Party Planners

Baby Shower Event Planning

Pregnancies and baby showers are always a fun time throughout the year and there are many reasons why it's important to throw a baby shower for your family or friends. Baby showers are essentially a party for the individual or couple who is about to give birth to their son or daughter, and what better way to show love for the unborn child than to shower it with gifts?

There are plenty of event planning specialists that regularly help to plan baby showers for those who choose to hire them, but an event planning specialist is absolutely not needed if you are able to do much of the planning on your own. Here are some essential things that you'll want to have ready for your own baby shower, though, when it comes time for the celebration of your baby:

The Baby Shower Theme

At mostly all major events and celebrations there is a theme that is running throughout the entire time. A baby shower is no different, though, and if you are working on the event planning for yours or another's baby shower then choosing a good theme is almost always the best thing to start out with!

However, the themes associated with a baby shower don't have to be difficult at all simply because the party is for the baby who is not there yet. On the other hand when event planning for a baby shower you will want to keep in mind the mother as well as the father, if he is attending. Choosing simple color-themes, or perhaps even child's toy themes are both great ideas when event planning for the baby shower!

Baby Shower Games

This is perhaps the most fun part about event planning in general because games are used for many different events throughout many different countries and cultures. Baby showers also typically have fun games during the event, and games are essentially what the whole day centers on. There are many great ideas for baby shower games, including The Diaper Game, mad lib games, as well as a game that involves guessing the length of yarn around the mommy's tummy. There are plenty of other games to choose from, however, these are only a couple of the great event planning games that can be chosen!

The Guests

Of course, the one thing that you don't want to forget about when event planning for a baby shower is the guests. Where you will seat them, where the guest's gifts will be placed when they arrive, and what they eat are all common concerns that must be thought about before the day of the baby shower. If you are working on planning the day with a friend or family member then they will be able to definitely help out with these important questions.

Nevertheless, though, event planning for a baby shower can take a lot of work in the process, although chances are that you'll have fun in the midst of planning it. There are so many reasons to be happy when planning the baby shower that it simply make the whole ordeal even more fun to plan!
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Event Coordination

The Event Planning Checklist

If you have ever been responsible for planning a very large event then most likely you already know most of the stressful feelings that come along with it. Indeed, there is much to be stressful about when event planning for several hundred people, but chances are that you probably already knew about the event a great deal of time before it was actually here. This is the case in many situations, though, as large events will usually be scheduled weeks, months, if not years ahead of the scheduled date.

Depending on how large the scheduled event is then there should be ample time to have everything completed. But if you need a little bit of advice and help, one suggestion that many people use is to actually use an event planning checklist for all the things that need to be accomplished. Some of the things that should be on your event planning checklist that need to be done well in advance of the actual date of the event include:

Choosing the Theme: If you are creating this event from scratch then chances are that you will also need a theme. When it comes to event planning then choosing a theme should be the least of your worries although it is an issue that definitely does need to be thought about and given some consideration. This step should be done at least 12 months prior to the event, or immediately decided as soon as you knew the event has to be planned.

Looking at Event Sites: This step that should be on your event planning checklist should also be done as soon as you know about the event and many times this is at least 12 months in advance! But visiting multiple sites for the event is an important task on your list simply because you'll need to make sure there is enough room for all the guests that are going to attend.

Obtaining Food and Drink Quotes: Whenever any large event is being planned the number one thing that should be on your event planning checklist right after the locations for the event are visited is the gathering of food and drink quotes from multiple caterers around the area. This step should also be done at the same time as the previous two.

Booking Entertainment: If the event that you are planning to have will host some form of entertainment then it may be up to you to choose the individual or group that is going to be the guest entertainer for the event. When event planning the most important thing you could do is to make sure that entertainers know that they have a scheduled date well in advance of the actual event so taking this step is also important as soon as you found out that you should plan the event!

Of course these are only some of the first steps that should be taken in order to make sure that everything within your event planning checklist is taken care of. From the food and entertainment to securing a location for the event, all of these things are very important when event planning!
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Event Organisers

Event Planning: One Week Before the Event

As the story goes, there are actually very many people who actually do not have the best of event planning skills. If it were up to many people throughout the world many of the event planning responsibilities would not be done until the last minute or the week before the event. However, if one is going to truly excel with their event planning skills then the first idea that one must get his or her mind wrapped around is that organization is crucial to having a successful large event.

