Not to toot our own horns or anything, but we know a thing or two about events here at Live 9, so we figured we should start dishing out some of that sweet knowledge in the form of some sweet blogs. Welcome to our first blog! We’re starting nice and simple so here are 6 Tips for Planning the Perfect Event. Enjoy!
1. Ask yourself, what’s the purpose?
What is the purpose? Why even bother?
What we mean is, it can be super helpful in the early stages of planning to think about the purpose of your event.
This might be very obvious – for example, it’s the annual company fun day, the Christmas party or to celebrate a milestone. You might be launching a new product, or you just want to give yourself a chance to spend more time with that coworker you fancy.
But it might be more complex than that. Do you want more social media followers? To motivate your workforce with an Office Party? More pre-orders of a product? Or do you simply want your guests to have the time of their lives?
Either way, thinking clearly about your goals will help you clarify exactly what you need.
2. Start early
It’s never too early to start planning an event. Alright, that’s not entirely true. Anything over two years in advance could be a tad excessive.
Nonetheless, the general rule of thumb is the earlier you start planning, the better. Planning months in advance gives you a better chance of securing your ideal venue, sponsorships, talent, products, and so on. Plus you’ll generally have more time to get things in order, meaning less stress!
For really big events (500+ attendees), we’d recommend starting your planning roughly one year in advance. For smaller events, aim for at least six months. This is to get the best out of your event and bang for your buck. However, we can cater for those last-minute planners.
3. Know your audience
Is it a corporate event for some high-flying business folk? Or is it a family fun day? Or how about an exhibition? What works for one event might not work for another. Luckily we have a massive range of entertainment and infrastructure products available to ensure your events go off without a hitch.
Our team here at Live 9 Events know exactly what equipment is perfect for each type of event, we’d be shocked if we didn’t, it’s what we do!
Crazy Golf
4. Mind your budget
When you’re presented with a budget for an event, it can be tempting to immediately splash it on the exciting stuff like rodeo bulls, surf machines, and big red balls.
And hey, we’re all for that stuff; no event would be complete without balls. But it’s important to remember all the other stuff you’ll have to organise, like venue, catering, decoration, marketing, labour costs, contingencies, and whatever else. It all has to be factored into the budget.
Keep track of your spending with a spreadsheet or something. Sounds obvious (and boring), but carefully managing your budget will make the planning process run a whole lot smoother.
5. Be flexible
You know what they say: make plans and a dog laughs. Or something like that.
With something as logistically-reliant as an event, things are bound to change and go wrong. It might be that your first choice of venue isn’t available, or you need to change the date, or the singer you had lined up can no longer perform because they’ve just been to a Coldplay gig and got a sore throat from singing along to (literally) every song.
Circumstances will change and there will more than likely be bumps in the road, but you’ve just gotta roll with it. Go with the flow. Always have a plan B in place and it’ll work out in the end!
6. Sort the legal stuff
Really? This is what we’re ending on? … Ok…
If you’re running an event then you’ll need to ensure you’re adhering to health & safety regulations, grab some insurance, and obtain the necessary licences (e.g. alcohol) from your local council.
No, we can’t end our first blog talking about legal compliance. I won’t have it. I know we promised ‘6 Tips’, but sod it, here’s a bonus tip.
Bonus tip: Go BIG!!
If you’re putting on an event, you may as well put on the best damn event ever seen on the planet.
That means squeezing every last penny of potential out of your budget. Once you’ve got the fundamentals in place, look for the bells and whistles. Dress your venue in all the fun and finery you can get your hands on. Go big. Treat your guests like royalty. They will love you for it!
If you are going big you may as well go big with our 130ft Assault Course!
Nottingham Racecourse
Can we help?
We thought you’d never ask. Of course, we can! Get in touch with our expert team for all the event equipment and expertise you could ever need!
