Event Planners And Clients Must Communicate Fully

In my over three decades of event planning, coordination and management, I have observed and been involved in events that seemed to go off without even a minor hitch, as well as those that have had certain challenges from their inception to their conclusion. While event planners must meticulously plan for any contingency, and should actually over plan and over analyze all details, the main stumbling block to most events success is how effectively the meeting planner communicates with the client. Many meeting planners believe that they are not always given the necessary access to the client, so that communication is limited. I believe, however, than any effective professional event planner should and must realize that there can be very little chance of an optimum result for any event where communication is not open.

In my three decades of planning events of all sorts, for both corporations and organizations, and for small, medium sized, and large groups, I have developed a certain set of rules, and a personal checklist to assure the best chance of success. Certainly, even with the best planning, something might go wrong, but I believe that if a meeting and event planner make one of his rules that there always must be both back up plans and contingencies, transitions can appear seamless to the casual observer and typical attendee.

Some of the items included in my checklist include:

1. Who is the client's primary point of contact? Does that person have decision making authority? What are all the contact numbers for anyone that I might need to be in touch with?

2. What is the primary objective of this event? What are the secondary and tertiary purposes, if any?

3. What is the budget? Without a budget, no professional can effectively plan and manage any event, nor should they.

4. What is the client's vision for the event? Do they merely want an event planner to implement their vision, or do they want the planner to incorporate their vision into a viable plan of action, to create a successful and well received event?

5. At which stage is the event planner getting involved? Is he negotiating everything from the beginning, or is there already a contract with the venue, and the planner is simply working within the constraints of that contract to develop, organize and produce a successful event?

Since I am a full-service, full-cycle event planner, who is also a professional negotiator, I can almost always negotiate a better contract than the client can, and the client ends up with a better "deal." Obviously, the better the initial contract, the better the terms will be, and the more "bang for the buck" the client is able to receive. Professional event planners must always insist on a pre-meeting with the client, where the entire situation is fully explained, all ramifications and expectations are reviewed, all terms, fees, costs, etc., are fully explained and agreed to, and any possible misunderstanding is discussed before it becomes one. I believe that is a major factor that differentiates between a true professional event planner, and someone who merely claims to be.