Beyond the Decor :Event Planning Business Plan
4. Project Description
Objectives:
To create a service-based company whose #1 value is exceeding
customer's expectations.
To increase our number of served clients by 20% per year through
superior service.
To develop a sustainable, profitable start-up business
Event planning methodology:
1. The brief – reconfirm your organisation’s objectives. Only then will it
be clear how the event/s can support the over-arching goals and
achieve the best return on investment possible. Then identify your
audiences (both internal and external), what you want them to think,
feel and do before, during and after the event. Consider any design
mandatories, confirm your budget and highlight any deadlines and
limitations.
2. Build on the past – use all relevant feedback gleaned from previous
events to inform the success of this one. Ensure it is built into the plan
so everyone is aware of why you are adopting your current approach.
3. Plan for the future – determine what you would like to happen during
and after the event so you can build those desired outcomes into your
planning at the start. It is difficult to backward-engineer results and bolt
on objectives/functionality. Having absolute clarity from the outset will
stand you in good stead. Incorporate the right platforms, systems and
processes into your approach so that you can establish best practice
early on. Confirm metrics and determine the best way to measure
progress, success and feedback throughout your project, keeping in
mind your organisation’s objectives at all times.
4. Timing – put in place a considered project plan with key
dependencies noted. Allow plenty of extra time to overcome obstacles.
Incorporate three key phases (before, during and after the event) in
your timings to ensure a fully integrated and far-reaching approach is
adopted. Planning event follow up in advance is just as important as
ensuring things run smoothly on the day.
5. People and partners – select the right internal and external team to
support your project. Build in sufficient time to source effective
suppliers so they also have the time to perform well for you. Brief them
fully and ensure there are lots of opportunities for updates and
feedback so people and companies feel engaged and progress stays on
track. They will not be able to support you (nor you, them) unless they
are aware of (and understand) what you are trying to achieve, why,
how, with whom and by when.
6. Messaging and communications – list your key internal and external
stakeholder groups as well as brand- and event-specific messages and
develop a detailed communications plan to be executed before, during
and after the event. Do not leave anything to chance and ensure you
have considered and are prepared for any opportunistic/tactical
communications that arise.
7. Integrate – work well and positively with other
people/teams/organisations. You might not have sole responsibility for
the planning and execution of your event so clear communications,
consultation and well-defined roles and responsibilities should minimise
duplication, prevent things falling through the cracks and maximise
success for all stakeholders.
8. Adapt – listen to and incorporate feedback into your plan. Take
advantage of unanticipated opportunities. Build in a buffer for your
budget and timelines to counteract the unexpected. Take note when
something is not working and try a new approach. Interrogate the brief
and do not be afraid to make changes where necessary. Remember,
fulfilling your organisations’ objectives and trying to achieve a positive
return on the investment made should be at the very heart of your
approach.
When you are planning your event it is extremely important to allow
plenty of time. A great way to stay on task and focusing is to create an
event planning timeline. One of the easiest ways to let your event
planning snowball out of control is to not stay on top of to-do lists and
organization. If you have an event planning timeline you will be able to
stay on track and organized to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Below we
have created a suggested event planning timeline, but you will need to
evaluate the timeline and customize it to fit your own event as every
event is different.
Beyond the Decor Event Planning Timeline
9 months out – decide on an event theme and create your event
budget, for more tips on how to create an event budget visit our post
on how to create your event budget.
8 month out – reserve your venue and create guest list
7 month out – hire a planner if desired
6 month out – create event website, Facebook page, and begin
promoting
5 month out – begin searching for entertainment and event production,
reserve a block of hotels or secure a special hotel rate for guests if
needed.
4 month out – hire your event production team and entertainment
services
3 month out – book your catering and florist
2 month out – touch base again with all the vendors. This is the time to
make sure all your questions are answered. No matter how big or small.
1 month out – create a day-of-event timeline, finalize production needs,
flowers, and catering menus and details with any other vendors.
Benefits of Corporate Event Planning
The planning of a large events usually requires a great deal of time and
effort. Each step should be carefully thought-out if you want to create
an enjoyable gathering and minimize room for mistakes. Some
companies or organizations have enough time, resources, and
experience to do so, but others might not have the budget to hire a
third party planning firm so they do things on their own.
Even it might seem that is more affordable to run your own event, you
should consider hiring a corporate event planner. Benefits of corporate
event planning include saving you time, money, and ensuring success.
The success of an event depends on many different factors and the
planner will focus on what is necessary to be done well. These
companies take great care to save you time and money, including the
venue selection, making travel arrangements, and booking hotel
accommodations. Event planners will also prepare a food menu, hire
speakers and personnel, organize entertainment program, recreational
activities, and get audiovisual equipment, decorations and all the other
things that meet the needs of the host and guests. Hiring a corporate
event planner will provide you with the following benefits:
Experience
A good corporate event planner will bring years of experience to the
table, having worked with various clients, and had the opportunity to
learn from each project they worked on. They will have learned how to
deal with problems that may occur or even predict and prevent them.
Without this experience, inexperienced corporate managers who are
trying to bear the entire burden by themselves will likely find planning a
large corporate event difficult. Planners are also educating themselves
on what are the trends in the industry. When you hire an event planner,
be sure that you’ll get trendy décor, modern audio-visual equipment
and the newest lighting techniques.
