Event Planning Challenges Solved

A recent survey of event planners revealed that the greatest event planning challenges often revolve around two factors: time and money. These challenges can vary, depending on the stage in the event lifecycle, as well as the key stakeholder managing that stage.

Event Planning Challenges

In their constant juggling of tasks, event planners identified the following challenges as most significant in orchestrating an event:

• Budget constraints
• Time pressures to complete their work
• Changing expectations of event owners
• Delays in getting guidance and decisions from event owners

Planners also identified a broad series of other challenges relating to communication, collaboration and management. In fact, many respondents zeroed in on collaboration and making timely decisions as the top challenges they face during the first one-third and closing one-third portions of the event lifecycle. Alignment was named a top challenge for the registration set-up and management stages of the event lifecycle.

Reality Check on What Matters Most

Even though event planners worry about staying on budget, generating revenue and hitting their registration number targets, the survey found that the most important metric in gauging event success is the satisfaction of key stakeholders and event attendees.

• More than three-quarters of planners (81%) want to satisfy key stakeholders most
• Attendee satisfaction was also high at 76%
• In terms of financial impact, just under one-half (48%) placed importance on coming in at/under budget
• A similar number (47%) deemed valued revenue impact as a success measure
• Smaller numbers of event planners equate logistical considerations with event success; fulfilling a venue contract was important for 38% of planners, ahead of hitting registration numbers (31%)
• Compliance and low attendee attrition were lower priorities for planners

More information on the challenges facing event planners is available at here.