Planning full scale events in Sacramento can be a real hassle, it’s easy to let some things just slip through the cracks when it comes to preparing your event. But the worst feeling in the world has got to be showing up and realizing despite months of planning and scrambling, you’re under prepared. Too bad! Looks like you won’t be enjoying this event after all, You get to play damage control! We’ve all done it countless times. We just wrote this little guide to make sure it doesn’t happen THIS time.
Traffic Control Planning
Arguably the most often overlooked and under planned part of any event is the traffic control. We’ve all been to an event where we missed the first 30 minutes just trying to find parking. And nobody enjoys when the 1/8th mile main street drag is cancelled because they forgot to close the road. But it’s just so easy to forget when we’re managing registrations, food, permit acquisitions, and the like. Gathering all the needed permits and signage to have your traffic control plans approved can be quite a hassle, but we found a great article that breaks it down for us over on Know All The Things. It lays out for us exactly where we should be looking to save us the most time possible. So we can keep working on getting the party started.
Management
The logistics of the event such as lists of contacts and Specified management, are just a few more of the most important aspects of event planning that are often overlooked. Knowing who to look for or turn to when something needs done is a hugely important part of planning an event, and it can’t always be the same person. Take the time to establish specific regions of accountability. Setting up a structure of managers and sub-managers can be the difference between the life and death of your event. It allows for much faster response time, and greater accountability. Whatever you do, make sure your lines of management and their responsibilities are clearly defined, leaving you free to handle what you need to handle. And only what you need to handle
Emergency Preparedness
Nobody wants to think about this, it’s a party after all right? What’s the worst that could happen? Unfortunately there have been a few who have learned the answer to that question, and our job as event planners are to make sure that we have a plan if or when things go south. The first step in emergency preparedness is an accurate risk assesment. We need to take an inventory of everything that could go wrong, and lay out specific plans of action for those situations. Just as before, lay out management responsibilities specific to the emergency response plan and hold those managers accountable.
Furthermore your plans don’t do any good looking pretty in some case somewhere after all, they need to be known and understood by everyone working the event. Make sure that you hold periodic meetings to promote the education of those plans, so everyone working the event is ready at a moment’s notice to take the appropriate actions to mitigate any situation that could arise. It’s quite unfortunate that these plans are so often overlooked.
Entertainment Permits
Last but certainly not least, Any event that is hosting live music or a DJ is required to acquire a special event permit by the City of Sacramento. This little tidbit is most often overlooked because most people don’t know that it is required. But now you do. So make sure it’s not your event they’re coming to shut down because of lack of permits. There are two different kinds of entertainment permits. The special entertainment permit is tailored specifically for a single event. The two-year special permit on the other hand is tailored for ongoing entertainment at a venue. For more information on Entertainment permits please visit cityofsacramento.org.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, please, do your best not to forget these often overlooked, yet imperative aspects of event planning. Don’t work too hard, and whatever you do. Plan smart. We’ll be here rooting you on, Can’t wait to see your event coming up on the city calendar!
