Organizing an event is a roller coaster of planning and scheduling, preparing for contingencies, dealing with unexpected emergencies, troubleshooting, and then getting back on track again. Every event planner faces problems and has to make tough choices, even when there is a Plan B in place. Read on for some common event planning problems you could face and how to work around them for a successful event.
Problem 1: Overspending
One of the most common issues faced while planning an event is losing track of expenses. With so many ends to tie up, very often one tends to overstep the budget or overspend at a certain point not leaving enough for the rest of the plan.
Solution: Draw up a budget
Step one for planning an event has to be drawing up a budget. Once you know how much you have to work with, it becomes easier to allocate the total amount fairly over the entire plan.
Problem 2: Bad weather
Though weather prediction in today’s date is fairly accurate, there is always that chance of a freak storm, unseasonal rain, or an unusual spike in temperature. A weather anomaly has the capacity to throw your well-laid plans totally out of gear.
Solution: Alternative location
Venues are booked months in advance, which makes it hard to predict the weather on the date accurately. This may be a problem especially when your event is planned in an open space. The best way around such a situation is to keep an alternate venue in mind – or book something that has an indoor space option as well.
Problem 3: Inexperience
With so much information online about event planning, the available resources, and options, one assumes that setting up a successful event by yourself won’t be too difficult. But do remember, inexperience has an uncanny ability to derail plans. Try as you may, there will be major issues and minor details that you will miss out on.
Solution: Hire an event planner
Experience trumps all. Yes, we are absolutely recommending our product right now, but only because we know what can happen with an inexperienced planner at the helm! Take the help of people who know what they are doing, professionals who have done the same thing for years – it will show in the quality and success of your event.
Problem 4: Over programming
Packing all that you can into the limited time that you have for your event may seem like a wise move at the time. But when the event rolls out, you may have exhausted and burnt-out participants looking forward to a break. Offering so much and more is not always the best thing.
Solution: Plan breaks
Events are not only about the business agenda, a very significant aim of any event is ensuring that participants enjoy themselves. This means that you must inject entertainment breaks into your schedule. Entertainment breaks help in rejuvenation as well as add to the recall of the event.
Problem 5: Pre-event clutter
When handling everything from the venue, catering, parking, and sound systems to hygiene, registration, directions, and entertainment, your days are bound to be chaotic. Especially if you’re doing it all by yourself.
Solution: Establish a line of communication
If you are in charge of multiple responsibilities, it would do well to establish a line of communication with all your vendors and people you have delegated work to. Take the help of a written organizer where you can update the status at each stage.
Problem 6: A/V collapse
An audio-visual system letting you down is not unheard of. Electric connection issues, network problems, technical glitches – there are many ways for a piece of machinery to become a nuisance.
Solution: Keep time for a dry run
Start early on D-day, preferably with a checklist. This applies not just to your audio/visual setup, but also to every other vendor on your list. Set up a dry run on a day prior to the event just to make sure that everything is in working order and your event takes off smoothly.