Event Planning with a Creative Flair

It doesn't matter whether you are holding a church bazaar, a birthday party, or a conference for 1000 people, there are certain steps that everyone holding an event should consider in order to make an event a success.

Step One - Blue Sky Dreaming

Starting with a clear image of the focus/reason for the event, who the target attendee is, and how large you want the event to be, arrange a brainstorming session with the key stakeholders for the event and write down all the ideas that you would like to incoprorate into the event "in the perfect world". Don't evaluate the ideas just yet, just write them all down because you never know which one is going to be the one that turns out to be the gem in the end.

Of course, sometimes one (or more) element is fixed - like you have to hold it at a specific location, or you have to accomodate a specific number of attendees that will influence this process, and identifying those up front will help streamline this process.

Step Two - Prioritizing Your Ideas

Once you have your list, then you can start breaking the list into "Must Have", "Nice-to-Have", and "Maybe Next Time". You are actually going to go through this exercise again once you have established your budget, but the first pass is about vision.

Budgetary constraints may meant that some of the ideas that are on the "Must Have" list end up being scaled back or morphing into a different form, but these are the items that you definitely want incorporated in the final product. This principle applies right across the board; from a little girl's birthday party, where you might have "ponies" on the original list, and end with ponies in the decor or party favours; to a large scale event that changes from holding it on a rented yacht to simply having a nautical theme in a ballroom.

Your "Nice-to-Have" list consists of the items that are not absolutely crucial, but if money and time permits, you would like to see in the final event. The "Maybe Next Time" list is self-explanatory. This information plus the budget will determine the venue, the marketing strategy, and how much you are going to charge attendees - if anything.

Step Three - Setting a Budget

Depending on the size of the event, you may have two or three different budgets - once again corresponding to the "Must Have" and "Nice-to-Have" lists. With a large event, you are likely seeking sponsorship dollars to offset certain costs - and you may still be selling sponsorship slots until almost the last minute.

Your overall budget should have dollars assigned for expenses in the following categories:

• Event space
• Supplies (place settings, seating, tables, balloons, portapotties, etc.)
• Food & Beverage
• Audio-visual (possibly lighting, stage platforms, easels, screens)
• Outside help (both event planners and on-site staffing like security)
• Entertainment
• Design, marketing, and promotion (including signage)
• Trinkets, speakers gifts, gift bags, schwag
• Registration & processing

As with Step Two, this is iterative - you will set a preliminary budget and then revisit it and refine it as other steps identify more information that will help fill in the gaps.

Step Four - Dates and Location

Now that you have a general sense of what you want and how much money you have to dedicate to the project, you can match the venue to your needs. For larger events, working with tourist associations can be extremely helpful making the process of locating and pricing venues smoother, especially if the event is being held in a different city from the one in which you are based.

Be aware that different venues have different services and packages available when renting - and some have ways of padding the total by not including services you would think would be included. A common example is the plug-in fees for using projectors or microphones, but we've actually found places that charge separately for the tables, chairs, and tablecloths for the vendor areas. Ask up front what is and what isn't included so that there are no suprises on the day of the event. (We have a checklist for event spaces that will help you make sure that you are getting all of your questions answered and receiving pricing information that leaves no room for surprises at the end. You can download a copy here.)

Once you have identified a location and date, you can go back to Steps Two and Three and refine and adjust your priorities and budget, then move onto the next step, planning the promotions for your event.