This is it! The moment you have been waiting for. It’s time to see all your hours of planning and hard work, come together. But before we celebrate (don’t worry, I promise the time to pop the champagne is coming soon!), ensuring the smooth running of your event is all part of the process. To help navigate your event delivery and come out the other side like a pro, we have devised 5 key tips to help you get there.
Tip 1: Your Reporting is Your Best Friend
Now that you are a pro at event reporting (Need a refresher? See last month’s blog here), this will literally be your best friend onsite. Whether you choose to print your reporting or have digital copies handy, your reporting should have all key information for your event. It should also be readily available to all the appropriate people for easy access on the day, this may mean sending the reporting prior to the event or having printed/digital copies available to them on the day.
Tip 2: Test Your AV
If you have any issues on the day, I guarantee they will be through Audio Visual (AV). The best way to avoid these is to be as prepared as possible in the lead up to the event. Where possible collect any presentations prior to the event so that you can test them prior to the event. This will provide your best chance for smooth sailing on the day. If you are bringing in a live musician or DJ, make sure you get them to arrive onsite early to set up and do a sound check, so they are ready to wow the crowd when the event starts. Each venue is different, so it is important to remember that each AV set up will be too. If you don’t have an AV technician on hand for your event, make sure you get them to go over what they have set up and how the system works during the event set up so you and your team are ready to take over.
Tip 3: Communication is Key
As with most things, communication is key. This includes all communication during the event, including communication with the venue staff and communication between your team as well. A key tip here would be to have a briefing with both onsite prior to the event to run over the event in detail, to confirm timings and reiterate who is responsible for each task. On the flip side, you should also have an event debrief each time a portion of the event finishes. If you are holding a multi-day event or perhaps a day to night event, you may have multiple briefings and debriefings throughout the day. Make sure you add these into your run sheet.
Tip 4: Pack an Event Kit
An event kit is basically a wonderful, seemingly random collection of items that you take to the event with you to help quickly solve issues onsite. We usually recommend that the event kit hold a collection of items such as stationary, audio visual and personal hygiene, we have developed a basic checklist here to help get you started. Now obviously you will tailor this to suit your own needs and over time it will develop with your own experiences onsite, but as a basic guide this is a great place to start.
Tip 5: Enjoy Yourself!
Trust me, once the adrenaline starts pumping the event day will pass by with a blur so it is important to remind yourself to stop and enjoy yourself throughout the event. Celebrate the little wins with your team and have fun, after all you deserve it!
And at the end of the day, when the attendees go home and the event bump out is done, and everyone is raving about how wonderful the event was… THAT’s when you can pop the champagne! Before we start the process all over again and plan an even bigger and better event next year!
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