Event Planning and Promotion PDF

EVENT PLANNING AND PROMOTION 1 Week 4 – Event Organization and Preparation LEARNING OBJECTIVES On completion of this lecture, you will be able to: Examine the importance of time management and its planning tools ¢ Prepare run sheets, maps and model, floor plans ¢ Prepare event checklists ¢ Prepare...

EVENT PLANNING AND PROMOTION 1 Week 4 – Event Organization and Preparation LEARNING OBJECTIVES On completion of this lecture, you will be able to: Examine the importance of time management and its planning tools ¢ Prepare run sheets, maps and model, floor plans ¢ Prepare event checklists ¢ Prepare event contact sheets ¢ 2 PROBLEMS OF POOR TIME MANAGEMENT ¢ ¢ ¢ The banner and signage had to have last-minute changes and haven't arrived on time! The event uniform haven't arrived on time before the event! The details of the event haven’t been fixed before the press conference! 1. TIME MANAGEMENT An event is totally time dependent ¢ Any delay can be fatal! Meeting the scheduled deadlines is important ¢ Need to be thorough, careful, detailed ¢ Only a well-planned event will be a good event. Failure to plan is planning to fail ¢ Effective time management means: better organizing, delegating, planning and controlling stresses ¢ 4 1.1 THE EVENT PLANNING TOOL TIMELINE ¢ Timeline: a precise tool for managing the event — — Construct the timeline starting from event design, planning, coordination, to the end, evaluation Cover each aspect and component of the event, i.e. comprehensive! ¢ — Adv: Show illogical planning, or gaps, in the planning process Develop a master timeline as well as many individual timelines for each category of tasks (e.g. “media services”, “catering”, etc.) Aug 24 Jul 24 Jun 24 May 24 Apr 24 Mar 24 Feb 24 Jan 24 Dec 23 Nov 23 Oct 23 Sep 23 5 PREPARATION STAGE FOR A CONFERENCE ¢ Program Sub-committee ¢ Social Sub-committee ¢ Registration and Hotel and Tour Bookings ¢ Publicity Sub-Committee ¢ Sponsorship Sub-Committee ¢ Printing & production Aug 24 Jul 24 • Time span of the event? ___________________________ Jun 24 May 24 Apr 24 Mar 24 Feb 24 Jan 24 Dec 23 Nov 23 Oct 23 Sep 23 • Master or Individual timeline? 6 CREATE AN EFFECTIVE EVENT TIMELINE, HOW? ¢ ¢ Always need to add, delete and update you event timeline, ∴set the timeline in your computer (Word, Excel, or project management system) List out all key dates or milestones which may include every task to carried out (e.g. deposits due, mailing dates, meetings and confirmations of catering, venues and accommodation) 7 TIMELINE ¢ Program Sub-committee — Publicity Sub-committee Apr 24 May 24 Jun 24 Follow up speakers Fix rundown Sales Promotion Confirm venue setup, decoration & AV Aug 24 Mar 24 Media Jul 24 Feb 24 Professional Associations Event Marketing Nov 23 Nominate Guests Past Conference Delegates Jan 24 Oct 23 Setup Program Individual Connections Dec 23 Sep 23 8 CREATE AN EFFECTIVE EVENT TIMELINE List your timeline by category (e.g. Program subcommittee; publicity sub-committee), tasks can be easily viewed and managed ¢ Start at the date of your event and work backwards when defining deadlines. Identify all deadlines and due dates from venues and other suppliers as early as possible and incorporate into your timeline. From this you can base other tasks around these dates. ¢ Aug 24 Jul 24 Jun 24 May 24 Apr 24 Mar 24 Feb 24 Jan 24 Dec 23 Nov 23 Oct 23 Sep 23 9 CREATE AN EFFECTIVE EVENT TIMELINE (CONT’) Use colors, bold and larger font to quickly identify different deadlines and key tasks (e.g. RED==urgent/non-negotiable deadlines; BLUE==less important tasks and deadlines…) ¢ Keep on track: check progress of tasks with your event teammates regularly; so, the timeline is a valuable tool to reinforce, and to ensure that tasks are completed before the deadlines! ¢ 10 GROUP EXERCISE 1 You are asked to organise a 500-delegate corporate event (e.g. a conference) in Sydney on 1 October 2025. ¢ 1. Re-arrange the following major tasks of the event and add the required deadline of each tasks based on a time span of 24 months ¢ — ¢ Marketing/Promotion, travel, conference accessories, finance, administration, staging and production, post conference administration, sponsors, speakers, preliminary planning, accommodation List the small activities involved in each major tasks of the event. 