Many large events are scheduled at least a year before the date of the actual event, which leaves plenty of time for event planning and other important duties. The big issues should be taken care of as soon as the event is known about, but what follows are some things that an event coordinator should do about one week before the scheduled event :

Last Minute Details

If you were not solely responsible for the event planning duties of the large scheduled event then chances are that you designated some of the responsibilities out to different sub-committees and sub-groups so that things would get accomplished in no time flat! One week before the event, though, the main leader should meet with all of the sub-committees and groups in order to go over last minute details. Much of this might typically be called "housekeeping" issues, but they are still very important to the event planning mentality and making sure that everyone is on the same page that close to the event!

Follow Up Phone Calls

Another thing that must be done one week before the scheduled event when performing event planning duties is follow-up phone calls. Follow-up phone calls are very important because there are some people for whom the event could have slipped their mind. The most important people that phone calls must be placed to, though, include the entertainer for the event, the main speaker, the food caterer, the music group (if any), and whoever else was hired to help with the main event!

Gather Volunteers

It is highly likely that the day of the event that you will be rushing around trying to get a lot of things done at once. For this reason, though, gathering volunteers to help with small things, including initial registration and check-in of attendees, is very important! Any event planning professional knows that volunteers are frequently used, and there are very good reasons that they may be put to work the day of and throughout the whole event!

Of course there are many other things that one should do the week before the main event takes place. For example, a few of the other last-minute event planning details that were not discussed above include confirming the number of people that are attending the event, making seating arrangements if any, creating nametags for the people attending as well as the people who are volunteering for the event, and distributing last-minute flyers and advertisements. It is important that everything goes according to plan when it comes to the actual date of the event and all of these things are important to making sure everything is right on schedule!
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Events Planning

Necessary Event Planning Accessories

Event planning takes a skilled person to be able to put together a large gathering for a whole group of people! Indeed, there are many issues associated with event planning that many people will simply crack under the pressure of having so many responsibilities that they can't deal with anything! In these types of event planning situations it is important to keep a level-head throughout the entire thing, but there are also some very important accessories that one can have with them in order to make their lives a whole lot easier when event planning for their family, friends, or other group that they belong to.

Date Book and Scheduler

Not everyone can remember the dates of the events that they need to plan, so carrying with you a date book and scheduler is a very important lesson of event planning. There are also small electronic pocket organizers that might be great for this type of a job, but allowing your scheduler and date book to handle some of the event planning memorization for you is very important! Not having to remember when you scheduled what event is just one more task that will be outsourced and handled in a different way.

Let's face it: if you are running an event planning business then there is absolutely no way that you'll be able to remember every engagement or event that you'll ever have. A scheduling book is important so as to not having any event overlap and the key to having satisfied customers!

Cell Phone and Method of Emergency Contact

Another very important event planning accessory that one should make sure that they carry with them at all times is either a cell phone or some other way that their clients can get in touch with them at the push of a button or the dial-of-a-phone! If you don't necessarily want to carry a cell phone with you then you are not required to do so, but having a beeper at the least is a great idea so that your clients will know that you're not far away! Realizing that your customers may have questions about your services or their event is one of the main reasons why you should have that method of contact on you at all times. There even may be an emergency where you will be required to actually move the date of the event.

A Contact List

Just as it is very important for your clients to be able to get a hold of you at the exact time they are trying to buzz, call, or otherwise contact you, it is also probably very important for you to be able to get a hold of your clients for the same reason! Another reason that you should carry a contact list with you is so that you know all the responsibilities of everyone else for your event planning needs: the caterer and the building owner among other people that you should have a contact number for.

These are just some of the event planning accessories that you should take with you, however, there are many other important tasks of event planning that require your full attention just as these matters do also!
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Event Business

Why Event Planning Skills are Important

There are many things in life that are very important to our self esteem and whether you actually know it or not there are actually plenty of characteristics that go along with owning an event planning business that may also be useful in real life as well. If you are not one of the professional event planners in the event planning industry then chances are that you don't know about all the specifics that goes on within an event planner's life and daily routine.

However, there are many aspects of the event planning professional's personality that could benefit someone in their life apart from their event planning duties. Indeed, event planning skills are very important and here are some areas where the daily routine of an event planner may coincide with that of a regular individual.

Organization: many event planning professionals have some of the best organizational skills out of everyone in the business world and it seems as though their profession would even call for it. Just as an event planner has to stay organized in order to know which of their scheduled events is the next day and which is the next week, so too are there plenty of opportunities and room for improvement in many other people's life when it comes to organization. In fact, organization is one area in which many people struggle throughout their life. An event planning professional is a highly organized person and it is an important quality to emulate!

People Skills: Many people may turn down the job of an event planner simply because they realize that it requires a great deal of people skills in order to succeed. However, the outgoing nature of someone who own an event planning business is very key to thriving in the industry in the first place. One needs to have the self-esteem in order to contact individuals about large events that need to be planned, and they also need the confidence with which to do their job.

