The definition of event management is fairly obvious: the process of planning and managing an event.
If you’re confused about how the terms “event management” and “event planning” are often used interchangeably, in virtually all cases they refer to the same thing. Any event, big or small from a simple meeting, concerts, trade shows, seminars/webinars, conventions, and conferences will require appropriate event management.
In practice, event management is about overseeing all the logistics required in preparing the event and during the execution of the event itself.
The person performing event management is called an event manager and is also responsible for managing other people involved in the event: members of the event team, speakers/exhibitors, third-party vendors, sponsors, and more.
Additional duties of an event manager might include managing the event’s budget, and overall the event manager is responsible for overseeing the execution of the whole event.
Event Management Step-By-Step: How To Successfully Launch Your Event
No two events are the same: each might have varying purposes, budgets, and target attendees. Thus, each event would require unique event management approaches.
However, all event management should include these seven core steps to successfully launch your event.
Step 1: Define Event Objectives
Before planning anything else, you should define the primary objective of the event.
While you can certainly aim for several different objectives, you should decide on a primary goal of the event. This primary goal will help you in deciding what type of events you should host, which speakers/performers/exhibitors to invite, and other details.
Common primary goals can be.
- Driving direct sales during the event.
- Increase brand awareness.
- Launching a product.
You can then decide on the supporting objectives of the event, for example, “increase social media shares during the event”. Make sure to use the SMART goal principles when defining your goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Step 2: Draft Your Event and Estimate a Budget
Now that you’ve defined your goals and objectives, you can start creating a draft plan for your event while considering the following details.
- Timeframe: A rough time frame for the event will do, for example, Q2 2022.
- Target attendees: how many guests will be your target? If it’s an in-person event it will also affect venue size.
- Location: If you are planning to target global attendees, you might consider hosting a virtual event. If it’s an in-person event, create a shortlist of possible venues.
- Event type: conferences? Concerts? Seminars? Etc.
After you’ve drafted all the details, you can start estimating a budget.
It’s best to establish an estimated budget as soon as possible so you can avoid potential surprises. You can always update your budget every now and then throughout the process, but remember to keep an accurate budget that reflects any updates you’ve made.
Step 3: Secure Your Venue and Event Date
It’s very important to secure your venue and event date as soon as possible since they will affect the rest of your event management phases. You should consider the right dates for the venue based on factors like seasonal travel costs and other factors, as well as your target attendees’ preferences.
Especially if you need your event to be on a specific date (i.e. your company’s anniversary), then you should research your venue options as early as possible.
Step 4: Establishing Your Event Team
If you are planning to manage the event on your own, then you can skip this step. Yet, for larger events, having a performing team is a must to ensure proper execution.
Your event team should include the following roles.
- Event manager: responsible for overseeing everything and everyone involved in the event.
- Scheduling: establishing the event schedule and ensuring the schedule is up-to-date.
- Venue manager: the person responsible for everything that happens on the venue during the event, the main contact for the vendors and sponsors when on-site, as well as on-site team members and volunteers.
- Creative: responsible for the visual design of everything related to the event.
- Marketing: pretty-self explanatory, responsible for marketing and promotions
- Registration/check-in: making sure the registration process during the event is running smoothly.
- Sponsorships: securing sponsorship and maintaining relationships with sponsors.
If your team is fairly small, it’s okay to let members have two or more roles. With the team in place, you are now ready to create a fully-fledged event plan, and an event management system software can help streamline the collaboration of team members and to keep all of the moving pieces of the event management team accounted for.
Step 5: Event Branding
A strong event brand would significantly help in promoting the event, and should include.
- Name: a catchy and easy to remember name that explains what the event is.
- Logo and design elements: brand colors, typography, etc.
- Branding collaterals: on-site signage, email signatures, website, etc.
Step 6: Planning The Details
This is where you’ll plan the details about the event: who the speakers/exhibitors/performers will be? How many days will the event be? What food and beverages to serve? What types of entertainment you’ll be incorporating in-between sessions? And so on.
This is also where you’ll need to secure exhibitors, speakers, performers, and sponsors.
Step 7: Establishing Technology Stack
It’s virtually impossible to host any event nowadays without the help of technology.
You should consider.
- Registration and check-in: you’ll need to provide an easy way for your guests to register and check in to your event.
- Mobile app: optional event management software, but can help you to be organized with your events.
- Feedback/survey: managing pre-event and post-event surveys.
- Productivity: event management software can help you in managing team collaborations and keeping track of all the details.
Also, if you are hosting a virtual event, you will also need to choose a video conferencing and/or live streaming platform, among other tools.
An all-in-one event management platform like EventMobi can help you with most of the key functions you’ll need, so you don’t have to worry about integrating different disconnected tools and can concentrate on event management, among other tools.
Closing Thoughts
Together, each of these event management steps will help you in successfully launching your event. Work through each step carefully to ensure success, and remember that the devil is in the details.
In event management, it’s crucial to plan everything as soon as possible. A head start can mean a lot so you can manage all the different details while anticipating and adapting to the necessary changes along the way.
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