Tips for making your event run smoothly!

 

There is so much to think about when organising your event we have put together a list of our top ten tips to hopefully help you make your event run smoothly!

1.       Produce your own signage for your event often the venue will provide this but it is useful to have any extras or have this with your company/logo on to help directly delegates as efficiently as possible

2.       Research in advance – check if there are any other events that clash with your proposed event date(s) – national events, local events, sporting events , bank holidays or school holidays are all worth considering before finalising and promoting your event

3.       Site  visit your venue so you are familiar with the venue layout and your event space and carry out a risk assessment on the day to ensure you are covered for any possible risks that may occur

4.       Print some reserved signs and use these on your back row or back tables at your event to stop other delegates sitting there so you have space for any late arrivals to enter the room without too much disruption

5.       Make time to test your equipment, don’t leave this to the last minute to allow you time to rectify any problems before your delegates arrive if needed!

6.       Take spare badges with you so you have them available, you may get last minute delegates or substitutes so you can put together a badge for everyone who attends

7.       Create a detailed running order for your event so all your staff, suppliers and the venue know exactly what is happening when and what they are doing

8.       Always have a back up of all your event details in case your equipment fails on the day

9.       Look after any VIP’s and special guests, dedicate a member of staff to look after them to show them around and show there they need to be

10.   Enjoy the event! As long as you plan everything in advance and you plan for all eventualities you can only do your best on the day and work to resolve any problems quickly and efficiently as required!

If you have any tips you would like to share or if you would like to write blog for Mosaic Events please email sarah@mosaicevents.co.uk

What did you think? Don’t forget to evaluate and use feedback from your events!

The main priority for your event is to ensure you organise everything in advance so everything goes well on the day but make sure you do not overlook collating feedback after the event as this is important and can be very useful!

Collating feedback allows you the opportunity to see exactly what delegates, speakers and exhibitors thought of your event and shows areas to improve or parts of the event that worked well.

There are a number of ways you can collate feedback, for example using a hard copy survey on the day, I pad surveys surveying people during your event and online questionnaires after the event.

 

People are often in a hurry and do not always realise how useful their feedback is so you can always incentivise the feedback questionnaire by offering a free place at the next event or a gift voucher this can help you receive more responses back!

To ensure as many responses as possible make sure your questionnaire is not too long, limit the number of questions you ask and options per questions so you get the relevant feedback quickly and it is not a chore for delegates to complete.

Always include questions about the overall event, organisation, venue, catering and staff as it is helpful to provide your venue with feedback too so they can improve for the future and investigate any feedback further as required. 

Once you have collated the feedback make sure you use it! Send it to the venue for their records and take it on board for planning your next event, pick up anything that didn’t work well or that delegates particularly liked and make sure you address any issues for future events.

Where delegates have provided lots of positive feedback and detail contact them to ask if you can use their response as a quote to show the success of the event and to encourage people to attend next year, personal recommendations can go far in persuading people whether to attend or not.

In addition use social media set up a #hash tag for your event, include this on your presentations, delegate packs and confirmation details and encourage delegates to use their phones throughout your event to tweet anything they are enjoying or to highlight key presentations. You will need to monitor this in case you receive any negative tweets to ensure you can be pro active and respond to any criticism quickly and effectively if required!

Please let us know how you have used feedback from your events to improve or if you are interested in writing a blog for Mosaic Events please email enquiries@mosaicevents.co.uk

A day in the life of a job seeker in the events industry...

When you first apply for university you are promised to walk into a glittering career in whichever job you choose after graduation. Unfortunately, at this time, this isn’t the case for most graduates. With constant news coverage of high unemployment rates amongst young people it is easy to lose focus and positivity when applying for jobs. 

I am a recent graduate looking for work in the events industry. I luckily have some experience of the industry, thanks to a 2^nd year university placement at Mosaic Events and a year out, before university, working for a wedding planner. However this hasn’t yet been enough to secure me that dream job. After a brief spell of waitressing and a travelling adventure to fill my summer, job hunting for me didn’t start until late September. Here are some tips for fellow events job hunters, to help you keep your sanity when filling in those dozens of application forms and hopefully in the end secure you that elusive job!

·         Stay positive! I know this sometimes can be tricky however remember there are a lot of people in the same position so you are not alone.

·         Use rejection: Even though it is disappointing being rejected, use it to your advantage. Make sure you request feedback from every rejection you receive, it could enhance your application and will definitely help with any future job applications.

·         Take a break! Those applications forms can sometimes send your mind into a spin so make sure after each application take a break and get someone else to read over your application so they can point out any errors or improvements you could make.

·         For events don’t only use recruitment and job centre sites to look for jobs, venue websites will also have a recruitment or careers section which is always worth a check. This can sometimes be time consuming but is definitely worth checking.

·         Set up job alerts: Not only can you set up job alerts through recruitment sites but you can also set them up through some venue websites also. This will take some time off your search as the jobs will come to you.

·         Expand your area: The North East (where I’m from) isn’t known for its great amount of employment opportunities, particularly in events. So if your chosen area is not coming up with what you want and you are willing to travel that extra mile for work, expand your search a little. You never know what travelling that extra half an hour for work will come up with. 

·         Volunteer: That phrase ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ isn’t always correct, however volunteering on events or in an office to gain some experience will look great on your CV and will always put you in touch with people in the industry. 

Events management is a popular industry so stay positive and enthusiastic about every opportunity which comes your way and don’t panic!! 

Ruth Turner

Being prepared and planning ahead!

Working in events you have to be organised and to plan ahead and in this week’s blog we have looked at ways to help you do this, to help keep your event on track!

Planning ahead plays an important part in the success of your event; you must plan for all situations and possible problems that may arise this could be in terms of your invitations, venue, catering, equipment, speakers as just some examples.

For instance try and have a back up presentation or speaker at your event just in case and site visit your venue in advance to discuss all aspects of your event so you are familiar with the space and how the venues work.

Budget! You must always start the planning with a budget, showing exactly how much you have to spend for the event, income you require or income being generated and the breakdown of costs for every element of your event, and make sure you stick to it! 

Include in your budget extra money for any unexpected costs, extra AV may be required or you may need to pay an additional speaker at the last minute, it is always better to have extra in your budget than be caught out after your event.

Another important factor to consider is health and safety, carry out a risk assessment for your event, this allows you to look at your event more closely and consider any possible risks to your attendees, staff and speakers and then time to prepare for these or put monitoring or prevention methods in place.

Sometimes things happen which are out of your control so it is not always possible to predict these scenarios and plan for them but if you think carefully about your event in the planning stages and you are prepared it can certainly save you time if any problems arise closer to the event date! 

If you have any more tips for planning ahead or would like to write a blog for Mosaic Events please email sarah@mosaicevents.co.uk