On the other hand there are plenty of individuals who go throughout life with very low self-esteem, a low profile of self-worth and self-image, but these are areas that an event planner actually excels at!

Discipline and Control: These two qualities are very important of anyone who owns and controls an event planning business. There are many different scenarios where an event planner may have to display their discipline and control, but these two characteristics of their personality should actually show through throughout their whole career.

On the flip side, many non-event planners could take a lesson from the event planners in the industry simply because many people lack the discipline in order to get the things done that they need to have accomplished. Fostering that discipline within yourself, though, is one key to being a happier person altogether!

After everything is said and done, though, one can easily see where event planning skills are very crucial in everyday life for most people. Even though it's unrealistic to think that most everyone should become an event planner just to be able to have these skills, as human beings we definitely should take a lesson from them!
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Events Planner

Gifts for the Event Planning Professional

When it comes to giving birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, or presents for another type of occasion there are many questions surrounding which types of gifts to give to whom. One individual that is really troubling, but has plenty of options, is the event planning professional. There are plenty of gift ideas for the event planning professional, but some of the gifts that could be given to him or her just seem like a no-brainer that they are rarely ever thought of.
However, if you know of an event planner and there is a special occasion coming up where a present needs to be purchased for him or her then here are some great suggestions any event planner would love to receive:

A Brand New Organizer

There are all different types of organizers on the market today and chances are that a smart event planning professional will have some type of schedule book or contraption to keep track of all the different events that he or she needs to have planned. However, not knowing what type of organizer that the event planner has will make purchasing an organizer all the more difficult. On the other hand, one suggestion to use when looking for the perfect gift is to just buy the latest organizer or scheduler that has hit the markets.

An example of this would be a Palm Pilot system or even a new Blackberry handheld organizer. Both of these systems will allow anyone to utilize a contact list that will allow virtually all of their contacts in one place as well as a little calendar so they'll be able to keep track of all their events!

Portable USB Flash Drives

The perfect gift for anyone who needs extra space, especially when they're traveling. A portable USB flash drive could be the perfect gift, though, because event planning professionals usually have some sort of information that they need to store digitally! If you do decide to buy that special person a portable flash drive, however, one suggestion for a gift would be to buy one that is large enough to accommodate a lot of information at one time. There are all sizes of flash drives, but finding one that is at least 10 Gigabytes would be best for someone who is serious about event planning and marketing their own business.

Address Book or Contact Book

Another gift that would be great for an event planning professional would be an address or contact book. Even though contact lists are usually stored digitally in today's world, there are always situations that occur that could suddenly render your piece of technology useless! For this reason it's always a great idea to have hard-copy backups of the information that you need most!

There are plenty of other gifts that would come in handy for an event planning professional, such as a beeper, a new cell phone, or even writing utensils! However, the things listed above are certain to be a big hit with anyone who receives them!
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Event Planning Careers

Event Planning: Getting Organized from the Ground Up

When done carefully and correctly, event planning can be one of the most fun times that anyone has ever had! Event planning involves coordinating functions and putting together the things that go with them. For example, if a whole school is visiting the zoo or a museum for the day then there naturally has to be event planning done on the parts of the teachers and perhaps the parents of the students. On the other hand, there are some events that many people choose to designate out to an event planner, such as a wedding ceremony, reception, or even a music artist's tour!

However, there are definitely some things that one must know about event planning before starting to plan a large occasion all by themselves! Chances are that you wouldn't want someone to walk to a blind situation without knowing what to do and the same goes for those who know little to nothing about event planning. Nevertheless, though, planning events and making sure that everything goes according to schedule doesn't have to be difficult, but it only takes a little bit of organization to get things into steady motion!

Calling All Caterers!

Probably the first thing that you will want to check off of your event planning list is the placing of the telephone calls to different individuals who will be responsible for many things at the event. For example, if transportation is needed then there will need to be efforts in order to coordinate rides for everyone going on the trip. In addition, there will also need to be calls placed to speakers, if there are any, entertainers, as well as food caterers in order to have food for the event!

Taking this step should actually be the first thing on your list to make sure there will be enough activity going on! On the other hand, doing all of this the week, or even two weeks before the event is not nearly enough time to have everything coordinated!

Securing Reservations!

No matter what type of event you'll be planning chances are that you'll need to make some sort of reservations in order to accommodate all of the participants that are planning to attend! A wedding rehearsal dinner is a perfect example where reservations need to be made, but there are plenty of other occasions where this step of event planning comes in. Family reunions are large gatherings that also usually require some sort of reservation made at the shelter of a park!

