10 Event Planning Tips for a Smoother, Stress-Free Experience

Make sure that your next event goes as smoothly as possible! These are the event planning tips that you need to know to save time and money.

In 2018, there were about 134,000 event planners in the United States. 

Event planners are useful because they can take away the stress of planning it. However, if you're the event planner, you will have to deal with a lot of that stress. 

Make sure that your next event goes as smoothly as possible! These are the event planning tips that you need to know to save time and money.

1. Organize Your Time

The best way to manage your stress is to organize your time. Making sure that you have good work habits and have some organization will help you feel like you can at least manage the stress. 

You should make sure your days are structured and then organize the workflow. You should also organize your desk so that it doesn't distract you and make you feel more stressed. 

If you have a planner to outline all of the events and meetings that you need to do, this can really help alleviate some stress. 

2. Establish a Budget

When planning an event, making a budget is one of the most important aspects. This may not be the most fun part of the planning, but it's important to make sure you have a great event.

You need to figure out how you're going to pay for speakers, food, the venue, the gifts, marketing - everything. 

Speaking of gift budgets, custom medals as event prizes cannot be ignored. 

Firstly, you must establish the quantity of medals required and the overall theme for the activity. Secondly, you need to choose a good manufacturer, such as GS-JJ, which provides Custom Medals Canada, with a variety of crafts for you to choose from and fast and free shipping. You can incorporate the theme of the event, the organizer's logo, and some slogans into the design. 

Such custom medals not only make the winners feel valued and respected but also inspire the competitive consciousness and enthusiasm of other participants. If you need such high-quality custom medals, you may wish to check out GS-JJ.

Figuring out your budget first will help save you a lot of pain later on down the road. Once you set a budget, you can start narrowing down venues and figuring out how many people you can invite and host at the venue. 

3. Start Planning Early

Another thing that can help you feel less stressed is by planning early. Planning an event can really take a lot of time, so the earlier you start, the better.

That will give you time to work out all the kinks, and you won't be stressing trying to wrap everything up the week before the event. You could consider hiring an event manager if it’s an important event for you, check out Event Academy's list of the top event management companies in the UK to get quotes.

Make sure you start on the event as soon as possible; your sanity will thank you. It may even make booking a venue and hiring an event staffing agency easier because you won't have to fight others for their availability. 

4. Set Deadlines

To help keep you on track, you should set deadlines for yourself and your staff.

If you start early, you should be able to look at a planner and realize how soon certain tasks should be done. 

For example, you may want to book a venue six months before the event. So make sure that you can meet that deadline to make sure that your event planning goes smoothly. 

5. Learn How to Use Some Software Tools

There is software for event management out there that will really help you manage all of your work. 

There are tools that will save you and your company money and time. They can help you automize marketing or organization. 

6. Choose a Good Venue

Choosing a good venue will also be an important way to keep you from pulling all of your hair out. 

If you need a traditional venue, you'll want to make sure that they are trustworthy, safe, ADA compliant, and easy to deal with.

If they are difficult before you sign a contract, they won't magically answer all your phone calls after you sign it. 

You should also figure out what the venue offers. Do they have enough seating? Do they cater? Is the lighting okay, or are you going to have to update it? Do they have Wi-Fi? Do they have IT onsite in case you need help? 

Figuring out all of the things about the venue can help save you headaches later on.

7. Avoid Last-Minute Changes

To help save you stress, you should try and minimize all of the last-minute changes.

If you want to plan an event, you'll have to work with a lot of different people. Make sure that everyone knows what you expect of them, and make sure that they are committed to the event. 

Make sure everyone knows that they can't back out once they sign a contract. 

8. Figure Out the Main Attraction

Every event has a main attraction. 

Maybe it's a live band or maybe it's certain speakers. Whatever it is, make sure that you have that lined up so that guests aren't bored or lost during the event.

Try and focus on something that has a wide appeal. If it's too narrow, you may end up alienating some of your audience. 

9. Create a To-Do List

To-do lists are always a great way to help you get stuff done and feel organized.

Even if you're not someone who uses lists a lot, if you have so many things to do, you may want to start writing them down and structuring them in a way that makes sense.

You should write it down in order of importance. There should be things on your list like finding a venue, finding sponsors, hiring staff, marketing for the event, etc. 

It can be really satisfying to cross something off your to-do list. 

10. Ask for Feedback

After the event, you should make sure that you ask for feedback. You can ask all the attendees to see what they liked and disliked about the event. This will help you know what to do when you plan for the next event.

When you make mistakes and learn from them, then that makes it so much easier the next time you have to plan an event. 

To learn more about how to get great feedback, make sure you check out this article. 

Follow These Event Planning Tips for a Great Event

These event planning tips will help make sure that you can plan a great event with minimized stress.

Since it is such a big task, however, you may still end up feeling stressed out at some point.

Make sure you check out some of our other blog posts to learn how to deal with stress and live a healthy life.