Organizing an event is both rewarding and a lot of fun. There are a great number of things that you need to keep in mind though, when managing your event, whether it is a large conference, a user group or a once off launch of the latest product.
The below rules offer guidelines to help you create a professional, efficient and successful event that can be replicated and become a stable of your professional community. The rules are based on experience from community events, such as user groups, hackdays and conferences like DDD Melbourne, however, the rules can also be applied to commercial and large scale events.
The rules are split into three distinct sections:
- Before the event
- On the day
- After the event
The rules assume that your event idea has been properly researched and you have an audience for the particular field and topic you are addressing.
This cannot be stressed enough. The venue for your event is the absolute most important item to get right and to get locked in.
When planning an event, everything revolves around the date so it’s vital to be sure there are no potential clashes or conflicts. We recommend using a SharePoint calendar, to let employees and the public keep up to date with what your organisation is holding or attending. It is best to have more than 1 date in mind for your event when you start planning, as this affords you flexibility if your first choice of date won’t work out.
Securing the right speakers for the topic of your event ensures that you attract the right people who want to hear what your speakers have to say.
Having a minimum number for live events is important so everyone is on the same page. We find that a good minimum for live events is 6 people.
A successful event requires attendees to show up, or it won't reach its full potential. You will have to promote your event in a way that makes sense to your topic and approach.
The most cost-effective way is to use a large variety of online services that are available and to talk about the event.
Putting on events aren’t free.
When you first start planning your event, a lot of ideas are put on the table and many are great and would improve your event.
Managing the process of selling tickets can be very time consuming if you try and do it on your own.
Once you know which speakers you want and have established sponsorship and budget, you can start thinking about putting together an agenda.
It is relatively easy to get volunteers for your event, but it is often something that is left until the last minute.
- Venue - Do you use an ideal venue?
- Do you check the calendar when planning an event?
- Have you got the right speakers?
- Do you have a minimum number for live events?
- Promoting - Do you share your events?
- Can you offer value to sponsors?
- Have you got an adequate budget?
- Sales - Do you have a way of selling tickets?
- Have you got an appropriate agenda?
- Have you got enough volunteers to help on the day?
- Do you provide event catering?
- Do you register your guests and help them find you?
- Does each volunteer have a job?
- Is the signage adequate?
- Can Sponsors Set Up A Booth Somewhere?
- Do your speakers know what they need to do at an event?
- Events - Do you organize the audience when numbers are low?
- Feedback - Do you collect feedback from events?
- Do you follow up with your attendees after events?
- Retro - Do you evaluate your event feedback?
- Post-Production - Do you avoid dates text in graphics for events' promo videos?
- Do you use Events to market your consulting work?
- Do you provide a presentation run sheet?