All in all, securing reservations and making sure all of the plans are in place as far as the actual activities at the event goes are two very crucial thing to having complete organization for your event. Some of the other important issues includes having the right amount of food and enough room for each guest, just to name a couple! Nevertheless, though, the key to event planning is the organizational work that goes into all the work before the date of the event arrives!
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Corporate Event Planner

Don't Get Stuck With Event Planning Obligations!

When it comes to event planning there are all sorts of things that are very important to choosing what exactly will take place at the event. If you have ever been in charge of event planning for a church group, music group, youth group, women's group, men's group, or any other type of possible group out there than chances are that you have felt overwhelmed. On the flip side if you have just been granted the duty of event planning for a large gathering of people then the first thing that should easily come to mind is, "Why Me?"

Even though many people absolutely dread event planning for large amounts of people even though these people may be your friends, there are a couple routes that one can take in order to prevent much of the work from falling on your own shoulders. Indeed, there are a couple good ways to have the work-load lessened!

Form Sub-Committees

From the entertainment group to making sure that everyone has enough food to eat, there are all sorts of different concerns that should come to mind when event planning. Fortunately, if you have been tasked with the responsibility to make sure that all of these things gets done one thing that you can do is to actually form sub-committees within the large group itself.

Chances are that the other people in the group will have no problem with this whatsoever, but if anyone cries foul that you are actually using sub-committees to help with the event planning then all one must simply do is explain that there are many responsibilities that is too much for one person to handle, namely them!

Hire Event Planning Specialists

Of course another route that one can take in order to succeed with the event planning that he or she has been given is to contact an actual event planning professional in order to get help. However, instead of letting the professional take over the reigns entirely, it may be possible that you may only have to pay a consultation fee if you only want to seek out advice for the event planning checklist that you have created. Many times event planning professionals will be thrilled to help out and might even offer to plan the entire event for you, but those decisions are completely up to you!

Get an Assistant

Even though the sub-committees that were discussed above are essentially like group assistants, hiring an actual event planning assistant is a good way to obtain much needed help for the event that you are responsible for. Assistants are a great way to help out with anything that you need, but they can also be a good help when you need errands to run, and you can even have them place telephone calls to the entertainers, caterers, and other very important figures that are supposed to be at the event!

All things considered, when it comes to event planning it is very important to your whole self in order to stay calm to get help with planning the event for your group! Hiring an assistant, getting consultations from event coordinating specialists, and forming sub-committees are three excellent ways to help with planning!
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Event Planning Services

Taking Your Event Planning to the Online World

There are probably hundreds of thousands of event planning individuals throughout the world that want their own business when it comes to performing their services. These people are probably great at what they do, however, there are all sorts of reasons why their business may fail.

The overwhelming majority of reasons why some event planning businesses fail, though, is because the people who own them fail to market or advertise their services correctly. Even though it may not seem like hard work, if the word doesn't get out about your business then chances are that it will be doomed from the start.

If you have already gotten a good handle on advertising your event planning services in the real world, however, it may be time to take your business services to the next level and start advertising them in the online world of the World Wide Web! Indeed, there are plenty of businesses that are great about marketing themselves in the offline world, but if they put forth the same effort in the online world they may be doubly successful than what they already were! Here are some suggestions, though, to use for advertising your event planning services on the internet:

Find your City Website!

One thing that you have probably done is to contact your local Chamber of Commerce to make sure that your business was registered with them. The Chamber of Commerce is actually a great service to business owners, and oftentimes the Chamber of Commerce departments of local cities and towns are actually on the city website. Making sure that your business name is being advertised on the city website through your Chamber of Commerce is important as well because it will naturally attract those customers that rarely contact the Chamber of Commerce in the offline world! Your event planning business could grow all the more just by having a presence on your City website, which is definitely an issue you should check into!

Use Article Marketing Methods

Another opportunity for you to market your event planning services would be to create article marketing campaigns. Even though these efforts will probably reach beyond your City walls, the recognition and advertising of your services is no less important! Articles can be easily written by yourself or by an assistant that will allow you to include all of the necessary contact information about your business service so that potential clients will know how to contact you for their next event! Make no mistake, though, there are plenty of people who will be able to read the information you put out there, but the effort needs to be made first!

Taking your event planning services to the online world does not have to be at all difficult, however, it only takes a little bit of work and advertising time to be able to make prospective clients aware of what you do for a living! These prospective clients, in turn, will be able to contact you for the events that they need help with.
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Business Event Planning

Event Planning 101 for Dummies

Have you ever been in charge of ordering food for a whole lot of people? Or perhaps you have been tasked with the responsibility of making sure that everyone is comfortable or there are enough chairs and seating arrangements for everyone at the event you are attending. Whatever the situation, chances are that we have had some sort of event planning experience in our lives whether we actually realized it or not.

