Miniseries: Aspects of Events and Exhibitions - Planning

Failing to plan is planning to fail - Alan Lakein

The next few weeks I will be writing a miniseries about different aspects of exhibitions and events, and I will be discussing the issues asscociated with it. As the titel of this blogpost and the quote above suggests, this first episode deals with the start of any exhibition- or event organisation process: planning.

Planning is an essential part of the organisation process: without adequate planning, you run the risk of forgetting things, which results in executing parts of the process halfheartedly and late, or not executing them at all. These things have a devastating effect on the exhibition or event, not to mention your own mood and stresslevels, while they could have easily be prevented with some careful planning. However, as important as planning is, it is not obligatory to stick to the plan: the future cannot be fully predicted, and it is important to be flexible enough to deal with changes. Planning is a process of preparing for possible developments, and being able to take measures when a change occurs.

When planning an exhibition or event, it is important to take a close look at all aspects of your event and the organisation process: what are the critical aspects of the item under scrutiny? What could go wrong? Which developments would be beneficial? Identify the largest risks and come up with plans to prevent these risks from becoming a reality, and how to deal with the risk. It is also important to identify any opportunities, and consider how to optimally utilise these opportunities, and plan how you are going to make the most of the opportunities at hand.

During the planning phase, it is important to investigate your concept, and also identity critical moments in time. For instance, if your media campaign involves advertising in magazines, it is advisable to do research about publication dates (and closing dates for submitting copy), and whether or not there are any relevant themed issues in which you can promote your event or exhibition.

Planning is best divided into the different aspects of your event or exhibition organisation: planning and concept development, exhibitor acquisition, media campaign, visitors recruitment, etcetera. This way, it is easier to identify busy periods of time, and to work with a clear overview of what needs to be done. It is good to plan for each separate aspect of your organisation process: when will we start visitors recruitment? Think about which periods of time will have a higher chance that your target group reads/hears/sees the media which you have selected.

Communication of Deadlines
Planning is also a topic to communicate with your suppliers and exhibitors/customers: suppliers need a certain amount of time to deliver the products ordered from them, and this needs to be communicated clearly to your exhibitors. Moreover, (especially) with media products, it might be necessary for exhibitors to supply information or files, which are needed by the supplier for the delivery of the product (f.i. an advertisement). In these cases, it is vital that communication with exhibitors about deadlines and required input is well-organised. Fairsatile offers such well-organised communication; organisers can identify deadlines for each specific product- and eventcombination, detailing deadlines for ordering and supplying input. The exhibitor finds these deadlines in their secure environment and has easy access to uploading the required information.

In short, planning is an important aspect of organising both events and exhibitions. Planning is a tool to identify risks and opportunities in an early stage of your organisation process, to prevent surprises further into the process. Responding to risks and opportunities adequately makes the organisation of an exhibition or event easier and more pleasant. Fairsatile offers organisers the possibility to communicate planning towards exhibitors, in order to reduce last-minute orders and forgetting to supply information and files to suppliers to a minimum. For all parties involved, this results in a more pleasant and less stressful preparation for the exhibition or event at hand.

08 February 2011 09:33