Tuesday, November 11, 2014

How to Plan an Event

This past semester I have been taking an Events Management class. The class was broken up into four separate groups and each group would be responsible for planning and executing an event on our campus.

My group was responsible for planning the University President's Holiday Gala. This event is a way of thanking donors for their support of the school. This is a big responsibility and one that will took a lot of planning.

Fortunately, I found an Event Management Plan Checklist and Guide put out by  the Gascoyne Development Commission. It covered a lot of areas of planning that I had not thought of until this gala.

In my class we talked a lot about tips for running a successful event. Here are my favorite from this class.

14 Tips for Planning Events

1.     Anticipate Everything
      a.     Where is the biggest potiential for problems?
      b.     What are the solutions?
      c.     Have a Plan B, Plan C, etc.
2.     Plan Ahead
      a.     ICID- In Case I Die
                     i.     Who is my back up?
                    ii.     Work hard from beginning to end
3.     Make Sure your event has impact
      a.      Make sure everyone understands, set clear expectations, take charge 6. Break it down into       manageable tasks
      b.      Delegate or Committee
      c.     Know your audience
4.     Managing the expectations
      a.     Set the room smaller
                     i.     What do you want people to think when they come in
           ii.“This is a great crowd”-people coming in
5.     Communication, Organization, Leadership
6.     Break it down into manageable tasks
      a.     Don’t get overwhelmed
7.     People support what they help to create
      a.     Get people involved
8.     Develop, listen to, and trust your instincts
9.     Be yourself
      a.     Have fun—but be professional
      b.     You are running the event you are not participating
10.  It’s all in the details
      a.     Be redundant in your details
11.  Rehearse everything
12.  Stage Manage and run your event throughout the entire event           
      a.  Script
      b. Cues
13.  Follow up
      a.     Thank your people
      b.     Evaluate the event
14.  In the end, “Nothing is a Crisis!”
      a. Things happen, so how are you going to deal with it?




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