On the other hand, if you have had no experience in event planning yet have to take on a group of 100 people and attendees then it can be a very difficult task to know what to do first and how to arrange everything that needs to be done! Here is some important information to consider, though, about the whole ordeal:

Use Professional Contacts

The first thing that you'll want to do when event planning is to make sure that there are enough activities going on for everyone. This may involve being able to get entertainers to perform, making sure that there is enough food for everyone to eat, as well as making sure that everyone has enough elbow room in the whole building or space that the event will be held at. The best thing to do in a situation like this would be to just start someplace and make the event grow.

In other words, one method that many people use is to simply look up names of professional contacts in the phonebook and start calling. Once you start calling those people who are usually entertainers or speakers at large events, or contacting businesses to see if they would be able to provide enough food for everyone then your event planning skills are all the more better and the whole event will start to take shape!

Don't Leave Out the Basics!

Of course you also don't want to be caught up in the details of the event planning for the day that you don't even think about the basics. One issue that is often forgotten about is how many cars will be coming to the event and whether or not there will be enough parking room. Furthermore, are the directions to the event clear-cut or do some clarifications need to be made by sending out small, printable maps to the guests and attendees coming to the event?

Get Others Involved!

On the day of the event you naturally don't want to be running around like a fool trying to get everything to be done, so getting the proper help is necessary to keeping your event planning cool! If you even have to outsource some of the jobs on the day of the event then it would be perfectly okay to do so, but there may also be volunteers that are ready and standing-by to help. Asking around never hurts and you just never know how much help you'll be able to receive!

All of these ideas are crucial in order to make event planning easier on yourself and anyone who gets involved! There are so many things to think about, but making sure that you stay calm in the process is perhaps even more important!
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Event Planning Jobs

Do We Really Need Event Planning Specialists?

There are many different types of professions in the world and one of the ones that individuals rely heavily upon for some reason or another is event planners. Make no mistake: event planning is an important responsibility in many people's lives that they definitely do not take lightly, but does there have to be a whole profession devoted to the idea of event planning?

There are many arguments for and against having an event planning specialist take over the whole direction that your efforts were being directed, but the main theme running through both of the arguments is whether or not individuals are smart enough and careful enough to take on a whole event by themselves! Nevertheless, though, here are some of the arguments that people use in favor of and against having event planning specialists in the world:

Mankind is Lazy!

One argument that is obviously against having event planning specialists to do the jobs of others is that mankind is lazy and unorganized. Many people assume that if someone doesn't have the energy to coordinate a large event by themselves (i.e. a wedding reception) then it simply shouldn't happen. However, there are arguments on the flip side as well! As in the case of wedding receptions, some people are just too nervous about coordinating large events that they absolutely have to have someone to help them, and at the very least an assistant of some sort! Event planning professionals can act as assistants for a large event and oftentimes the people that have asked for their help insist on helping for the majority of the process anyway!

Need More Time!

Many people use the argument that they are simply too busy to be bogged down with the details of event planning when it comes to getting things done. Of course, there argument in relation to that statement would be that there are professionals who are hired everyday to take care of events that they should have no problem getting help with what they need. On the other hand some people would view this argument as someone who is completely disorganized and a complete time-waster! After all, if you manage your time effectively then one should have the time to do just about anything, right? Unfortunately, that's how some people view the issue, but obviously event planning specialists are glad that there is a need for their job!

Of course there are plenty of other reasons why someone might make the argument for or against hiring an event planner. Some people may simply see it as a complete waste of money that could be spent on something more useful, whereas others absolutely need all the help they can get when planning their wedding reception, bridal shower, baby shower, high school class reunion, and other such large events!

In the end what it really comes down to is personal choice and whether or not an individual would mind paying for expert advice that could be given to them. Event planning specialists are a big help to society, though, and they continue to work behind the scenes to help pretty much any event that is in need of direction!
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Event Planning Companies

Choosing an Event Planning Specialist

There are many different events in everyone's life where they may want things to turn out just perfectly! For example, take wedding receptions: brides and grooms all over the world spend so much time preparing for the event that they may lose sight of themselves in the process! If you are having a hard time planning an event for some reason or another then one option that you may want to consider is hiring an event planning specialist.

