EVENT PLANNING 101

Six Steps to Help You Plan a Successful Event

A publication by
AUTHOR Event Planning 101

David Becker
David Becker is a Co-Founder of zkipster, an American-Swiss tech startup based
in New York City. David has hosted more than 250 events in entertainment and
nightlife. He was a member of the Zurich Street Parade Committee, which hosted
over 1 million attendees, and headed the Zurich-based media center for the UEFA
Football Euro Finals, the 3rd largest tournament in professional sports. A
broadcasting journalist at heart, David is the creative brain behind zkipster and
oversees countless events in art, media, fashion, luxury, non-profit and hospitality
around the world. From rock bottom to rock-star events,
David has seen them all.

We want to share with you our expertise and

give you an event planning handbook that will
never go out of style. So let’s get started on
the road to success!
CONTENT Event Planning 101

What is this eBook all about?

Whether you are thinking about pursuing a career in event planning, or have just
started in the event planning business, whether you recently joined your company’s
event marketing department, or are running your own agency or start-up, this
eBook will provide you with a groundwork for producing successful events.

INTRODUCTION
3
The event strategy

STEP 1
6
Goals - Why plan this event?

STEP 2
9
Audience - Who will attending?

STEP 3
13
Timing - When will it happen?

STEP 4
16
Location - Where will it occur?

STEP 5
19
Budget - What will it cost?

STEP 6
22
Idea - How should it be executed?
INTRODUCTION Event Planning 101

The Event Strategy

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INTRODUCTION Event Planning 101

“
The strategy is your event
blue print.

Before you dive in and book the location, invite your guests, or even select your
caterer, you need a strategy. An event strategy combines all your ideas into one big
plan, and will be the most important tool for you along the way.

We came up with an easy method to formulating an event strategy, which is

designed to spare you unnecessary headaches and help your event run smoothly.
Our event strategy is structured into six parts and each part begins with a question
you should answer:

Why are you planning this event?

Who will be attending?
When is it taking place?
Where is it occurring?
What is it going to cost?
How should it be executed?

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INTRODUCTION Event Planning 101

When you’re working for an event agency or in-house event planning team, getting
the right information from your client or parent company is crucial for your strategy.
All this information needs to be included in the plan. As a client, you should ask
yourself the same questions. Make sure your agency or in-house team is aware of
all pertinent information. Lapses in communication will only hurt your event down
the road.

Take your time when coming up with a strategy. Try to give yourself enough
planning time. Planning an event is difficult enough without the added pressure of a
time constraint.

Remember, the better your planning, the better organized you will be, and you’ll
find that you’re less prone to mistakes and unwanted surprises during your event!

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STEP 1 Event Planning 101

Goals - Why plan this event?

The single most important question you can ask yourself as an event planner is
why. Before you start planning, you need to know WHY you are even planning the
event in the first place.

Event planners call this: defining the objectives. The event organizer and the client
hosting the event need to define the event objectives for both parties in the short
term, on the day of the event (tangible objectives), and long term, after the event
(intangible objectives).

These goals will also help to define the type of event you are hosting. For instance,
whether or not you will be hosting a conference, attending a trade show, organizing
a gala, running a fund raiser or a corporate event depends on your event goals.

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STEP 1 Event Planning 101

Events can be a powerful communication

tool and create lasting memories and
customer ties. They are a proven way to
increase brand awareness, develop new
business, and drive growth.

But it’s not enough that your guests or attendees simply have a good time.
Particularly in times of slow economic growth, you don’t want to be throwing
money away and just having an event for the sake of having one with no returns.
Ask yourself what added value is having this event producing? Does your event
satisfy any of the following marketing goals:

Information: Will this event provide new product information?

Emotive Action: Will this event increase brand awareness?
Motivation: Will this event boost company or team morale and motivation?
Concrete Action: Will this event drive sales?

Ideally these tasks should not stand alone and the success of any event can be
achieved by effectively combining any and all of the four goals.

You have to be aware of what information you want to impart, what emotions you
want to evoke, what motivation you want to achieve and what actions need to
follow. Action, Information, Motivation, Emotion. Keep them in mind!

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STEP 1 Event Planning 101

But the event goals go beyond answering questions about information, emotion,
motivation and action. If you have clear, attainable goals before the event, you will
be able to better measure its success afterwards.

Marketing event goals can be broken down into quantitative and qualitative goals,
in addition to tangible and intangible goals. Here are some examples of quantitative
and qualitative goals:

QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
Attract new customers Brand/product awareness
Increase sales Employee satisfaction
Nurture growth (market Public opinion
share, revenues)
Product information
Generate new leads / Image improvement
contacts
Multiplier effects
Increase profits
Expand digital engagement

Once you’ve set your goals and you know what you have to look out for, your
planning will go much more smoothly.

Now that you’ve accomplished the WHY, it’s time to move on to the WHO.

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STEP 2 Event Planning 101

Audience - Who will attend?

After defining your event goals, you should start thinking about your target
audience. In order to create an outstanding event, you must first know your
audience.

