sabrina a asked:


I want to be an event planner that specialize in planning events (particulalry music and fashion shows). What degrees would I need? and what colleges are best to go to in Miami, Fl

Eric

Ena Taylor asked:


Functions and events are important for companies to reach their public-consumers, trade partners, suppliers, investors, and employees. In the past, companies usually formed committees to handle and organize their functions and events. With today’s fast-paced corporate atmosphere, however, companies can no longer afford to give choose employees additional workload that would take them away from their initial responsibilities when they need to handle the functions and events increases to generate publicity and launch dissemination campaigns.

Arrangements of Function and Event Planners

Thus, a relatively new profession emerged – the event planners, otherwise known as function planners, meeting managers or organizers, event organizers, conference coordinators and special event coordinators.

The major responsibilities of event planners are to plan and organize events. From corporate functions such as trade shows, product launch, sales conference, and annual conventions to competitions, festivals and award nights to grand celebrations like Christmas parties, wedding ceremonies, anniversaries, etc.

Company Event Planning Needs Careful and Proper Management

Event planning encompasses conceptualization, budgeting, logistics preparation, and implementation. This career needs communications, time management and organization skills as this profession entail substantial coordination and management. Logistics, for one, includes selection and reservation of event venue, décor, acquisition of permits, manpower, entertainment, facilities, tables and chairs, guests, security, food, parking, transportation, and cleanup.

With the aid of event planning companies, corporations are able to hold distinct events and corporate functions without having to handle the intricate details. Commissioned on a per project basis, companies don’t require retaining employees for these specific functions. With effective event planning and event management techniques, these companies can save your time as well as money, priortising your important needs when broadening your chances to secure the right site and suppliers.

As the technology has developed very far, there are plenty of event planning companies that are offering event organizing services that suits your budget as well as needs.

NYC Venue Guide is dedicated help you to find a perfect event planning company according to requirements. They have a huge host of event planning companies to select from. If you are looking for event planning company then NYC Venue Guide is the right to find one for you.

The key to a great event is a great event planning company!



Crystal

fridaygraphix asked:


Hi, i’ve decided that i want to do event planning part time. i currently do event planning for my job, however only two sales meetings a year. its just a small part of my job. how does one go about getting started in this field? what type of schooling do i need to go too? certifications?

Milton

Jud Yaski asked:


10 Key tools and tips to save money and still have a great event in these challenging times.

Tip #1:

Plan out far ahead or last minute, if you can take the stress: If you plan out 6+ months ahead, you will be able to assure the venue, and vendors that you want. However if you plan last minute, venues and vendors that are not already booked may give you good deals. On the other hand, if you are using an event company, you may be charged more, as it is a lot of extra work and stress for your event company.

Tip#2:

Catering quotes: If you are booking a caterer for you event and getting multiple quotes, make sure you look at the price at the bottom of the invoice! It should include catering, wait staff, kitchen staff, gratuity, and tax. If you only have a cost per person, or a food total, plan on spending as much as twice the number shown when you are finished. Make sure all of your caterers are providing the same items, and note whether they are cooking onsite, or bringing in hot boxes. Some caterers may be more, but providing rentals for instance.

Tip#3:

Venue selection: Venue selection is critical for a dynamic event. Here are items you want to consider when booking a venue: A. Do they allow adequate set up time? Most events will need 2 to 6 hours for set up, depending on what elements you have: lighting, stage, décor, etc. B. How much break down time do they give you? Plan on at least two hours to comfortably exit and clean up an event space, unless you have minimal elements C. Can you drop the rentals off the day before, or at least earlier in the day? If not, the rental company will charge you a premium for any deliver that has less than a 3 hour window. D. Curfews? There is nothing worse than forgetting to ask the all important question: Are you in a residential district? If so, what is the latest that my reception can go until? Many venues in residential areas must finish their events by 9 or 10pm. This might be way too early for your crowd. E. Parking: If your guests can’t park, you will never hear the end of it, and it could spell disaster. Make sure parking for guests and vendors is handled F. Rentals: Does the venue provide chair and tables with the rental? If so, you will not only save money on those items, but can also save on delivery, as you would only need linens, which you could pick up yourself from the rental company, and drop off yourself. This will save over $150 in delivery fees to many locations. G. Hidden charges: Do they charge a day of event fee? A security fee? Require event insurance (and additional fee)? H. What are their expectations in terms of clean up? Some venues are fine with you leaving the venue without any large pieces of garbage. Others expect you to mop up and put away the chairs and tables (if provided).

