A great event team equals a splendid event and impeccable execution of the event plan.

As an event planner, it is part of

your job to make sure that this team works together like a well-oiled machine. Good management is key to the team’s
success.

So, here are 8 handy tips to help you manage your event team:

1. Bring together the perfect Event Team:

Bringing together an amazing event team is the first step towards planning and delivering a successful event. A great team
can make a lot many tasks much simpler. First step towards building your dream team is to recognize the need of team
members that are required.

Map out the fields where manpower is necessary and do your research accordingly. You may need a member to handle
sales, another person for marketing. It is essential to first have a clear idea of the team that you want to build , the tasks
that you need people for and then go on to research and recruit.

Get the word out, check out the team involved in successful events around you, ask fellow colleagues and event planners
and source the best people in the market to build an amazing event team which you then begin to manage.

2. Set goals and objectives:

Have a game plan on hand. It is imperative that you have a clear idea of what you are looking to accomplish. Only then is it
possible for you to guide your team and help them comprehend the objective that you shall all be working towards.

Every event is organized with a purpose. As an event planner, it is crucial for you to know the exact purpose you want your
team to be working towards. It could be maximizing attendee ROI, gaining revenue, facilitating professional networking at
the event or product sales. Every aspect of the event, every session, every activity you plan should be surrounding this
event agenda.

For e.g. if your agenda is to maximize revenue, your entire team must be dedicated towards tasks such as maximizing
event sales. Plan out and list down every member’s contribution and create a plan as per this event objective.

3. Task Delegation:

Once you’ve outlined the tasks that you’re supposed to accomplish, it’s time for delegation. Delegation helps the planners
in streamlining their entire event planning and management process. This will definitely quicken the phase of execution
and is especially beneficial when you have shorter lead times.

List down every single task that is supposed to be done and assign a completion date to each of these tasks. Know the
strengths and weaknesses of every team member you’re working with and design the task list accordingly.

For e.g. in terms of event promotions, you might have two team members, one who is well acquainted with Social Media
while another member who is great at generating targeted content. The tasks of content creation and social media
promotions should thus be assigned as per their strengths.

4. Supervision and follow-ups:

An event planner is in charge of leading his/her entire team in executing a flawless event. Hence, he/she is equally, yet
even more responsible for every task that has been assigned to the members. Which is why, proper supervision and
follow-up is a must.

Once the tasks are assigned and the planning begins, make it a habit to check up on the proceedings at regular intervals.
You can also send out reminders to your team regarding their deadlines a few days before.
Make sure that your team is accountable for any sort of delays. Choose whatever approach works best for your team and
for you and lead your team accordingly. In case of any delays or mistakes, be sure to get to the bottom of the issue, find
out the cause of delay and sort things out to get the execution process back on track.

5. Turn to tech :

A little help never did any harm. What if I tell you that you can easily and effectively manage your entire team and keep a
track of all their efforts through a digital system? Wouldn’t life be much simpler?

You can always turn to tech and utilize tools like a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to manage your
sales team. If you’re familiar with the basics of an event CRM software, you might be aware of its Salesforce management
function. You can keep track of your team member’s activity with the help of CRM.

If you’re not up for the investment, you can also opt for other pocket friendly tools like Slack, Asana, Quip, Google
calendar, Google Sheets, Calendly, etc. to coordinate with and manage your team.

6. Communicate clearly:

This one’s a no-brainer. You cannot expect a task to be done correctly if the doer is not clear about what exactly the task
is. Communicating clearly is crucial for a smooth execution of the event plan.

Miscommunication is one of the major reasons for slip-ups. It may often so happen that your team may be unclear on
what is to be done, how it is to be done or the exact deadline for the same.

Make sure that everyone is on the same page. Counter question. Keep one fixed channel of communication. Multiple
channels equals confusion. Clear communication helps getting things done quicker and in a much more efficient manner.

7. Provide Incentive:

A motivated team puts their best into everything they do. Any assigned task can be done in multiple ways. Motivated team
members make it sure that it is done in the best possible way.

So, how do you motivate your team into giving it their all? One of the ways to keep them on track is by showing
appreciation through incentives. These incentives could be either tangible or intangible. Even a few words of appreciation
go a long way with people.

Here’s an example: Set a target for a task, it could be anything, from registrations to securing the best venue in town.
Timely completion of the task in an effective manner would lead to an incentive.

8. Guide :

As an event planner, your job is to lead your team to executing an exceptional event. For this, you must leave no stone
unturned. Have a vision in mind and work towards that vision to make it true.

There are bound to be some hiccups along the way. After all, your event team is only human. There may be some aspects
of the event that they may not be equipped with. For e.g. tech. You might opt for a new event management software or
an event tech tool that they may not be acquainted with.

It is your job to then guide the respective team member accordingly. Learning is a two way process. It is your job to learn
and keep yourself updated with industry trends so as to help your team when they’re stuck somewhere.

