Business event planning checklist

Event strive to be a valuable and useful source of information for all aspects of your corporate event planning process. It is our wish that every event you plan be an outstanding >> a host of online tools to streamline the planning of your next event, including, event registration, interactive audience response systems, room diagramming software and a turn-key registration g planning tips calling all meeting planners - do you have a planning tip that you would like to share with your peers? The person who sends us the best 'tip of the month' will receive a brand-new best-selling business book written by one of the speakers we a planning tip >> planning tip library >> master planning timeline with support documents and checklists. This comprehensive guide provides the most up-to-date information you need to plan a corporate meeting right from your adable document >> master planning timeline downloadable document >> appendices to the planning timeline (some documents courtesy of apex meeting and event toolbox by officeready. Developed by the convention industry council, this product takes the hassle out of meeting planning by providing a collection of more than 200 event management and business templates, including those developed through apex (accepted practices exchange) as the industry standard. See appendix 1 >> identify e a preliminary agenda and guest ish planning and promotional action ish protocol for interaction with staff, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, registrants and press. See appendix 4 >> registration information on , update, and prepare policies and procedures governing the meeting and distribute them to all e calendar of staff planning meetings, conference calls or required, identify new sources for and establish guidelines for submission, review, and selection of e master schedule of all known printing requirements, including specific items, quantity, coding system, deadlines, and potential printers. Ix 6a >> and appendix 6b >> planning the meeting requirements to selected sites with requests for written site proposals from responding t site visits as required. First meeting announcements and promotional materials to prospective attendees and audiovisual needs from speakers and all necessary equipment as soon as you , update, and confirm final event e list of available hotel function areas and e for all staff and vip travel and accommodation. Spouse/guest) incorporating topics and speakers into meeting e hotel space and specifications and make tentative room assignments for meeting functions and confirming program speakers and biographies, headshots and introductions as each speaker is e meeting through appropriate final selections of all remaining fy and begin preparation of organization's general sale up on call for uate target markets and mailing lists in preparation for brochure ue promotion through organizational magazine and fy meeting functions and activities available for sponsorship and begin solicitation of specific e and mail exhibit prospectus and related ish procedures and controls for session and event admittance via tickets or badges; establish monitoring procedures. For on e and inventory all shipments, equipment, and all vip up conference t individual review meetings with suppliers and facility t personnel instructional briefings for registration staff, data collectors, volunteers, volunteers, and t pre-conference and daily staff each day's requirements, and highlight following day's responsibilities, procedures, and overlap areas like registration, food guarantees, speakers, vips, media room setups, data collection, spouse/guest/children's events, exhibits, sponsors, and so asize communication lines and authority and responsibility levels to meeting staff, suppliers, meeting facility staff, and e daily invoice review with meeting t with meeting support personnel as required for issuance of m and monitor pickup of all rental equipment and e for return shipment of all t post-conference wrap-up meeting with meeting facility departments and suppliers as through the venue and check the following:Room sizes (including ceiling height). With a big event, you'll have many invoices and you need to make sure you have been billed correctly and you pay in a timely fashion. We treat all information provided to us as strictly 's walk through the event planning process r this is the first time you've planned an event or the 100th, one thing never changes: you want your event planning and everything related to it to work out beautifully. That's also what we want, so we've put together a few corporate event planning tools and event planning checklists to help you get the job done - quickly and speakers. Use the downloadable checklists and check off every important ion & ation mitzvahs & bat ng group ean & latin and middle tion & resort 's walk through the event planning process r this is the first time you've planned an event or the 100th, one thing never changes: you want your event planning and everything related to it to work out beautifully. Use the downloadable checklists and check off every important ion & ation mitzvahs & bat ng group ean & latin and middle tion & resort gras party ood party s and music tion party birthday party mas party years eve party tions and bars and party n party party gras party theme party ood party l occasions tion party ate event planning heard the expression, "you can never be too thin or too rich? And you can quote corporate event planning checklist makes planning any corporate event a little bit easier. Whenever possible speak to companies that have hosted similar events at the t site visits as required.

