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When the event's over, the spreadsheet you planned it from has done its job. The agenda, the timeline, the vendor list, whatever version you put together, all of it got you to the day. So it goes into a folder with everything else, and next time you start again from a blank one, or from an event planning template somebody else built for a different kind of event.
I watched a team do the opposite once. They had never run an event of that size before, and they kept one document going for four events, including one I had nothing to do with.
It's their story more than it is mine, and it's one of the clearest proofs I have that writing things down during and after your event is worth it.
Prefer to watch? The full breakdown is in the video below. Otherwise, let’s dive in.
The team that had never run an event like this
At the global law firm where I ran retreats and conferences, there was a team hosting an event that sat under HR. They weren't event planners. They had never run an event of this type before, though they had been to plenty.
So what they were trying to do was pull together the pieces they'd liked from all the events they had been to, on a very, very tight budget. That's a completely normal place to start. Pulling in what you loved from the experiences you've had yourself is how a lot of events get started.
The trouble was that the event kept getting bigger and bigger, and the way they were running it wasn't growing with it. Things were all over the place, and they weren't communicating with one another.
There was more going on, too. Our retreats team, which was a party of two, my manager and me, sat under the office of the CEO. The CEO was going to be part of this event, so our director roped us in to make sure he looked good. My former manager, who worked on the local events team, asked to work with me so I could bring some structure to it.
What went into the event logistics spreadsheet
What I built them was an event logistics sheet. The agendas, the timing, information about each session, the AV needs, everything in one place. We used that document to plan the entire event.
The woman who ended up being our main point of contact loved it. Having everything laid out in one place let her see what was needed, what was already taken care of, and what we were still going to need. For the first time, she understood exactly what she was looking at and how the event was going to run.
That's worth pausing on, because a spreadsheet isn't fancy. It's rows and rows of information. What it gave her was the whole event at once, and that was the one thing she'd been missing. If you're wondering what belongs in yours, I went through it in what belongs in your event planning spreadsheet.
Why the event planning template from your last event beats a blank one
Then the event happened. We ran our debrief, and everybody went back to their normal jobs. That's usually where documents like this end.
A year or two later, that event came around again and I was looped back in. She told me straight away, "I stole your document, I recreated it, and I made it for this event."
That's exactly what I want to hear. It's what we build these things for.
Where it actually showed up was right at the very beginning of planning. We went to do a site visit at a different venue from the one we'd used before, and because we had that document in hand, we could see how the agenda and the day had flowed last time, and check whether this new venue could give us that same flow, even with parts of that year's agenda changing.
At the very least, we had a structure and something to go by while we were on site. That's a completely different experience from walking into a venue with nothing from any previous event to go off of.
What she brought to the site visit
With that document and the notes from the debrief, she could go through what worked last time, what didn't, and what they wanted to change, and ask the right questions while we walked through with our contact at the hotel. She knew what she was looking for in that space, because she knew what the agenda was going to need from it.
Those notes are the other half of this. A debrief only leaves something to work from if it gets written down, which is why the three conversations after your event are worth having while everyone still remembers.
If you're already thinking about your next event, the free Event Pulse Check walks through the whole picture, from the decisions at the very beginning all the way through event day, and gives you a personalized read on where your planning stands. It's quick, and the results come back straight away.
Four events off one document
That event ran twice more after that walkthrough.
The third time, I wasn't involved at all. I wasn't copied on the emails and I wasn't part of the process. I do know they used that same document again, updated from the event before, because my best friend was the one working on that event.
For the fourth, I got looped back in, because we were working with an entirely different team. That's four events using the same document from the very beginning, and it kept the information moving so each one could learn from the last.
That's what an event planning spreadsheet does when somebody keeps it. Every decision made the first time was still there to reuse and update the next time, and the time after that. It also let new team members pick up the pieces when old team members left, so nothing lived with just one person. If you've ever been the only one who knew where everything stood, verbal updates aren't an event planning system is the same lesson from the planning side.
Why it lasted
The reason it worked is that they wrote things down during the event and after it. If nobody had done that, there would have been nothing worth carrying over, and every event would have started from scratch.
That writing doesn't have to be big. Some of it happens each night before bed at your event, and some of it happens in the days after your guests leave, before the details fade.
The template you already have
A team with absolutely no event experience built that document with me, and then kept it going event after event.
You've probably already built most of what you'd need for that: your agenda, your timeline, the vendor list, whatever version of an event spreadsheet you put together this time. The difference is whether you clean it up and keep it somewhere you'll find it, or leave it as it is and archive it.
If your next event is already on the calendar, take five minutes with the free Event Pulse Check and see where your planning stands. If your last one just wrapped, open that spreadsheet this week, add what you'd change, and save it somewhere with next year's date on the folder.
