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Management
Plans & Risk Assessments. |  |
| The name of your event. Simple, right? Well, not quite.
Before you name your event, think through these questions: Is your event name
unique? Memorable? Clear and descriptive so it’s easy for people to know
what your event is about? |
Date.
Again this sounds simple, but have you checked to
ensure there are no big direct or indirect competitive events on or close to
your event date? Have you ensured there are no big bank holidays, religious
holidays, or other large events? Are you sure the venue is available and at
least on hold for those dates? |
Location.
This could be your specific venue, or if you
haven’t booked it yet, the intended city or destination for your event.
Before you make a decision, consider; have you checked your Eventbrite
dashboard to see if you’ve picked the best location based on where your
attendees come from? Are there good transport links to the venue? Does it fit
with your budget, brand, preferred dates, and anything else materially
important to the experience of your attendees? |
Purpose.
People run events for lots of reasons. What is the
purpose of yours? Some options include profit, fundraising, brand awareness,
lead generation, networking, education, community engagement, product
launch…and many more. Be sure you know what the core purpose and essential
outcome of your event are. |
Need.
Getting into the meat of the document now, let’s
start off by identifying the core need of your attendees. Why are they going to
pick your event over everything else they could spend their time or money on?
What do you give them that no one else can? Here are some examples: A
professional conference organiser: Our attendees need to learn about the latest
trends and opportunities taking place in their industry. A festival director:
Our fans need a fun weekend with their friends where they can see all of the
hottest bands in Indie music in one convenient place. A charity: Our supporters
need an event that lets them get involved with our cause, show their commitment
and help raise money at the same time. A small business: Our customers need a
place where they can meet their peers, learn about our latest product updates
and how to implement them. |
Event audience and USP.
This is the place to describe some
of the key features or benefits of your event, which directly meet the needs of
your attendees. For example: Conference: We have the best speakers in the
industry, who will share their uniques insights to help our attendees leave
with a plan for the future. Festival: We have the best bands – established
and emerging – in Indie music, with an amazing array of fun features to
keep everyone energised for a full weekend. Charity: We have an inspiring 5k
walk, making it accessible for everyone, with all entry fees being dedicated to
our cause. SMB: We’ve our Product Director to explain all the key features
of our latest release, followed by free drinks and food so everyone can enjoy a
fun networking evening. |
Unfair advantage.
This is typically an internal resource or
process that would make it very hard for a competitor to replicate your
solution. Some examples: Conference: Our producer has the best relationships in
the business, meaning we can secure better and more senior speakers than any
other conference. Festival: We have exclusive contracts with our top 3
headliners, meaning they won’t be seen anywhere else this summer. Charity:
We have a unique site secured exclusively for our walk, making it a uniquely
beautiful experience for our supporters. SMB: This will be the first time
anyone has heard of our product updates, making it an exclusive event for only
our top customers. |
Unique Value Proposition.
Conference: The only place you
can hear all 10 of the Top 10 Fast Tack 100 CEOs speak in one place. Festival:
The only place you can see XXX, YYY, ZZZ play this summer and enjoy 50+
incredible gourmet food trucks catering every cuisine you can imagine. Charity:
Join hands with your community and show your support for XXX in the unique
grounds of YYY this Spring. SMB: Be the very first to hear about our first
major product update in 2019, then catch up with your peers as we serve up
drinks and food all evening. |
Audience.
Arguably your audience comes first of all, but as
you start thinking about promotion, this is a great place to document exactly
who you think should be at your event. For the strategy document, you may just
put the essential demographics down, such as: Conference: Mid-to-Senior
Management at fast-growing companies with annual revenues between
£1m-10m. Festival:Millennials (aged 21-40) with disposable income, active
on social networks, typically single. Charity: Anyone who has been touched by
the same issue as our members (e.g. cancer survivors, relatives of crime
victims, orphans and their adoptive families). SMB: Our 100 most valuable
customers and our business development teams top 50 priority list. |
Event marketing timeline.
The best event marketing
strategies follow a timeline and logical sequence, with each promotion
reinforcing the last. While every event is different, there are some common
tactics that can help guide you as you plan your event project. Start by
breaking down your efforts by milestone: pre-event, ticketing launch,
day-to-day, and last call. Then choose your channels, including email, social
media, SEO, blog articles, partners, press releases, and influencers. Once
that’s established, you can map out your schedule. Even if ticketing
isn’t launched a year before your event, that doesn’t mean it’s
too early to start brand marketing. Conference: The marketing channels we will
focus on are: Email, Direct Mail, Paid Social Media. Festival: Sponsors, Social
Media, Display Ads. Charity: PR, Word of Mouth, Partnerships, Blog. SMB:
Influencer Relations, Webinars, Email, Social Media. |
Key Metrics.