If you use a hotel for the event, you should get a significant discount on any deadlines and other requirements to timetable. Establishing these milestones for your event will keep you on the event gets closer:Form committees as required. Organizations that have regular events should consider standing committees that meet as p a promotional some pr for the event. Calendar notices, press releases, interviews may all be appropriate depending on the size of your it is a non-profit or charity event, line up sponsors. Prepare and mail letters to potential event sponsors requesting consideration in their e preliminary budget categories and set preliminary budget. Unless you manage your corporate event closely it is very easy to see budgets grow fy needs for outside consultants, and specify requirements. You are charging admission to the event establish registration-fee structures and policies, being certain to include clear fy areas of need for outside suppliers; outline specific requirements, and select decorator, security, airline, car rental, audiovisual, entertainment, destination management, transportation, and es. Remember to check if they have adequate staff to handle your event and if they have insurance exactly how much you will be charged. The key is training volunteers and educating them about your and order speaker gifts and any awards you may be handing special decorations for your corporate event. For your event, and again on the day of your event to make sure everything has arrived and is in place. With a big event, youll have many invoices and you need to make sure you have been billed correctly and you pay in a timely fashion. It is very important to evaluate what went right and what went not so right so the next time is our full corporate event planning ibe to the free monthly party talk address: *            first name: *. Learn planning has a lot of moving parts, and you need to know when different tasks need to be completed by in order to keep everything on schedule. Trust me, i know how quickly things can become unmanageable, which is why i created this checklist based off of my experience planning along with our event planning checklist here as i go through and explain each item on the list. If you plan ahead, you’ll be able to reduce the stress of planning your event and ensure it’s a you know you can advertise locally via bing? Click here to advertise your event to a targeted audience and boost event signups & : the amount of time needed to plan an event is based on my experience planning a luncheon for 300 people. Months before: big picture ine your first thing you should do after you decide to hold an event is determine your budget. Things can get expensive quickly, so keep a spreadsheet of all costs so you know when you’ve reached your spending any business event, you will most likely need the following things:Entertainment and er budgeting for the items below if you want to delegate tasks or have money to spend on added features:Production company (ensures everything runs smoothly the day of the event).

My event was an awards ceremony and we did not have to spend money on speakers since the award recipients were the ones who gave can also decrease costs by only serving coffee, tea, and bagels (or beverages and hors d’oeuvres) over a full sit down meal. However, sometimes a venue will require you to use their staff for the event, such as their bartender if you want to have alcohol at your might want to find a venue that has amenities, such as tables, chairs, tablecloths, and wifi included in the price. This could decrease cost and make things easier for you if everything is included and you don’t have to worry about transportation of these concrete goals and next important step is to determine your goals and need to decide what you want your business, your attendees, and your sponsors/partners to get out of the example, i used to work for association trends, a magazine that’s geared towards non-profit and association executives (such as the ceo of national association of manufacturers or the cfo of npr). Since traditional print media is declining, we decided to try an event in order to diversify our revenue sources. Here are the goals we came up with:Build our brand as the authority on association news and trends in the association an enjoyable atmosphere for our audience to network and form business sponsors that we can connect with high quality that we know what we want to get out of the event, we can get more specific about our on your target may think your target audience is as simple as whoever wants to come to the event. This is because you want to keep your attendees and potential sponsors back at your goals to help you decide who the audience for your event should be. For example, when i was planning the event at my previous company, we wanted association executives to attend the event because we wanted to build our brand among this group. We also thought this group would enjoy networking and building business relationships with each other and therefore get more out of attending the event. Finally, we knew that this group would attract the sponsors that we wanted to did not invite people working at corporations because we only wanted corporations to attend if they were paying thousands to sponsor the you have your budget, goals, and audience, it’s time to think about the type of event you want. Consider a cocktail hour or a lunch ng the right time and date is critical to your event’s success. Think about your target audience and what their typical schedule looks le events include:Deciding which one is right for your needs really depends on what you want to get out of the event. 6 months before: you know the type of event you want to hold, it’s time to choose your venue. When choosing a venue for your event you should first consider what type of event you are hosting and create a list of needs your venue should meet. Hotels are great, but there are plenty of special event venues that break up what attendees are accustomed to. The look, feel, and experience your guests receive from a perfectly chosen venue will leave them waiting for the next event and new hot location. You can almost always negotiate, so don’t accept the first price the venue comes back negotiating prices with vendors, brian kelly & sean koski from ticket2events share the following tip:Hit vendors with a price that is 20% lower than the budget you set aside for this product. We suggest “shopping around” and keeping all proposals on also doesn’t hurt to let the vendor know that if a negotiation can happen for this event, you’ll be more ready to re-use them and deliver repeat business! A date and date of your event is largely dependent on when your venue has availability, so try to keep an open mind about the date.

