Successful event planning

Here's what you need to bear in mind when organising an event

Events of any kind are a great challenge for the organisers. Because whether it's a small event in the form of a village festival or an open-air concert for thousands of visitors - the most diverse trades have to work together in perfect sync to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

This requires a lot of organisational skills and attention to detail. In order to make planning easier for newcomers, we provide you with a list of the aspects you need to consider when organising an event.

Find a suitable location for your event

Searching for suitable location depends heavily on the type of event. After all, different requirements have to be met for a company anniversary than for public viewing, a concert, a village festival or a cabaret evening.

Accordingly, you need to assess exactly which venue is particularly suitable for your event. Depending on the season, the first decision you have to make is: indoors or outdoors? Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Outdoor events have a special feel, especially in summer, and as soon as you have found a suitable location, you can design everything to do with your event completely yourself. Of course, you have to think about appropriate roof coverings, e.g. by using folding tents.

Indoor events are the safer option in terms of weather and therefore the better choice in winter above all. In addition, they offer the advantage that many things are often already available (e.g. technology, bar, seating ...). The downside is that you have to make do with the space you get.

Choosing a suitable location is a good starting point. This way you know what challenges await you and what you need to arrange in terms of material etc.

Winning over sponsors and supporters for financial security

Larger events in particular cannot do without sponsorship. But you can also look for supporters for small events and thus ensure financial security. Contact local cultural associations or businesses, for example. Banks also often have funding pools for cultural events.

You can also contact the city, municipality or administration directly, which often offer funding for events. Larger foundations or political bodies can also be a suitable point of contact.

Important: Always show private sponsors or sponsors from the business community how they can benefit and get value for their money (e.g. logo print on all advertising materials, folding tents with printed sponsors' tarpaulins or stands on site).

When applying for funding, it is important to comply with the relevant regulations and to communicate a suitable added value of the event. It must become clear why funding makes sense. In this case the processing time often takes a little longer, so be sure to take care of this early on.

Organise a promotion campaining for your event

Events depend on attracting visitors and selling tickets. Accordingly, it’s important that you promote your event early on and do it actively across all the appropriate channels.

In rural areas, for example, posters in popular shops, flyers or advertisements on the notice board or in the local newspaper are important channels, depending on the target group. But digital media such as social media or your own website can also be a good way to publicise your event.

In addition, there are regular cultural overviews of the regions in which you can place your event. You can also take a more direct approach and use a folding tent as a promotional stand to attract the attention of your target group and sell tickets in advance.

It is important that you choose the right channels for your target group and invest the appropriate effort in advertising measures with sufficient lead time. Because in the end it’s only a well-attended event that turns out to be a complete success for everyone involved.

Take care of beverages and catering

Whether it's selling drinks at a concert, a gala dinner at a company anniversary or street food stands on the festival grounds - the right catering plays an important role at every event. After all, you want visitors to feel comfortable and that all their needs are taken care of.

What you will need naturally depends on the type of event. For longer concerts, you should definitely consider buying small snacks in addition to drinks. For day events, you won't be able to get by without suitable catering. The type, scope and quality are determined by the occasion.

And don't forget that everyone who eats and drinks also has other needs as well. So work out the WC situation early on and provide suitable options.

Enjoy the event and be sure to follow it up

As an organiser, you unfortunately have the most stressful job on the actual day of the event. Because while everyone else is having fun, you always have to keep an eye on the overall situation. After all, something can quickly go wrong or the unexpected can happen.

Having a well-coordinated team to back you up is useful for taking some of the pressure off you. Rehearsals and sound checks also ensure that everything runs smoothly. Then you will also be able to enjoy the day. After all, you've been working towards this for a long time.

After the event, you will need to take stock and begin following up. Ideally, depending on the event, you had invited the press and can look forward to positive reporting- Posts on social media from your visitors also give you direct feedback and show whether all your work was worthwhile.

Perhaps you had also booked a photographer to accompany the event and now you have suitable photos showing everyone the great job you did. You can be proud of yourself!