Where to start when planning an event?

Whether you are planning a fundraising event for your favourite charity or organising a product launch, team building day or conference; here are a few guidelines on where to start. 

Establish event goals and objectives 

• What is the purpose of the event?
• Who will attend and why? 
• How will you achieve the end goal? 
• What will determine that the event is a success?

Identify team roles 

If you're solely organising the event yourself, identify the suppliers or companies that you will outsource some of the work to. 

If you have a committee or team of colleagues assisting with the planning process, then you will need to first establish the Event Manager to oversee and lead the team through to completion. Next, assign roles for the following: 

• Marketing 
• Venue management 
• Entertainment
• Volunteer management
• Sponsors 

Set the date and time

Depending on the scale of the event, usually  4-6 months is enough time to successfully plan your event and with this in mind, be sure to do your research before setting the date:

• Unless you are planning a child friendly event, try to avoid school holidays
• Check that there aren't similar events booked in local venues at the same time
• Find out if there are large sporting events taking place 
• Consult with the council to find out if there are planned road works that will impact guests arriving and leaving your event

Create a plan 

This plan should include all aspects of the event, including:

Marketing 

• Artwork (Posters/ leaflets)
• Website content 
• Social media 
• Tickets 
• Programme 
• Media relations 
• Signage 

Venue Management 

• Set up and shut down logistics 
• Equipment hire 
• Catering 
• Ticket sales 
• Contracts 

Entertainment

• Book speakers or entertainers 
• Ryder requirements 
• Insurance 
• Room specifications 
• Equipment 

Volunteer management 

• Volunteer recruitment 
• Training
• Briefing 

Sponsors 

• Sponsorship 
• Prizes 
• Partnership agreements

Once you've outlined the elements above, your plan should detail start and completion dates, before you assign each task to either a team member or supplier. 

Some event organisers prefer to use a gantt chart, however you can also input the plan into a shareable calendar, colour coding each section for ease. 

Then Voila, it's time for action.

... 

A couple of the above steps may not be relevant to your event, therefore if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them below. 

Goals

On Wednesday, during the build up to the New Year. John ( my fiancé) and I decided to participate in a task that will hopefully benefit us throughout 2015 and help to shape what we would like to get out of the year. 

We decided to set some goals. 

Cheesy as it sounds, I thought it was a brilliant idea! John on the other hand would have rather grated his face off then think about what he wants to achieve this year. But as he clearly loves me (we have been together over 8 years) and presumably to shut me up quicker, he got involved with the idea.  

The categories (yes we had categories) were as follows:

Personal goals
Work goals
Couple goals
Goals for each other 

The aim was to write both big and little goals within each category and then we discussed how achievable they were. To finish the task we are now going to write them all down onto one piece of paper, place them somewhere prominent in the home and tick them off as they are completed.  

Top tips for setting goals:

1. Make positive statements - For instance, ‘Learn to play the guitar’ instead of ‘Stop playing the drums’. 
2. Be specific - Make yourself accountable with dates, times and amounts so that you can measure the achievement.
   
3. Prioritise - Once you have written all of your goals down, take some time to work out a list of what to achieve first, directing your attention to the most important ones to begin with. 

If you are thinking of starting off the year with a clear focus on the rest, or perhaps you want something to look forward to, then have a go and let me know how you did in the comments below. 

In our hour of fun, we decided on some great additions to our New Year such as completing driving lessons, taking a holiday abroad together and having black out nights! 

Have you made resolutions or goals for 2015?

Keep smiling :-)