Event Management is a very interesting field which requires lot of passion, interest and proper planning to make an event a success.
There are 4-5 important fields which should be taken into consideration while planning for an event:
- Market research and Analytics
- Competitor analysis and Product research
- Planning using our 5 W’s checklist
- Execution with event calendar and checklist
- Evaluation on the basis of the delegates’ feedback.
What is an event?
An event can be described as a public assembly for the purpose of celebration, education, marketing or reunion. Events can be classified on the basis of their size, type and context.
Types:-
Corporate Events – Events like Y2B, HR Summit and etc.
Education and career events – Events like education and career fair, workshop, seminar, debate, contest, competition etc.
Social Events : Music shows, weddings
- What is Event Management?
Event Management is the process of analyzing, planning, marketing, producing and evaluating an event. it can be used as a very powerful promotional tool to launch or market a product or service.
- Market Research
Before organizing an event, find out whether there is a market for your intended event or not. If the market’s demand doesn’t match to your offerings then it is not a good idea to organize such event there.
- Market Analysis
If there is a market for your intended event, then make sure you do local market analysis. Market Analysis means finding information about your target audience i.e. age demographics, sex, qualification, profession, income, status, customs, traditions, religion, lifestyle etc. This information will help you in developing a better event strategy.
- Competitors Analysis
Who are your competitors? Find out how they promote and execute there events. What they do in there events? Why people come to these events? Asking these questions will help you in creating an event that is targeted toward the right demographic.
Events planning
You can plan your event keeping 5 W’s checklist in mind. Which are:
Why
Why you want to organize the event. What are your objectives? Defining event objectives at the very start of event planning is very important as it gives you the direction in which you should proceed to accomplish your objectives.
What
What you are going to do in the event. Any special theme you want to revolve around, any special guest you want to invite to make your event more desirable, any special workshop or seminar you want to add in which you think can attract the delegates. Apart from these you need to find the format of the event whether the entry is free, or ticketed. How are you going to divide the sessions etc.
When
When you are going to organize the event? What is the date and time? Select date and time according to target audience convenience and availability. Don’t organize events during work days, examination days or festival times. The best time to organize events is during weekends like Saturday or Sunday. Make sure that your events date and time, don’t clash with other events date and time especially bigger events date and time.
Where
Where you are going to organize the event (i.e. venue)? Is the venue suitable for the number of delegates you are expecting?, Is it well connected? Does it has all the facilities you want? Is it closer to any hospital or doctors’ clinic in case of any emergency? Is it in the centre of the city or in the outskirts? All these information should be factored while selecting the venue.
Who
Who will be your organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and target audience? How many target audiences are you expecting to visit the event.
Budget:
Once you finished your research and analysis and if it seems fine, then you will have to create a budget plan for your event with all the possible expenses which are going to be incurred. Once the budget is firmed up it is very important to stick to it from start till end.
Vendor Selection:
Select the vendors as per your comfort level with them and as per their credentials. It is very important that they should understand your requirements and deliver accordingly.
- Event Marketing
This is a very important step in event planning. How are you going to get the delegates, sponsors, partners should be known to you. Events managers basically use 4 medium to market their events:
- Electronic : TV, Radio
- Print: News papers, magazine
- Outdoor: Billboards, Banners
- Online: Direct email marketing, social media, event websites
- Event Execution:
This is the most important step in event management. Your success or failure in event planning depends upon how well you execute the event. You also need to make a schedule calendar of the event. Divide the work among your team and make them responsible for the completion of their respective tasks.
Before the event, make a detailed checklist of each and activity which will happen during the event and make sure that every team member is ready with the activity he is taking care of.For example. if your event starts in the morning then make sure that your registration and badges counters are set well in advance and your tea coffee is ready before the delegates start coming in. Your audio visuals should be checked, your speakers should be present at the venue, your presentations are checked etc.
Event Evaluation
Event evaluation is necessary to make you and your team more efficient and effective for the next time you organize an event. It is all about finding your mistakes and learning from them. Event evaluation should be done immediately after the event is over or the next day. Conduct a meeting with your team members to evaluate your performance. Make sure that if there were certain mistakes, then try to improve them before you do your next event .
Feedback:
To evaluate your performance you need the feedback from the participants. Make a feedback form with some good 5-6 questions. Some important questions can be:
1) Did you enjoy the event? If no, then please state the reason.
2) what do you like most in the event?
3) what do you like least in the event?
4) what are the problems you faced during the event?
5) what could have been done to make this event better?
6) would you like to participate in our next event
Put the feedback on the registration counter so that each participant gets a form when he enters the conference hall. It happens that many people feel lazy and don’t fill up the form, in that case keep a nice delegate gift or a gift voucher and announce it to collect it from the desk after submitting their filled up feedback form. This may encourage the participants to drop the filled up form at the desk .
I hope this article can help anyone who wants to explore this interesting field as their career option.Thanks for reading.
Tash