We follow 5 'W's (i.e. Why, What, When, Where, Who) and
1 H' (i.e.How) principle to create an event plan.
Why
'Why' means, why you want to organize the event i.e. event
objective. What do you want to get from the event? For eg:
you want to organize the event to enhance your company's brand
image, to increase company's sales, to promote your client's
products/services or to promote a social cause etc. 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. Organizing an event
without clear objectives is a huge waste of both time and
resources.
What
'What' means what you are going to do in the event i.e.
what will be the:
*Event Name: What will be the name
of the event? For eg: 'Auto Expo 2007".
*Food and Beverage Menu: It contains
the list of food items and beverages you will serve during
the event to guests and target audience. Always consult
a caterer while deciding your food and beverage menu as
he knows the best which wine is served with a particular
course (i.e. meal). Keep event theme, preferences and religion
of target audience and guests in mind while deciding the
menu. If majority of your target audience are vegetarian,
then it is not a good idea to serve non-veg in the event.
Similarly if majority of your guests are very health conscious
then there should also be some low calories food items in
your menu. You don't want them to go back empty stomach.
Also keep climatic conditions into account. Don't serve
out of season food items and beverages. Like serving ice
cream/cold drink in winter, food (like spicy food) that
provides warmth during summer or food that provides coolness
during winter.
*Event Profile: What the event is all about? For
eg: This event is an International exhibition on new models
of Cars and its accessories
*Guests Profile: Who will be your
chief guest and other guests? Your guest list must include
organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and specially media
people. Use your imagination to create good titles to woo
your guests. Like 'Guest of honor', star guest etc. Never
give special treatment to one particular guest or guests'
group.
*Event Theme: Theme means subject.
An event can be based on a particular theme like : hollywood,
hawaaian, egyptian, balloon, clock, red, white etc. Theme
based events are generally parties or wedding. Like we can
have party based on flowers theme. Such type of parties
are known as theme parties. In a theme party, everything
from dress code, decoration, games, music, gifts, favors
to food and beverages are based on a particular theme.
*Service Providers: Who will be your service providers?
Any professional providing any type of service in lieu
of money is a service provider. For e.g.: DJ, anchor,
florist, videographer, photographer, make up artist, performers,
decorator, models, technicians, usher etc.
*Obligations: These are the compulsions
on the guests like dress code or the knowledge of salsa
dance.
*Type of Entry: Decide how will be the entry.
Entry will be by ticket, pass or through invitation only.
*Favors: These are the gifts given to guests.
We can give gifts to guests when they enter a party, when
they win a game or when they leave the party.
*Entry fees: What will be the entry fees? If
you are going to charge entry fees, then be prepared to
pay entertainment tax. Your entry fees should be according
to your target audience's status. If you overcharge you
won’t get any audience.
*Event Highlights: These are those activities
which you do to catch your taget audience and media's
attention. Like inagrauation of your fashion show by Tom
Cruise, performance by Latin singer shakira or display
of the world most expensive car etc.
*Promotional Campaign: How you are going to promote
your event, organizers, sponsors, partners and clients
pre-event, at-event and post-event.
*Programe Menu: It is the list of various activities
that will occur as a part of the event. Sample Programe
Menu of a Conference.
*Event Budget: To determine your event budget
find out what will be the cost for producing and marketing
the event. To determine production cost, create a list
of logistics used in the event and then sum up there hiring/usage
cost. You can determine marketing cost on the basis of
historical data like past advertising expenditure for
same or similar events.If you are a first timer, then
take help from an ad agency. On the basis of production
and marketing cost, determine your operating cost (i.e.
cost to run the business). On the basis of operating cost
decide your own fees and the staff salary. If you are
organizing event for a client, then the client will bear
the production and marketing cost of the event. If you
are organizing your own event then you will bear the production
and marketing cost. As an event manager, you must be able
to recover your production, marketing and operating costs
plus you must be able to make considerable profit also.
Developing event budget and managing cash flow pre-event,
at-event and post event is quite difficult and requires
help from an experienced professional. Better leave this
job to an Accountant if you are organizing a corporate
event or an event on a very large scale.
1) Select date and time according to target audience convenience
and availability. For e.g.: 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.
2) Make sure that your event's date and time, don't clash
with other event's date and time specially bigger event's
date and time. For e.g.: it is not a good idea to organize
your music concert on a day when there is Bon Jovi concert.
3) Keep climatic conditions into mind while selecting date
and time for your event. It can be disastrous to organize
event outdoor on a day when the weather is stormy or heavy
rain is expected. Here you can take help of your own experience
if you are familiar with the climatic conditions of the region
where you intend to organize the event or you can take the
help of the meteorological department for the weather forecast.
Find out how the weather will be on the day of your event.
