Objectives

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

 Know the need of planning

 Discuss the key factors in planning in event management
 Identify the planning procedure
 Explain the elements of event proposal
 Describe the preparation of event proposal

Introduction

Whether you call it event planning, event management, event marketing, conference
management, meeting planning, or conference planning, it’s not an easy task. It requires a lot of
thinking and expertise.

Event Planning

The first and foremost thing to do while planning an event is to know about the client’s
expectations. When a client first approaches you for assigning a task, sit with him and find out what he
wants and how he wants it. Keep in mind the fact that the client has a very hazy idea of what he wants.
He expects you to change that hazy idea into a reality. So, you first need to strike a good rapport with
him. Once you know his expectations you can start giving your inputs. Since you are a professional event
planner he is bound to believe that you have a better knowledge about these things and will respect
your judgment.

Key Factors in Planning an Event

1. Check the feasibility

2. Is the event a good idea?

3. Are we in the right community?

4. Who would be the spectators?

5. About the venue

6. About the media of advertising

7. Fund stream

Steps to Planning an Event

The first step to planning an event is determining its purpose, whether it is for a wedding,
company, birthday, festival, graduation or any other event requiring extensive planning. From this the
event planner needs to choose entertainment, location, guest list, speakers, and content.
 The location for events is endless, but with event planning they would likely be held at hotels,
convention centers, reception halls, or outdoors depending on the event. Once the location is set the
coordinator/planner needs to prepare the event with staff, set up the entertainment, and keep contact
with the client. After all this is set the event planner has all the smaller details to address like set up of
the event such as food, drinks, music, guest list, budget, advertising and marketing, decorations, all this
preparation is what is needed for an event to run smoothly. An event planner needs to be able to
manage their time wisely for the event, and the length of preparation needed for each event so it is a
success.

Steps involved in event planning

Following five steps are involved in Planning an Event:

Why (i.e. event objective)

Why you want to organise the event? What is your purpose of organizing the event? What do you want
to get through the event?

What

What you are going to do in the event? (i.e. decide event name, event profile, event highlights,

program menu, Food and beverage menu, Guest Profile, Service providers, Entry Information,

Promotional Campaign and event budget.)

When

When you are going to organise the event i.e. date and time?

Where

Where you are going to organise the event i.e. venue?

Who

Who will be your organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and the target audience? How many target
audience you are expecting to visit the event and why?

Event Calendar

It is an ordered list of activities which are needed to be executed in order to produce and market
the event. These activities are of three types: pre-event, at-event and post-event activities. Following
steps are involved in preparing an event calendar:

1. Create a list of pre-event, at-event and post event activities.

2. Set deadlines for each event activity.

3. Assign event activities to individual team members

Wedding Planning

No bride and groom would like to compromise on the arrangements of wedding during special
day of their life. They want people to participate in their happiness and give blessings rather than
cursing about arrangements. Plan your wedding in such a way that no stone is left unturned and if you
want to get saved from arranging all stuff then hire wedding planner services. They can assist you in
selecting wedding theme, making food arrangements, looking after bride and groom outfit, etc.
following are some of the wedding arrangements which becomes important part of wedding planning:

Pre-wedding Arrangements

 Wedding location: Location is the most important part as it should be convenient for people to
reach to wedding destination. Also the environment around it should be neat and clean.
Ambiance should give the wedding like feeling and this can be done only when you select the
perfect location. It should also be near to the residence of bride or groom in order to add more
to convenience factor.
 Wedding shoes: Shoes are the most important part of wedding attire and they should match up
with the dress of bride and groom. Wedding planners have some contacts in their list related to
designer shoes and they can help you to get best shoes for your wedding.

Example: If Your dress is of white color then you can go for ivory color shoes.

 Wedding budget: Wedding arrangements are highly dependent on budget factor. Even in lower
budget you can plan grand wedding but for this it is essential to have proper wedding planning.
Hiring wedding planner can be good option as they have good contacts and can allow you to
have fair deal. Depending on your budget you can select venue, decide wedding theme,
wedding dress etc.
 Makeup and hair style: Wedding day is day of bride and groom. They should look best on the
day and for this it is important to hire good makeup artist and hair stylist. Indian weddings differ
as per the religion and makeup as well as hairstyle in every wedding is different. The makeup
artist you hire should know what kind of makeup goes well with different face cut. For groom
hair style plays most important role as it enhances the overall appearance of person.
 Booking caterer: Food is the important part of wedding as good food will raise your image and
bad food will spoil your image. Hire the caterer services that are experienced in this field and
can provide you with quality food. There must separate section for stuff like cakes, chocolates,
ice creams, chocolate puddings, etc for children.
 Allotment of work: Before the actual wedding day every staff member should be allotted with
their work list in order to avoid any kind of consequences. Single person cannot plan the entire
wedding and so here the need to responsible staff arises.

Main Wedding Day Arrangements

 Taking follow up: When you allot wedding related work to staff members, it becomes important
to scrutinize the work in order to avoid errors. Follow up must be taken related to each and
 every work from makeup to decoration. In case there are any errors then you can resolve them
before wedding is pursued.
 Food testing: During wedding day people are eager to know two things that is overall
presentation of bride and groom, and quality of food served. Indian cuisines are always known
for their taste and so people always are keen to enter the food counter. In such situation, if
they find bad taste of food then half of your arrangements go in vain. So food testing is the
most important department which must be taken care of.

Examining wedding decoration and sound system: Make sure that nothing is left out in
decoration as per you have promised to client. Deliver services that you have promised or it might put
your reputation on stake as a wedding planner. Also check sound system as any error in it can create lot
of disturbance during wedding.

Post-wedding arrangement

 Arranging grand reception: After the rituals come to an end, then comes the reception night
where everyone greets the couple and gives best wishes for life. This is again an important part
of post wedding ceremony where every member actively participates. Again here venue should
be well decorated and food should be finger licking.
 Final send-off of bride: Send-off ceremony of bride is the huge thing of wedding which is Notes
named as “Biddai”. Finally bride here leave parents and move to her new house of in laws. This
ceremony has more importance in Indian rituals, so in your wedding planning make
arrangements for this ceremony as well.