9.Your team training and brief is crucial

Set expectations early. Your training session or brief is the time to lay out all the crucial information that your team needs
to know. You can list the basic details of what’s going on at the event, who the guests will be, and each team members’
roles. Don’t forget to also talk about everyone's favorite: rules. No one likes rules but by explicitly laying them out for your
team, you make it very clear what they can and cannot do.

At one event, we had a policy that if you were seen on your cell phone, you were automatically fired. When I first heard
the rule, I thought it was pretty harsh but it set a very clear expectation: don’t use your phone. Unfortunately, during the
event, two people were caught on their phone at various times and had to be let go. Surprisingly, the team seemed happy
to see that the rules were being enforced. No one liked being off their phone but they understood that it was the cost of
being a part of the team.

10.Stick to your rules

Rules don’t mean anything if you don’t enforce them. Though it can be fun to be the best friend to everyone on your
team, you also need to be the bad guy. If you start to make exceptions to the rules, you’ll start to see that the rules are
followed less and less.

This means you have to enforce your policies, even with yourself and the other leaders. At one event, we had a policy that
if you were late you had to buy coffee for the entire team. It was a double-sided punishment as it cost the late person
money (a good motivator) but then the rest of the team gets free coffee (a nice reward for being on time). It only
happened twice over the course of 10 days, and the first time, the late person couldn’t believe we were actually going to
make her buy 20 coffees. But after that, the second person who was late, ordered them for the whole team without us
even having to ask. The rest of the team enjoyed the free drinks and we were able to move on with our day.

Enforcing rules can lead to hard conversations but in the end, they provide structure for your team and that helps you
have a successful event. I’m not advocating for a laundry list of rules but having three or four policies that everyone learns
and understands are your dealbreakers, you’re setting yourself up to have better communication with the entire team.

10.Manage the group energy

As the team leader, you enforce the rules but you’re also in charge of positively motivating the team and getting them
excited to be at work. I first learned about morning energizers when I was a kid playing sports and attending summer
camp.

Morning energizers can be anything that wakes up your brain and body and gets you in a good mood for the day. If it
involves some form of teamwork, that’s even better. I love to get my team moving at events since most of us will spend a
lot of the day on our feet. You can bring in a beach volleyball and play “Keep It Up” where you get in a circle and see how
many times the team can hit the ball in the air and keep it from hitting the ground. Split into two teams and get the group
to compete against each other. (Warning: this game can get a little loud - lots of laughter and excitement- so I suggest
doing it outside or away from others so you don’t disturb them).

Another way to motivate the team is with surprise treats. For some reason, things seem that much more exciting when
you don’t expect them, so bring the team coffee one morning or order in pizza after a late night. Don’t make a habit of it
since it ruins the surprise factor but little things here and there show your team that you care and keep them excited
about coming to work.

And if you’re doing longer events, spanning multiple days, the day that marks the halfway point can seem to be the
hardest. You’d think it’d be one of the easier days because you’re halfway done, but that’s actually the time when you
realize how tired you are and that you still have to do it all over again. Every fall, I work several events that span from one
to two weeks and can speak from experience as a team member and team leader, that the middle day is a great day for
one of those surprise treats or something that mixes up the regular daily schedule. Keep the energy up and stay positive
and you’ll get through it all as a team.
11.Empower and delegate

I’m a do-er and I love being the person in the trenches, doing the tasks and moving around. But as a team leader, you can’t
physically do everyone’s job. Instead, you need to trust in your team training, briefings, and empower those around you to
do their job. The more you can trust them to make the right choices about small problems, the less they’ll need to run to
you and get your feedback. The best team is one where the small fires are put out without getting you involved and you’re
only brought in for the larger, more complicated issues.

Delegating is a skill I’m constantly working on. I remember when I first started out in events and how I loved getting my
own responsibilities at the event. Those smaller roles helped build my confidence to pursue larger event roles with even
more responsibility. But even now, I still struggle to let go of the small details.

For one project, I was managing a team of three other people to collect and arrange the VIP airport pick-ups and drop-offs.
It involved passenger and flight details for over 200 people, a massive amount of data. When my team wasn’t correctly
writing out the reservations or double checking for duplicates, I took matters into my own hands and made all the data
come through me. This ended up slowing down our whole system and didn’t really fix the initial problem. My manager
urged me to rely more on my team and save my energy for the larger problems.

I struggled to give control back fully to my team and realized after the event, I could have solved the problem with better
team training and setting clearer expectations from the beginning.

Say thank you

As the event starts to come to a close, ideally before your official last day, think about how you want to thank your team.
For the longer-term events, it might be something as small as a team photo or cards for the rest of the team to say
something nice about each person. You could also do a post-event dinner or happy hour to thank everyone for their time.

You might be thinking why do I need to thank my team that I paid to work with me? Well, first you want them to come
back. It might be an annual event or you know you’ll need help in the future and a nice little thank you memento might be
the perfect thing to make sure they leave wanting to work with you again. It also is nice to show your team you appreciate
them as a people and not just as a part of the job.

Taking the time to pick up postcards for people to sign or giving out any leftover products after the event, will leave your
team with a positive impression and have them wanting to work with you again.

