A successful networking event is the perfect platform to forge new friendships, establish business connections, and build partnerships. These events are also a fantastic way to enhance your reputation as an event planner; attendees who form valuable connections at your events are more likely to remember your brand and attend future events. Additionally, such events offer an excellent opportunity to expand your own network of vendors and partners.
Serving alcohol at events can enhance the experience but also introduces significant risks. Proper planning and precautions are crucial for a successful event. Here are essential tips for serving alcohol at events to help you manage responsibilities and minimize risks. So, let’s get down to business. How can you keep attendees happily buzzing along while also minimizing the risk in serving alcohol at your event? First, Know Your Plan Before serving alcohol at events, create a detailed plan. Consider the event’s size, the number of bars, types of drinks, and whether you’ll serve hard alcohol. Decide if the bars will…
So it’s the week before the event and you’re panicking about selling out. Take a deep breath and relax, they’re still some time to try and get more people excited about your upcoming event.
While you should continue to use your normal promotional channels such as email, flyering, Facebook and free listing sites to boost event awareness, we’ve also got seven top tips for last minute event promotion.
Take a look at these seven strategies to see if they’ll work for your gig, show, club night, conference or other event:
As an event management professional, As an event management professional, no-tech tools are indispensable. In addition to your technological toolkit, there are certain non-tech items every event planner needs in their arsenal. These basic tools – although low-tech – are every bit as important as your Smartphone in keeping your events running smoothly. You may recall, I’ve maintained at several points in the past that an event planner should never let technology control them. Today’s post looks at exactly this idea: don’t let your passion for high-tech toys cause you to lose sight of valuable, no-tech, old school stuff every…
Planning event catering isn’t just about hiring a catering company. It’s crucial to delve into the details and ask key questions to determine the right catering partner. To ensure your menu is a hit, follow these essential steps.
As I’ve established in the past, not everyone is cut out to be an event planner. It takes a very particular type of individual to excel in event management; the best event planners are quick thinking, charismatic, organized, and creative. Yet simply having the right personality isn’t always enough.
If you’re certain you want to go into event planning—and don’t already have an Event Planning Degree or and Event Coordinator Degree—what’s the best educational background to possess?
Event planning is a highly dynamic field, with the demands and knowledge requirements that vary wildly depending on what specific event industry you’re in.
Unfortunately, because of that, it can often be difficult to determine the best path to take so you can break into event planning.
As an event planner, having the right must-have gadgets for event planners can make all the difference. With the right tools in your kit, you can streamline operations, enhance communication, and ensure a seamless event experience. Whether you’re managing a corporate conference, wedding, or festival, leveraging technology is key to staying ahead in the fast-paced events industry.
This may seem like a lighthearted piece, but important non-the-less. When you’re planning what food you want to serve at your event, consider more than just what’s in season, or what your attendees might enjoy. You also need to take into account whether or not the food you have in mind is the most practical choice. Certain meals are better left to restaurants than conferences, while certain events may not work with a particular menu option. The problem should be fairly clear: if you serve the wrong type of food for your event, it’s going to be messy! Clothes will…
I’ve touched on risk management before, but never to the degree that I should have. I’d like to remedy that with today’s piece. We’re discussing precisely why it’s vital that you as an event planner are well versed in both health and safety regulations and procedures. Although you are often outsourcing many services, keeping your event safe is ultimately your responsibility. We’ll start with the obvious. As the one running the show, you need to keep an eye out for any potential safety hazards, health code violations or threats to your guests. The companies hiring you are relying on your…
The event industry is booming, and everyone seems to want a piece of the pie. While this means there’s no shortage of chaff where event planning services are concerned, it also means that there’s a camp of incredibly creative, particularly talented, and thoroughly innovative individuals looking to break into the industry – and they aim to do that by helping you run your events more efficiently and effectively. Today, we’ll be taking a look at a five innovative event management startups that are bound to help you be a better event planner. Scenesquid First up on our list is SceneSquid,…
I’ve already spoken at length about what’s involved in hiring and retaining a guest speaker. Today, I’d like to focus on something a little different: events with multiple keynotes (and speakers). More specifically: how can you tell how many speakers your event should hire? Is there such a thing as too many presentations (or too few)? When determining the number of presentations you should ideally run (and the number of speakers you should generally hire) there’s actually a pretty significant list of details you need to take into account, and questions you need to ask. Failure to consider any one…
Have you felt at any point as though your events were missing something? Have you contemplated how to add extra flair to your conferences; something that would help distinguish your event firm from the competition? There is no shame in the desire to stand out from the crowd in the event management industry. Using a bit of unique or unusual technology – making use of some gadgets or gear that your competition might not consider using – could be just the ticket to make your events more memorable. Presented here are just a few unusual and fun technological tools to…
Budgeting is a major component of an event management professional’s job, and the difficulty of budgeting is most definitely connected with knowing how best to set ticket prices. Set a ticket price too high and your attendance may suffer; or the price barrier will further drive up your marketing costs as you work to reach a larger audience! Set a ticket price too low and you’re basically condemning your budget to drop into the red; it’ll be impossible to breakeven. In other words, you’ve got to strike a balance between “reasonably priced” and “budget friendly.” That’s about as easy –…
Last week, we talked about the processes involved in making your event firm known to the world. Today, we’re going to be looking at something a little more difficult to deal with: your budget. In all honesty, budgeting is actually where the vast majority of event management businesses fail. It all starts with figuring out how much you’re going to need for your startup costs, and going from there. Generally speaking, if you’re starting up a new firm, you’re going to have to manage some if not all of the following expenditures: Rent/Building Costs Equipment Purchases Licenses and Taxes Payroll…
This comprehensive guide on event hotel accommodations covers every step, ensuring your attendees have a seamless and memorable experience. The intricate dance of event planning revolves around details. Each element, from the meticulously crafted schedule to the selection of hors d’oeuvres, plays a role in painting the larger picture of a successful event. Yet, amidst the whirlwind of planning, one detail often gets less attention than it deserves: the hotel accommodations for your attendees. Choosing the right accommodations is more than merely finding a place for attendees to rest. It’s an opportunity to extend the event experience beyond the confines…
You focus on every detail when planning any event, right? Don’t overlook your registration and check-in process. This is most likely your attendees first interaction at your event and it sets a stage for their whole experience; never-mind that everyone wants to get to the business at hand. Realize the importance of planning a well-organized check-in and registration area.
It’s common knowledge that you need engaging content on Facebook (or anywhere else online for that matter). It’s what gets you more followers. But what exactly does ‘engaging’ content mean? It means that your followers don’t just read or consume the content. They take action on it. This can be any type of action such as getting new ‘likes’, commenting, sharing your content, generally singing your praises, or buying your product or service. But what’s important is that they do something when they see your posts. So we know social media is interactive and growth is driven by more engagement.…
Last week we looked at basic things you needed to cover if starting your own event management firm. Today, we’re moving to the next stage – marketing your new firm. You’ve chosen your niche, your firm is fully insured and up and running, and you’ve started networking with all the right people. It’s a great start, but now you need to gather clients – the more people hear about you the more likely they are to become paying clients! In other words, it’s time to market your new business. So…what’s involved in making your new firm known? Well, the first…
When done well, publicizing your event through Facebook can be extremely successful. Its ‘Event Pages’ allow you to reach a vast audience and engage your potential attendees, and best of all, it’s totally free. Here are some best practices for setting up your event page. The Default Settings Don’t change the default settings unless you want to make your event private or restrict access. When you set up an event page, the default settings are exactly that, they are set the way most of us want them. The default settings allow your fans to share and post most easily and…
