Memorable parties or successful events do not just happen. It takes a lot of preparation, planning, and great teamwork to pull it off. Organizing an event might sound like an overwhelming task but with some basic ideas you can put together a stellar one, even if you are a novice in the world of event planning. Here Bimal Pariyar, director of Zoom in Events at Subhidhanagar, Kathmandu, shares some tips to get you started on your journey of event management.
Initial considerations
Be it extravagant launch parties or simply just a reunion with old school friends, before organizing any event, it is essential to take a few factors into special consideration. First of all, ask yourself whether you are ready to deal with the responsibilities that come along with the tag of an organizer or not. If yes, start readying your team. Once the team is in place, discuss the type of event you want to organize. Research about similar events in town, check the footfall it receives and look for possible ways to attract more people. Here do not ignore suggestions from your teammates. You need to trust them and work together to pull off a successful event.
Next, check the event date, time, and venue. For a beginner, one to two months of preparation time is ideal. Likewise, security issues are also very important. If you are organizing a public event or a late night party, go through the legal procedures like informing the nearby police station before starting. And for maintaining security inside the hall, you can always hire guards or bouncers through various security agencies.
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Establish a budget
The budget here includes all possible expenses, contributions of sponsors, and finally generated income. If you are organizing a house party, you probably will not get any kind of payback. In such cases, look for areas where you can cut cost, without compromising on the quality. Be realistic from the first day rather than jumping into huge and expensive ideas just to show off. Keep it simple with good food, people, and music.
But for commercial events, you need to meet the requirement of the market. Make sure you balance the amount you spend on an event with the amount you will generate from it. Along with working with sponsors and contributors, no free entry, food and drink stalls in the venue itself and various pay and play games can be a few simple ways of bringing in more money. However, the prices must be reasonable. Similarly, list out all bills and keep a record of the payments in a notebook or computer instantly to avoid missing these details later.
Know your guests
For commercial events you cannot just invite anybody. Decide who you are catering to well in advance and inform them at least a couple of days before the event. If possible, request them to bring along their invitation cards or tickets. This way, uninvited guests can’t just waltz in. Sometimes those who have been invited bring along guests, so factor that in and try to accommodate them. If your target guest list includes a 100 people, then prepare for at least 110 to be on the safer side.
Always have a plan B
Even though you have arranged all the necessary factors beforehand, you never know what could go wrong on the main day. It might be a sudden weather change, some technical problems, foods or anything else. So coordinate with your team and ask them to think both like an organizer and a visitor. List out the possible problems that may arise and create different alternatives or solutions for all of them. This will help you avoid many awkward situations on the main day and will also make you more confident.
Don’t compromise on final check
Now that you have prepared for months, why give up on the final day of preparations? In fact, this day is the most important. From flowers at the entrance door to food in the dinning hall and lighting, make sure everything is in place. If possible, organize rehearsals of the event beforehand. A rehearsal is a good idea a day or two before the main day. If that’s not possible then squeeze in some time for it at least a couple of hours before the event is scheduled to start.
On the main day
One wrong step and all your efforts can go down the drain. So stay focused and make sure you don’t panic no matter what happens. A cool head is important to make your event a success. You have to make sure you and your team is vigilant at all times and prepared for any emergency situations that might crop up. After the event, make notes of what worked and what did not and save them for future reference.
