Five Event Planning Tasks to Delegate to Others

When it comes to the event planning process, it is easy to shutdown due to “brain overload.” In other words, there is so much on your plate that you don’t know what to do now, what to do later, and what to skip over altogether.

If you are the micromanager type, this is not the time to remain stuck in your ways. Instead, it’s time to delegate some of your tasks to others. It may be difficult to relinquish control, but remember this: you are still running the show, but you’re just not doing everything on your own.

Here are five tasks you should consider delegating to others:

1. Communication with vendors.

Are you hiring a catering company? Do you need a security team? Make a list of the services you need, rough out the parameters and core questions per each type of service provider. Then have a team member compile a list of local vendor options and make initial contact with each one. Your assistant should be able to gather enough information so you can decide how to move forward.

Remember: once you choose vendors there will be tons of communication back and forth. Make sure you assign one person on your team as the primary point-of-contact.

2. Registration and check-in.

Registration is an ongoing event starting with signups long before the big day arrives. Then you have a check-in process at the actual event. Depending on your type of event and the number of attendees, vendors, and speakers – this can be a huge process, but it is a “task.” Do you really want to bog yourself down with this task? You can help determine the process, monitor its success, and oversee the check-in, but you need others to actually handle this task on the front line.

3. Walking the floor.

Let’s face it: your naturally scanning for issues all the time, ensuring everything is in order, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was someone tasked with this responsibility as well?

Pick your most competent and independent team member to back you up. When you trust somebody else to walk the floor, they need to understand what type of issues your on the look out for. They can best help your team avoid common problems and immediately deal with anything that comes up.

Note: your best right-hand-man has likely been involved throughout the whole planning process.

4. Customer service.

Regardless of how organized you are and how well you think you’ve shared important information – people will have questions. From attendees to speakers, to service providers, these are your customers, and you can count on getting questions that require answers.

Once again, it makes good sense to have a primary point-of-contact for customer service. Depending on the size of your event, you may need to have more than one person working the customer service side of things.

Hint: if your event is large-scale, segment your service staff. Have a different primary point-of-contact for your different customer segments.

5. Post-event responsibilities.

Just because an event has come to an end doesn’t mean you can put it in the past just yet. There are things you have to take care of. Are you responsible for cleanup? Are vendors paid? Are you rolling out an attendee survey program?

You need to both move onto your next assignment and tie up all loose ends regarding the now-past event. You can breather easier, but your job in not complete. Have your tasks outlined and assigned. Again, this is your show, delegate and follow up on these tasks just as you would everything else.

Remember: don’t drop the ball, your post-event planning is just as important as pre-event planning.

Utilize these five tips once, realize their benefits, and you will never look back. It’s time to lighten your load and delegate!