Event planning is key for event success

Success starts and ends with event planning.

If you are part of a corporation or foundation and are charged with event planning, be it a conference, special event or industry tradeshow, I do not have to tell you all of the things you must stay on top of to ensure success. There is finding and choosing a venue. Putting together the menu, both beverage and food. Purchasing flowers and other niceties. Arranging for security. And the list for event planning goes on and on.

To make sure your event falls into place, instead of your event falling to pieces, you need to plan, plan, plan. Whether all of this planning is on your shoulders or you hire a planner, there are so many details to juggle it can be maddening. Do not scream. Get organized. Because when you have crossed all of your Ts and dotted all of your Is, you stand a significantly better chance of having a highly successful event.

Promoting your event is just as important for success

Another very important thing to add your already long to-do list is promoting your event. This aspect of event planning is equally daunting and a bit more important than choosing whether to serve fish or fowl.

Pre-show promotion is crucial for event success. By pre-show, I mean targeting attendees months in advance. Social media provides a fairly effective means of doing that, but printed communications sent via direct mail have several advantages. For starters, pieces sent through regular mail can be targeted to specific individuals. Also, printed pieces exist in tangible form, which assures they will be seen and held. Plus, with mail your promotional message can arrive in any physical eye-catching, memorable and tough-to-ignore form you choose.

Promotion during the event is equally important to event planning. You will need to have literature of all types at the ready to keep attendees informed and engaged. Your event needs to be dynamic in many ways, and the best way to keep it lively is by having and distributing the right kinds of marketing materials. These can take the form of dailies (newspapers that come out and are delivered to attendees each day of the event), program guides outlining the day-to-day activities and large format banners, signs, posters, building wraps and backlit prints.

Coordinating all of this is no small task. But it must get done if you want your event to be a smashing success.

Have a Great Day!

Audrey Ferrante
Ferrante & Associates, Inc.