“Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”, and Murphy’s Law strikes again! There is no where in the work situation so prone to this Law then at events that you organise. Ask anyone doing events if they have experienced this at one time or other….or more times that they would prefer too!

Managing a successful event requires very detailed planning, preparation and follow-through. In the course of carrying out an event (whether indoors or outdoors) you will deal with an assortment of people and organisations: from your own company, community bodies, town councils, the public, police/security and safety services, environment groups, ministries, and so on. In the process, someone, a colleague, supplier, participant or even your very own management personnel or even the weather can throw the spanner in your works if you just get too lax! And it is when problems strike that they cost you and your organization loss of reputation and customers if you’re not on top of every detail.

Experienced event personnel know this just too well. There is so much you have to look out for – details, details, and details – such as for planning and approval processes, entertainment considerations, identification and involvement of key stakeholders, promotion and media strategies, security and safety, back-up plans, manpower, administration and implementation, the budget and so on. Therefore, you cannot underestimate the importance of planning well ahead for an event.

So how can you start out? How can you take steps to minimize Murphy’s Law from occurring?

A comprehensive event planning process is what you would look at – although it cannot guarantee that you would have a trouble free event, it helps you ensure a higher probability of coping with an unforeseen problem that may occur. So exactly what goes into the event planning process? Especially when no two events are the same! What kind of planning guide can you establish to ensure a higher chance of carrying out an operationally and result-wise successful event?

A good planning guide will cover as much of the “A to Z” for staging an event – from considerations of the various factors important for planning purposes, the event manager can insure against prospective problems. Given the myriad of processes involved, as a quick overview some factors to consider would include:

- the time from conception to delivery of the event;

- an understanding of the type or nature of the event to be organized and the various stakeholders’ deliverables to be fulfilled; profiling your target audience; identify goals and objectives – what the management expect from the event; brainstorming;

- venue; indoors or outdoors, as having an event at a community hall or shopping mall or at the beach will have a different impact on capacity provisions and crowd management; have a wrong location and everything can go wrong from the beginning - site-planning is critical;

- the budget – a poorly planned budget will certainly create strains and pressures that an event manager will wish to live without;

- appointment of event managers/company to undertake the project; or formation of steering and organizing committees;

- developing an operations schedule; lists of suppliers to services, progress meetings and so on; it would be suicidal to organize an event without a detailed checklist - missing important details can make or break the event; marketing/promotions planning to execution;

- preparing how to evaluate your event; the quantifiable factors to consider; after event reports.

We have just skimmed a handful of the tips of the “event planning and execution iceberg”. When it comes to event planning overlook nothing, schedule everything, and be prepared for the unexpected! The trick is always in the details……

Ever felt one of those days when your confidence was lagging?  Many of us would have gone through such occasions surely.  And if you have, did you notice how no matter what you did during such occasions you did not feel competent enough.  You are not alone.  A competent person is a confident person.  Both confidence and competency share the same bed…with you in it of course!  The power that you feel in being confident and competent attracts people to you.  You radiate magnetism that others will notice and make them trust you – and enables you to influence them too. And at this point you become the brand YOU.   Many of us want to become the brand?  The brand that we see in others and yearn for!  Can this personal brand be developed?  Can we learn the “how to’?  If you set yourself the goal and motivation to become the brand YOU, you can do it.  The SECRETS to “Brand YOU” can be yours if you only know what it really takes and follow them well. “Brand YOU” is all about you developing the qualities that attract people to you – and research has shown that people would be drawn and influenced by YOU if you are ethical, positive minded, knowledgeable, purposeful, a good communicator, forward looking, have high EQ, confident, competent, credible and motivational.  Develop these traits and watch how your personal power and influence increases with the people you meet and work with.  Learn from those who have these traits, look up books, magazines and ezines that can help you understand and grow these traits and make it a point to choose who you move around with – birds of a feather flock together for good reason! Do all these with passion, with a zeal driven by your wish to be that somebody, the magnetic “Brand YOU” that you want others to see yourself as – confident and competent!  The brand that attracts others to you.

Hi, I am Vijay - you can call me Sebastian too as do my friends. I am an expert in marketing communications. 

I have over 25 years experience in these fields that range from international marketing, salesmanship, business management, customer relations management, print and electronic publications that includes newsletters and blogs too , public relations, media management and campaigns, promotions & publicity and events management. 

I consult to companies, provide corporate training as well as lecture at institutes.  I can help you with your range of marketing communications and train your marketers and communications staff to find solutions as well as excell in their tasks.

You can find me on the website of the Association of Professional Trainers in Singapore  (APTS).  Do vist my blog regularly as you can look forward to interesting articles, tips and more in my blog.

Lately my interest has also turned towards the great potential to make money on line.  I came across an interesting money making website by Alvin Phang.  His money making secrets are really something.  I tried them and they work.  Read about making money on his ”Atomic Blogging” links  here.

P.S.  This blog has been set-up today and is still going through its test runs - therefore, it is not fully operational yet.  I apologise for any incovenience that this may cause visitors to this blog.  I am looking forward to having it running fully and covering all marketing communications topics very soon.  Thank you for dropping by.

Cheers, Sebastian Vijay