Tips For Making Your Event Stress-Free
Whether you choose to use an event planner or to do it yourself, there are some important factors to keep in mind that can reduce your stress and make the experience more enjoyable for you and everyone involved.
Having worked with many people to successfully bring their event to life at Studio 301, we’ve put together some helpful tips to make planning easier.
Tour The Space - Photos can only give you so much information, this is why we highly recommend coming in to tour the space and meet our team when you’re considering Studio 301 for your events. It’s also incredibly helpful to tour the space at the time you’d be hosting your event. Certain factors could impact the experience of your attendees - parking availability, traffic noises, and sunshine all change throughout the day. When you visit, don't be shy about testing things out. Sit in different areas of the room, check the sightlines from various tables, and if you're planning speeches or presentations, stand where your speakers will stand. These little details matter more than you'd think when the day arrives.
Know Your Capacity - There are certain situations where less is more. Keeping in mind whether your event will have a meal, drinks, or speeches will impact the number of people you place at each table, and the number of tables that are comfortable and functional to fit in a space. Our team has a number of floorplan examples to help you visualize your event and which setup is right for you. We've learned that guests are much happier with room to breathe than being packed in. Think about flow - people need space to move around, find the bar, and mingle without doing an obstacle course through chairs and tables.
Ask About Inclusions and Exclusions - Every event space has different packages and offerings, so it’s important to ask what they provide within the booking, what they offer at additional costs, and what you will need to get from other vendors. The last thing you want is surprise costs popping up or realizing the day before that you were supposed to arrange your own sound system. We keep things straightforward at Studio 301, but it never hurts to have a clear checklist of what's covered and what's on you.
Build In Buffer Time - This one's a lifesaver. Events almost never run exactly on schedule, and that's okay. Plan for your vendors to arrive earlier than you think they need to. Give yourself extra setup time and give your attendees extra time - speeches run long, food lines move slower than expected - so no one feels rushed. Building in that cushion means you won't be frantically trying to catch up all evening.
Think About Your Guests' Experience From Start to Finish - Walk through the entire event from their perspective. Where do they park? How do they find the entrance? Is there somewhere to put coats and bags? Sometimes the smallest oversights can cause the biggest headaches, and thinking these through ahead of time makes everything run smoother.
There are many other tips that we could share, but your next best step would be to contact our team to chat about booking your next event at Studio 301. We're here to help make the whole process as smooth as possible.