Tip#4:

Rentals: As touched upon above, when ordering party rentals, try and allow a 3 hour window between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday. If you can’t do this, then give them a 3hr window on the weekend. If this is not possible, you will paying a premium for after hours delivery with a short load in window. Other items that rental companies charge extra for are stairs, elevators, long load ins, and distance charges depending on where your venue is located. You can follow this advice: A. Do NOT wait until a couple of days before your event to make final guest count changes. Most rental companies will not make any changes 48hrs before an event. Give yourself a week before the event to finalize the RSVPs. B. Who is setting up the rentals and breaking them down? Did you consider this? The rental companies will not do this, unless they are paid additionally for it. If your group size is 120 people or less, it is usually cheaper, and always easier to have the event rental company set up the tables and chairs, while your caterer will often set up the linens and fold the napkins, set the plates, etc.

Tip#5:

DJs/ Bands: Looking for a great DJ? Need a Jazz or dance band? Make sure they have multiple references: I would check at least three. Make sure the load in time for bands is 1.5 hours before the event and for DJ’s, at least one hour. If you have a DJ coming, ask if they supply dance lights, and if so, how many, and are they on stands? They should be. You want the dance lighting on the dance floor, not on the ceiling.

Tip #6:

Saving money on catering: One of the most expensive parts of catering is the staffing! Try and design your events with only about 2 hours of food service for maximum savings. It may extend to three with appetizers. Speaking of which, We suggest offering some appetizers stationed, such as cold plates, and having other appetizers passed. This reduces the number of staff needed, allows people who are hungry to not be at the mercy of the staff passing the appetizers, and gives people who are engaged in conversation an opportunity to still nibble on the passed appetizers. Passed saves on the food, while stationed saves on the labor. Why not do the best of both worlds, having your less expensive items stationed and the others passed?

Tip #7:

Buffet or seated?: I am a fan of the buffet. I will readily admit that the buffet has the distinct disadvantage of not being as elegant, and requiring more food per guest. However, the logistical nightmares and intensive staffing that it saves, makes it a great choice. A nice full service plated dinner requires one wait staff per every 10 people or so. If you have 150 people, you will need 15 staff. At $150 to $200 per staff, this adds up very quickly relative to the 3 to 5 staff needed at a buffet (one to two at the buffet and 2 to 3 to bus/ replenish). It also greatly reduces the back end kitchen staff. Have you ever attempted to plate 150 meals in a 10 minute duration? Don’t! The other major issue with plated dinners is the issue of ever changing minds. Many a time my clients have gotten RSVPs, made table tags, and assigned food preferences for each guest, only to find out that after countless hours of labor and coordination, many of their guests decided that they weren’t vegetarians after all, once they see their neighbor dig into a fillet of sea bass. This will lead to many of the guests that did order a particular dish, not getting it, as it is impossible for the caterer to buy two of everything for all guests. If you must have a plated meal, I strongly suggest doing one split meal. Offer plate with surf and turf or fish and chicken, and let your couples barter at the table if one wants fish only and the other prefers beef.

Tip#8:

Party Timing: Timing is everything as they say, and this is certainly true with events. Keep your event at four hours. Vendors may not tell you this, but this is the industry standard. Go under this magic number and it will cost you the same as if you kept your event at 4 hours. Go over it and you will be paying for overtime. From Venues, to DJs/bands to caterers, and more, you will find this the case.