Even though there are some event planning specialists that charge high prices for the services they perform, many people would think that it is well worth the price considering you get to stay calm and collected throughout the whole process! Here are some guidelines, though, to choosing an event planner in order to make sure everything turns out the way that you want it to :

Don't Go By Prices

Even though there may be some things in life where the price of one product or service is indicative as to how the product or service will turn out, that simply is not true most of the time! Event planning specialists may have their prices set for a specific reason: a relatively low-priced event planning specialist may have his or her price set low when they first start out simply because they are inexperienced, yet they perform their duties and services wonderfully! If that's the case then a pay raise may just be in order for them. On the other hand the opposite could be true.

An event planning specialist may consider themselves one of the best in the business and charge an exorbitant price for their services yet fail to deliver what their customers really want. Even though prices may be somewhat of an indicator of how well a specialist may perform does not mean that one should go by the factor of price alone!

Make Sure You Like Them!

It's very important that the event planning specialist that you choose definitely has a likable personality! In other words, some questions to ask yourself when meeting an even planning specialist include whether you like him or her, how comfortable they make you feel, and how much freedom you'll have in the aspects of your event that they're helping you to plan. All of these things are important, but perhaps the most important one in that bunch is whether or not the event planner likes total control or whether they allow you to express your opinions and feelings when making some of the important decisions as well!

Look at their Reputation!

One thing that you may want to do is ask around throughout the city to see if anyone else has had a good experience with the event planning specialist that you're thinking about hiring! An event planner may actually have references they are willing to share, but obtaining those references can be a good thing to let you know whether or not that particular event planner will be good for you or not!

There are many other aspects about choosing an event planner, however, it's very important to make sure that these three issues are checked off your inspection list before you count them out or decide to hire them!
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Event Companies

Event Companies - Building Your Event Planning Business

Owning any sort of business often takes time to grow, but building an event planning business is one venture that typically takes a considerable amount of time. The main reason for this, however, is because you are typically working with one or two customers or clients at a time and the way advertising works in the event planning business much of the time is through word-of-mouth. Event though word-of-mouth advertising is an excellent way for prospective clients to be told about your services and business, it is also a very slow way of spreading the word about your particular services.

However, there are some other things that can be done in addition to the word-of-mouth advertising taking place, but that will of course require advertising and a lot of marketing on your part. If you don't have a degree in business marketing or the like then here are some suggestions of how to advertise your event planning business from the ground up :

Use Business Cards

A great way to spread the word about your business is through business cards. The most obvious people that you will be giving your event planning business cards to are the clients you'll be working with. On the other hand, there are many people who contact retail stores and other service businesses and ask them whether or not they can place their business cards on countertops or somewhere within their company's building so that prospective clients and others will be able to pick one up when needed. Of course this often requires that you pay a fee in order to be able to do so, but using business cards in this way is a great idea to spread the word and make sure that your name is out there!

Use Professional Correspondence!

Aside from business cards for your event planning business, another great way to make sure that the public knows about your services is to use professional correspondence with everything that you send out. For example, do you have a professional letterhead that you use when billing customers? Using that professional letterhead with your company name, logo, and contact information is very important so that others will know how to contact you when you're needed.

Another method of professional correspondence for your event planning business is through email. Do you have a professional email address that you can be reached at? An example of a professional email address of your business may be something like, "name@businessname.com." Of course, this will also require money or some sort of fee, but setting up an email alias for your business is very important!

There are many other things that one can do in order to build his or her event planning business services. Advertising in newspapers or placing information brochures on doorknobs throughout your neighborhood are two other excellent ways to advertise and grow your client base. All in all, all of these methods are sure-fire ways to spread the word about your services!
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Event Coordinator

Event Coordinator - Taking an Event Planning Course

There are all sorts of ways to excel at event planning and if you are one that is naturally talented and gifted with the skills that are required in order to be an event coordinator and planner then you must use those skills to the fullest. However, if you were not born with the natural talent and skills that are required to break into this business there are plenty of ways to learn the ropes of event planning.

A couple of the ideas in order to learn how to event plan effectively can be learned through actual courses that teach you how to coordinate large events as well as becoming an assistant for an actual event planner. Both of these options will be explored, and both of them are very important to learning event planning.

Event Planning Courses

Even though it does not seem like event planning would have it's own special section among colleges and universities, there are actually some places of higher learning that include degrees that can be achieved in event planning. Some of these colleges and universities may have bachelor's degrees that can be received on the subject, they may have associates degrees, or there may even be simple event planning certificates that one can earn through other specific programs that the college or university offers.

Of course getting a full fledged authentic university degree is just one option that one has for taking classes in event planning, but there are also plenty of single courses that can also be taken if one just simply wants to get into the basics in order to start their own business from scratch. A few of the courses that may be taken at colleges and universities throughout the United States that do focus on event planning include Introduction to Event Planning, Party Planning, Organization, as well as Site Selection and Writing Event Contracts. There are plenty more classes that can be chosen but these are only a few examples of event planning classes!

