Setting Up Your Event

Choosing the venue for your event can be a stressful time. There are so many different things you need to consider when choosing a venue and it can make a huge difference on the event. When choosing the venue for your event, once you have determined the price and what is included in your quote you need to start thinking about the set up of the event on the day.

You need to work out how much time you need for the set up and pack up of the event plus also the time that the event goes for. If you have a 4 hour event – how much extra time do you need to allow for? You need to let the venue know how much time you need the venue for especially if you are paying on an hourly rate. When determining how much time you need, take the following into consideration.

Supplier set up

Do you have external assistance or external organisations that will be coming in and taking part in your event. This could include speakers, live bands or exhibitors. You need to determine who you have taking part in the event and what kind of set up they need to be doing before the event. If you are having a band or speakers in for the event, there needs to be enough time for them to set up their equipment and complete sound checks before the event goes live.

Catering

If you are having catering at your event you need to work out how much time they need at the venue for the preparations. Many caterers will have the food cooked prior and brought to the event and just needed to be heated before being served. If this is the case they will still need time before the event to set up plates etc however not as long. If they are cooking on premise you need to find out how long they need to get this started to ensure that the food is served on time.

Registrations

If you have given a certain time for the event to start, is this the actual start time for the event or the time in which people should start turning up to register and get seated ready for the event. There is normally a half an hour to hour difference between the registrations and the event actually starting so make sure you take this into consideration when booking the time for the event.

Transitions

If your event has a few different aspects to it, where the attendees need to change from one area to another or you have speakers which are changing, make sure you add in extra time for each of these changes. It is important to make sure you allow for downtime between the changes so that everything can be changed without having to rush the process.

Pack up

Not only do you need to think about the set up of the event but you also need to think about the pack up after the event has finished. You need to allow for the attendees to vacate the venue and also for your suppliers and exhibitors to remove their equipment from the venue.

Speak with your venue to see what is included in the way of pack up and clean up after the event. It may be that you need to clean up, pack up chairs etc before you leave or this could be included in the cost of the hire.

Be generous with your time frames and if possible choose a venue where you can get a daily rate, so that you do not need to rush around and you can make sure that everything is perfect and that the day runs to schedule.