These are just a few of the biggest lessons I learned from leading different event teams over the last year. I am by no
means an expert in the field and I’m constantly looking to learn more about how to motivate the teams I work with
because unlike traditional manager positions at full-time jobs, event leaders are often just around their team for a week or
two. And so, you have to use different strategies than full-time managers to motivate and empower the people around
you.

How do you like to manage your event team? What tips have you used to motivate your team and keep everyone
energized and ready for the day

12. Give them the freedom to use their talents. The best leaders step aside and allow those on their team to do what they
do best. Control leads to compliance, but autonomy leads to engagement--and, in return, unleashing greatness.

13. Give them permission to make mistakes. Make sure your people know it's better to fail than to be timid. If you are
going to create great teams, coach those you lead that mistakes are part of the process--and they have the power to turn
you into something better than you were before.
14. Guide them to work together toward a compelling vision. Working toward a common vision is the beginning of
progress for any team, and a sure sign that they're on the road to success. When your team learns to work together and
not as a group of individuals pulling in different directions, things start to find meaning. It's amazing what you can
accomplish when you work together toward a shared compelling vision.

15. Show up as the leader and develop leaders within. As the leader, you'll find that your own habits ripple out to your
team--so show up as a leader and lead by example. Make sure that what you say is congruent with what you do. Then take
the next step by encouraging your team to step into their own leadership. Give every team member the ability to move
into a suitable leadership role by empowering and encouraging them.

16.Give them what they need to be successful. There's a simple way to find out what your team needs: ask them. You may
not always be able to give them everything they want, but you can always work hard to make sure they have everything
they need.

17.Create an environment of fun and enjoyment. Everyone performs better when they are able to relax and are having a
good time. Fun is the element that allows people to make it through the difficult tasks and overwhelming deadlines, and
the best leaders know how to make it work without compromising the team's work ethic or commitment to excellence.

18.Model accountability and teach responsibility. Be the kind of leader people can trust to follow through on everything
you say. Great leaders know they need to develop a reputation of being true to their word. It tells others they can count
on you and shows the kind of behavior you expect.

19. Don't underestimate the power of EQ. It can be hard to understand, but EQ is just as important as IQ. If your emotional
abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you're not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you
can't have empathy and have effective relationships--then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far
with your team or leadership.

20. Teach them that everything is hard before it's easy. Encourage your team to persist until something happens.
Remember that they will never know their limits until they're pushed to the edge. Great leaders know that when you push
people to their limits, you are teaching them to always go further. When you exceed your limits enough, you realize that
there really are no limits.

21. Give them something to learn and grow on. The best teams, like the best leaders, are never stagnant. Build plenty of
opportunities for your team members to learn and grow--whether it's a class, a conference, or even a reading group or
lunchtime seminar series.

22. Show them fearlessness and encourage them to be brave. As a leader, you need to show your team fearlessness and
encourage them to be brave, to take chances, to go out on a limb. Great leaders coach and teach their team--they are
right there with them, not on the sidelines screaming and instilling fear but showing them fearlessness and encouraging
bravery within them.
13. Earn their respect and give them yours. The way to unleash greatness in your team is to both show them respect and
give them reason to respect you. Mutual respect is critical to any team, so set an example by treating everyone you
encounter with respect.

14. Admit that you don't have all the answers. Transparency is important, and so is showing your human side. Let your
team see that leadership doesn't mean having all the answers--or pretending to. Instead, focus on leading everyone
toward greatness by showing them the benefits of collaborative problem solving.

15. Create win-win situations. The highest level of success comes not from beating others out but from creating win-win
solutions. Everyone benefits from little gains along the way, and the more opportunities you create, the bigger the benefit.

16. Be agile and flexible. Great leaders embrace agility and honor flexibility, because they know that things are constantly
changing and flexibility is a fundamental requirement for leadership. Being an agile and flexible leader aligns with the need
for your team to be collaborative and cooperative, and it aligns and empowers teams to hold those qualities.

17. Get personal as you are being professional. Building a great team means building a personal relationship with each
member of your team. It doesn't have to be a close friendship, but a recognition of people as fully developed human
beings and not just team members who get the job done. Make sure you spend some time getting to know them, show
them that you genuinely care about them and have their best interests in mind. When you return, you'll have a team
that's ready to unleash their greatness.

18. Be honest and encourage candor. A great leader is honest; they encourage their teams to be transparent and speak
with candor. Especially when things go wrong, it is important that everyone feel that they can speak with honesty. honesty
leads to be problems being dealt with and difficulties being solved. Honesty is the best policy.

19. Be accessible and available: Part of being a leader involves being there for your team. If they have a question or need
advice, make sure it's easy for them to access you. With mobile email and cell phones there is no reason your team
shouldn't be able to get in touch with you when they need to.
20. Consistently praise them and always appreciate them. If you want a great team, if you want happy people, you have to
praise them and acknowledge them and praise them some more. When you let your team know you're aware of what
they can be and what they can become, that is when you can begin reaping the benefit of their growing greatness.

If you want to unleash greatness in your team, learn more from my new book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between
You and Your Greatness.

PUBLISHED ON: MAY 11, 2017

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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