Event Planning and Management: A Practical Guide

10 == A practical guide to managing an event on the day ------------------------------------------------- -- -- - assess your responsibilities for your event; - ensure that everyone attending your event has a seamless experience; - identify some of the common challenges facing events...

10 == A practical guide to managing an event on the day ------------------------------------------------- -- -- - assess your responsibilities for your event; - ensure that everyone attending your event has a seamless experience; - identify some of the common challenges facing events managers on the day, and address the issues; - ensure you don't overlook anything important after the event has finished; - follow advice from event specialists. #### Your responsibilities as an on-site events manager #### Before the event 1. Upon arrival at the venue 2. Lead-up to the event 3. One hour before the event. ##### Upon arrival at the venue - When you first arrive on-site, it's important you get the most important people together for a meeting. For example, a conference organizer will usually hold a - One of the first steps is establishing a base room. Conference organizers are likely to set up an office where they can meet with staff, make calls, store materials and so on. Festival organizing teams will have a central production office as well as an event control room to handle communications (more about event control shortly). - Personally check that all essential equipment and supplies have arrived and are in good working condition. Check this yourself and do it early, while there is still time to act; failing to ensure that all your equipment and materials are on-site can lead to delays and significant challenges moving forward. ##### Lead-up to the event - Face-to-face briefings are effective and time efficient for sharing all the vital infor- mation about the event with your team. The briefing is also the ideal forum to equip team members with anything they might need, such as uniforms and walkie- talkies. Table 10.1 provides an example of a briefing sheet. It is always a good idea to have any necessary documentation circulated to your team (including volun- teers) in advance so that they have time to familiarize themselves with plans and their roles and responsibilities. - Scheduling meetings with the wider team (running a successful event requires a 'team of teams' approach) is vital to review information about the event programme, activities and timings as well as updates on the number of guests and any special requirements they might have, prior to the event and as the event progresses. Table - When setting up communication systems in advance of the event, make sure that everything is in working order. Testing equipment is vital, including checking the - Establish communication protocols so that everyone understands the lines of command. This is to ensure that during the busy event you can shortcut commu- nication and deal with the related team members: if the events manager says 'do it', you do it, straight away, no questions asked, and no politeness needed. It is a good idea to include the mode and tone of communication in your briefing to ensure that your team are aware that brevity and action are the order of the day, and that in some instances direct and specific language ensures that challenges are dealt with as quickly as possible. - Rehearsals take place in the lead-up to many types of events. An obvious example is musicians at concerts, but events such as weddings, awards ceremonies and after-dinner speakers all benefit from a dry run. As the events manager, you often play an important role in fixing any problems identified during rehearsals. Case study 10.1 on the opening ceremony for an international sporting event highlights the importance and complexities of rehearsals for major events. ##### One hour before the event - Final checks! Check all the different event rooms and spaces are ready to go, and review your production schedule and site plan to ensure things are where they are supposed to be. Check all equipment is in efficient working order. Check room layouts. Do a visual check for cleanliness of rooms, corridors, toilets and other public areas. Make sure to check the outdoor spaces and grounds. Check the car parks. Check food and beverage areas for readiness. Check entrances and exits. Check and check again. - *Final chance* to reinforce any key messages you want staff to particularly focus on during the event. Meet-and-greet staff and helpers are particularly important if you - One last walk-round to check that everything is now ready and everyone is now in place. If the event isn't completely ready, you've got a decision to make. Do you delay opening the doors or allow people in? It's a very tough call. But allowing attendees in and then trying to fix any issues when your event has gone live can often create a knock-on effect as well as increase stress levels of the team trying to mitigate the other issues which may occur as a result. If you do have to delay open- ing the doors, please ensure that you have your friendliest, calmest staff communi- cating this to the attendees and keeping them informed. Where possible, give staff an idea of the anticipated delay to support managing attendee expectations. