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If you are planning a Sydney event or business meeting for the first time and don’t know where to start, or if you’ve done it before and now realise just how much goes into it, Business Events Sydney (BESydney) has all the event planning ideas, tools and resources you need.
Our tips in this event planning toolkit follow the typical stages in the life cycle of an event.
Before you invite your guests or book your venues, you need to plan what you are trying to achieve with the event and prepare your budget. You should also create a timeline or checklist that you can refer back to for the rest of your event, to be sure you don’t forget anything important.
Planning is the nuts and bolts of organising an event: you’ll be selecting dates, times, venues, themes, speakers, entertainers, catering… and of course, building and supporting a team of colleagues and volunteers who will help you through the rest of the process.
Your event won’t be successful unless you actually have guests arriving. During the promotions phase you’ll be inviting guests, and leveraging as much publicity as possible. Good publicity will help get your guests excited, make your event a success and further your business brand.
Once your conference or event is underway, a number of things can, and often do, go wrong. It pays to be prepared for these eventualities, so that you can avoid disasters and manage your event smoothly despite the inevitable hiccups.
After an event, there is still work to do. In particular, you should follow up any unresolved issues with your guests, such as returning their lost property; seeking feedback to improve what you do next time; and debriefing with your team.
Our event planning toolkit caters for event planners organising small to medium size events. If you are organising a large conference or event for more than a few thousand people you may like to consider using a professional conference organiser (PCO).
Business Events Sydney’s free event planning service, AccessNSW can assist you with finding an appropriate PCO. Just complete a Request for Proposal and we’ll be in contact.
Read more in our bid for an event section.
Business Events Sydney’s latest edition of the successful Sydney and New South Wales Event Planners Guide (EPG) is now available online.