1.2 REMINDERS FOR EVENT MANAGERS: ¢ Work on a realistic timescale? — — ¢ Sufficient time to plan an event properly? If given a short lead time, should we downsize the event scale DON’T underestimate the lead times of various event-related activities, e.g. marketing, production of brochures, booking venues, etc. — — Book the popular venues in advance! Note the popular dates and times of year Bookings can be made provisionally, but will usually be subject to a deposit. To prevent loss set a cut-off date! 11 1.2 REMINDERS FOR EVENT MANAGERS: ¢ Critical elements in event timeline: — 1)task, 2)person responsible and 3)completion date Phase Task (s) Responsible Persons Start Date and Time End Date and Time Design Collect ideas from Similar events Event Manager 1 Dec, 9 am 14 Dec, 5 pm ¢ $$ contract with suppliers (e.g. hotel, airline, venue, contractors, catering) – key cut-off dates, esp. attrition and cancellation dates: can you alter your attendance figures (attrition)? Can you scrub the whole event (cancellation) without penalties? Include the deadline and a date to review it! 13 1.2 REMINDERS FOR “EVENT MANAGERS” ¢ ¢ ¢ Update your timeline along with your cost sheet and payment schedule Timeline must be acceptable to all stakeholders (i.e. agreed by them, otherwise, unrealistic!) Distribute the timeline to all stakeholders to ensure timely and accurate service 14 1.3 TIME MANAGEMENT TOOL: GANTT CHART 15 16 1.3 TIME MANAGEMENT TOOL: GANTT CHART Used in the early planning days and in the leadup to an event ¢ Benefits in project planning, scheduling and monitoring: ¢ — — — — To allow you to assess how long a project should take (duration) To lay out the order in which tasks need to be carried out To help manage the dependencies between tasks To allow you to see immediately what should have been achieved at a point in time (project status/ progress) 17 GANTT CHART IN EXCEL (EXAMPLE) 18 Reminder: ¢ On your event timeline, checking constantly that things are on track and moving forward as scheduled is essential ¢ 19 2. RUN SHEETS, MAPS AND MODELS, FLOOR PLANS ¢ 2.1 Run sheets — — The program or schedule of events Run sheets will be distributed to all stakeholders, including venue management team, event helpers, and sub-contractors; ∴ let everyone know what, when, where and how! 20 2. RUN SHEETS, MAPS AND MODELS, FLOOR PLANS ¢ 2.2 Maps and models — — Maps are useful ways to represent an event particularly to contractors who may be required to set up the site Who needs the maps? ¢ — — Event audience, spectator services hosts, emergency response teams, builders and designers, electrical contractors, etc. Models are useful if the clients find it difficult to visualize 3D concepts Useful in crowd control to identify the bottlenecks or other potential problems 2. RUN SHEETS, MAPS AND MODELS, FLOOR PLANS 2.3 Floor Plan: ¢ Draw your room set up in a plain floor plan ¢ 22 EXAMPLE: MACAU CONVENTION CENTRE – THE BANQUET HALL 23 24 25 2. RUN SHEETS, MAP AND MODELS, FLOOR PLANS ¢ 2.3 Floor Plan Some Considerations: • Access to the site • Cleaning • Physical limitations • Catering • Dimensions of the site • Safety • Refrigerated storage • Toilet facilities • Physical space for food preparation • Provision of basic services e.g. electric sockets, power and water supply and drainage 26 EVENT CHECKLISTS It is a control tool to ensure that the individual performing the tasks has not forgotten a single detail ¢ Make sure that every item has been followed, signed and dated on completion ¢ A record keeping process: to prevent potential problems, and reduce the risk of litigation if anything go wrong ¢ 27 4. CONTACT SHEET Contact Sheets Event Production Company Company Name in Full Address In Full Contact: List All involved (i.e. Creative Director, Producers, etc) Title: Tel: Fax: Email: Cell: ¢ Home: Contact sheets include the following stakeholders: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Event production company On site “Day off “ staffing Venue Audio Visual Decor Entertainment Floral Lighting 28 SUMMARY ¢ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Different event planning tools: Timeline & Gantt Chart Run Sheets Maps and models Floor plans Event checklists Contact Sheets 29 ¢ References — Shone, A. & Parry, B. (2019). Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook, (5th Ed), Cengage. — Lynn, V.W. (2018). Event Management: for Tourism, Cultural, Business and Sporting Events, Cengage. 30