You are only one person, and you can’t plan an event all by yourself. If you are planning a company event, pick a few people from different departments to help you plan and implement the event. A good team size is directly related to the event itself. If you are planning an expo or open house and expect 300-500 people, you need about 15 people to help plan. If you have a small event that is only open to employees, 8-10 people will be needed.
If your event is a community or personal effort, pick some members of the community or some friends to help pull it all together. Again, look at the size of the event you are planning to hold, and decide on the number of people you will need to pull it off.
Once you round up your team, it is time to get to work. The first thing on the agenda is holding the first meeting. This meeting is extremely important, so you should emphasize that attendance is required. Allow for 1-2 hours of meeting time. Pick one person to record notes of the meeting and one person to watch the clock. During this time, the team should brainstorm ideas about what would make the event perfect – such as location, activities, event duration and event theme. For example, if you are throwing an employee picnic for employees and their families on July 4, then the group should decide on what July 4-themed activities would appeal to the crowd. A July 4 cook-off with a stars and stripes theme, A kids’ playground decorated in red, white and blue, July 4-themed sporting events throughout the day like, door prizes – maybe an American Flag, food stations, a fireworks show and booths for any company’s that give discounts to your company’s employees (cell phone services, healthcare services, etc.) may be just a few things that would make the event great. Think of all those things that you have seen at events that you just loved, and see if you can add any of those things to your event.
After brainstorming, you will find that the team has a lot of great ideas. Take a vote on which ideas the team wants to incorporate in the event. These ideas will be just some of the tasks the team will carry out during the planning process.
Now it’s time to develop the task list. On a sheet of paper, be sure the note taker has a header that contains the following: Task, Person Responsible, and Deadline. As a group, go through each of the tasks you have listed. Decide exactly what needs to be done, who will be responsible for doing it, and in what time frame. It may be easy to divide the team into sub-groups, like: