Nothing quite beats the rush of managing an event. It’s often months of hard work and preparation prior to an absolutely manic week leading up to the event. Then the event comes and goes in the blink of an eye and you’re left feeling exhausted, rewarded and (hopefully) proud of what you’ve achieved! This is often true of all events, whether they’re big budget, smaller-scale, week-long or just an afternoon. So, if you need some handy hints and tips for the next big date in your diary you’re in the right place. We’re about to tell you how to ace your next event – the exhibition edition!

Plan, Plan and Plan

We really can’t stress enough how vital it is to plan ahead for events. It’s actually never too early to start. We like to work backwards from the date of the event and pop all of the milestones into a calendar (or Gantt Chart if you’re feeling fancy!). If you’re heading to an exhibition, these milestones should include cut off dates for ordering furniture, power, sending stand graphics to print, sending over information for the show guide, ordering promotional merchandise etc. – the list goes on! If you’re planning an event that requires RSVPs, catering, lighting etc. then make sure you know when things need to be booked in. There’s nothing worse than a last-minute panic!

Delegate

Planning an event can creep into feeling like it’s a full-time responsibility so if you can, delegate jobs to trusted colleagues to help you along the way. You might find that they have some great ideas about how your exhibition stand could look, or how your venue could be decorated. Just make sure that you’re clear with your instructions, set deadlines and check in regularly to make sure things are all running on time!

Attention to detail

When you’re rushed and working to a hard deadline, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. Make sure you’re double-checking all of your important paperwork and keeping regular contact with your suppliers. Once you’ve got your high-level deadlines in place from your initial planning sessions, lists will come in handy for making sure that all of the smaller tasks that you need to complete don’t get forgotten about! There are so many fab apps out there that are perfect for the job, or your business might already have a preferred tool for organising tasks. Use it!

Put yourself in the position of your guests/visitors to your stand

A great event organiser doesn’t just think about what they want/need to get out of the event. They think about what guests would be hoping to achieve. If it’s a networking event, then make the environment conducive to free-flowing communication. If you’re at an exhibition, make your stand and associated giveaways/collateral as informative as possible. If it’s a luxurious awards evening then add those extra special touches that will impress your guests, if budget allows!

Shout about the event

Promoting your event is absolutely key to success! People need to know about it so that they can come and enjoy your efforts! If you’re selling tickets then get the word out nice and early, but ramp up your communications in the run-up to the event. If you’re attending an exhibition, schedule some social media posts to tell people where they can find your stand (we have a handy scheduling tool that can help you with that!!). 

Enjoy yourself!

The event has arrived. Expect a busy few days of last-minute preparations and be ready for unexpected things to crop up along the way! And when the event is in full flow, remember to take a step back and really appreciate all that you’ve achieved!

Wash up!

After the event is all done and dusted, it’s always good to do a review of how things went. Some good places to start are:

• What went well?
• Were there any hiccups that could have been avoided?
• Did you achieve your objectives?
• Will you run/attend the event again?
• How well did your suppliers perform?
• If you had guests, do they have any feedback?

All of these questions (and many more) will help you to determine the effectiveness of your event. Gather as much feedback as you can and be honest with yourself and your team about your thoughts.

Managing an event is a unique experience and takes a huge amount of work. But, the outcome is incredibly rewarding! The best thing is, if you don’t have the time to undertake all of that work, that’s what we’re here for! We offer many different levels of event management, we can design and plan exhibition stands for you, offer a full start-to-finish event service or just dip in and out when you need our expertise! Drop us a line now to talk and #JoinTheRebelution