fbpx

3 Planning Essentials Event Managers Can’t Live Without

We’ve talked to our industry friends and found out their most effective event professional work hacks. Read on…

Black and white head shot of event manager Mahalia

Mahalia Hicks – Manager: Wine, Dairy and Fine Food, Royal Agricultural Society of NSW

  1. I can’t live without good ‘old school’ to do list. I can’t stress it enough. And don’t forget to prioritise the list!
  2. Each morning pick your top three tasks that you want to achieve that day, never more, never less. Any more you won’t complete them all, if you complete all three with time to spare its a bonus.
  3. Remember to make time for yourself. When you finish for the day turn the computer off, put the phone away, we are often allow ourselves to be on-call way too often and its affecting our mental health and personal lives.

Black and white head shot of Jon at an event

Jon Corbishley – Director, The Safety Officer

  1. Meet as many stakeholders as possible when planning the event to get as many opinions and viewpoints as you can toward your decision making.
  2. Always go to the venue or site. Never ever rely upon a map or a drawing without actually seeing the place. You will be amazed how much you will see when you’re there. Talk to the people who really know the venue such as the cleaners, caterers and maintenance staff. They’ll tell you a lot more than the sales team.
  3. Always get there first and be prepared to be the last to leave.

Head shot of Emma Walker founder of She Went Wild

Emma Walker – Former Founder, She Went Wild

  1. Write your thoughts down. I often have lots of idea’s, feedback and chats with people and I have to write the main points down otherwise I forget them. These include hints and tips people have suggested, or websites that are good for sourcing information from, save them all. Evernote is great for this!
  2. Before starting anything, evaluate what’s going to take you the longest to organise. This should be your priority! Make sure you don’t waste too much time on smaller details that really aren’t going to affect the running of the event. Create your to do list in the order of how long certain tasks will take, and their importance.
  3. Keep organised! I love folders and labels, you don’t want to be wasting time trying to find quotes, contacts and details. There are so many apps that are around now that will help you organize yourself. I know I’ve already mentioned it already, but Evernote is great for creating online notebooks.

Black and white head shot of Event Manager of the year Megan Peters

Megan Peters – International Productions

When I start planning for an event; these are the first three things I do:

  1. Surround yourself with people who know more than you do
  2. Get the creative right and involve as many people as possible in the creative so that they have ownership of the idea
  3. Put a big bowl of jelly snakes on the table

Black and white head shot of Kelly the event management pro

Kelly Abeleven – Building Biology NSW

  1. Writing lists – to remember everything
  2. Plan and Breathe – you can’t control everything, especially in the event industry so plan well and be open to change as well as quick thinking to solve issues that arise.
  3. Event Plan – So everyone is on the same page and they know what is going on – especially event staff who are the ones who get asked the questions by event patrons and it’s much better of they know what is going on 🙂

At College of Event Management we offer a range of specialised online event courses. Contact us for more information about the right course to equip you with the knowledge and practical experience to work as an event professional. 

Leave a Reply