Psychic Readings by Ronn

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Events

The Survival Guide for Long Live Event Days

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Live event days tends can be exhausting, especially if they last all day! Yet you still have to make it through the day with a smile on your face. How can you conserve both your mental and physical energy so that you can exert it when it is required?

Those who have experienced 14 hour event days understand. If you are going to attend or run a day-long event again, here are some tips for next time:

 

Prior to the event, stay over near the venue. If you are already going to be working all day, don’t start the day earlier than you need by commuting a far distance. Make time to eat breakfast in a non-rushed, non-flustered fashion. Enjoy your morning.

As for preparation, make sure there is no preparation necessary for the day of the event.

It is ideal if the venue can fit all the guests on one level. This helps with the flow of the attendees but also makes a difference for those setting up.

Prior to the event, make sure you’re in shape! Keep your body fit so you don’t experience aches and pains from standing all day at the event.

 

During the Event, shoes. Shoes are so important. Make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes that you could happily walk a mile in. Wear comfortable clothes too. Prepare for varying temperature. Lighting can create heat and air conditioning can be kicked into full gear; you never know.

If there are a lot of working parts to your event, you may want to use radios to communicate easily to those also working the event. Save your legs if you can! And spread out the personnel in a way that makes sense.

On event days, use the elevator. Using stairs is always a great way to get in a little extra movement but on the day of an event, you are already moving much more than you realize. If you tire too early, that is much worse than taking the elevator for one day.

I’ll have more tips in the next post!

 

The Backstage of Event Management: Part II

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Stage-Events
Make sure your logistics and your vision stay in check when planning a big event.

Many an event has been ruined by disproportionate allocation of staff. Allocating all available resources in the most efficient way possible is the mark of a good event manager and this is a skill that is unfortunately acquired through a series of mismanagement, misallocations and mis-hirings. From vendors to contractors to those working at the ticket booth – an event manager must take into account the significance of all these roles, thereby monitoring the hiring process to avoid the disastrous mistake of hosting an event that had every promise of being great, had its staff handled it better.

Rarely has an event failed for the want of more ideas but an event failing due to overstuffing of ideas is not unheard of. While organizing an event, there will be many ideas that seem great, even necessary. As the work progresses, it is not unlikely that news ideas will formulate and then there will be those, from sponsors to the interns, with their own set of unique ideas, each sounding better than the last in the blur of all the activity. The ultimate test for an event planner is to not give into these temptations. Sticking to the initial game plan usually has the best rate of success; perhaps that one idea is better, but an average well-executed idea is generally much better than a brilliant poorly-executed one, as the saying goes about one bird in hand.

It is not uncommon for event managers to think Murphy was handling an event when he realized that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Things go wrong in an event constantly, so much so that it starts to feel ominous when things go smooth for too long. The only way to deal with is to keep track of the changes happening all around from the weather to traffic reports to breaking news and everything in between. Planning may be the key, but success largely depends on the efficient execution of the plans and most importantly, sticking to the deadlines.

Having said that, flexibility and the ability to adjust to changing situations is just as important for all those times the deadlines will not be met due to circumstances beyond control. There will always be a lose wire, always a staff who calls in sick last minute; there will always be that guest speaker who sprains his ankle before the event and always a guest or two who pick a fight. In all the hustle bustle, an event manager must juggle it all and that is perhaps what makes the post-event euphoria so, well, euphoric. And let’s not forget, there is always something to learn from the mistakes of this event to make the next one a better one and there are always a brand new set of mistakes to make in the next.

Check in soon for new posts from Ronn on planning great events!

The Backstage of Event Management

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Planning-an-event
The key to planning a great event is making sure not to bite off more than you can chew.

Event management is undoubtedly an exciting job  – it has the pace, the people, the adrenaline, the glitz and of course, the post-success euphoria that only a job well done can inspire. From afar, the allure is quite understable, and often even encouraged by those who would very much like it believed that their lives are indeed all about looking glamorous, meeting exciting new people and travelling from one place to the next with the sole mission of delivering yet another wonderful event.

Of course not all event managers work with celebrities and organize Oscars. Most, like the  author who shares her experience in this article, are people working events that may not be as large-scale, but come with the same kinds of woes and risks. All event managers share the post-success euphoria, but where they truly bond is in the dark underbelly of an event amidst the chaos of missed deadlines, electrical failures, budget cuts and staff shortages.

Most experts agree that the foundation of organizing a successful event, be it a suburban birthday party or the Super Bowl halftime show, the key to success most definitely lies in proper planning. Another article that explores the common mistakes made in event planning, identifies the key elements of planning for a successful event. Aside from having a structure to the whats, whos, whys and whens of the event, it is also essential to set realistic aims for the project that takes into consideration factors like location, budget, time frame and staff efficiency.

Check out part II for details on how to balance logistics with the desire to throw an amazing event.