Five Mistakes Made By Inexperienced Event Planners

One thing a lot of people tend to forget – particularly in our rather perfectionist society – is that nobody’s perfect. Planning an event is a pursuit that requires a great deal of hard work, strategic planning, and managerial prowess. Particularly as a novice, it’s incredibly easy to slip up.

Unfortunately, that’s not really something you can afford to do as an event management professional. If you mess up, you’re potentially destroying two reputations in one – both your own, and that of whatever brand your event is representing. Today, let’s talk about a few of the more common mistakes newbie event planners make, and how you can avoid making them yourself. 

Not Practicing Due Diligence

As an event organizer, it falls to you to review the details of your guests, partners, volunteers, and vendors. You need to know who’s coming to your event – and who’s likely to leave you in the lurch if you partner with them. More importantly, you need to ensure that you’re not hiring any criminals.

You cannot afford to remain ignorant about who’s attending your event – both for your own sake and for the safety of your guests.

Not Double-Checking The Details

I’ve said time and again that a successful event planner has an eye for detail, something without which you can’t succeed in the profession. As an event management professional, you need to double, triple, and quadruple check that everything is running smoothly and everyone knows what they need to do. Even if you’re certain you’ve finalized a particular arrangement, it never hurts to check again. 

Don’t stress yourself out too much, though. It’s all well and good to be thorough, but obsessing over details never got anyone anywhere.

Lack Of Appreciation For Volunteers

One of the lesser-known duties of a successful event manager is the ability to put together a strong, dedicated team with a diverse set of skills.  The best way to accomplish this is to make sure that the people you’re working with feel appreciated for their efforts – it couldn’t hurt to thank each volunteer, vendor, and speaker personally. Doing so will make them far more willing to work with you in the future.

Failure To Troubleshoot Your Tech

The thing about running an event these days is that you’re likely going to be using a fairly complicated array of audio-visual equipment. With so many working parts, you’re bound to have something go wrong at some point. To minimize the chances of that happening, you’ll want to do at least two to three dry-runs with all your tech and be sure to have back up plans for when things don’t work.

Assuming Nothing Will Go Wrong

Aside from failing to properly budget, this is probably the biggest mistake you can make as a novice. While you shouldn’t end up turning yourself into a mess, you need to be aware of Murphy’s Law – if something can go wrong, it probably will. Make sure you’ve got a proper crisis management strategy in mind, and be ready to jump into action if things go south.