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Planning


Depending on your point of view, event planning can be highly stressful or extremely energising. Often it’s both. Planning a successful event takes time, cooperation, and an eagle eye for detail. Draw up a detailed activity plan, and get started!


Get help


Don’t try and plan a big event alone. If you can, form an organising committee. If that’s not possible, at least recruit colleagues, friends and volunteers to help you. If you can afford it, consider hiring a professional conference organiser (PCO).


Business Events Sydney (BESydney)’s free event planning service, AccessNSW can also take the legwork out of finding venues, services and quotes for your event.


Activity plan


Draw up an activity plan, complete with a ‘to do’ list and deadlines, covering every large and small activity that needs to happen in planning your event. If you have already prepared a timeline, you may be able to use this (or tweak it slightly) as an activity plan.


Ask questions


As you’re planning your event and booking venues, hiring caterers and sourcing entertainers, you should be asking yourself a series of questions that will help you make the right decisions. Consider:

 

  • How will you pay for the event? Do you need funding? Can you seek sponsorship?
  • Do you need permits for your event? Contact your local council for advice on this
  • Do you need permission or licenses to use audio-visual materials? 
  • Do you need permission to post advertising material – such as posters and banners – in public areas? 
  • Does your venue need to be accessible to older people or people with a disability? Do you need a sign language or other language interpreter?


Resources


We've created a number of resources to help you in planning your event:

 

 

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Green events checklist

Want to plan an event that is kind to our environment? Download Business Events Australia’s checklist  for 'green' events.