The Biggest Event Planning Mistakes | Infographic

The Biggest Mistakes Made by Event Planners

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The Biggest Event Planning Mistakes

No one's perfect. But we're event planners – and the only way we become great event planners is by learning from our past mistakes.

That's why we asked our audience: What were your biggest mistakes in 2018? And what do you promise to do better in 2019?

Our survey results were surprising – and they revealed just how diverse, varied, and detail-oriented the event planning role truly is.

Dig in below.

Sections

5. Your Event Page

01. in GENERAL

The #1 worry for event planners is getting registrations and selling tickets.

19%

Registrations / Ticket Sales

14%

Proving ROI / Success

12%

AV / Sound / Lighting

11%

Budget

9%

Reg System + Check-In Process

9%

Internal Team Communications

7%

Speakers

6%

Content / Programming

6%

Décor / Scenic

4%

Catering (Food/Beverage)

4%

External Communications

02. The Venue

Event planners most often forget to ask about these venue details:

Set up.

➧ Dates and times for set-up.

➧ Room layout limitations.

➧ Restrictions on deliveries and pick-ups.

A/V.

➧ Sound, light, built-ins, electrical outlets.

➧ Wifi and cell service capabilities and strength.

The little big things.

➧ Bathrooms, garbage, parking, water fountains, transportation, and HVAC and heat.

➧ Venue/room capacities

➧ Option to use own vendors or tied to unions

➧ COI requirements.

Based on production mistakes in the past, event planners often remember to:

All decks on hand.

Obtaining presentations as early as possible.

Check, 1, 2.

Have both headset and handheld mics available with fresh batteries.

No technical difficulties.

Have connection cords/dongles, Mac and PC laptops, and extra power sources.

Staff up.

Full run-through of production pre-event (including A/V).

03. Budgets

Event planners often forget to include costs for gratuity, taxes, and printing.

01.

Gratuity

02.

Taxes

03.

Printing

04.

Travel

05.

Swag

06.

Catering

07.

A/V

08.

Overages

09.

Speakers

The most underestimated event costs are catering and A/V.

01.

Catering

02.

A/V

03.

Taxes

04.

Gratuity

05.

Travel

06.

Printing

07.

Venue

08.

Swag

09.

Wifi

04. The Legal Stuff

The top clauses or requirements often forgotten in contracts:

Pay Terms

View List<br />

Event Specifics

View List<br />

Adjustments

View List<br />

05. Your Event Page

This is what's important to planners when it comes to event pages:

Accuracy.

Depicting the real-life experience and clearly stating the purpose of the event.

Design.

Simple, intuitive, and on-brand.

User experience.

Clear CTAs, good UX, and mobile-friendly.

06. Comms

32% say their biggest email flub was including the wrong details.

22%

Sent to the wrong email address

32%

Incorrect event information (date, time, venue, etc.)

22%

Correspondence was never delivered

14%

Correspondence was sent on the wrong date/at the wrong time

5%

We do not use email as a form of correspondence

5%

Other (bounced emails, typos)

07. Resolutions

Planners made these biggest-event related mistakes last year:

In 2019, event planners resolve to:

Avoid the event headaches. Make 2019 your year.

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Who did we survey? Event planners who have been in the business for 4 to 8 years and focus primarily on marketing, sales, and customer events.

For more information on how to take your events to the next level visit splashthat.com