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5 Mistakes to Avoid When Planning Your Events

With so many elements involved in event planning, it’s too easy to make mistakes along the process. While it is impossible to foresee every mistake or mishap that may materialize, learning from common mistakes faced by novice to veteran event planners can help mitigate pitfalls and make your job a lot smoother. Read on for 5 simple, but common mistakes to avoid.

Not allowing enough time to set up

It's all about the timing

Time is of the essence when you’re setting up for an event. You wouldn’t want to push back your event schedule just because you couldn’t set up in time, and you wouldn’t want guests arriving to a flurry of staff trying to get things up and ready. Event spaces tend to have strict time frames to adhere to, so estimate the time you need to enter and set up the space before the event begins.

Underestimating or overestimating the number of guests

A crowd vying to see the Mona Lisa

The number of guests attending your event will determine the size of your event space as well as the amount of food and beverages you will cater. Over accommodating guests in a venue that is too small can take the enjoyment out of your event, and lack of food and beverages can leave your guests hungry and unhappy. Likewise, you wouldn’t want a half-empty venue with food going to waste. As closely as possible, come up with an estimate of the number of attendees and book your venue and catering accordingly.

Lack of a Plan B

Always have a Plan B on hand

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Ever heard of Murphy’s Law? If anything can go wrong, there’s a high chance it will! In the course of events, especially, many things can go out of plan. While you can’t foresee the future, be ready to expect the unexpected. As you plan the event, assess the risks of each aspect, and come up with contingency plans. Assessing the risks at an early stage will also allow you to understand and eradicate the flaws in your plan.

Not double-checking ahead of the event

Confirm with everyone involved 48 hours before set-up

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One of the most important things you need to do as an event planner is to always check, double-check, and even triple-check if you have to! It may sound like paranoia, but when you’re coordinating so many vendors, there is no harm in double confirming. As we mentioned above, anything can go wrong, so you wouldn’t want caterers or vendors not showing up, or messing up on the company name and details on event material. Send an email to related personnel and vendors 48 hours before event set-up, and make sure they confirm with an email reply.

Conflicting events

Events held on the same day may result in competing for resources

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A common mistake in planning is overlooking competing events. This applies to events of the same genre happening on the same day, other event occurring in the vicinity of your venue, or even events from your own company that happens to fall on the same day. This is a problem because you may find yourself competing for the same audience, resources, and vendors. Also, in the case of other events sharing your space or using a venue in your vicinity, problems may arise in the form of noise. If you’re stuck with the venue, take note of who to contact in the case whereby you have to make a noise complaint.

Have you made any similar oversights in the process of planning your events? Everybody makes mistakes, but what matters most is what you learn from it. You can also learn a lot from blunders made by others to avoid making the same mistakes. The next time you’re planning an event, do take note of these 5 points!

Wonder how these tips would work in reality? Learn how IE Singapore uses Gevme to avoid these mistakes and organize their events: Read the case study!

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