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Setting out chairs and tables around the school -- for the 28 workshops (in classrooms), for children's groups, for the exhibition (in the dining room and Sixth Form Centre) and for registration (in the Main Entrance Foyer). - Posting signage around the building -- this will help you to get to know the building layout. - Stuffing badges and arranging them correctly on the registration desk. Checking badge names against the lists to ensure all participants have a badge. As there are around 500 people coming, accuracy is **very** important. - Speakers who wish to set up their rooms on the Friday evening will arrive sometime between 17.00 and 19.30, or from 08.00 on the Saturday morning. We put the school desks to the back of each room and will make sure that there is the required number of chairs in each room, unless otherwise specified, neatly set out in curved rows. Speakers may change the layout when they get there. - This should by staffed from 08.00 to 17.00 by at least two people all day in case of emergency, but by at least seven people during the peak morning registration period - Please **don't** let anyone take a badge for a friend as this only causes confusion. - **Late registration:** For health and safety reasons, we need to ensure that **all** participants (this includes delegates, speakers, St John's Ambulance, children's team workers, catering team, registration team, exhibitors, musicians, singers, speakers and children) have a name badge and are booked on to the event system. Check the badges. If you cannot see a badge for the person, send them to the Late Registration Desk, where a team member will check that they aren't on the list, and they will ask them to complete a form and handwrite a name badge for them. All sections of the Late booking form **must** be completed in full. - **Children's registration:** Forms for parents/guardians to register children attending will be on the Late Registration Desk - As registration finishes, we will move the desks back, to make more space in the Entrance Foyer. Please use this area as a meeting point all day and note that while the main sessions are on in the Great Hall, noise levels MUST be kept to a minimum, so as not to cause a disturbance. Please ensure that exhibitors and others, e.g. St John's Ambulance, also keep quiet in this area. -- -- -- -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- [ \*\*\*\*\*To be announced at start of event sessions\*\*\*\*\* ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -- -- -- -- #### During the event #### Common challenges ##### Keep your event on track ##### Deliver excellent customer service ##### Be visible and available to staff ##### Keep everything ffowing smoothly ##### Seize the opportunity to publicize your event ##### Make sure your event is safe -- -- ------------------ -- -- -- Location/Room(s) Location/Room(s) -- -- ------------------ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- #### After the event ##### Smooth dispersal of the event attendees ##### Shutting down the site ##### Conducting a post-event debrief - Event Directors -- Overseeing the whole planning and operation of the event. - PR and Sponsorship -- Responsible for all external communications with co-organizers, partners and sponsors; also responsible for securing sponsorships. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Marketing and Design -- Primarily responsible for promoting the event by devising an effective marketing plan using both traditional and social media platforms. Depending on the needs of the event, sometimes in a separate team, Design is responsible for all graphics, including marketing communications, event props and registration/ticketing systems. - Procurement -- All tasks related to the acquisition of event materials and equipment, including logistics such as purchase, delivery and installation. - Finance -- All tasks related to the finances of the event, including budgeting, control and preparing statements. - Research and Development -- Responsible for all tasks related to researching, testing, producing and training of event activities and staff. #### How to be a successful events manager: what industry specialists say 1. 'As the events manager, your leadership, energy, commitment to your role and ability to motivate your team are critical in delivering exceptional events. Your leadership 2. 'Always allow for more set-up time \[and budget\] than your client thinks you need. Dependent on event timings and venue flexibility this may mean an ultra-early start or arranging to arrive on-site the day or night before the event set-up.' (**Rose Padmore**, Professional Conference Organizer, Director, Opening Doors & Venues) 3. 'Be proactive not reactive; don't be scared of things not going to plan. It happens more than you think. Instead, have a plan B in place and think of different situations that could go wrong and how you would deal with them. Working this way will save you time and money for when these situations occur.' (**Arron Fishwick**, Managing Director, The Event World) 4. 'Make sure all your different electronic devices are fully charged and that you have lots of spare chargers and batteries. Bring enough spares not only for you and your team, but also for contractors, suppliers, speakers and performers who are all likely to come knocking on your door.' (**Ólavur í Geil**, Managing Director, Advent Events Management, Faroe Islands) 5. 'The role of on-site events manager isn't for everyone. And if the events manager role isn't for you, then hire someone else. There are lots of freelancers and operations specialists available to hire specifically for this role, people with the skills and attributes to work in this vital front-of-house capacity. And there are lots of specialist events networking groups that can help you find someone. Try @ thedelegatewranglers on Facebook for recommendations.' (**Ruth Dowson**, Author/ Researcher, UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Beckett University) 6. 