Do you have an event coming up? If you do, then you are probably getting ready to create a great event plan. The event plan is the foundation of executing an event without any difficulties. When you have everything outlined and pre-planned, you can help your teams keep up with their assignments and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
If you want to write a winning event plan but you don’t know where to start, you are in the right place. The following guidelines will show you which elements you need to include in the event plan and what you need to focus on when writing the plan. Here we go!
Create an Event Overview
In the event overview, you need to include all the basic elements of the event. These basic elements that you should write down in the overview are:
● The name of the event (make it unique, relevant, and memorable)
● The event date/s
● The location of the event (city and venue)
● Event’s purpose (fundraising, product launch, profit, brand awareness, education, lead generation, community engagement, networking, etc.)
● The reason why attendees should visit your event
When it comes to the last point, you need to explain clearly what makes your event stand out. That is, write down what you can provide to attendees that will make them want to attend your event. For example:
A concert for charity: The attendees will have the opportunity to contribute to the cause they believe in, be a part of our organization, and donate money, all while they enjoy great music.
Specify the Audience
At this point, you have already done the target audience research. Now, this is the moment when you should share who that target audience is to keep everyone informed. You don't have to go in detail, only include the essential demographics like this:
Music festival: Millennials (21-40 years old), employed, mostly single, social media as a primary mean of communication
Write about the Benefits of the Event for the Audience
Here you have to go more in detail and write about the key features of your event that will benefit the audience. Explain what your event has to offer to attendees. Here are some examples:
Workshop: We have the best educators who will teach the attendees how to develop their skills through interactive exercises.
Product launch: The company director will introduce the main features of our newest product, which will be followed by free cocktails and networking.
Create a Compelling Unique Value Proposition
Unique Value Proposition or Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is a simple tagline that expresses what makes your event unique and worthy of the audience's attention. Great event USP is ideally written in a narrative way, it speaks to your target audience and expresses a relevant benefit. This is an example of event USP:
Product launch: This is your opportunity to be the first to hear about our newest product and talk to like-minded people over drinks and amazing food.
This is a very important part of your event plan, so you might want to get help from professional writers. Writers from writing services such as TrustMyPaper or TopEssayWriting can assist you in crafting an enticing USP.
You might not need the help of professional writers, but you do need to check the readability. Use simple online readability checker such as Readable to ensure that your USP isn’t confusing.
Plan out the Event Marketing
State what marketing channels you plan to use to promote your event. You can use as many as you like, but write in the plan every channel that you want to use (social media, email, blog, press releases, etc.)
Aside from that, you should write the timeline of your marketing efforts. Break it down in milestones that will help you round up the whole marketing strategy. This means that you should include pre-event marketing, ticket sales, day-to-day marketing plan, and last call.
Detail the Budget
Every team that works on your event should be informed about the amount of money they have at the disposal. Once you've set the overall budget, you need to delegate it to different categories.
Write down the reason for the investment (e.g., furniture), the details (e.g., which furniture you will rent), and the budget for that item on the list. Having the cost of every part of the event put in writing will help you avoid going over budget.
Delegate Roles and Responsibilities
Your team members are the ones who can make or break the event. Knowing who is responsible for what will help everyone be more organized and systematic.
“I find that people often undermine the importance of mentioning each person’s role in the event plan. Whenever I’m helping an event planner with writing the plan, I encourage them to put down even the simplest roles such as updating organizers on attendance or handing out flyers,” says Kristin Savage, a writer at BestEssaysEducation
Write an Event Safety Plan
The safety of your team members and attendees should always come first. Having guidelines that will remind you of different elements you need to be looking out for can be a huge advantage. What you'll include in the safety plan depends on the nature of your event. But some elements that you might want to focus on are:
● Food health and safety
● First aid, toilets, and wash facilities
● Reducing risk
● Waste removal
● Parking
Add Personality through Storytelling
You might be writing a plan, but that doesn’t mean that it should be dull and bland. Add personality in your writing through storytelling.
Not every aspect of the event plan will allow you that, but in some areas such as USP, you should let your unique style shine through. Be honest, but confident in what your event has to offer.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, these tips have cleared some of your doubts and gave you a clearer perspective on what writing an event plan includes. Take your time with this demanding task and write down every important aspect of the event. Be as detailed as you can, make sure that the plan is well-written, and you'll be on the right path towards standing out in the crowd.
Diana Adjadj is a writer and editor who has a Master's degree in Psychology. She combines her passion for writing with her interest in research and creates thought-provoking content in various fields. As an academic writer, she provides custom dissertation help for a variety of services, including GrabMyEssay. Besides that, Diana also works as a freelance writer and runs her own blog. What inspires her the most in her writing is traveling and meeting new people.