Being at the front of organising an event is one of the most challenging endeavours one can do. A lot will be at stake, money, reputation etc. In most cases failure is not an option well for mistakes we can always rectify them along the way if possible, yet we realise some challenges during the process when it’s too late to do anything. If you are planning an event here are some tips to make your life easier.

❓Intention

Start with clearly defining the reason for the event. Your objectives, goals, and intentions. Events by their very nature are different, a wedding event differs from a charity golf tournament and varies from business seminars. clearly defining your reason for hosting the event at the start provides a good starting point to align everything about the event. How do you pick the right partners if you are not clear about your purpose, how do you pick the right vendors if your purpose is not clear?

💓Manage Interests

Pick stakeholders with non-competing interests. This is to ensure you maintain relationships with your stakeholders as well as manage stress. It is hard to try and manage interest when an event is underway. Usually, it is nearly impossible to align the interests of various stakeholders because you will be asking them to compromise their intended efforts, especially when they differ. If your initiative is not for profit, work with stakeholders with the same interest. If it’s a for-profit initiative work with stakeholders with the same intention, never try and mix not-for-profit stakeholders with for-profit stakeholders.

🎯Define your Success

Aim for true success of an event. There are many ways to define the success of an event. depending on the initial intention of the event some choose to define the success by the audience turnout, some the quality and caliber of the audience, choose to measure the reach of an event etc. Truly a successful event is one that meets the expectations of every stakeholder involved, from organisers, partners, sponsors, and vendors to the audience. What benefit does it bring you to have a well-attended event, with ninety percent of the vendors complaining about one thing or two about the event? It could be a well-attended event yet your visual audio vendor sustained damage to equipment, to her obviously it wasn’t a good event. Read more about measuring the success of your event here.

Organising an event has no one size fits all method, just like management and leadership, it is more of an extension of the holder. If you are an organised person chances are your events will be organised as well, if not your events will highlight that. It is crucial that you pick what works best for you. Decide what you want to achieve and pick advice that will help you get there, from these and many others. all the best on your next event!