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STEP 2 Event Planning 101

“
The more exclusive an event,
the more tailored the guest list
has to be.

First, you need to understand who will be attending your event. Are you launching a
new product to the general masses? Are you hosting the next wunderkinds fashion
show to a small selected audience? Are you organizing an educational seminar for
your company’s sales managers?

Some possible target audiences might be:

B2C clients
B2B clients
Journalists
Distribution partners
Your employees

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STEP 2 Event Planning 101

Unfortunately, these groups are far from homogeneous; the mad men times of
putting all clients in one pigeonhole are long gone. You have to further analyze your
target audience by checking for their demographics, such as:

Age Religion
Sex Educational background
Function Interests
Profession Needs
Education Nationality

Once you know who your audience is, you can better understand what they are
expecting from your event.

Assume your event audience to be discerning, fastidious and demanding.

Regardless of whether you’re located in a big city or small town, many of your
guests will think they’ve attended the year’s greatest events, and they definitely
want and expect to be part of the next big thing.

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STEP 2 Event Planning 101

So, alongside your target group’s specifications, in terms of marketing goals, you
should keep in mind the following questions.

Where are your guests coming from?

What languages to they speak?
What do they want to gain from the experience?

Not every group has the same needs; a multinational medical congress in
Pasadena is completely unlike a fashion brand launch in New York City’s
Meatpacking District. It’s crucial to understand and know these differences!

Remember, only when you know your audience, can you truly blow them away,
and only when you know who they are, can you give them what they want!

“
A stylish, trendy event is
all about the guest list.

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STEP 3 Event Planning 101

Timing - When will it happen?

Once you’ve defined your event goals and have a clear picture of your target
audience, it’s time to think about the timing of your event: when is it going to
happen and how long will it last?

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STEP 3 Event Planning 101

The timing of the event will have a tremendous influence on your planning. Make
sure your target audience will actually be able to attend the event. Ask yourself,
will it be holiday season and the city deserted? Maybe don’t launch that new
apparel store. Launching your sushi restaurant outdoors in the August heat?
Think again! And of course there are the national and religious holidays as well as
special events to consider. They will not only have an impact on your audience
participation, but also on labor cost and other practical factors.

There’s the time of day as well as the season to consider. Planning a photo
exhibition in an unused manufacturing hall in winter? Remember to plan and
budget that extra heating and make sure your crowd does not freeze to death
while waiting in line. The same event space can ooze a completely different
atmosphere midday versus at night. Make sure you visit the location at the right

“
time.

Be aware of what events

happened and are happening
at the venue you select.

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STEP 3 Event Planning 101

Be thorough. Look over social calendars. Check what your competition is planning.
Check what events are happening locally in your area and, if relevant, which events
are happening around the country. Be aware of what’s happening a week, a month
before your event, and what’s happening a week, a month after your event. Make
sure to check this early and plan accordingly.

Once you’ve made sure that your target audience actually has time to attend your
event, you can think about how long it should last. As a rule of thumb, your event
should last as long as necessary, but be as short as possible. Time and attention
are rare commodities and you have to fight for them!

Finally, with regards to timing, make sure to answer these three questions before
booking your venue:

When is the event taking place?

What’s going on around me?
How long will the event last?

Once these questions are answered, go ahead and lock down the best spot to
throw a killer party!

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STEP 4 Event Planning 101

Location - Where will it occurr?

How do you choose the right location for your event? Set your event goals, define
your target audience, the right time for your event, and you’re ready to find the
perfect location.

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STEP 4 Event Planning 101

A location is more than just a stage for your event; make it a major part of the event
orchestration. The location can help in getting your message across. Futuristic
buildings, turn of the century mansions, industrial chic factory buildings, they all tell
their own stories, so make them work for your event!

When selecting a location and a venue, it’s important to look at it from all

“
perspectives. Create a list of pros and cons for your favored venues and compare
them before you let your gut decide!

When inspecting a venue, figure

where things could go wrong, and
how things could go right...

Of course, don’t forget to consider where your audience is coming from and how
much travel is involved for them. Always have a plan for guest arrivals and guest
departures that includes car services, flight information, hotel and accommodation
lists at the ready.

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STEP 4 Event Planning 101

Your location choice is limited only by your imagination (and of course budget
constraints). Rent a theater and seat your clients on the stage, launch a new car on
a mountain top, or organize an executive retreat in a Buddhist monastery.

If you’re using multiple locations for one event, make sure you remember to take
transportation between the locations into account. This is crucial, both for your
time management as well as your budget.

Finally, check what events have been hosted at your chosen location and who’s
renting it before and after you.

Do some reconnaissance work. Is the city still buzzing about a party thrown by a
competitor at the same nightclub you have chosen for your event? Maybe you
should consider going somewhere else. Sometimes it’s just better to go back to
the drawing board!

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STEP 5 Event Planning 101

Budget - What will it cost?

Money matters and there‘s never enough!

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STEP 5 Event Planning 101

“
People who haven’t yet planned
events don’t truly understand the
costs involved.