Money savings
Professional event planners will approach have a unique approach to
your event and see it form all perspectives. Previous experience will
help them determine what things should cost and to find out the
difference in value. Planners also have a lot of connections with
suppliers and producers. These relationships usually include lower rates
for products and services that are not available to the public. Taking this
into consider, planners will suggest services or products that fit to your
needs and budget.
Negotiation
Corporate event planners are able to negotiate contracts with vendors
and suppliers. Since they have a huge purchasing power, corporate
event planners have a lot of influence when negotiating with vendors,
hotels and other service providers. The average person that is trying to
plan a company event doesn’t have the purchasing power that planning
companies do, so getting the best rates will prove to be fairly difficult if
they don’t know what they are doing. Hiring a professional event
planner will solve this.
Time savings
If you hire an event planner, you wouldn’t have to worry about logistics.
Instead of using your time searching for the right vendors or catering
company, you can leave this task to your planner to take care of it. This
will leave you a lot of time to spend on taking care of details; creating
networks and making all the guests feel welcome. In addition, corporate
event planners also bring years of creative experience to the table,
meaning you’ll never produce an event without a creative theme.
Less stress
Once you hire a professional planner, you won’t be under such a stress
as you were while trying to do the entire job alone. Stress is even
greater if your main job description does not include event planning. In
this case a professional planner will be highly helpful in coordinating
logistics, dealing issues, and making event run seamlessly, leaving you
to do a quality work in your position.
Venue Management
When you want to organize an event, you should choose a venue that
meets needs of your company and event itself. This seems very logical
and basic, but could be a tough job for an inexperienced person. Luckily,
an event planner will know how to choose the right meeting location as
soon as you tell them what kind of gathering your company wants to
organize. Planners will consider the right number, size, and shape of
meeting rooms and even handle all the details of the event such as
supervising guests, beverage, food, safety, music, etc. Hiring them will
ensure that your event goes smoothly and according to plan.
Conclusion
Planning an event can be highly stressful with a lot of details to look
into. With the help of an event planner, company’s or organization’s
management will just have to give all the instructions and let the magic
happen.
Event evaluation and reporting
The final stage of events management is the evaluation of the events
outcomes and the processes employed to achieve set outcomes. The
fundamental purpose of event evaluation is to identify positive and
negative practices with a view to improving future performance,
whether this is in terms of financial performance, environmental
impacts or the overall operation of the event.
If specific aims and objectives were set at the outset of the planning
process, then evaluation will also seek to establish whether those
targets have been met and if not then why? The other purpose of
evaluation is a reporting mechanism, to gather data to allow feedback
to different stakeholders involved in the event relative to their interests.
For example, the local council and retailers association may be
interested in the number of people who attended the event and where
they came from i.e. the proportion from the local community and those
from further afield.
One key issue to remember is that evaluation is not something which
happens at the end of the event, it must be incorporated into the
planning of the event, so resources are allocated, the correct questions
are asked and data collected. Key questions you should ask include
what data is needed e.g. visitor numbers, financial data, satisfaction,
motivations, etc? Related to the events objectives what are the key
performance indicators? How, when and by who is the data to be
gathered e.g. observation, surveys, questionnaires, before, during or
after? How is it to be analysed e.g. by themes or issues or statistical
analysis? What format will be used in the final reporting, for example
debriefing meetings or a final report covering all areas? You also need
to consider who will be interested in the event and its outcomes? For
example the venue, sponsors, Monmouthshire Council, Visit Wales,
media – local/national, special interest?
Once you have answered the above questions you can begin to collect
the appropriate data and feed it into your subsequent analysis.
Examples of factual data you may collect include:
Sales figures – tickets, merchandise, catering, auction, raffle, etc.
Timing of sales
Number and value of sponsors
Number of flyers, adverts, posters, press releases and PR, media
utilised, etc.
Accidents, complaints, etc. reported.
Adherence to schedules (event planning, implementation and
promotion).
No. of exhibitors / retailers / concessions.
Financial reports and accounts.
Visitor and participant statistics – attendance, profiles (exit surveys,
tickets collected, etc).
As evaluation is also about process and more subjective elements you
can also gather data from the following:
Questionnaires and exit surveys - see example attendee, volunteer,
temporary vendor and local business questionnaires.
Focus groups and interviews
De-briefing sessions – venue, staff, contractors
Performer feedback
Venue feedback
Observation and word of mouth
Media reports and publicity
Social networking and interest websites
Evaluation may take a fairly basic form comparing key facts and figures
on this years event with last years or it could involve a much more
complex analysis of impacts arising from the event. Such is the potential
complexity of event evaluation it is advisable to seek specialist advice
on this matter perhaps through a consultancy or university research
department. A wealth of information on event evaluation in terms of
areas to evaluate and methods of evaluation can be found on the
Events Impacts website.
Whatever form your evaluation takes and the measures you choose to
focus upon you should always seek to generate some outcomes from
the evaluation process which could encompass some or all of the
following.
Report/s on event outcomes for distribution to stakeholders.
Report to the media on outcomes and achievements.
Recommendations for refinements and improvements to be carried
forward to next event.
