How To Plan An Event Like A Bawse
Happy Sunday friend! I’m still soaking in the awesomeness of my Women’s Empowerment Art Gala which was a success! If you weren’t there, you definitely missed out! I couldn’t believe the amount of people that came, especially in a city where I’m not from, it just shows how hard I worked to plan my event and network. There were some things I did learn from it that I will apply to my next show which will be bigger and better.
P.S. I think it is very important for business owners to host events! It does not have to be an entire show production, but just something to let people meet you and even test your products or learn more about your business. If you sell shoes, have a shoe party, if you’re a chef, have a tasting event, or even a mini cooking show. This helps you build rapport with people and land bookings or clients!
I realized that a huge contribution to the success of any event comes from your network. You have to put yourself out there and represent your brand and your event, while building genuine connections. People are more drawn to who you are and your passion more than anything. You have to show them your authenticity and why you are doing what you are doing and they will come.
But if people come, you need to give them a good show and heres how:
Location: Your venue must cater to the vision you are creating. For my event this year, I wanted something elaborate, but the place I had it at originally was not elegant enough after I added more details and talking to people. I started searching and I found this website called Peerspace.com. It’s like Airbnb but for venues and its pretty dope! That’s where I found my venue and it featured a cocktail hour room, and a red carpet, along with a full service bar for just $85 an hour. Most places charge more, and the venue can be your most expensive thing when planning an event.
Food: If you know me, you know that I’m a foodie and other people are too. We live in a day and age where being a foodie is a profession, people like to eat! If they come to your event and its more than two hours, they are going to want some food, and if the food is not right, nor the presentation or quantity, then people will remember that, and may not come back. Plus if you have good food, you can invite some well known foodie bloggers or food influencers to your event (with a free ticket if you are charging for tickets) and they will most likely share their experience with their audience giving you more exposure. You can even keep the costs low by asking small business owners who are still developing their business to sponsor their food. They get exposure, you take food out our budget, it’s a win win! But I would advise scheduling a tasting beforehand.
P.S. You can’t be tooooo cheap with the food. I messed up by doing that last year by getting four platters from Costco and the food was gone within 20 minutes, not everyone was able to eat. This year I hired a small business catering couple and their food was really good, but they served it on small paper plates. My theme was simple and boujee but paper plates don’t fall under that category. Nevertheless, the food was good, but I should have checked with them to see what they would be serving the food on, lesson learned.
Photo Opportunity: this isn’t necessary, but it’s a good idea to get a flower wall (because flower walls are trending) or a simple back drop. Or, if you can afford it, it would be great to have a step and repeat banner with your logo on it for people to take pictures in front of. You’ll also want to encourage your guests to use your hashtag in the photos. Hiring a photographer is also a good idea to capture every moment. On the day of your event, the last thing you want to do is take your own pictures.
Hashtags: these create social media buzz for your event. This is basically a short phrase that resonates uniquely with your event. My hashtag this year was #IAmAWorkofArt because I wanted women to recognize the fact that they are works of art. This also helps you see what pictures people took at your event and posted using your hashtag.
Hiring a team: You are a bawse, you can’t do everything by yourself, especially planning a big event. Even if you have a small networking mixer, it’s good to have help with decorating or getting last minute things that you can’t get. Make a checklist of what you need done and delegate people to different tasks. These can be your close friends or family who support your vision.
Marketing: this is very important because it influences your impact. Marketing is going out and getting your brand out in the world and it can either be by yourself or through marketing companies (magazines, press, radio, tv, etc.) and it depends on your budget the type of marketing you do. For my event, I could not afford marketing, so I marketed myself. I did this by attending Meet Up Group and Eventbrite events and talked to people, as well as gave them a flyer. I went to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and met business people who would be interested in supporting my cause and I also spoke at college campuses to students about healthy dating. As a college student, I remember the struggle being real all the time so I invited them and gave them free tickets. I wanted them to attend because I knew they could benefit from the vision I created and I also wanted them to be aware of toxic relationships.
Music and sounds: If you can hire a DJ, hire one. If you can’t afford a DJ, or have a small event, download pandora and get the free 1 month trial the month of your event (or create a dope playlist) and get a nice speaker. People like music, it sets the tone and puts them in good moods (depending on the song). This year, I hired a DJ and a sound production company because I had multiple performances and I needed microphones for my singers, poets and speakers. The sound production company really made my event professional and it set the tone for the show.
Let downs: when planning an event, there will be let downs that you have to overcome. When it happens, know that it’s not the end of the world and you have to take action asap! I had multiple let downs and road blocks before my event but I used that as a motivation. It meant that I wasn’t dreaming big enough and that I had to go harder and bigger. A few weeks before my event, my coworker told me not to have my even because I’m not from Atlanta and not many people would come. I used this to market myself more and printed more flyers. A week before my event, my opening dance choreographer stopped responding to my messages and text, and the person who referred them to me did not answer my message either. I used that to hire a young girls dance team who performed professionally and exceeded my expectations (plus they answered all my texts and calls). There were other things that happened but whatever it was, I used that to add more fuel to the fire of my success.
Attend other events: this helps you get ideas and inspirations on how to make your event a success. Submerge yourself in whatever event you go to and take notes! I love going to events all the time, especially events that attract the crowds that I cater to. This is how you network and show the event planner that you support them (this would be good to invite them to your event and possibly make room for a collaboration in the future). Also, this is good to discover vendors. Not everyone has their business on google or on social media, especially if they are starting out. Find a good vendor, introduce yourself and get their information so that you can possibly have them attend your event. You can either attend an event by purchasing a ticket or volunteering to help. Either way, get in where you can fit in!
I hope this helped you or even inspired you to plan an event soon. Your business and purpose is waiting on you to share it with the world, and you must do it the right way. Don’t panic when things go wrong, figure out how to make them go right and hire help when necessary. Your events are a reflection of you and how serious you take yourself and your purpose, make it count!
Oh and be sure to check out my pictures from the event on my gallery, k thanks bye!