However, take these things into account before you commit:Make sure there are no competing don’t want your guests to have to choose between your event and a similar event in your industry. When planning our event for association professionals, we made sure it was nowhere near the annual event that draws thousands of association executives every the date with people you’re working with partners or sponsors, make sure to clear the date with them. You also need to make sure that everyone staffing the event has an open schedule that a time that works for your type of event and your you are holding an educational event, you want to have it earlier in the day when people are more focused. If it’s a celebratory event with an audience that works full time, hold something in the our event, we decided to do an awards ceremony during lunch on a friday. We decided to do the event during work hours, since most have families they need to get back to after work. We wanted the event to be fun, so we chose a friday, when people are typically in better moods than at the beginning of the unately, since there are so many variables when planning an event, it’s possible that everything will not go your way. If you do have to switch to plan b or plan c, “remember that no one attending your event actually knows how it was ‘supposed’ to be or how your high expectations are/were, so don’t stress,” advises blaine ashley of nyc champagne be prepared for the worst case scenario, having to cancel the the unexpected happen and you must pull the plug, be it due to weather, low rsvps, or other contingency, you have to know how to handle it, and quickly. David jacobson, founder of trivworks, recommends following the three steps to ensure cancelling doesn’t result in angry customers and/or negative online reviews:Tell invitees immediately – use any and all means at your disposal: phone, email, text, publish an alert on your website/social up signage – people who decide to come at the last minute don’t want to arrive to an empty venue with no notices as to why the event isn’t dule quickly – preferably for a similar time/day of the week as the originally scheduled date, so as to minimize conflicts for a website/landing page and marketing you have your venue, date, and time nailed down, you want to create your event website as soon as possible. Or less per website is important because it is where people can go to learn more about your event and register if they are interested. Depending on the size and scope of your event, you can create a dedicated website for it, or just make a landing page on your existing will want to include the following elements on the page:Benefits of attending the rs/entertainment with pictures and to register and cost to attend (if applicable). This is an important step to make sure you stay on track since marketing is key to getting people to attend your event. View our guide on event marketing ideas the pros use to get tips for the best ways to market an speakers/entertainment and lock down sponsors/r you are looking for informative speakers to educate your audience, or you want performers to entertain, you need to confirm this well before the date of your event. If your attendees don’t enjoy your event, it won’t look good for your business, and it will make it harder to get them to come back next g sponsors can help you defray some of the costs of your event. If you want to have sponsors or partners for your event, get them to commit well before the event date. 4 months ahead: get people buzz around your that you have the logistics worked out, it’s time to get people talking about your event. Press release is a great way to get media attention for your event, but make sure to focus the release on something interesting. View our press release template, examples, and distribution tips to learn e your event on can create a page for your event for free on facebook. Then, you can pay as little as $5/day to promote the page to the exact demographic that you want to attend the event.

