Knowing How to Plan an Event Successfully Can Be a Daunting Task, But Here Are Some Tips We Have Learnt Over The Years.
New to event planning? Find it one of the most demanding experiences of your life? You’re not alone! As a husband a wife magic team we’ve performed at hundreds of corporate, association, and company events across Dallas and have learned a few things along the way on how to plan an event successfully. Here’s a small sampling of what to look out for and how to make the most of your next company party here in Dallas.
Event preparation could be both stressful and gratifying. There is absolutely nothing like seeing all of your hard work come together after throwing a remarkable party where participants and/or clients are happy, involved, and having a fun time.
While it might appear simple, as well as completely straight forward on paper, there’s actually a great deal of planning and preparation that goes into the perfect company party. If you are or will be preparing an upcoming celebration below are some practical tips & points to think about from 2 people who’ve been to a lot of events as both guests and entertainers.
Start Planning Early
You should start preparing at least 6-20 weeks before the event. Plan the event from start to end and leave nothing out. The sooner you plan the easier the event will go. Venues and entertainers can book up a year or more in advance. Plus if you start early you get a chance to research and browse for event planning ideas. Example: a favorite Dallas event planner to follow is Todd Fiscus – Check out his Pinterest here…
Food and Beverages
Lots of people come to parties or events to interact socially, eat, and drink. The #1 question you need to ask yourself is will your occasion be catered? If so, it’s important to start investigating who should cater your event early on. The same is true for drinks. Are your visitors getting mixed drinks as well as wine and beer? Cash bar? If just beer and wine, will they have a choice of bottled or draft? Red or white? There may be different price points for each.
Event Entertainment
What is the biggest fear at any event you plan? That nobody will talk or remember how much fun they had, right? The Beckers help events in Dallas become amazing by offering all types of interactive magic shows from large illusions to close-up magic. We specialize if fun, memorable audience participation, guaranteed to “wow” your attendees. We are bit biased that you should call us; but the truth is, if you’re considering entertainment at all, it’s a wise to get in touch with the entertainer as soon as possible to secure the date or you might be out of luck. If you’d like to have The Beckers at your next event here in Dallas, please click here to get in touch
Marketing, Promotion & Invitations
Wondering how you will you get the word out for your event? Email newsletters, press releases, social media, snail mail, print material, and a landing page on your website are all great ways to get the word out as well as get maximum participation. For Facebook, create an Event and start posting early and if appropriate encourage your Facebook fans to click “Share” and spread your event details with their friends. Update your Facebook cover image so followers know about your event. Promoting the event this way helps build excitement, and encourages people to talk about it afterward.
Unexpected Problems
Stuff happens. You have to be ready for any situation as best as you can and try to have a back up strategy. Suppose you have more participants than initially planned for and you run out of chairs or the food runs out before everyone’s eaten? Suppose the food caterer shows up late. Things like this happen all the time and when you have back up plan it makes things a whole lot easier to solve the problem immediately.
Have Reasonable Expectations
If your event is open to the public or your hosting a hospitality suite at a larger conference, it’s hard to determine how many guests will attend and what they think will be a successful event. Aim to establish a practical goal for the attendance. If your plan is to spread out awareness regarding your new product or service, evaluate the success of the event by your guest’s level of interest in the new offerings.
And at the end of the event reflect on what went right in addition to what went wrong. Keeping a constant mindset of learning is also a big help when learning how to plan an event successfully. The main thing to keep in mind is to have fun and be well prepared.
