In bigger companies, you could expect organising events to fall into someone’s job description: committees exist to decide a budget and then award it to an elected member of the HR team to spend as their experience suggests. In smaller companies, organising an event like the Christmas party, a team building exercise, awards ceremony or even training session falls to whoever happens to have the time to volunteer when the event falls due. While this mans everyone has the opportunity to put their stamp on an important time for the company – and build their experience of organising events if that’s something they’re interesting in developing, it does also mean that potentially vital occasions for your company are left in the hands of people without much prior experience.
This short guide will help you organise events quickly and efficiently, so you can relax and concentrate on enjoying the event – not feeling stressed!
Finding a Venue
Finding the right venue is the most important step you can take: you have to do this before you can make any more plans, so you need to get it done quickly, without compromising too much on the facilities you need available.
Rather than manually researching and then calling round a shortlist of properties, using a booking service like VenueScanner will save you time, and let you specify exactly what you need from a venue from capacity, to facilities, even down to pricing, so you’re only picking from a list of the best.
Informing People
Once you’ve got the details of your event set you’ll need to let people know about it. This is, sadly, less straightforward than it appears. You need to make sure all the information is conveyed clearly, and even if you get it perfectly right you may find yourself bombarded with replies from people who still need details conforming!
Some of the things you may need to consider:
- Location
- Time
- Additional guests: if people are welcome to bring partners this needs to be clear. Equally if they’re not this should be made clear. Turning up with a guest who’s not welcome is a recipe for embarrassment
- Whether food is available: people need to know whether they can expect food or if they need to make their own arrangements. People expecting food that doesn’t arrive will not be happy guests!
Of course if you are providing food you will need to make sure you’re taking account of people’s requirements, whether those are allergies, preferences or religious and moral obligations – ensuring people can contact you for further information so you can at least control their expectations is vital!