Tip #9:

General Vendor Selection Tips: There is nothing more telling than the old event planners adage: you are only as good as your vendors. Follow these tips and you will reduce your chances of ending up with a lousy vendor, which will make a lousy Event. This is probably the single best reason to hire a tried and true professional planner: They will know who to bring, and more importantly, who NOT to bring to your event. C. As is true in most other aspects of life, in the event industry, you get what you pay for. This is a service industry, and you just can’t take shortcuts and get away with it. If you get a cheap caterer, DJ, or cake, that is exactly what it will appear like. Get 3 quotes if you are doing it yourself: don’t take the cheapest. Go for the middle or the highest. D. Be a detective. There are two things in life that all products and services are judged on: Price and quality. Your job, if you are venturing into the unknown land of finding vendors for your event, is to source the most reliable providers.. After you have selected your best candidate, ask them for three references. Preferably ones that have used them more than once. Call up their references, and make sure to ask the hard questions, such as: “ I know you think they are great, and I am sure they are. However no one is perfect. This won’t go beyond you and me, but if you had to change one thing about vendor X, what would it be? “

Tip#10:

Lighting: No event is complete without lighting. Lighting transforms a dismal space into a dynamic atmosphere. Although lighting a venue is not cheap, it is considerably less than decorating it with draping and other elements, and has a powerful impact on the emotions elicited, which will shape how the evening evolves. By incorporating lighting and draping, you can colorize any room to your event theme. Keep in mind there is no good way to only partially light a room. In order to have uplights, food lighting, and dance floor lighting be visible, you must turn down the ambient lighting of your venue either off, or to 25% of the normal lighting. This will allow the colors of the lighting to saturate the space and create the “glow” that you are looking for. When you do this, the bar, buffet, speeches on the dance floor, gift table, and anything else you need to have visible will disappear. It is important to make sure all of these elements are well lit by your lighting company. The impact of this is dramatic: a room glowing with every important event element.



Amber

John Thompson asked:


Setting up a conference but having no idea how to plan one is overwhelming and that is where bringing in an event event planning professional will not only make the convention run smoothly but also save you a lot of time, struggle and migraines.

A event consultant is experienced in convention planning and the unending number of items that need to be discussed and managed. Hire an event-planning consultant that has many years experience with conventions.

A get together event planning service consultant understands that often you need more staff to accomplish all the jobs required. They have project managers working for them that can become your right hand by giving you their experience and know-how, which allows your staff to manage their own responsibilities.

This not only boosts your staff temporarily but also gives you experienced people that answer to you, so you still manage and control the event.

The event event planning organization you hire will work with you to determine the conference event goals, the size of the get together, event type, and attendance statistics along with all the other event elements. This information helps the team prepare a detailed plan with many options and practical plans. These specific plans will meet your requirements and goals.

It is the conference event planning services role to establish detailed timelines, monitor them and update these timelines regularly so you stay within a certain period, as this is an exceedingly central facet of convention event management.

Staying within budget is not only exceedingly important but also adds to the success of the conference. The conference event planning team works with you to confirm a budget and then monitor and manage it. This is ongoing and compares the actual expenses to the event budget so there are no surprises when it is over.

If you are planning a gathering, it is best to hire a conference even planning team as they can make the difference between achievement and catastrophe.



Sam

just me asked:


I’m in the early stages of starting my own event planning business. How would you suggest I market my business?

Agnes

Judy Richter asked:


Expert event planning and event management requires a keen sense of detail. It’s important to consider all of the elements of your entire event and how it will flow. However, even with the highest attention to  detail, many last minute items may arise that need to be addressed. You should be prepared to handle anything – that’s  the nature of event planning.

Often, these last minute challenges are the result of changes requested by the client, such as:

Changes in program logistics Speaker/performer cancellations Technology or lighting equipment changes or malfunctions Additional seating, display, or presentation requirements

For example, four days before a non-profit fundraiser, a client decided to add a Kabuki drop to unveil the dining area and dance floor at their event. No problem, right? An experienced event management company can handle last minute requests with ease. In this case, the client realized a day later that the bathrooms were located on the far side of the venue behind the stage – which meant that their guests would have to walk through the dining area to get to them. We considered several options: reverse the room and lose the unique indoor valet we were using, rent a crowd pleaser, or possibly have guests walk through the kitchen area.

After discussing the pros and cons of these options, we agreed the best choice would be to go with a portable toilet option for the two hours during the cocktail reception so that we wouldn’t have to sacrifice the valet or the surprise kabuki drop. This option also worked with the venue and wasn’t completely out of character as it was a mechanics warehouse.

This is just one example of one of the many types of last minute requests that can come up, and is a great reason to hire an experienced event planning and management company for your next event.