For example, if you’re hosting a networking event for women in business, you can show your ad only to women ages 25-45 in your area who are interested in business. Fun way to get people excited about your event is to promote a clip of your speakers or record the ceo of your business speaking about why you are holding the event. Videos tend to get more attention than pictures or text, so by posting videos on your social media sites, you are more likely to engage with all third party so many people are involved with the planning of the event, it is vital that everyone is on the same page. By meeting with all of the event vendors months before the date of the event, you can rest easy knowing that everyone knows what their responsibilities are. This will lower the chance of confusion when event day ze design of event signs and want your event to have a cohesive look when it comes to all signs and printed materials. You may even want to create a separate logo specifically for the event, especially if it’s one you want to hold multiple years in a row. If you don’t have a design team in house, you can hire someone on fiverr to do this for you for as little as $ you have sponsors, you will want to ask each of them for high resolution logos to include on all marketing materials for the promotional items to leave a lasting away gift bags at an event with promotional items is a great way to keep your business top of mind even after the event is over. Chances are, they will jump at the chance to give away swag to their target ’s a list of some good promotional item ideas with longevity:Portable phone mugs/ water can also do a themed gift that relates to your event:Fun in the sun kit (sunscreen, sunglasses, koozie). However, no one wants a gift bag full of paper, and chances are only a small percentage will actually read herring, association trends, said, “last year at my event, one of the sponsors brought selfie sticks. We took it a step farther by creating posters that encouraged people to upload their selfie on twitter with the event’s hashtag. Out a fun promotional item such as a selfie stick to get people week before: final all signs/pamphlets/brochures now, registrations should have given you a good idea of the final number of attendees that will be at your event, so you can have your signs/pamphlets/brochures printed. The pamphlet or brochure should include sponsor logos and a schedule of events, and you can possibly sell advertising space within the pamphlet or brochure to increase revenue. View our in-depth guide to brochure printing, price, and design to learn any event, you will definitely need plenty of signs advertising your event at the venue. It will be frustrating for your guests if they show up at the hotel when the event is supposed to be, and they don’t know where to go, or once they get to your event, don’t know if they’re at the right place. Signs to let event attendees know where to up your marketing ’s the last week to market your event, and you want to make sure that you convince everyone who is on the fence that they must attend your event. One creative way to do this is to promote how much time left the potential customer has to register for the event (ex: 5 days left) plus a reason why they should attend. People often need frequent marketing to get them to pull the trigger and register for an you are hosting a networking event or if you have assigned tables for seating, it’s a good idea to have badges for your attendees. Having a name badge makes it easier for people to network, and having assigned tables helps larger events run more smoothly.

Plus, with assigned tables, you can strategically place high quality leads at your sponsor’s through the roles of all week before the event, you should get everyone together from your company that is helping out and let them know what they will be doing the day of the event. You may think you will have time to do this the day of the event, or that people will naturally know what to do, but this is not the case most of the time. Also let everyone know what time they should arrive the day of the ing to kimberly blackburn of eastern foundry, “when deciding how early to show up to an event, think about how much time you’ll need to set up, then add 1-2 hours to that, and that is when you should show up. Day before: last minute will need to set up the day before or the day of the event, depending on the time of the event and when the venue will allow you access to the space. During this time, you should put your gift bags together, put up any decorations that the venue is not providing, and make sure everything is in place for your ’s important to get anyone speaking at the event to meet the day before to go over the script. Print out a copy of everyone’s speech just in case something happens with the electronic m number of if you had a projected number for the event, you should now have the final count (from registrations). Share that with the caterer, and make sure you have the right number of tables if it’s a seated event. On the other hand, having too many tables will make your event look empty and not well you have sponsors, you will also want to send them the list of attendees so they will know who will be attending and who they will want to make sure they the event: your event is over, your job isn’t done! A lot of people drop the ball when it comes to following up after the event, but it’s an important part of the process. This is especially true if you plan on working with the same people in the future or want to run the same event next easiest way to know what worked and what didn’t at your event is to ask your guests for feedback. This is important if you want to hold an event for your business in the future. You could have a feedback box at the event, or you could send a follow up thank you and survey by email to that you’ve had your event, you want to keep the momentum going. If one of your event speakers had a great speech, post it on your website. You want to keep people talking about it so that they will be excited for your next people who participated in making the event a success know that you appreciate their help. This helps forge a relationship between you and the the person you’re sending the note in case you need their help at a future planning can be extremely stressful, especially if you don’t have much experience with planning. By keeping everything organized and following our event planning checklist, you can ensure that everything stays on track. Let us know the authormaggie alandmaggie aland is a staff writer for fit small business and editor of the marketing and reviews sections. She writes on a variety of marketing topics, ranging from newspaper ads to how to market your business on facebook.

Before joining fit small business, maggie worked as a marketing associate at a niche publishing company. Maggie_aland ask a questionrelated postshow to become a real estate agent in maryland15 nov 2017how to get a real estate license in louisiana15 nov your comment cancel llbusiness invited user to leave a review and offered a nominal gift card as a thank invited user to leave a likely are you to recommend this product to a friend or colleague? We recommend that you consult with your own lawyer, accountant, or other licensed professional for relevant business decisions.