An Event Planning Guide for Novice Planners by Eric R. Elmore
I should begin by admitting I am not an event planner. I hold no certifications, such as CMP, CIC, or CSEP. I’m a marketing guy - you know, those people who magically drive revenue for the com- pany.
When I began my tenure at Drucker & Scaccetti seven years ago, however, things changed. The role of planning the many annual events we hold for our staff and clients settled on my desk. Pre- viously, various administrative staff members put the events to- gether. Now, it seemed marketing was the logical creative source for this responsibility.
We had to quickly figure out how to plan quality events with little experience doing so. Through trial and error, speaking with cer- tified event planning professionals, and lots of research, we cre- ated this eight-step guide. Using it dramatically improved our efforts, so I’m sharing them in the hope of helping others.
The first event I was charged with creating was a 150-person evening cocktail reception at our office in Center City Philadel- phia. Our chairman came to me with a vision and nothing else. The vision would normally be the first step in planning an event but, thankfully, he already provided it. For most administrative staff planning an event, the vision will be already provided by your higher-ups, so I will skip this step for non-event planners. With lots of help and due diligence, we pulled it off mainly by adhering to the following eight steps that we still use today.
1. GET THE HELP YOU NEED… NOW!
I quickly realized that I cannot do this alone. This is not like plan- ning a dinner party at your house, as some people may think. It’s much more involved and much more is on the line. So, I enlisted the help of others in the firm and formed an event committee con- sisting of people with the specific skill sets we needed for the event. For example, two of the people on the committee were alumni of a firm we were targeting for the invite list. They built the list of invitees and helped us capture the spirit of the firm and include it as part of our event.
2. DEVELOP A BUDGET
Budgets can be tricky. Meeting planners know this well. What do you include and what do you omit? Food and beverage and the venue costs are the most obvious to include. Linens, center-
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pieces, entertainment, giveaways, audio-visual also are common to include. And don’t forget tips for the venue, caterer and bar staffs. I also learned, especially working for an accounting firm, to include people’s time. Every employee here has a billable rate. Include the cost of their time in your budget. Yes, it lowers the money available for tangible things like food and beverage, but it gives the higher-ups an accurate view of the hard and soft costs involved. Believe me, they will appreciate that you’ve taken peo- ple’s time into consideration.
3. SELECT A VENUE AND DATE
In keeping your budget in mind, the process of selecting a venue can be a lot of fun. This is where Mid-Atlantic Events Magazine becomes such a great resource. Take into consideration all angles of the event, such as parking, proximity to transportation and main thoroughfares, lighting, space for dancing and entertain- ment, and food and beverage (is it included or do you need to bring in caterers).
Site visits are a must for us. See each location when empty and visit during an event, too, if possible. You’ll want to see how the staff works, spacing of tables, place settings, bar activity, enter- tainment, audio-visual systems and many other things that make an event flow well.
When setting a date, try to avoid Mondays and Fridays for corpo- rate evening events. Also, avoid abutting holidays. Once the date is set, send a Save-the-Date message to those who will be in- vited. This is appreciated by today’s busy professional who likely keeps an electronic calendar. It will allow them to log it as a hold no matter how far out the event may be.
4. CREATE A TIMELINE CHECKLIST
Now that you have a team, a budget and a venue, you should cre- ate a master timeline and checklist. This is the most important thing for us as non-event planners - I cannot stress this enough. It is the core of our events’ success. We create a checklist in chronological order from the first event committee meeting - whether that is a year out or more - all the way to a month beyond the event date. We plan beyond the event to account for any fol- low-up tasks, like thank you notes, surveys, or returning items to vendors.
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