An Assistant Event Planner

There is a whole other way that one can easily learn the ropes of event planning. Even though taking courses in event planning is also a good idea, learning factual material and reading textbooks are not going to teach you about the day-to-day work that an event coordinator will oftentimes actually do.

In fact, becoming an assistant event planner for an event planning business will definitely help more than anything in order to know what's all involved with becoming an event planner. Furthermore, the business you are working for may even inspire you to create your own, and if that happens your own event planning business would have sprung forth from that one assistant experience!

All in all, event planning courses will definitely teach you have to efficiently and effectively work your way up the event planning industry in order to become one of the best event planners around! Taking just a few event planning courses or becoming an assistant are good ways to become just that!
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Special Event Planning

Special Event Planning : Creating the Perfect Outing!

There are many reasons why you may need to be in charge of a large event. Perhaps your monthly gathering has turned into an annual get-together in another state or perhaps you're hosting a birthday party for someone special. Other possibilities include that you may be a member of a church where there is a large public gathering about to happen or you are trying to coordinate the anniversary of a large company.

No matter what the case, event planning skills just do not happen overnight! Even though it would be nice to think that you could just snap your fingers and all the arrangements were put into place, many people simply know that it doesn't usually happen that way. If you are in charge of an event planning occasion for a large group of people then here are some things to think about in order to create the perfect event for all its attendants!

Finding the Right Place

The first, and perhaps the most important thing about event planning that you'll want to think about is the setting where your event will take place. For example, should you hold the event inside or outside on the lawn? Will you need a large tent if you hold it outside or is there already a large shelter for you to have everyone gather? In addition, do you have a list of the places that are available for the date that you are planning the event?

If you are in charge of the event then you must make sure that you reserve a spot, building, or other place well in advance because many halls and buildings designed to hold large gatherings actually fill up way before the date expected! It's also possible that you won't have to worry about the arena for your event because it will be chosen for you!

Setting the Date

Do you have total freedom in setting the date for the event? If you are in absolute charge of event planning for a large group of people or members of a group then chances are that you'll also be able to decide the date unless it was chosen by a group vote. If you do get to decide the date, however, you'll want to think about what season and month you'll be holding the event. A couple important guidelines to remember is that you don't want the event to clash with a major holiday and you don't want the weather to interfere, assuming that you're holding an outside event.

Backup Plans

Of course there are always going to be things and other situations that creep up which may force you to actually postpone the date for the event? Or perhaps the event was set for an outdoor setting but it's raining and thunder-storming terribly outside on the day of the event! One basic rule of thumb for event planning that you'll learn is that you always want to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong! All in all, though, finding the right spot for your event, choosing the date, and making sure you have backup plans are all very important aspects of event planning!
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Event Jobs

Event Jobs - Event Planning: Hiring an Assistant

Chances are that if you have ever been in charge of event planning then you some that it takes some major discipline in order to be able to pull it off. There are plenty of good things about having a lot of event planning experience, although many people and even professional event planners feel the strain of all the responsibilities and duties at some point in their career. If this is your case, though, one option that you may have is to actually hire an assistant so that more things will get done on a regular basis without shouldering all of the responsibilities yourself.

Here are some good reasons, though, that you might want to hire an assistant for your event planning business career :

Two Heads are Better than One

One reason that you may want to hire an assistant is so that you'll have a person to bounce ideas off of. When it comes to brainstorming and thinking of ideas for specific events there may not always be someone there for you to bounce ideas off of. On the other hand, hiring an assistant will provide you with someone to brainstorm with and that person will actually be able to give you their full thoughts on the issues as well! It's always a good thing to be able to think with two different minds and an assistant can help you do just that.

More Things will Get Done

Another reason that hiring an assistant is a great idea is because it will allow you to get more things done then you have time for. Everyone only has twenty-four hours in a day, which makes getting everything done at once almost impossible to do. On the other hand, an assistant will be able to run errands, make sure that props for the event are set in place, as well as provide the guests of honor with their essential information as well when it's time to do so.

When hiring an assistant, though, one thing to remember is that you don't necessarily need to pay them a whole lot in order to get their help. Of course, if you're a large event planning business then chances are that you'll actually be able to afford to pay the assistant a decent wage, but it definitely is not required. Another tip that event planning professionals should remember is that assistants, even though they may be your best friend eventually, are not the owners of the business. Even though they may help guide you into good decisions to make, assistants should not be allowed control over any aspect of the business simply because it was not created as a partnership in the first place.