'When preparing your equipment list for the base room (office) be sure to bring lots of spares.... Spares of everything! You'll need to bring enough supplies not only for you and your team, but also for contractors, suppliers, speakers or performers. They are all likely to come knocking on your door asking for extras, whether it's pens, paper or other stationery items. Or spare radios, phones and other communication devices, and these days, especially, chargers for phones, laptops and other communication devices. One of the first things is to check that all equipment has arrived and is in good working condition. Do this early, while there is still time to act; still time to rush out to the shops and buy something. Don't wait to get caught out.' (**Sharon McElhinney**, Programme Leader, Events Management, The Sino-British College, Shanghai, China) 7. 'You'll need plenty of tea, coffee, water and other refreshments to keep the troops happy! (And don't forget the decaf, as well as the caffeine!)' (**Sharon McElhinney**, Programme Leader, Events Management, The Sino-British College, Shanghai, China) 8. 'On a personal "operational" level: stay hydrated.' (**Ólavur í Geil**, Managing Director, Advent Events Management, Faroe Islands) 9. 'Put yourself in your delegates' shoes. When the programme is pretty much finalized and you're ready to prepare your on-site project management plan to include team briefings, task/role allocation lists and final signage requirements, the best thing you can do is go to the venue and "walk the walk" of your delegates with the key organizing/delivery team.' (**Rose Padmore**, Professional Conference Organizer; Director, Opening Doors & Venues) 10. 'Establish an on-site delivery team communication strategy. Experience has proved that a WhatsApp group can be very effective and reassuring, especially when it comes to dealing with simple on-site issues such as changes to refreshment timings, heating and air conditioning or speakers arriving late.' (**Rose Padmore**, Professional Conference Organizer; Director, Opening Doors & Venues) 11. 'Just before your event starts, walk in the footsteps of your attendees. Start in the car park or wherever else they arrive. Look for signage and follow the signage. Where does it take you? Are you met by a friendly smile from one of the team? Is there somewhere to hang your coat? You get the idea.' (**David Bassett**, Leadership and Management Development Consultant, Network Rail) 12. 'It's easier said than done, but try to relax and enjoy the day. Over many years of experience, I have seen too many events managers look "on edge". Your manner and behaviour will impact others. If you look nervous and worried and are waiting for something to go wrong, then others will worry too.' (**Ruth Dowson**, Author/Researcher, UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Beckett University) 13. 'Make sure you have an environmental strategy in place for your event. Does your selected venue have an environmental policy? How can you reduce your waste output? Does your event affect the local wildlife or water sources? By considering environmental factors, you are less at risk of environmental damage and can mitigate any accidents that may occur before the event.' (**Sophia Lacey**, NSW State Fundraising Manager, The Hunger Project, Sydney, Australia) 14. 'The most important thing I have learnt is to build relationships with as many people as possible during the planning process, from venue representatives to the accountants, and from contractors to agents. Even though they are your customer, and you should be in full control, remember to treat people nicely and with respect. (**Ólavur í Geil**, Managing Director, Advent Events Management, Faroe Islands) 15. 'Being a good leader means that you must be able to develop your event's human resources. This can be done through effective delegation; you cannot do it alone. Exceptional events managers give others the opportunity to develop their skills. Ensure that you empower your staff to take responsibility, problem solve when challenges are faced, in a supportive and collaborative environment. The more you develop your team the more you will be able to delegate to your upskilled team members moving forward. Who knows, one day you may be on an event site and have nothing to do. (**Bernadette Albert**, Author/Senior Lecturer, UK Centre for Event Management, Leeds Beckett University) - Once the behind-the-scenes, detailed event planning and organizing has taken place, it's time for the for the events manager to step up to deliver a great event. - Working on-site can get hectic. There's no getting around it. Yet the very best events managers have the ability to step back, look at the big picture and make sure that everyone and everything is where it needs to be in order to deliver a successful event. - As an events manager, when you first arrive on-site there are a lot of things or people to organize -- lots of them. Before you become too embroiled in operational tasks, it's vital that you gather the important people together to run through the event details, walk through the venue together and check that all essential equipment and supplies have arrived. - Shortly before the event, you need to conduct a final walk-round of the event site. If the event isn't completely ready, you've got a tough decision to make -- delay opening the doors or continue as planned. The single most important factor in everything you do, and every decision you make, is safety. - Once the event begins, you should remain visible and available to all the important event stakeholders (e.g. staff, client, contractors, VIPs, sponsors) in order to - After the event, there is still a lot of hard work to be done as the clean-up operation gets under way.