7 Tips on Event Planning

Hello I am an Event planner and am here to serve you the next thing people say is oh I can plan as well I just laugh and shake my head . Planning an event is way much more than what people think, it can be overwhelming and frustrating at times. With these few tips i would be sharing can help an event planner to be the best amongst others. 1. EARLY BIRDS Begin your planning as early as possible, when planning a bigger event you can start from four to six months , while for smaller event start from 1 month to few weeks to the day of the event. All vendor contacts you would be using for the event must be at your disposal because you would need to be having meetings with them regularly for a smooth run for the day of the event it is very important. This meeting is usually called Vendors meeting .As a matter of fact you need to know what your client wants and there expectations incase of areas where they need your expertise you advise them accordingly. 2. SMART NEGOTIATIONS Negotiations is one key thing in event planning, a while back I struggled with it because a lot of my clients were family friends and friends so it made it so difficult to negotiate smartly with them. There might be some unforeseen circumstances that would pop up will you now call your client and explain NO once your negotiations are smart then You can sort out any issues Negotiate with vendors for low prizes for there services. However a budget should be put in place before negotiating with vendors so you won’t fall out of place.It can be frustrating tho trust me but know that at the end of it one or two will be willing to give a prize that you are bargaining for and still give you the best. 3. FLEXIBILITY MATTERS I have handled couple of events whereby things got changed along the line, infact it wasn’t funny especially when you have started planning early example venue change at the end of the day I was able to accommodate the necessary changes that came along side with the venue change. Have your back up plan on standby you never can tell when it would be needed. 4. ATTENTION TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL As an event planner you must have a workback document which helps in keeping tabs of everything that needs to be done and also knowing when to move to the next stage of planning. It is important to pay attention to every little details that you can think of. I do that a lot and am happy it makes my job stand out always 5. TIME I am a time conscious person when you tell me ten o’clock let it be 10 o’clock. As an event planner try to be good with your time whenever you are meeting up with vendors and clients it shows another level of competency and dedication to work . Some client can be so particular with time so you need to prove that to them. 6. ACHIEVING GOALS This is an important aspect of planning that planners need to take seriously. It helps planners to stay in check and by not deviating from the purpose of the event through out the entire process of planning. Happy moment for both the planner and the client at the end of the event. 7. FEEDBACKS A lot of planners don’t follow up feedbacks from clients. It helps you to know if you are making progress or not. Feedbacks helps you to know what area to improve on from clients compalin if there is any. Am also guilty of this but I promised myself to start getting feedbacks henceforth. With these few tips that have been mentioned I hope your journey into event planning won’t be hard at the end of it all. Damilola Oloruntoba is the Founder/Creative Director at Dventplanet Instagram @ceodventplanet @dventplanet @dventkiddies TikTok @ceodventplanet Email address dventplanet@gmail.com