Everyone is feeling the financial pinch right now. Inflation means the cost of goods and services has gone up, but the rate of pay has not kept pace. The same is true for event planning costs- the average cost of a wedding planner is around $2,000 these days.
If you want to save some money on your event, then an event planning checklist PDF is essential. If you don’t know where to get started, don’t worry. Read on to learn about this tool for event success!
But First, What Does An Event Checklist Include?
While creating your event checklist in PDF, ensure that it covers the top essentials. This includes:
- Budget,
- Goals,
- Type of event,
- Location, and
- Date.
Of course, there will be multiple parts of your event that will not fall into these exact categories. However, these must-haves happen to be a vital jumping-off point that leads to our next point.
So, How Do You Make An Event Planning Checklist PDF?
So, how can you make an event planning checklist PDF? Scroll down to find out how you can come up with an event checklist in PDF version!
1. Make A Master Plan:
Event planning might sound like a monolith, making the creation of a checklist feel impossible. Thankfully, you can break it down into several larger parts, known as a master plan. Essentially, you’ll identify larger projects within the event planning process and create sub-checklists.
For example, you can create checklists that cover food and beverage items as well as rentals like party tables and chairs. The more detailed you are, the lower the likelihood of things slipping through the cracks.
You can also create checklists that are based on specific timeframes. Your action items for six months before the event would be on a separate list than your items for 30 days in advance.
What to Include?
If you want to create a comprehensive checklist, you’ll want to start by creating action items for decisions about the date, venue, and event size.
Those items dictate how many other items on your checklist need to be handled. From there, consider things like entertainment (e.g. a live band versus a D.J.) and your food and beverage choices. Consider whether you’ll want to serve full meals or small plates and who you’d like for catering and make action items.
You’ll also need items for the aesthetics of your event. Add action items for things like floral arrangements, table setups, and lighting. Finally, add action items for preparing anything that you want your guests to take home with them, purchasing guestbooks, and things like that.
2. Create Your Event Planning Checklist PDF:
Turning your Word document event planning checklist into a PDF is a really easy thing to do, no matter what type of computer you’re using.
The easiest way to create a PDF is through the print function on your computer. All you need to do is pull up the printing screen. Instead of having the print destination set as your printer, select the PDF option in the drop-down menu.
You’ll have a PDF document in a matter of seconds. If you want to edit your PDF with notations, you may need to purchase Adobe Acrobat.
3. Event Organization Equals Event Success:
Planning an event is a complicated task with a lot of moving parts.
That doesn’t mean you have to deal with a ton of planning stress. Staying organized is the best way to meet all of your goals and objectives for your event. Once you’ve got everything mapped out and checked off your event planning checklist PDF, you’ll be ready to enjoy all of your hard work!
Life throws lots of surprises at you. Whether you’re suddenly your own event planner or facing a cross-country move, you need a reliable resource for tips. Check out the rest of our blog for advice on all of life’s surprises.
4. Post-Event Follow-Up Checklist:
While you must conduct a detailed evaluation of all expenses and update the event budget accordingly, there are multiple post-event items that you must take care of. This obviously includes member development opportunities, fundraising, and publicity that you can make the most of with only a little pre-event planning.
Here are some activities that you must complete once your event is over:
- Always check in with the event venue. Please ensure that nothing vital was left behind. Also, you must maintain your business relationship with the event venue.
- Get hold of all receipts, documentation, and final registration data. Then, update your budget.
- Send acknowledgment and thank you letters to the media, donors, volunteers, sponsors, and speakers.
- Don’t forget to mention in the thank you letters that the event was a success – remind the receivers how their contribution made all the difference.
- Post-event publicity is extremely important for your business promotions. Share event highlights on your social media account and update event details on your website portfolio. You can also send out emails to your company’s subscribers about the event highlights. Additionally, come up with a promotional reel, sharing how the event turned out to be.
- Finally, reach out to all the event participants. Don’t forget to thank the participants while promoting your current programs and how they can provide support for you throughout the whole year by making sustaining donations, volunteering, or by just joining.
5. Post-Event Analysis Checklist:
While the event might just be fresh inside your head, it is time to get hold of all information from the event. That includes details from your team as well as attendees. Also, there is so much that you can learn for your next event.
Here’s what your post-event analysis checklist should include:
- Conduct a thorough and detailed post-event survey.
- Find out what most people liked about your event.
- Identify the main elements that your attendees did not like.
- Conduct a thorough team debrief and find out what’s on your team’s mind.
- Conduct a detailed evaluation of the whole event.
- Find out what worked out well and what didn’t.
- Find out your improvement areas for your next event.
- Figure out whether it hit your KPIs, objectives, and goals.
And It’s A Wrap!
And it’s a wrap on making an event planning checklist PDF – it might take you some time, but guess what? If you are able to make this checklist, then we can guarantee that your event will be a roaring success. Just follow the checklist – that’s the key to making your event successful.
ADDITIONAL READING:
