5 Tips for Planning a Seamless Event

Founders Weekend was a month ago, and we still can’t get over the impact the event made for our community. Seeing our members, in person, connecting and collaborating with each other was what it was all about. 

The content that was captured truly reflects the feeling of our Founders Weekend event and we can’t wait to share more content with you if you were not able to attend. 

Everyone could see the work that it took to produce such a magical and seamless event and many of you asked us to share who we worked with and our learning lessons from planning such a successful event. So, of course, we want to share our learnings with you! If you’re looking to produce an event, no matter the size, here are our 5 biggest learning lessons and tips and how to implement them for your next event!

1. Plan Early & Pay Attention to Details

Event planning can be stressful. To minimize the stress, start the planning process early and create a workback plan–this will be key to a successful event. This mitigates the risk of forgetting important details and helps to prepare for possible roadblocks. Plus, planning early helps you stay ahead, which makes for an overall less stressful experience. We created a shared Google Sheets planning document that we were able to collaborate on with our event planning company, KRo Events.

There are so many components and aspects to consider when planning an event. Being detailed with your planning ensures that you cover all of your bases while creating an unforgettable experience for your guests. It’s the little details that people remember!

2. Create a Budget 

Once you’ve made a list of all the vendors and resources you will need to produce the event, reach out and get estimates so you can plan your budget accordingly. This will help you when determining what venue to select and ticket prices. Remember to always leave buffers in the budget because it is likely there will still be some unforeseen expenses.   

3. Hire Experts

You’re not expected to know how to do everything, and that’s where experts come in. For Founders Weekend, we worked with a few incredible partners to help our team and enhance the guest experience which ultimately made the event very successful. 

We were lucky enough to work with KRo Events, a NY-based boutique event company co-founded by Entreprenista League member Lindsay Feeley. KRo helps people and brands create memorable experiences that fuel rich conversations, which was ideal for an event like Founders Weekend. Their dream team helped us transport and store all the supplies we needed to make the weekend perfect, while keeping all of the detailed logistics in-check. 

The more hands you have when executing an event of this size, the better, and we were so thankful for the team that worked our event provided by Priceless One Management (POM) event staffing. They helped make the event so seamless and the staff learned very quickly what our needs were, which is no surprise given they employ nearly 3,000 skilled models, brand ambassadors, and serving staff. POM is woman-founded by Entreprenista 100 Award winner, Kylie Russell, an international model turned event staffing entrepreneur, and we were so thankful for their help. 

4. Use Technology to Your Advantage

Use technology where it can add value and enhance the guest experience. For us, the VOW app was a great addition to the event. If you were with us in Orlando, you used the VOW app, designed to streamline and elevate guest management in real-time. Not only does the VOW app allow event planners to communicate with attendees, but you also select only features that you need for a custom app experience for your guests. 

5. Repurpose Your Supplies

After your event is over, what do you do with all your supplies and materials? Don’t ditch it all just yet! Make a plan in advance so you can save your supplies which will help you with future events. Alternatively, you can also make a donation plan to bring a second life to materials. 

We featured a few beautiful pieces from Branch Furniture that we will now use for years to come and we will be thanking ourselves next year when it comes time for planning again! Branch also has incredible home office furniture for Entreprenistas and we were even able to do a giveaway with one of the chairs as well!

We hope this helps give some insight into planning an event that is not only seamless but delivers a great experience to all who attend. We’re so grateful for everyone on the Entreprenista team, the vendors who made Founders Weekend the best possible experience, as well as all of our amazing members who attended. To see more content from  Founders Weekend, be sure to follow us on Instagram and you can view the full library of photos right here. If you’d like any intros to the vendors we worked with, free to reach out to us!