How to keep the Titanic from sinking your next event!
Year-end functions and events can go one of 2 ways: a resounding success or an unmitigated failure. In my years organizing events, I’ve heard of countless horror stories of badly planned events – if I’d been responsible for any of them I’d crawl under a rock and die! I’ve put together a list of actions that typically destroy the success of an event or annual function - big or small:
1) Deal with only one person. When signing your Terms and Conditions of agreement with your main suppliers, the venue, ensure they can guarantee you that you will communicate with one individual from start to finish. There is nothing more soul destroying than spending weeks on your critical event only to find that with days to go, your event coordinator at the venue has left, gone on leave or moved on and now your event is in the hands of the spare office lackey. This works both ways too - the venue gets the ball rolling and communicates 3/4 way through with Miss J from company K only to find she’s moved on one week to go and no one seems to know whats the next step.
2) Give the venue and its co-ordination team enough time (minimum production time is usually stated in their Terms & Conditions) to co-ordinate your event properly. Throw it at them last minute, get them to jump through high hoops like rabid dogs and transfer all your dis-organisational skills directly onto the venue. At least there is someone to blame if the event turn out sour.
3) Be realistic with your budgets and price expectations - everyone is “desperate for business” so the venue and all critically main and secondary suppliers must be too, right? Be nasty - Demand 6 star service for 3 star prices, right? You deserve this. Better still, never let your main supplier know what the budgetary targets are - keep it a “big secret” and squeeze them in the nether region until they cant breath anymore - in that way you come out tops. Or do you? Do you sell your products for half price? We all go to restaurants and eat out regularly - we know what a great 3 course meal costs and what vast amounts of booze your associates can consume. Why will it all of sudden be half of that on your top drawer event?
4) Don’t overwhelm the venue with last minute changes on room allocations. This effects rooms drops, room servicing and makes the event high maintenance. Remember the 5 P’s = proper, preparation, prevents poor performance.
5) Do you treat your chosen suppliers as “the enemy” and your clients as “one and only’s”? Realise your suppliers are part of your team. They are chosen by you because they are the best that the clients money can buy for his / her event. Do you “Demand” beyond expectation performance from your suppliers whilst letting your client simultaneously know that without you the event would have been impossible as “venues/suppliers” just wouldn’t perform to your standards without you? There is a more professional way. Manners. Virtuous (rather vicious) event co-ordinators get the job done brilliantly.
6) Contact us to today to avoid these mistakes!