Some of the things you should consider when hiring an event planning company are:

Do they have experience planning and producing events like mine? Are they creative in their use of evolving technologies and best practices? Can I feel confident that my audience will be challenged, inspired, and even awed? Do they have a track record for flawless execution and great customer service? Can they produce my event in cost effective way? How well can they handle last minute changes and requests?

When it comes to planning and producing your important events, you’ll want to work with a partner that can help you every step of the way. Meet with several potential options and see if past events offer extreme creativity fused with unsurpassed technology and execution. This will help you decide if a particular vendor can achieve and exceed the goals of your event.



Ida

Bizymoms.com Management asked:


Are you are an active individual who posses a lot of creativity? Are you an organized person with great people skills? Do you love to organize events? Interested in earning a living out of doing what you love? Then event planning is the perfect venture for you!

At present, an increasing number of organizations and individuals depend on event planners to organize their special events. From the task of creating the theme of the event to the task of supervision of the event itself, all these are now carried out by the event planner. The number one reason for outsourcing these events are the constraints in time, resources and energy. Organizing an event involves a lot of hard work and hassle, and many people would rather outsource it to the capable hands of event planners and enjoy the special occasion with their guests.

To establish a successful event planning venture it doesn’t cost you a fortune. But it helps to have some past experience in this profession. For example if you have organized events at your office or neighborhood that experience would yield benefits for you. In addition to the skills you already posses, consider obtaining a degree or a certificate in this area to make your venture more beneficial since some people look for designations when hiring planners.

Event planning can be divided into two main market segments. Social events segment will include informal or simple celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, children’s parties, reunions, etc. while the corporate events segment would include events owned by private organizations, corporations, businesses, charities, non-profit organizations and political parties. Some of the events which fall under this category are conferences, product launches, company parties, trade shows, company trips, fundraises, meetings and so on.

You can select the market segment you would cater your services to. Also for a given segment you can focus your services in all these events or one or two of them. For example if you select to cater your services to the social events segment then you could specialize in weddings only.

The start up cost for this venture will mainly depend on the cost of living in your area. Equipment such as a high speed computer, color printer and fax machine are essentials for this profession. Also you should obtain an internet connection, a telephone connection, a mobile phone and other equipment to maintain a steady stream of correspondence with your clients and suppliers.

Event planning is not a 9 to 5 job. You would be required to work evenings, holidays and weekends as well. It is a job which requires you to constantly be on alert and be accessible 24/7. When starting up your business the best way to reduce risks is to research and educate yourself regarding the industry, demand for events, vendors and suppliers and the competition you may face.

Once you have undertaken an event you would be required to research and find out exactly what the client is expecting from you. The next step would be to organize and coordinate the event. You will need to rent a site, hire vendors for food, décor and entertainment, plan transportation, send invitations, arrange any necessary accommodations, coordinate activities of event personnel, etc while keeping contact with the client to ensure that everything is working out according to his/her interests. On the day of the event you would be responsible to oversee all activities in order for the event to work out successfully. Once an event has been completed you should conduct an evaluation and find out whether it was a success. The goal is to end up with highly satisfied clients and guests who will happily spread the word regarding your services.

When fixing a price to your service you should ensure that it covers all the costs you have endured and it leaves you with an acceptable profit. Your fee will depend on factors such as the market segment to which you are catering, locality, the demand for services, your qualifications and experience. There are mainly four methods of pricing in this profession, by the hour – where an hourly rate is set for your service, by percentage – where a percentage is selected out of the total budget, by fee for services – where each specific task would have a set rate or by commissionable rates/ add on’s – where a handling fee will be charged to all the services provided.

The best marketing methods in this profession is networking and word of mouth advertising. In addition to this you can also utilize business cards, brochures, ads in the local papers/magazines and a website to market your services.



Amy

jthom8299 asked:


It is a romantic event planning company. So we will be doing special intimate occasions only for couples. Such as proposals, Valentine’s Day, Just Because. I need something unique.

Leo

Meera K asked:


Hey everyone,
This wednesday, I will be heading to an interview for an internship at an event planning company, and I have no idea waht to wear. Could you guys help me?
Thanks!

Paul