Tips for recovering from an event that didn’t go as planned

The festive season is here again! It’s always a peak period for event planners that know their jobs well as there are usually more things to celebrate this period of the year which in turn increases the demand for the event planning services.
It is, for this reason, I thought it good to share a few tips with you event planner out there who for the mistakes of the past event, have become very nervous about your next couple of events and are so unsure whether or not they are going to turn out good for you. Here’s the good news! Even the very high profile event planners of today have had their share of the bad times in the industry. That your last event did not turn out as planned does not mean it would always be that.
So here are a few tips just for you….

Pick the lessons
Make sure you look critically into what the issue was with the last event, what caused it and how it impacted on the event. Ask your event staff and/or vendors if you can’t seem to figure it out all by yourself and be open to their advice. That way, you will most likely avoid repeating the same mistake as having the same thing go wrong again would suggest you don’t care and then hurt your clients and guests even more than it did at the previous event.

Keep your cool
Keep calm and work through the next event methodically. Figure out your priorities and see what needs to be done immediately, what can wait, and what can be one by someone else. Where you’re not sure about anything, go back to your clients and ask questions. Have a quick review with them to see if what you’re doing matches with their expectations. I bet you darling, information is always your best ally whenever you need to do things right.

Delegate
Whenever possible, have highly trained individuals in charge of each aspect of your event, people you can give direction to and not have to go back and check. Where that’s not possible and you have to work with individuals you’re not familiar with, try to know them, their work ethics and style before the event. In a nutshell, delegate responsibilities. Don’t be afraid to get others involved. You only succeed in putting more pressures on yourself by trying to get everything done all alone.

And what if something goes wrong again?
Do not panic when something goes wrong. Panic spreads like a wildfire and just causes more problems. When something does go wrong fix it as quickly as possible. Don’t worry about why at this stage, rather put your energy into fixing the problem that has occurred. Once fixed, review your forward plans to see if the problem is likely to raise its head again. Then move on with your planning and running the event. Now is not the time to expend energy on why it happened. Expend your energy on getting it all right from this point on. If you allow your focus and energy to be used worrying about the problem (a problem you cannot change right now) the rest of the event has gone to pieces because you focus in on something you cannot change and have already corrected. At the end of the event it is time to review and find out what caused the problem, why is was caused and did your planning or your team cause or help cause the problem. You can then set about ensuring that this is one problem that will not occur again.

Above all…..
Yes, above all else, keep your sense of humor! Although we are all professionals and treat every event with the utmost care, we are not heart surgeons….no one is going to die if the centerpieces are the wrong color!!

Hope you find these helpful as you kick the ground running this festive season.
Happy planning!!!