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Event management

Top Ten Tips for Successful Events

• Set your objectives and plan well in advance - planning can start anywhere between 3 and 18 months ahead depending on the type and size of the event
  
• Set your event budget and don't miss anything out - include a contingency
  
• Book the venue and the speakers first - without these there is no event
  
• Make sure the date doesn't clash with other competitive or local events or with holiday periods
  
• Prepare an event schedule including timings, deadlines, budgets, promotions, speaker presentations - everything that is involved in getting you in front of your target audience
  
• Develop a promotional campaign that is consistent and which fits within your overall sales and marketing strategy
  
• Make it easy for delegates to respond to book a place. Use email, direct mail, telephone, fax and/or internet
  
• Include project checks or milestones along the way so that you can map how you are doing against your plan. Try to pre-empt what could go wrong and plan for it
  
• Always use an event evalutation form to gather information from the audience on content, style, relevance, speaker quality, venue, catering, audio quality. You can use this information to drive the content of the next event
  
• Name badges - treble check them - and then check them again