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In the event industry, it’s quite normal and expected to organise multiple events at once, so juggling your time becomes second nature.
This is especially true if you work for a large corporation, an agency or run your own events business, where the demands are never ending.
The problem with this, is that the tasks can seem never ending, and with such a hideous workload and a huge amount of responsibility, it’s so easy to trip over and make mistakes, as it can get confusing at times, so developing a brain of steel and gaining that ability to multitask and work effectively is key to success.
But how do we do this? Is there some secret code? Not really, as I don’t believe such things exist, but there are things you can do to make your life much easier as an event manager.
In this post, I’ve included several different tricks I use to make sure I get it right 99.9% of the time. Follow these and your job should get easier too.
- Use online project management tools
If you’re anything like me, you’ll be highly obsessive about making sure everything is done properly, and on time, which in my case, normally results in 101 notes being left around the house or office.
That was until I discovered Asana, an online project management tool, similar to others like Trello and Base Camp which are frequently used in the events industry.
Asana allows you to create different ‘teams’ and projects underneath those teams, where you can set deadlines for each task in your event and assign team members to get involved if you need to delegate.
The great thing about this, is you can track your process for each individual event, add notes and keep a clear working progress of everything that needs to be done, and there’s an app so you can keep tabs on everything wherever you are.
- Prioritise
For most events, there will be tasks that are very time consuming, so in my case it’s finding venues, selling sponsorship packages and booking public speakers as well as building a marketing database.
Once those things are done, the rest gets easier, allowing me to start organising my next event whilst I’m still getting the last few bits wrapped up for the current one.
So work out what are your huge tasks and dedicate as much time and resource you can to get them done, and as soon as you feel that weight lift off your shoulder, start getting the next event wrapped up, but don’t overdo it, as organising two events at once can be highly stressful if you haven’t got those core tasks out of the way first.
Keep it realistic and get your big foundational tasks done first, before attempting to make a start on your next event.
- Outsource, delegate or ask for help
You’d be surprised at how many skillsets are required to organise just one event, so you won’t always be able to do everything. That means sometimes asking for help from a friend who can do a better job than you in a particular area, which will take the weight off your shoulders.
A recent discovery of mine is People Per Hour, which is fantastic if you need some copywriting done, or social media management, without the overhead of hiring full-time employees.
Again this is just one hiring marketplace you could use, with Upwork and Taskrabbit being others.
With any of these sites, you can pretty much access work on demand for cheap and get it done in short time frames, perfect for short, specialised tasks or essential but repetitive work that would take too much of your time to complete.
If you don’t have any budget for hired help, remember that the event industry is high in demand as a career choice, so people are always looking to gain experience at local, or high profile events as volunteers and helpers.
If you are lucky enough to have a volunteer, or team members, then delegate tasks to them, as they may do a better job than you if it’s part of their expertise, plus they will appreciate your vote of confidence and they will gain valuable experience.
- Trade for perks
Do you know who is the editor of that local magazine you want your event featured in?
Get in touch with them and ask them to feature your event on their website in exchange for free tickets and an interview/Q & A or social media campaign through your channels as a trade. Get them to help you, and help them back.
It might sound obvious and a bit silly, but you’d be surprised how many tasks I’ve completed on trade-offs, right down to having fellow event organisers helping me out on the day, and some agencies will even design your entire branding, logo and website in exchange for sponsorship, so being strategic and persistent could take 20% of your workload out of the equation.
- Group tasks together
This is a big part of what I do. Where tasks overlap, you just need to leverage the time to efficiently move both events forward.
For example, instead of just building a database of speakers for my next event, I’ll also build a database for the one after too, so that by the time I start organising it, a lot of the tasks are already out of the way. And then I can just pick up where I left off.
You also shouldn’t be afraid to start your marketing for two events at the same time.
It’s quite doable. I’ve had two events out on sale at the same time, going through completely different channels and they’ve both sold out. You just need to have a clear calendar of activity and stick to it.
Summary
The real challenge with organising multiple events at once is keeping to deadlines, making sure you don’t forget anything by taking detailed notes, and being realistic with your priorities and the time required to get the job done.
So in short, always use online project management tools and keep your volunteers or team in the loop, delegate effectively and outsource as much as you can, do trade offs with your friends and business network, work out which tasks are more time consuming and get them done first (or get them done for both events at the same time), and be realistic. Don’t spread yourself too thin.
I hope that helps! Feel free to drop me any questions about your event concerns to @CRIndustryHub, and get the team involved in some dialogue with @EventbriteUK on Twitter.
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