Richard AgamaOrganizing events is a fantastic way to reward your staff or strengthen relationships with existing and future clients. However, if you’re not careful, many complications can crop up when you’re putting these occasions together. Read on to learn about some of the common event planning mistakes you should avoid.
Delaying Preparation
When you decide to host an event, you should begin planning it almost immediately. The longer you wait to choose a date, a venue, book hotels, and work on other details, the fewer your options will be, and you may be stuck with a location you don’t like, or worse, have to cancel entirely. Create an event checklist as soon as possible to map out all of the stages in your event preparation, determine when you need to finish them, and build a timeline for each. You’ll have an effective guide every step of the way when you do.
Not Communicating Properly With Guests
One of the most common event planning mistakes you should avoid is having few or no attendees show up at all due to miscommunication. Keep lines of communication open with your guests, providing them with essential updates, directions, agendas, badges, and any other vital information they need before arrival, without constantly bombarding them with irrelevant information. Much of the time, you can achieve this quickly with a simple email or text message.
Failing To File the Right Paperwork
The last thing you want is to have hundreds or even thousands of people show up only for the authorities to tell you that you can’t legally be there. Ensure you’re thoroughly filing all necessary legal paperwork, whether it’s a private organization whose venue you’re using or you want to host an event at a public park. There can even be legal issues you need to square away that you don’t even think about, such as permits for porta-potties or to host block parties.
Not Having a Backup Plan
Every event should have a backup plan, especially for outdoor events, since unexpected weather, such as severe thunderstorms or heavy winds, may utterly spoil things if you’re not prepared. When your outdoor event must be moved indoors at any point throughout the day, you have many options you can work on in advance, like rain dates set in the future, other event venues, and modified timetables for events throughout the day. You should also consider overflow parking, generators for a power outage, and other contingency measures in case of unforeseen circumstances.
The more time and effort you put into organizing the event, the more successful it will be and the greater the return on your investment for your business. They are an ideal way to get people talking and increase employee morale.
