Event Planning 101

So your meeting is too big for your living room? Here are a few tips that may help you plan your next event.

The initial step in planning a meeting is to understand the meeting purpose and objectives. How many days will your meeting be? And most importantly what is your budget. Understanding these concepts will help you in choosing your venue and setup requirements.

Know your targeted audience (attendees). Will they be driving or flying in for the meeting? Are certain geographic locations convenient for your attendees and are in close proximity to lodging, eateries, shopping etc?

Once you have a good understanding of the items mentioned above its time to start looking for your venue (meeting location).

We suggest that you formulate an Event Specification Sheet. This document will prove to very helpful during your search and can often be sent to prospective meeting sites. Your specification sheet should include information regarding your meeting. It is a good idea to format your sheet based on your meeting agenda listing your audio visual needs, food and beverage requirements, setup and anything else pertinent to your meeting in an organized fashion.

There are many tools available to help you in your venue search, such as the CVB (Convention Services Bureau) in the targeted area; Websites like eevent.com can be very helpful also in beginning your search for a venue.