The key metrics you put in your event plan
should tie back directly to your event’s purpose, or at least support it
in the some way. Again, try to limit these to between 1 and 3, for
example:Conference: 1. Profit; 2. Average ticket price; 3. Growth. Festival: 1.
Revenue; 2. Number of attendees; 3. Cost per acquisition. Charity: 1. Funds
raised; 2. Number of participants; 3. Press mentions. SMB: 1.
Attendance. |
Event costings overview.
This is the place to detail your
headline costs or expected budget, so everyone is on the same page as to what
they can and can’t spend and where they’ll need to make savings. Get
a proper handle on what you’re spending and manage costs like a pro by
using a budget template. |
Team roles and responsibilities.
Knowing who on your team
will be responsible for what months in advance is vital as everything comes
together in the planning stage. If you’re not sure where to start, you can
refer to a past event that’s similar to your upcoming one to divide the
roles and responsibilities. There are also many free event planning
productivity tools that will help you and your team stay in sync. Note: Make
sure you’ve designated a point person for even the seemingly small things,
like updating sponsors on attendance. What might seem like a small task now can
become a huge problem if you don’t have a coverage plan when
everyone’s bandwidth is maxed out. You may also be tempted to hire a
professional event planner to take care of it all for you, but can you afford
one? Des Mclaughlin, Divisional Director of Grass Roots Meetings & Events,
suggests that event planners charge and the different payment models that can
influence the final cost. “The simple truth is that there are no hard and
fast rules when it comes to payment styles and terms between clients and event
agencies. In fact the very same agency can often charge differently depending
on the client or indeed service offered – event management and logistics
is for example a very different service to that of strategic meeting management
and venue finding – particularly when you consider the difference between
external and overhead costs that each represent.” He explains that there
are six key event planner models to consider when working out event planner
fees which include: Fixed management fee: This is a flat rate for the whole
project rather than an hourly rate. This requires the agency to estimate how
many hours work organising the event will take and caps the fees payable.
Percentage of budget: An event planner may also charge according to the total
value of the event. They will typically leverage a fee of between 15-20% of the
total cost. Return of commission: Many venues and hotels offer commission to
agents on bookings. Under this model the agency or event planner passes on any
commissions received, to come off the client’s bottom line. Alternatively,
the event planner may look to negotiate non-commissionable pricing to achieve a
better base price for the client. Sharing of commission: Rather than passing
all commission on to the client, the event planner may split the revenue
between themselves and the client. Markup on services: An event planner may
take remuneration by marking up the third party services it supplies, such as
venue hire, catering and AV. This would typically be between 10-15%. Open book
client relationship: Where the client has access to the event planner’s
accounts so they can check they are not hiding commissions etc. The bottom line
is that there are many different payment models, allowing you to choose the one
which best suits your organisation and budget. |
Event revenue model.
Last but certainly not least, you need
to document how you’ll be balancing the books and getting some money in
the bank! For example, here are some event revenue models you could use as a
starting point. Conference: 50% Delegate Tickets (early bird, standard,
onsite); 50% Sponsorship. Festival: 30% Sponsorship; 20% Concessions; 50%
Ticket Sales. Charity: 60% Entrance Fees; 30% Onsite Donations &
Concessions; 10% Sponsorships. SMB: 100% Internal Investment. |
Event safety plan.
When it comes to keeping your event
attendees, staff members and presenters safe, there are many elements to
consider. The government’s health and safety for events guidelines can
help to ensure you think about the different elements such as: Reducing risk.
Creating information for employees or attendees. Organising contractor health
and safety. First aid, toilets and wash facilities. Parking. Waste removal.
Food health and safety. |
Event planning checklist.
Use this checklist to ensure you
have thought about all of the key areas relating to your event. Have you:
Determined the event goals and objectives. Produced a written event plan.
Defined the event audience. Conducted market research. Finalised the event
budget. Decided on an event name. Booked an event venue. Created a marketing
plan and timeline. Selected your vendors. Secured your event sponsorship.
Determined a registration system. Launched an event website. Launched the event
marketing campaign. Scheduled an email marketing campaign. Booked speakers and
presenter. Organised insurance and health and safety compliance. Organised
catering. Organised audio visual, lighting and staging. Booked entertainment.
Hired event staff. Determined a lead capture system. Ordered event signage.
Involved local or industry press. Reviewed and analysed event
success |
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