Money matters. And sometimes it can be better to hold off hosting an event if you
lack the money, than to host a shabby event on a tiny budget.

While having budget constraints does not mean you have to cut back on creativity,
it does mean sure you need to know the budget before starting to plan or even
pitch the event idea to your client.

The budget will have a major impact on the style and type of event your are
hosting, but it should not have an impact on whether you can reach your event
goals. Great things can be achieved with smaller purse strings, you just have to
know how!

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STEP 5 Event Planning 101

If you think your budget is too small, there’s ways to make it seem bigger or stretch
it further. In this regard, partnerships and sponsoring deals can go a long way.
Make sure that you choose the right partners. They should fit your company as well
as the event, and the collaboration should add value to both parties involved.

Another way of saving money is to reduce the size of your event. The same money
you spend on entertaining and feeding 500 poorly selected guests will be much
better spent on wining and dining the 100 top clients you actually want to do
business with. This is yet another reason why it’s so important to properly define
your target audience.

It‘s crucial to keep control over your budget and always be aware of cost, down to
the last cent. Suppliers and partner companies should be able to provide you with
estimates in the planning phase. This will help you to keep your budget together.

Once you know how much you can spend, you have to make sure you’re not
actually spending more. Keeping a close eye on spending is key! And there are
many tools that can help you. Even using a spreadsheets program, as simple as
MS Excel, will help you stay focused and, more importantly, on budget.

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STEP 6 Event Planning 101

Ideas - How should it be executed?

Great ideas make great events. Without a good idea, your event strategy is useless!

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STEP 6 Event Planning 101

For your final consideration you must have an event concept. Your event concept
will be your vision for the event, a clear idea of what makes your event different
than others. Test the effectiveness of your concept by answering these 4
questions:

What makes this event different from events others are doing?
What makes this event different from events you have done before?
What makes this event different from events this agency has organized?
What makes this event different from other events your clients have
experienced?

Don’t be a ‘copycat’ and recreate past events, let others copy your events! It’s
great to get inspiration from industry leaders and the competition, but you have to
come up with your twist to the story.

“
When you’re stuck for ideas,
try going for a run or even a
walk to get the ideas flowing
again!

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STEP 6 Event Planning 101

Even the best event concepts can be wasted if the flow of the event is wrong. For
example, a lack of foresight could lead you to place a speaker during dinner, rather
then before or after the meal. The impact of the speaker is now lost because your
guests are too busy paying attention to their food.

Think of your event as a play staged for your audience. There has to be dramatic
development, a constant dynamism across the entirety of the event, in order not to
bore your guests. We all know five minutes can either feel like five minutes or it can
feel like an hour. The right build-up will keep your audience in suspense until the
very last moment.

There are many ways to create a dynamic and engaging event. Event planners can
learn a lot from movies, theater directors, even from a classical Greek tragedy!

Climax
the turning point, which marks a change,
for the better or the worse

Rising action
a related series of incidents Failing action
build toward the point of is about conflict, suspense
great interest and doubt

Resolution
Exposition everything comes together,
introduces the characters, conflicts are resolved and all
sets the stage ends happily

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STEP 6 Event Planning 101

“
When the lighting is bad,
nobody looks their best...

Your production partners should have a good idea about dramatic structures and
the arc of suspense. Choosing the right partners is key in creating the right
dynamic. Still it is important that you, as an event planner or host, understand the
basics.

Of course, your VIP guests, your location, the music you play, the lightning you use,
the food you serve, what technology you use, and the activities you plan for your
audience have a great importance in creating a dynamic, engaging event. If done
well, it will have an impact; if done poorly, it can kill your event flow.

In this industry, it’s not only about “what you do” but also about “when and how
you do it!”

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LET’S GO! Event Planning 101

Now that you are familiar with how to plan a successful event strategy, it’s time to
put these steps to good use.

Whether it’s your 1st event or your 1,000th, strategize and stick to it!

If you’re interested in further readings we recommend the following books

and blogs:

The Grand Planner Blog by zkipster

Event Manager Blog by Julius Solaris
The Event Leadership Institute Blog by Howard Givner
The Event Marketing Handbook: Beyond Logistics & Planning by Allison Saget
The Business of Event Planning by Judy Allen
Time Management for Event Planners by Judy Allen
Special Events: A New Generation and the Next Frontier by Joe Goldblatt
The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning by Shannon Kilkenny
Art of the Event: Complete Guide to Designing and Decorating Special Events by
James C. Monroe
Confessions of an Event Planner: Case Studies from the Real World of Events -
How to Handle the Unexpected by Judy Allen
Event Planning: The Ultimate Guide To Successful Meetings, Corporate Events,
Fundraising Galas, Conferences, Conventions, Incentives and Other Special
Events by Judy Allen

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THANK YOU! Event Planning 101

Did you like this eBook? Check out our

blog at zkipster.com/blog to keep track
of all the latest industry trends and to
collect your daily inspirations.

“
Managing your guest list in
the cloud and on your
mobile device is easy!

Sign up for a free test drive!

Test Drive

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