Organizing the main steps until the event is fundamental to guarantee its success.
Large events require different processes and specific knowledge to achieve their goals successfully. Regardless of the event’s category, it is necessary to develop an operation planning and take care of many details, including, for example, facilities, security products, communication channels and sponsors.
Are you planning an event for the first time and still don’t know how to plan its steps? Read the article below to understand the importance of operational planning and organizing the next phases.
What is Operational Planning?
This process is the set of steps developed to transform the goals of the event into smaller and executable tasks. The operational planning helps the organizer to create a daily workflow, so all the steps become easier to execute.
Creating the workflow and execution sequence is fundamental not only to organize an event, but also to carry out any large-scale projects, whether sports, cultural or even corporate.
Why is it Important?
By fragmenting the activities and actions that need to be carried out, it becomes easier to visualize the event’s entire process of accomplishment. It avoids mistakes and allows that each stage of the organization is monitored, ensuring the quality of all processes involved in the event.
How to Create Operational Planning?
Although making operational planning may seem complex, the stages are simple and demand focus, clarity and research. Learn more below:
1. Define the Event’s Goals
The first step to make your event’s operational planning is defining its goals. You need to know what you intend to achieve so you can execute each action needed to get the result.
In which category does it fit? Do you intend to organize an event for how many people? Will it be the biggest of its category? Will it be used to publicize your company or business? To consolidate your brand? Answering these and other questions is fundamental to create the operation planning,
2. Know your Target Audience
Once you have defined the objectives, it is time to set the target audience. Is your event directed to kids, teenagers or adults? If for adults, for women, men or both? Is the audience composed of professionals from a specific area? Or for any music fans? The possibilities are many and for each answer, you will have to adapt to the next steps.
3. Choose the Best Date and Place
The next stage is choosing a date and place. To define this topic, it is necessary to consider the target audience’s preferences and other factors, such as availability of the desired location and competition with other events on the same day and time.
Analyze all the details regarding the facilities, if they meet the needs of your event, and if the possibilities of date and time are adequate to provide a good event for your audience.
4. Set a Budget
This is one of the main steps, once it will help you define the next stages. It is fundamental to define the budget, organizing how much money will be available in total and for each area separately (facilities, food, decoration, security, and others). Remember to do some good research about the prices and to save an amount to unexpected needs.
5. Organize Marketing Strategies
Have you already defined the previous topics? Now it is time to plan the marketing and publicizing strategies. How are you going to promote your event? Through social media and other vehicles on the internet? On television or radio channels? Physically, with banners and billboards? Consider where your target audience is and which is the best way to find it.
6. Search for Suppliers, Sponsors and Partners
This step is fundamental: the suppliers will make your event complete, ensuring that no essential services or products are missing. Sponsors and partners, in turn, can help financially, offering considerable value to help run the event in exchange for visibility and publicity.
7. Assemble a Team and Follow its Work
At last, you will need to find people to make everything happen. You can count on known collaborators, if you already have a team; hire new workers to carry out the services; or even look for outsourced workers. Once the work team is defined, it is necessary to explain to them all the activities they will have to do until the event and on the day.
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