Brilliant Events 101: Your Guide to Success

At Form, we’re passionate about hosting, and over the past 10 years, we’ve perfected key practices to ensure seamless events that leave a lasting impression for all the right reasons. Here are some of our top tips for delivering  brilliant events:

1) Crafting a Precise Brief

We’ve all been to too many events that aren’t clear on what they’re delivering or the ultimate value for attendees, not just the organisers. That’s why a detailed brief is essential for effective event planning. Before diving into logistics, gather key stakeholders to establish clear goals and objectives, defining metrics like budget constraints, attendance targets, and desired feedback scores. This clarity keeps everyone aligned and allows for adjustments while maintaining the event’s overall vision.

Tip: If you and your team are highly visual like us, why not use visual aids like mind maps or flowcharts during initial meetings to visualise the event’s scope and objectives. We love to use Miro to brain dump ideas collectively for the first meeting.

2) Defining Roles & Responsibilities

Clear roles and responsibilities are crucial to avoid confusion and inefficiency. Assign specific tasks to your team to ensure each member understands their role and takes ownership. This approach promotes:

• Task Clarity: Aligning tasks with team members’ strengths for efficiency.
• Ownership: Clearly assigning responsibility for every aspect.
• Centralised Communication: Using shared documents or project management tools to document agreements and responsibilities, facilitating smooth collaboration. We love using Airtable for ours.

Example: Assign a logistics coordinator to handle all venue and operational arrangements and a attendance lead to keep track of those all important RSVPs.

3) Templating for Consistency

Creating standardised templates for essential documents such as briefings, venue function sheets, speaker notes, and event-day checklists is an effective practice in event management. These templates serve several purposes:

• Consistency: Ensuring a structured and uniform approach across different events, minimising errors and enhancing reliability.
• Continuous Improvement: Regularly reviewing and refining templates based on feedback and experience to improve efficiency.

Suggestion: Create a strong feedback loop after each event by gathering insights from your team and attendees. Use this data to refine your templates and processes. We always schedule a session one week after the event to review what worked, identify areas for improvement, and implement attendee feedback for future success.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re organising a small gathering or a large-scale production, a structured approach with clear communication and defined responsibilities ensures a smoothly run event. Start implementing these strategies today and see the difference in your next event.