How To Host An Event: Tips From A Leading Event Management Company
Hosting an event can be daunting, especially if you don’t know where to start. There are so many elements to consider and tasks to tick off which means you have to be incredibly organised and have a clear plan of action
As a leading Event Management Company we have years of experience organising and managing all kinds of corporate, private and public events, therefore we have lots of inside knowledge as well as plenty of insider event management tips and tricks. So, whether you’re hosting a Virtual, Hybrid or Live event we can help.
In this blog, we will go over our top event management tips to help your event run smoothly and leave your guests with unforgettably good memories of your event!
Outline budget and expectations
When event planning, the very first thing you need to think about is how much you want to spend and what you want to achieve from your event. Is it a festival event, product launch, themed party conference or gala dinner? Event managers always suggest outlining your budget and expectations early on as you are then able to set clear goals as well as be very aware of what you have spent.
Furthermore, by working this out straight away you can successfully put a plan in place to ensure that you know what you want. Additionally, by knowing your budget you can then start prioritising costs and allocating funds to the most important parts of your event.
Turn your list into an action plan
So you’ve got a list of things you need to organise from venue finding, catering, decorations and entertainment. Now, you need to create an action plan. You have already established a budget which is a great first step, however you now need to allocate out that budget.
Our event managers suggest creating a list with all your high-priority tasks at the top. This is important as you may have time-sensitive tasks and tasks that have to be completed before you move on to other elements of your event planning.
For example, if you need to hire a venue we’d suggest you put this as a number one priority as without that you’ve got no event. Check out our free venue finding service if you need help sourcing a venue.
After establishing your list and your priorities start contacting relevant suppliers and building your event plan. A great way of working through this is by putting all of your suppliers and expected costs on a spread sheet and allocating budget estimates to these. Once you’ve contacted the supplier or bought the product you can then track the real cost to help keep you on budget.
Invite your guests!
Deciding your budget is an important step to have in place BEFORE you start inviting your guests. From an event management perspective, you need to understand from your suppliers cost per-head before inviting people and then realising you’ve overstretched your budget.
Depending on your event, it may make no difference if you were to invite 50 or 100 guests but you need to make sure you know all of your facts before you send out the guest list.
Now that’s all sorted lets get down to the fun task!
Your invitations are your guest’s first impression of your event. What do you want them to think? How are you going to compel them to attend? Our Graphics team have worked on so many cool concepts from video invitations to festival lanyards and wrist bands to beautiful bespoke designed tradition invitations. Therefore when you are making your event plan consider what kind of invitations you want to send out.
Final meeting and run through
So you’ve ticked off all of your tasks on your action plan, sent out the invitations and (hopefully) received all your RSVPs. Now you want to have a final run through of how your event will play out.
This will help you understand how much time you may need to allocate for everything. How long will the venue dressing take? Timings of where and when you want your guests to be in certain spaces (have you booked a perform and need to get your guests moved into the courtyard?). What time your guests will be fed, and any other things that will need time planning on the day.
Additionally, if you have booked suppliers to help dress the event space it is great to have a final meeting with them to go through any questions you both may have and any final payments that may need sorting.
Day of the event
Wake up early and have a plan in place.
Events can be stressful and as the event manager, you will be the person everyone will be deferring to. Therefore, if you haven’t made a clear plan of what you may need to do on the day as well as an in-depth timescale you’re going to feel stressed! Have your phone on loud just in case you have guests or suppliers that have any last-minute questions.
Remember this is your event, therefore allocate time out for you to get ready, you want to look your best at your own event! Make sure that you’ve got a friend or colleague on hand to help if there are any issues that take place at your event.
And most importantly don’t forget to enjoy it!
Top 10 Event Manager Do’s and Don’ts
Below we’ve summarised our top 10 do’s and don’ts when taking on the role of event manager:
- Do carefully plan out your budget
- Do create a thorough event schedule far in advance
- Don’t try to plan the entire event on your own- especially if you’re new to event management
- Don’t make rash decisions
- Do consider the purpose of your event- what are you trying to achieve?
- Don’t leave inviting guests until the last minute
- Do clearly communicate goals and expectations to your team
- Do carefully consider your target audience
- Don’t forget to keep your event ROIs at the forefront of your planning
- Don’t forget to complete the post-event analysis
If you keep all these tips in mind we are confident that you will be able to successfully manage your event!
We hope our blog has helped you with things to consider when managing an event. However, if this all sounds like a lot and you’d like to plan an event without the hassle of having to organise and coordinate everything, make sure to get in touch. Our Event Management Company London would love to help, whatever the event!
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