Hosting a successful event can seem daunting and requires a lot of planning. To help you with your event planning, we have put together the following checklist.
Planning the Event
- Determine the event topic.
- Finalize a date.
- Set goals for the event.
- Create a budget.
- Select and finalize host/speakers.
- Brainstorm & finalize a hashtag for the event.
- Find & finalize a venue for the event.
Final Preparations
Make arrangements for event resources:
- Food/Drinks
- Computers/Projectors/Microphones
- Badges or ID Stickers
Create emails to send to prospective registrants and attendees:
- Invitation
- Reminder
- Second Reminder
- (Day of) Follow Ups
Invite guests!
Promote your event.
Day of the Event
- Arrive early to event space Double check to make sure you have everything you need in terms of refreshments, technology, and support materials.
- Post to social media using your hashtag, before and during the event.
- Prepare an icebreaker game.
- Send out day-of reminder email to all registrants.
- Record the event using photo & video to include in post- event promotion.
- If the meetup will occur on a regular basis, inform the attendees of the next meeting date.
Post-Event
- Send out follow up emails. Send an email to all the attendees, thanking them for coming, and a separate “Sorry We Missed You” email to registrants who did not attend.
- Write a blog post recapping the event. Be sure to use the video and photos you took during the event.
- Send out post-event survey to all attendees.
- Revisit your goals & do post-event evaluation.