Find the best event plannerWe have a fairly high volume of clients – probably at least 25% – who come to us halfway through a job and need help. Mostly because they had no idea how complex and time-consuming it can be to organise events, and often because they just can’t cope with the demands placed on them. A lot of these people are PAs or EAs whose boss has airily asked them to throw a party or conference together, also not having any clue how much time it takes, or people in marketing or HR who reasonably should just be getting on with their own jobs. So just in case you were thinking to say ‘yeah sure, I’ll do that’ – here’s five reasons not to…

1. THE TIME FACTOR
This is the real biggie. For those of you who like a nice statistic, organising a wedding takes – depending on which report you read and how much of a bridezilla the leading lady/man is – something like 200-250 hours in total. Yes really. If you worked on nothing else full time for a month it would take you around 30 days to organise a wedding, based on an eight hour day.

‘How so!?’ you might cry! Well, let’s have a look… searching for venues, short-listing the venues, site visits to venues, choosing and booking the venue, organising contracts and deposits, checking the menus, decisions on rooms, deciding the décor, deciding on suppliers, reading and scrutinising quotes and testimonials, checking out photographers, listening to band showreels, watching performers’ YouTube channels to make sure they’re good, negotiating good prices from chosen suppliers, having final menu tastings, choosing flowers, organising the transport, working out timings, booking accommodation, taking care of dietary requirements, sending out invitations, managing the guest and room list, organising Auntie Mabel – egad, the list is long, and longer than this – this is just the obvious stuff. And that’s before you even think about the big day itself on site, which can often be a staggering 16-20 hours, minimum.

I’ve picked a wedding here as an example because they’re often a standard format, and therefore it’s easier to quantify an ‘average’ time to organise. When it comes to more variable events like conferences, team days etc, it can be even more time. Do you fancy trying to shoehorn that into your normal working schedule? Aren’t you busy enough already?!

2. STUFF GOES WRONG
OK so in an ideal world, careful event planning in the weeks or months leading up to it should mean that it all goes like clockwork, right?

Wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a single event that didn’t have some crisis or issue at delivery point, large or small.

You’re dealing with people, you see. And people can be unpredictable and unreliable. Perhaps the band didn’t arrive, or arrived without the right sound gear. The venue manager gave you the wrong room dimensions and your giant Oscars won’t fit in under the ceiling. The Wi-Fi is broken. You’re supposed to be doing an outdoor treasure hunt and there is literally a hurricane ripping the city apart. The compére is ill and cannot get there. All of these things have happened to us! And all of these things got fixed. The event planner inevitably has to react to stuff like this without panicking and just make everything OK. That’s all part of the service.

3. WE PROBABLY HAVE BETTER IDEAS THAN YOU
Does that sound rude? Sorry – but it’s probably true. The team here have something like a combined experience of 50+ years organising events and they know what works, have ideas you’d never think of, and can give your event that added edge that honestly only comes with experience. And that’s really the bit we live for. Seeing our clients’ guests or delegates arrive at an event and have it all run smoothly and impressively – well, that’s worth all the tea in China. You should let us wow you, really.


happy event planner4. WE KNOW ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Similar to No3, this is just simply a case of having worked in the business for years and having tried and trusted associates with whom we work. These are everyone and everything from the best DJs and bands, to amazing speakers, professional and competitively priced AV suppliers, the best magicians, the most exciting performers; innovative team building hosts, the most luxurious incentive ideas… You name it, we’ve been there and tried it. So very often we can put our hands on our hearts, and promise you that the event venue or content we’re suggesting will be amazing, because we know first-hand. Have confidence in us.

5. YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR OWN EVENT
We’ve totally lost count of the number of times a client has said to us how nice it was just to enjoy their own event. To relax and hear the speakers at the conference without rushing around with a clipboard and earpiece; or to have that glass of bubbly as the party starts, knowing full well they don’t have to worry about how the night will unfold. It’s all about peace of mind, and we think that’s priceless.

SO…
We’re gearing up for what already looks like a really busy 2017, with parties and conferences already booked in, and a couple of really lovely incentives that we’re researching options for at the moment. If you’d like some help, you know what to do. Venue finding is always free, and our other services are probably worth considerably more than the fees we charge. GET IN TOUCH and let us know. All initial proposals are free of charge.

5 Reasons Not To Organise Your Own Event
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