Linda Joyce Jones - The Event Planning Toolkit

Linda Joyce Jones is a self-proclaimed obsessive organizer of people, places, and events. Her passion for planning events has been used in orchestrating special occasions in her personal and professional life for over twenty-five years. Her pragmatic approach and knack for sweating the small stuff has helped her organize successful corporate conferences, community events, retreats, fundraisers, and more. This includes serving multiple years as chairperson for the Ohio Sauerkraut Festival, a nationally recognized food and crafts festival that attracts 450 artisans and 250,000 visitors annually. Linda resides in Waynesville, Ohio, with her husband, Matt.

To Suzanne Staszak-Silva and the entire Rowman & Littlefield team for believing in me and this project. Your support and guidance is what made this book reach its full potential, and I thank you for it.

To my event planning posse, the people Ive had the pleasure of working with over the years to create events of all shapes and sizes. Im looking at you, Dawn, Barb, Gus, Kim, Chad, Tom, Pam, Mark, Bob, Beth, Karen, and so many others too numerous to mention here. Weve shared laughter, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, but most of all weve celebrated the successes and experienced the joy that comes from a job well done. You inspire me.

To the teachers, guides, and mentors who have touched my life and encouraged me in so many ways, including Marisa, Carol, Kevin, Kelley, Kim, Shaun, Cheryl, Quiana, Terry, Al, Rick, and the entire SSI team. I appreciate you more than you will ever know!

To those who agreed to share their wisdom in this book. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I already know that that those who spend their lives planning extraordinary meetings and events are generous, smart, kind, and passionate about what they do, but you just proved it to the world. I am forever grateful.

To my mother, my sisters, my mother-in-law, my extended family, and my dear friends. Thank you for your love and encouragement. It means the world to me. I love you all!

To my daughter Kelly, who is well on her way to creating a life full of mountaintop moments for her sweet family. You are a truly amazing woman, wife, and mother!

To my daughter Amy, my champion, my sounding board, and my secret weapon. Thank you for your patience and insight. I am so proud of everything youve become and cant wait to see what the future holds. Whats next?

Finally, to my husband, Matt, who provided his love and support not only through the creation of this book but also through a lifetime of wonderful adventures. Heres to many, many more!

The forms found in this section are representative of the kinds of documents you can use to stay organized and stay on track throughout the event planning process and the event itself. Having this information in one binder, computer file, or online system will save you from wasting your precious time wading through e-mails, trying to find that one phone number you need in a hurry.

You can find editable Microsoft Word and Excel versions of all of the documents in the appendix by going to www.LindaJoyceJones.com/worksheets. Use these editable versions over and over again to create and save custom forms for each of your unique events.

Spend some time to get your goals down on paper. Create a goal statementa short, easy-to-memorize elevator pitch that can be used in press releases and advertising materials. Start by working together with your core team to answer the following questions. Remember that there may be multiple goals for your event, so dont limit yourself to a single objective. Creating a unifying goal statement will make decision making much easier for your entire team.

Who is this event intended for? Who are the stakeholders, the people who will benefit from the success of this event? (There may be many.)

What is the benefit that stakeholders will receive? Whats in it for them?

What are your overall objectives? (What is the purpose of your event? What do you hope to achieve when all is said and done?)

What are your specific deliverables? (What specific things will you produce at your event in order to achieve your objectives?)

How will you measure success (e.g., tickets sold, dollars raised, number of closed sales, or survey results)?

What people and resources will be required to achieve success?

What obstacles exist to achieving these objectives? (Is there anything related to scope, time, or resources that will limit your ability to achieve your objectives?)

Once youve answered the questions above, create one or more goal statements below.

Action steps required to achieve this goal:

Action 1:

Owner:

Due date:

Action 2:

Owner:

Due date:

Action steps required to achieve this goal:

Action 1:

Owner:

Due date:

Action 2:

Owner:

Due date:

Creating a detailed budget is crucial to planning an event. Until you have a firm grasp of all sources of revenue available and all expenses you will incur, you are operating on nothing but guesswork, and thats a dangerous way to operate.

Use the worksheet below to list every possible revenue source and every expense you may incur. Some of your expenses will be required, and some will be discretionary; mark each item that can be eliminated if necessary. If exact prices or quantities are not yet known, do as much research as necessary to establish a reasonable estimate.