Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Party Planning - Elements of Designing the Right Atmosphere For Your Event


There is No Business like the Party Business! The right venue will always lend it self to the right design as you begin your Party Planning process. Knowing that this is such a touchy subject as the very nature of Party Planning is the creativity that each individual Party Planner and their team brings to the Event, you must be aware of the pitfalls that lie in you path. Throw in the client who thinks the Party Planner is nothing more than someone that carries out THEIR orders and you have all of the makings of a crisis management situation that may even need the SWAT team called in. Too dramatic? Probably, but those Party Planners who have done their fair share of events, you know exactly what I mean.

There are many elements in doing a boffo Event and at the core of it all is the Party Planners ability to create a vision for the Event that takes the clients needs and wants and puts them into the total vision. Notice I said needs and wants. Two different criteria here but both need to be included in the Vision Quest for the Event. Needs are those elements that must be included for the Event to have even a modicum of success. Wants are those things that are nice to have but will usually hinge on a budgetary element in the Party Planning Process. The challenge is to use teachable moments to assist your client in knowing the difference. From any practical standpoint of an Event, the basic elements that you will be required to manage are the Goal of the Event, the Venue you will use and the Audience you are targeting. These three elements are at the center of all Events you will manage and will make all of your decisions mold themselves into these three factors. It is not to say that your creativity will ever be hindered, as it should not be as no matter what the venue and the budget you should always be able to create a great event because that is what Party Planners do.

In many ways, they are like great set designers, they can transform spaces you never thought possible into magnificent and magical realms. The key here is to manage each of these three factors superbly and if, at all possible, you can create a team for each to oversee, this will get you very far into the process of creating a great Event. How do to this is another entire article for each point, but know that these are the elements that never change. Lose control over one, or allow your client to have control over one or more of these three parts of your Party Planning and you may be relegated to nothing more than a freelance order-taker. The point is to have a battle plan for each part and be ready to show in detail to the client how you are going to manage these factors. The impressive nature in which you handle each part of the Event Planning process; The Goal of the Event, the Venue and the Audience, will garner you far more respect with your clients than any lavish marketing campaign you can market. In the end, the way you set your course at the beginning will play to your professionalism and garner your image as a Party Planner extraordinaire long into the future. Remember, Life is a Party, you just have to know how to Plan it!

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