Events start under various circumstances. An event can be focused on a special occasion such as a shower, birthday, anniversary, or wedding celebration. For businesses, corporate meetings, conference, entertaining clients, recruiting new employees, and holiday celebrations can all constitute events. But all events are not created equal. Each individual function will need different time commitments to plan and execute. Whatever the cause for the event, care needs to be taken in the planning process. Therefore, before you get started, you should answer some key questions about what you want accomplished in your social or corporate event.
This is the first and most critical step when planning an event. Some things to consider during this part of the process:
- What type of event do you want to do? Is your event going to be more intimate or large and social? Formal or informal? Wine tasting birthday party, vintage wedding, honey-do shower, motivational corporate stakeholder, leadership meeting? Defining the TYPE and MESSAGE are key in determining where you go in the process. Often the event planner and client can find a common solution to make an idea more mainstream while keeping the creativity. It's my job to help you determine what you want and how we can best accomplish this goal pain free.
- What is the purpose of your event? An event planner will ask you questions you possibly didn't think of before: like, what is most important, the actual ceremony or the reception? Or for corporate events, is the opening ceremony most important as it is motivation for the rest or are the individual sessions most important? Are they equally important? I want to help you answer these questions so we can create the event you desire.
- Who is the intended audience? Are you and your family the most important audience or is everyone in your phone book equally important? Are your clients or your coworkers your intended audience? Let's work together to answer these questions so we can create the event and messaging to address your desired audience.
- Who will present the program portion of the event (if applicable)? Is your event a message from the leadership or is it a coworker team building event? Is your wedding religious or is it civil? Knowing who is presenting can often determine how the message is received. An event planner can help determine who is best to address your audience to achieve the desired effect you want for your event.
- When and where will the event be held? Is your event centered around a holiday? If so, how will this affect your desired audience? Is your event in an environment which requires certain attire? Does the event require travel and accommodations?
- If funding is required, what are the potential sources for funding? Once you answer this question, you can go back to the previous blog (Budgeting for your event) and start planning as this is often the first question in determining what you have to spend.
