5 Productivity Hacks for Event Managers
You can work hard, or you can work smart. The old adage doesn’t ring true for event managers. As busy professionals who need to use every hour of every day to get their jobs done, a successful event manager works hard and smart. Here are five productivity hacks we hope will make life a little easier for you as an event manager.
1. Brand the venue.
Make the event venue work for you by creating engaging, branded spaces. For example, if your event is supporting ocean conservation, create a beach-y backdrop for photographs and stick your company logo on the umbrellas. Guests will line up to take pictures in your tropical photo booth, and they’ll be promoting your brand at the same time.
2. Cut it in half.
Feeding the crowd is important, but you don’t want to break the bank. Keep serving size in mind, and ask the catering company to cut sizeable items like sandwiches or brownies in half.
3. Use an event app.
Tired of running out of paper schedules? Your attendees are tired of carrying them around, too. Instead of passing out paper, ask your attendees to download the app for your event. Many event applications offer a menu of engaging features, including gamification, surveys and social integration.
4. Make budgeting a breeze.
You already have a ceiling to your spending but now you must decide how you will spend this budget. Try making a simple wish list in Excel of everything you’d like to incorporate in your event, regardless of budget. Then, price out each item. Now you can play around with the document, hiding different rows until you find a group that fits nicely in your budget. Remember to leave yourself some wiggle room for emergency spending!
5. Use Self-Service Check-In.
Nothing is worse than arriving to an event on time, and then standing in line for forty minutes while a Check-In team scrambles to find name tags and manually check everyone in. Make your attendees happy by skipping this step at your event. If you use Self-Service Check-In kiosks, your attendees do this step themselves which saves you manpower and time. They’ll also be impressed with your technology prowess.
