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Find out how you can plan a successful event online. |
Good event planning means being able to deal with endless numbers of details. You may not be prepared for the mountain of minutiae that you’ll need to keep track of or the number of people you have to coordinate with. Depending on the scale of the event, you may need help.
It could be a children’s birthday party you’re planning or a major sporting event (if you’re new to event planning and organising the latter, good luck). Most events will probably involve at least a supplier or two, a list of attendees, a venue, a budget and possibly a handful of other people who are also involved in the planning. You may need to take into account things like seating, catering, transport – even road closures. You’re more than likely to discover as you plan your event that there are a whole range of things you need to consider that you hadn’t thought of.
If you need to keep others informed of progress, set up an email group. It’s a good idea to circulate regular progress updates and include a list of who needs to do what, by when. Keep your timeline in a spreadsheet or similar document and circulate that. Or you could opt for a Web-based project management tool such as Backpack (www.backpackit.com), which offers a tidy way of keeping track of your planning process and making sure everyone else is kept in the loop. A similar tool is Remember the Milk (www.rememberthemilk.com).
PurpleTrail is another Web app, a free party-planning tool that can be downloaded to certain mobile phones; see www.purpletrail.com
A detailed budget is essential for most events; you can download spreadsheets for budgeting from Business Spreadsheets (www.business-spreadsheets.com/solutions.asp).
An invitation is one of the earliest steps in the process of organising an event. You’ll find a huge range of choices of electronic invitations online – try Evite (www.evite.com), 123Greetings (www.123greetings) and Epxt (www.epxt.com; you need to register for this site, but it doesn’t cost anything and there’s a more interesting image selection than you’ll find on a lot of e-card sites).
You need to set up an account on Best Party Ever (www.bestpartyever.com) to access its content. Once you’re in, you can set up an event, blog about it and network with other people who are planning parties.
Kids’ birthday parties are big on themes, and your invitation will probably tie in with whichever you choose. Check out Littlies (www.littlies.co.nz) for invitations and party theme ideas. They’re images only – it would be nice if you could download them, but they may at least give you an idea, which you can then Google and get something a bit more high-res.
Depending on where you’re holding your event, you may need to book the venue well in advance. For a conference or seminar or the like, if you plan to use a conference centre or facilities at a hotel, you can usually request a quote online and do the booking too. Most of the major hotel chains here have conference facilities – it’s just a matter of finding that department on their Web sites. Corporate Events Guide (www.corporateeventsguide.co.nz) is a good starting place for conference planning, with links to venues and articles on budgeting, choosing a venue, etc.
Weddings are possibly the most fraught events to organise, and wedding planning is a big business these days, but you’ll find a surprising amount of free advice. For local sites, try Wedding Ideas (www.weddingideas.co.nz), Wedding Planner (www.weddingplanner.co.nz) and Weddings 2 Go (www.weddings2go.co.nz). There are many overseas sites worth a look too; try Your Wedding 101 (www.yourwedding101.com) and The Knot (www.theknot.com).
You can also use the Web to help plan a funeral. A good local site is Funerals New Zealand (www.funeralnewzealand.co.nz), a straightforward, helpful resource without the tackiness of some of the international funeral-related sites.
Sports events can involve huge numbers of participants and there are so many things to consider, from health and safety to traffic restrictions, so it’s essential to get as much advice as you can from the experts before embarking on event planning. Visit SPARC’s site (www.sparc.org.nz/sport) for a useful rundown on how to conduct a successful sporting event.
It’s also worth taking note of Ministry of Civil Defence guidelines on event planning; see tinyurl.com/36cebp for downloadable PDFs on safety planning.
Most district and city council Web sites have event planning tips, in most cases in the form of a guide (look under planning on council Web sites). Their advice is mostly to do with civic matters, such as footpath closures, but some have very handy event checklists; for an example see Wellington City Council’s event planning checklist at tinyurl.com/ys384r
For an all-round generic guide to event planning, see WikiHow (www.wikihow.com/Organise-an-Event); from here you can come up with your own checklist for your event. It’s not very detailed, but it should at least remind you of things you need to consider.
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