How to get started as an event planner

Event planning involves the organization of special events that may be for business purposes, education purposes, social purposes, or somewhere in between. Product launches, conferences, graduations, fashion shows, tradeshows, fairs, weddings and anniversaries, all are specializations of event planning that need to be handled with expertise and appropriate coordination.

Landing a job in the field of event planning is not as complex as it may seem. Although it requires a high degree of professionalism, many people are, in effect, event planners when they organize social gatherings for their friends and family. Planners are people who start in one particular aspect of events. They may be caterers, owners of audiovisual companies, hotel owners and so on. Often, the small events for friends and relatives are their first, cautious steps before getting professionally involved in event planning. This explains how event planners have the exceptional ability to coordinate their events by providing diverse services.

By its nature, event planning involves a risk; the risk of failing to meet clients’ expectations by holding an unsuccessful event. If this happens, clients have no return on their investment, and event planners may experience a severe decline in their reputation. To avoid all these consequences, an event planner conducts a research beforehand to make sure there is demand for the event. Research may mean collecting information about similar events or learning the etiquette of the particular type of event. It may also mean finding out about suppliers and vendors and looking for the right event venue. But, it definitely means asking clients lots of questions in order to get the full idea of their needs and keeping lots of notes. Anything that can guarantee a well-planned event without compromising its success it’s a first step towards event planning business.

All the notes kept during the interview with the clients are included in a creative design. This enables an inexperienced event planner to get the feel of the event. As the notes are written down, the design becomes clearer. At this phase, event planners check the clients’ answers and, before making any suggestions, they decide on the feasibility of the event in relation to the event budget.

The next step is to think about the site selection. Even experienced event planners are aware that a trivial omission in the site selection process may cause tremendous problems in event execution. Coordinating event facilities, catering services, meeting rooms, audiovisual equipment, décor, and transportation to/from the event are extremely important in order to decide on the best venue that meets the clients’ requirements at the lowest price.

Experienced event planners admit that, more than the business approach to the profession, what plays a decisive role in becoming a successful event planner is good communication skills and exceptional coordination abilities. Clients need a committed professional, who will be available on weekends, holidays, evenings, and peak seasons. Event planning does not operate 9 to 5, neither strictly downtown. An event planner should be available 24/7 in order to coordinate and supervise the events whenever and wherever is required.

If there is a natural instinct for event planning and a good understanding of the new business arena, then with optimism, dedication and professionalism it is very likely that someone can turn from amateur into a professional event planner.

How to create a basic event budget

In the competitive market realities of today, event planners need to employ budgeting strategies in order to stay organized and better equipped to anticipate client inquiries. Constructing an event planning budget enables an organization to find the best deals and to meet its priorities by determining the feasibility of the event in terms of available resources, cost and return on investment. In that way, event planners are able to determine the actual cost of the event versus the actual investment and decide, in real time, on how to save money on event planning.

Typically, an event planning budget is constructed in an Excel Spreadsheet or with the use of event budget software. Technologically advanced organizations prefer the use of software because they can better monitor the collection and integration of business data, which leads to better management of corporate expense policies and cost-effective decision making.

With event planning budget, event planners can generate a variety of standard and customized reports that track expenses by category and sub-category, expenses by vendor, as well as projected, negotiated and actual expense reports.

In order to track expenses by category with accurate projections, event planners base their estimates on historical data. One of the most common methods is to calculate the average spending on food and beverage at the past ten events; or to calculate the percentage of beverage cost that was attributed to non-alcoholic choices. Such metrics are customizable and facilitate the budgeting process because they break down the budget in critical parts, offering room for further negotiations.

The customization of sub-categories offers the opportunity to obtain data intelligence. Typically, event planners run customized reports that track corporate travel expenses. One of the most common methods is to calculate the percentage of travel budget that is attributed to rental cars, to air fares, to hotel accommodation, to event facility and all related expenses. In addition, event planners sub-categorize transportation charges including any percentage of the budget that is used for event transfers, coaches, shuttles and any related expenses.

Similarly like in the category expenses, the projections of expenses by vendor are based on historical data. Event planners are able to determine the percentage of their spending with specific vendors over a period of time. In this part of the budget, event planners include expenses for décor such as floral, tents, centerpieces etc, catering expenses, and entertainment & equipment expenses such as audiovisual equipment. Typically, catering expenses account for the 30 percent of the budget.

Event planning budget includes also smaller categories that summarize expenses made for invitations, program booklets, banners, name badges, event signage, gifts for the guests, and separate activities such as spa, tennis, biking etc. Normally, the total cost of these expenses accounts for the 25 percent of the total budget, depending on the size and the complexity of the event.

When all amounts are included in the budget spreadsheet or software, event planners can summarize projected, negotiated and actual expenses. Projected expenses will be negotiated with the client in order to take the final decision. Actual expenses are invoiced after the event is held.

Constructing an event planning budget is a powerful tool. However, highly professional event planners track down event costs and collect business intelligence data in a comprehensive and innovative way that depicts their fundamental role in effective cost reduction. Their contribution to successful budgeting in not just effective tracking of expenses, but the utilization of event management tools incorporated into event planning budgeting. In that way, they possess potent capabilities in showing to their clients how their money is being spent and collected in relation to every component of the budget.