Its easy to get lost in the design of an event and to overlook the finer points of planning. The problem is that events are complicated and there are many moving parts to coordinate. Imagine a scenario where you’ve planned every last detail, your schedule is tight and everything is perfect until your bar runs out of ice or catering doesn’t have enough food. Imagine the street outside the venue is under construction and your guests get stuck in a huge line of traffic. What if there’s a glitch in the sound system while your speaker is on stage?
Do you have a plan?
Planning an event doesn’t mean just planning for the best case scenario. A good event planner will plan for the worst case scenario, because once your event has started there’s no easy way to fix any problem without having already thought of a plan. Think about it like this:
There will be people everywhere… Problems that arise during events are often messy and potentially embarrassing. For example, it can be very difficult to get all of your guests out of the restrooms if you need to fix a plumbing problem. Not too mention, what will your guests do while you have a restroom closed? Is there another?
Venues in Dallas, and most other places as well, don’t always have enough facilities for their guests to be comfortable. Nothing irritates a guest like waiting in line for the restroom, or just to park their car. What happens if the situation gets worse because plumbing breaks or a street is closed or any random little thing happens and puts a strain on your plan.
Plan events so they could happen at the worst time and still accommodate the maximum number of people that could possibly attend. If an event is worth hosting, its worth the expense to have enough of everything for everyone: food, drink, seats, etc. Problems are going to happen, people are going to be busy, delays are going to happen and you need to have extra of everything at your disposal, including time.
Buffer the activities in your event so that if something runs a little under or a little over on its allotted time that you can adjust in certain places where you have flexible time and some non-essential, ‘filler’ content.
Here’s a list of important things to remember when planning an event:
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Reserve your venue early. The sooner the better.
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Have a budget and stick to it.
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Rent equipment from large companies that can replace the equipment on-the-fly.
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Have AT LEAST 1 bar staff per 100 attendees.
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Have at least 1 Men’s & 1 Women’s bathroom stall per 100 people.
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Not every venue is truly handicap accessible. MAKE SURE TO CHECK.
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Check the venue’s accessfrom the street and get a count of the parking spaces available.
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Check to see if the venue answers the phone when called.
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Check for crime in the area where your venue is located.
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Watch the weather. Hire a valet service rather than make guests walk in the rain.
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Know how many items your cater is preparing per customer. Verify it during your event.
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If possible, schedule all deliveries the day prior to your event and inventory EVERYTHING.
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Create slots in the schedule where you can gain or lose time flexibly.
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Never have just on line. Always break a line into smaller groups and handle them concurrently.
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Keep things simple. Don’t make your guests jump through hoops.
Sometimes its helpful to make checklists to remind you of all the many pieces to keep in the back of your mind while planning an event. Most importantly, don’t try to save a buck on the little things. Save a buck on the design. Save a buck by not eating as extravagantly. Your guests will be happy to sacrifice a little fluff for an event that runs flawlessly.
My name is Nathan Binford and I work with Gilley’s Dallas a 90,000 sq ft corporate event venue in Dallas. During my time in the event business I have come to appreciate the flexibility and scale of what a venue like Gilley’s can do for their clients. For useful information on corporate events in Dallas, venues, catering and other event planning details, read our company blog at www.gilleysdallas.com.