Event Planning Tips to Rock Your Next Event

I recently had the privilege of chairing the AWC Lubbock Chapter’s Annual Celebrity Luncheon this past April. This event is the cornerstone fundraising event of our chapter for student scholarships and member development. Twenty-eighteen marked the 34th Celebrity Luncheon and I am in awe of how it continues to grow and get better every year. This year was no different and I wanted to make sure the wonderful women of our chapter were represented in every little detail of the event.

It’s All About the Details

The theme we chose to go with was empowerment. Taking from the AWC National theme for this year and utilizing the new logo and branding, we felt this embodied the women of our chapter. I had some great committee chairs that took this to heart when choosing our honorees – local “celebrities” who have made a difference in the West Texas community, garnered positive national media attention, and spent the majority of their lives giving back. Our decoration scheme was simple and elegant with gold hexagon votives, white hydrangeas and greenery vases, and table numbers and names in the center of every table. Each place setting had our beautifully designed program with watercolor accents and a lunch menu atop gold chargers. Our caterer was a local “farm to table” establishment that has become quite a hit in the Lubbock area. They served up some delicious menu options and a to-die-for bourbon and bread pudding dessert with homemade gelato.

We called upon “celebrity” emcees from local news stations to introduce our 13 honorees. With only an hour to recognize everyone, our script chairwoman and emcees did a wonderful job of keeping the event on track. Little thank you notes and floral cupcakes from a local sweets shop made the perfect “thank you” gift. The luncheon began with a video featuring our AWC members speaking about what empowers them professionally and personally. It was a great way to tie everything together from our theme to the honorees selected to portray our message of empowerment starts here to every attendee. Each honoree not only received an award or gold medal on stage and recognition through the PowerPoint we had going on throughout the luncheon to highlight their achievements, they also received personalized congratulatory letters from Texas Senator John Cornyn. In my opinion, the little details of this event are what made it special to both awardees and attendees.

With just over 400 people in attendance for 2018, we are so appreciative that this event continues to  not only be a great opportunity to raise funds for scholarships, but to serve as a great networking and recruiting event as well.

Briana’s Top Five Tips

This luncheon is something our community looks forward to each year and I was so honored to have had a strong team of women helping to make this a successful event. I have shared my top five event planning tips below to help you rock your next event.

1. Get a Strong Committee Together

   If you have the ability to get helping hands when planning your event, DO. IT. No matter what type of superhuman powers you may have, the help is always appreciated. This is a way to make sure all of your basics are covered. Create committees for the different needs of your event – for example print materials, publicity, table sales, awards, etc. Delegation is a beautiful thing and as the event planner or chairperson, it makes it easier for you to keep track of the overall event if you have someone you can count on overseeing specific duties.

2. Create a Timeline

   Plan out your event. Create a timeline based on the various deadlines leading up to your event date. This should include proofing and review deadlines for print materials or written materials, ordering of decorations or other items, table sales commitments, catering numbers, and any audio/visual or technical needs that require creation or reservations with third parties. I like to work backwards from the event date so I can get a good idea of due dates to send out to committee chairmen so they can have time to plan out what they need to do. As deadlines approach, send out reminders to those in charge of tasks to see if they need any help or are needing more time to get materials ready.

3. Keep Track of Your Budget

   After assessing the needs of your event and committees, create a reasonable budget – with a little bit of extra cushion – that you can manage. Stay looped in with all the purchases and invoices between vendors and your finance person so you can keep an up-to-date budget. I like to create a spreadsheet with total budget, total spent and total remaining balances that I fill in along the way so I know where I am moneywise and can make knowledgeable decisions on if I need to cut back on something, move money around from committees or line items, or if I have excess money that could be spent to elevate my event to the next level.

4. Make an Inspiration Board

   Create a place to keep all of your ideas and wants for your event. This comes in very handy when planning out decorations, centerpieces, concepts, and themes. When you first meet with your committees or whoever is helping you with your event, you want to come to the table with ideas and concepts so meaningful discussion can take place and plans of action can take form. The worst feeling is when you take too much time going around and around with a concept that you get behind on your timeline. There are many ideas out there, it is imperative to take a few that represent your organization or the focus of the event so you can narrow your choices and collaborate with others to come up with a direction to hit the ground running from the start.

5. Have Fun!

   The most important thing to keep in mind when planning an event is to have fun with it! You will 100 percent not enjoy any event planning if you are not having fun along the way. Try to stay calm throughout the process and plan ways to stay proactive with any issues or mishaps that may come your way, because believe me, they will. Don’t let the little things stress you out. Now don’t get me wrong, the details make the event, but try not to lose sleep or jump to any conclusions when something comes up. Being able to successfully conceptualize and implement an event from beginning to end is a huge accomplishment and you should feel honored that you have been entrusted with this responsibility. The event planning process is as fun as you want to make it and the more you relax and trust in your abilities, the more you will enjoy the journey in the end.

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About the Author

Briana Vela is the marketing and special events coordinator for the City of Lubbock Municipal Museums. She works directly with the Buddy Holly Center and the Silent Wings Museum. Briana is a board member of the AWC Lubbock Professional Chapter and most recently served as the VP for Fundraising and the Chair for the chapter’s annual Celebrity Luncheon. She has over seven years of experience in marketing, advertising, event planning, writing and social media strategy.

Briana previously served as the marketing manager for Ashley HomeStore West Texas, and has worked with Texas Tech University K-12 Independent School District, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and The Price Group – an advertising agency out of Lubbock, TX. She has an M.A. in mass communication and a B.A. in public relations both from Texas Tech University.

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