ning and on-site coordination of your event. Firms such as EventMobi and many others now provide mobile technological solutions for event planners to offer their guests enhanced
and superior experiences. In addition the rapid adoption of global positioning systems (GPS) tools and Google Maps enable event organiza- tions who rely upon transport to more precisely route and track their vendor partners and guests.
members. One of the most common mistakes is to schedule this meeting without consulting with the participants in advance. An effective planning meeting requires that the planning team members be fully committed to the process. This commitment requires advance approval of the date, time, location, and format. Another common mistake is not allowing suffi cient time for the fi rst meeting. Prior to scheduling the fi rst meeting, you should assemble a small group of senior members of the team to actually plan the planning process. This planning to plan (or pre- planning) is a critical part of the ESP process.
The length of the event planning meeting will ultimately infl uence the productivity. The maxim “less is more” is appropriate for planning meetings. Limit meetings to 90 minutes maxi- mum. If the meeting must last longer than 90 minutes, schedule frequent breaks. The agenda for the ESP meeting will guide the team toward their eventual goal: the production of a workable and sustainable plan. Therefore, the agenda should be developed during the preplanning process and distributed to the full team in advance of the fi rst planning meeting. A typical agenda for the ESP meeting follows:
I. Welcome and introduction of team members II. Review of goals and objectives of event III. Review of critical dates for event
IV. Reports from team members from prework V. Discussion of event preproduction schedule VI. Consensus regarding event preproduction schedule VII. Discussion of production schedule
VIII. Consensus regarding production schedule
IX. Final review of plan to check for any illogical elements, gaps, oversights, or other issues X. Adjournment
C o n f i r m i n g Va l i d i t y, R e l i a b i l i t y, a n d S e c u r i t y
After the planning meeting or meetings are concluded, the Event Leader must make certain that the event plan is valid, reliable, and easily communicated to a wider group of stakeholders. Prior to distribution of the plan, make certain that your event plan passes the “grandmother test.” Show the plan to those stakeholders who were not directly involved in the planning process. Ask these stakeholders pointed questions, such as: “Is this logical? What is missing? Does the plan support the goals and objectives of the event?”
Once the plan is validated and prior to distribution to a wider group of stakeholders, make certain that there are no security implications of this release. For example, if a very important person (VIP), such as a high-ranking elected offi cial or celebrity, is included in the plan, you may wish to assign the individual a pseudonym or limit the distribution of the plan to preserve the security of your event.
T i m e l i n e
The tracks that your event train will travel to reach its successful destination are refl ected in the instrument known as the event timeline. The preparation of the event timeline literally reduces to writing the major decisions that will be included in the event from the beginning of research through the fi nal tasks involved in evaluation.
Often we are asked, “When does the event timeline begin?” After many years of experience and literally thousands of event experiences, we can state that it must begin with the fi rst inquiry about the potential or prospective event. For example, the fi rst telephone call from a prospective
client researching your availability to manage an event or from an event planner who is research- ing information about your catering services may quickly lead to design, planning, coordination, and, fi nally, evaluation.
Therefore, I suggest that you begin the construction of the timeline when you fi rst hear that unmistakable sound that telegraphs curiosity and enthusiasm or that twinkle in the eye that immediately and fi rmly announces that a potential spectacular is hiding just around the corner (from research and design). In fact, the only distance between you and the ultimate realization of the event may be a few hours, days, weeks, or months. To best control this period, it is essential that you construct a realistic timeline.
One reason that many events fail is insuffi cient time to effectively research, design, plan, coordinate, and evaluate them. When time is not suffi cient to research an event properly, you may end up paying more later, due to insuffi cient or incorrect information. When time is not suffi cient to design an event, you may overlook some of the more creative elements that will provide you with the resources to make the event magical and, therefore, memorable.
Each event planner should construct a timeline that begins with the research phase and con- cludes with the evaluation phase. The timeline should cover each aspect and component of the event. It should include the start and ending times for each activity or task. It must be comprehen- sive and incorporate the individual timelines established by auxiliary organizations, such as vendors and government regulations. The Event Leader should carefully collect individual timelines from all vendors and other service providers. The timeline should detail the elements or components that appear in other people ’s timelines. This process of purging and merging the various timelines into one master production instrument is essential for communication between all parties.
Prior to distribution of the fi nal copy, the event planner should seek consensus among all stakeholders before codifying the fi nal results. The timeline must be acceptable to all stakeholders. One way to ensure the careful review and approval of each critical stakeholder is to require that the stakeholders initial the fi nal document, indicating their acceptance. The fi nal timeline should be distributed to all stakeholders as well as appropriate external offi cials (i.e., police, fi re, media) to ensure timely service and provide effective damage control. By providing media and other external stakeholders with accurate information in a timely manner, you may avoid problems with innuendo and hearsay that cause erroneous reporting of your event planevent planning process.
The way you depict your timeline ultimately will determine its effectiveness in communication to the broadest possible number of event stakeholders. Figure 3.11 in the electronic appendixes shows a typical event timeline in summary form. Although the information in the fi gure is pre- sented in summary form, it demonstrates that the timeline must be a comprehensive instrument that provides a separate column for each task, list of participants, and start and end dates and time. For example, in the evaluation phase, only the quantitative survey evaluation is listed as the task to be performed. In fact, as you will discover later in the book, evaluation is a comprehensive process, and in this phase you will also evaluate factors ranging from fi nance to timing. Each of these factors will be listed on a separate task line with specifi c participants assigned to supervise this process.