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Pull something off the shelf. I write most weeks about the parts of an event nobody sees.
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everything on the shelf
Your event feedback survey is one of three conversations
The survey went out, so feedback feels handled. It only reaches the people who came, though, and the people who ran the event with you saw a different day. Here's how to send the survey, and the two conversations that cover what it can't.
Event evaluation questions to answer each night of your event
It's eleven at night on event day and the bed is right there. Ten minutes of notes now saves an hour of trying to remember next week, and gets you better answers. These are the event evaluation questions worth answering each night, before the details fade.
Post-event follow-up: what's still open after guests leave
Everyone's gone home, and the plan is to deal with the rest next week, once you've caught up on your own business. By then, the small details are already fading. This post covers the three things still open after your last guest leaves, and which one disappears first.
How to compare event venue proposals before you sign
Two or three venue proposals arrive, each formatted differently, each leading with a number that isn't the number you'll pay. This post covers how to convert them into one comparison sheet, which clauses cost money later, what surprises people on the final bill, and what's genuinely negotiable.
Event planning steps, in the order they actually go
Nine days out from your event, and the document your team needs is still being written rather than checked. That week gets decided months earlier, in the order things got built. This post walks the five layers of an event, what each one is waiting on, and how to pick it up from wherever you already are.
How to manage dietary requirements at a retreat
A guest tells you at registration that she can't eat something; you send the list to the caterer, and the plated meals go perfectly. Then there's a reception with forty unlabeled things on trays. This post covers what to collect, who it goes to, and the step that catches an error before it reaches somebody.
The event planning form that replaced nine emails
Somebody on your team turns up with the wrong number, and they were told the right one in a conversation three weeks ago. This post covers why that keeps happening even when everyone communicates well, the event planning form that fixed it on a nine-hundred-person conference, and the three things that make written capture actually hold.
The event planning checklist, from first decision to debrief
Every event planning checklist you've found covers the same eight things and leaves out the twenty that actually catch people. This one runs from the first decisions through the debrief, with the real tasks in each phase and a rough sense of how far ahead to start.
Event planning timeline: what waits and what doesn't
Your caterer has been on the list for three weeks and you keep not picking one, because the final headcount isn't in yet. That's two decisions, and only one of them is actually waiting. This post covers the question that separates what genuinely has to stay open from what's already decided and hasn't been said out loud.
Run of show meaning: the production document for your day
You've written the agenda; it covers what's happening and when, and something still feels missing when you picture the actual morning. The piece you're looking for is a separate document written for a different set of people. This post covers what goes on a run of show, who gets one, and how to build yours.
The 5 event planning steps that come before everything else
Leaning toward a date is not the same as having one, and nobody on your team can build on a decision you haven't actually made. This post covers the five decisions everything in your event sits on top of, the order they go in, and how to spot the one of yours that's still hanging open.
Event accessibility planning for retreats and conferences
Someone tells you at registration that they'll need something, and you want to get it right without making a production of it. This post covers what to ask on the form, when you need the answers back, what to check with the venue, and who on your team has to know before the day.
The event planning process and why yours feels unfinished
The agenda has been rewritten four times and none of the versions are better than the last one. That usually means something the agenda depends on hasn't been decided yet. This post walks through four signs a decision in your event is still open when it should already be settled, and what one open decision ends up costing.
The event day briefing your team actually needs
The document your team reads over coffee the morning of decides how much of the day comes back to you. This post covers what has to be in it so that nobody needs to find you between sessions.
What belongs in your event planning spreadsheet
Everything you're currently tracking across six documents and a notes app could live in one place. This post covers what belongs in that document, how it's organized, and what it feels like to open one thing instead of six.
How to plan a conference when the event gets bigger
What worked beautifully for thirty people doesn't quietly scale to three hundred, and the places it breaks aren't obvious in advance. This post covers what changes as the number grows and what to build before you need it.
The event planning checklist for your last two weeks
The final fourteen days generate a lot of activity and not all of it is useful. This checklist is built around what genuinely needs confirming in that window, rather than what feels most urgent at 10pm.
Hidden event costs: the categories every template leaves out
The costs that ruin an event budget are almost never the big obvious ones. They're service charges, early load-in fees, and the categories no template thinks to list. This post covers where they hide and what to ask before you sign.
What your event stress is actually pointing at
She registers, gets a confirmation, and then hears nothing for six weeks. Whatever excitement she had gets a chance to cool all the way down. This post covers what should be reaching her in that stretch and how to set it up once.
What happens after someone registers for your event
She registers, gets a confirmation, and then hears nothing for six weeks. Whatever excitement she had gets a chance to cool all the way down. This post covers what should be reaching her in that stretch and how to set it up once.
The survey went out, so feedback feels handled. It only reaches the people who came, though, and the people who ran the event with you saw a different day. Here's how to send the survey, and the two conversations that cover what it can't.