Accommodation
Travel
Catering and dietary requirements
Agenda and speakers
Branding
Registration and numbers
Budgets – set these and get costs and keep track of costs
Contracts
AV and production, plus signage, electrics, flooring
Pre communications to delegates
Keep an event bible
On the day/on site event management tips to think about
Brief the on site team
Refer to the event bible always
Sticking to time/the agenda
Signage and directional signage
Having spares of “stuff”
Changing locations of activities due to weather changes
Post event management tips to think about
Getting feedback from delegates/attendees and the client
Giving feedback to the venue
Collating leads/feedback forms
Following up on any leads
Final payments
Debriefing/having a wash up meeting
You should always have one person in charge of the events and a main contact at the venue and at the client. Bring in team members for on site and experts for areas like catering and AV, but one central event manager conducting the whole thing is essential.
“The devil is in the detail” Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