Of course there are always going to be advantages and disadvantages of hiring an assistant anyway. If you're the type of person that actually needs an assistant because you may just lose your head because it wasn't attached to your body (i.e. scatter-brained) then hiring an assistant may be the best thing for you. All in all, though, hiring an assistant for your event planning business needs to be handled with the utmost care!
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Event Planning Software

Event Planning Software - Make All Plannings Keep Organized

There are probably hundreds of thousands of event planning professionals in the world and there are probably many more that don't publicly advertise their business even though they routinely act as event planning specialists for many of their clients throughout their city and surrounding area. Along with event planning, though, comes the need for a lot of technological help.

Even though it is quite possible to remember everything you need to know and store information in your brain along with physically writing it down, chances are that event planning professionals and those that run event planning services from their home use some sort of technological organizational tool, such as a Palm Pilot or a Blackberry!

There are plenty of other tools on the market, though, that are designed to help with event planning. One of these tools is event planning software that can either be purchased from retail stores, manufacturers, or even from the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, though, these event planning software installations will truly be able to help improve event planning skills along with helping to keep organized while keeping the events straight. Here are some of the other benefits of professional event planning software, though:

Reporting Capabilities: As an event planning professional chances are that you will have a need to give either your clients or someone else you are working with professional reports about the daily activity of your business. In addition, though, reports for your event planning business may also contain information for your clients about the work that you have done for the day and the whole time that you've been working for them.

These types of reports are essentially called timing logs and they track everything that an event planning professional does for his or her clients and keeps track of the amount of time spent as well. Much of the event planning software, though, contains these types of reports that are popular to hand out.

Confirmation Emails : Event planning software also contains a setting so that event planners are able to automatically send out confirmation emails to the guests-of-honor and attendants of the event as well. These confirmation emails will usually be filled with reminders about the big event and they are actually a helpful to have at your disposal because they not only will remind people about the event, but it will more than likely increase the amount of people attending the event as well!

Credit Card Processing : Any event planning professional knows that collecting payments for various reasons when planning large events is important! Whether you are trying to solicit donations from the attendees or the event requires a monetary fee that is mandatory, most all event planning software contains some form of automatic credit card processing tool!

There are plenty of other benefits to having an event planning software on you computer, though. In addition to everything listed above, some of the other benefits include being able to print off nametags for the event as well as being able to keep track of where money is being sent to as well! All in all, event planning software can be a great help to those professionals who need just a little extra organization and time-savers! …Read more >>

Planning Events

Planning Events - The Basics of Event Planning

When dealing with any special event that you are planning or you are helping someone else with, there are many important issues associated with planning the perfect party, get-together, gathering, or virtually any other type of event that requires attendance of a great deal of people. Of course there are specific people who actually specialize in these types of event planning ideas, but the basics of event planning are pretty easy to catch on to and anyone can learn the hang of it if they try.

Indeed, many people are forced into have to plan events for one reason or another because they may be involved with large social groups, church groups, youth groups, or another type of group that meets on a regular basis. That being said, many people already know the basics of event planning without even realizing it. But if you are required to plan a large event for some reason or another, here are some basic things to think about:

How You'll Accommodate Everyone

This is a very important task in and of itself when it comes to any large gathering, but a main event that has a lot of attendees should have enough room to be able to accommodate everyone in the house or building comfortably. This event planning task often relies on assuming that people will either R.S.V.P. or otherwise let you know that they are able to attend the gathering. However, it's important to plan for just about everyone you invited just in case there are some people who decided not to R.S.V.P. and decided to show up at the last minute anyway. This often involves making sure there is enough seating for everyone and making sure that everyone has enough elbow room as well!

How Much Food and How Many Supplies

Another important task of event planning involves knowing how much food to order and how many supplies to order as well. The supplies are the easy part because all you will really have to do is order the supplies, such as silverware, forks, or spoons to account for everyone that confirmed they are coming to the gathering. Of course you'll want to make sure that you'll have plenty of extras just in case other people show up as well, but counting the respondents is important! Food, on the other hand, is a whole different matter. Many people like to pretend that they'll know how much food will be eaten at an event, but there is no simple way to figure it out until you have been in charge of multiple event planning tasks.

However, there are some general guidelines to follow that will help have enough food for everyone. For example, if you are ordering cookies for everyone then one trick to use would be to count how many people are attending and multiply that number by two-and-a-half. That will ensure that there will be at least two cookies for everyone, but if someone only has 1 cookie then there will obviously be extra as well!

Of course there are plenty of other things to think about when in charge of event planning, but deciding how much food to order and making sure that everyone is accommodated are two of the most important issues any event planner should think about!
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