16 Mar Planning a Live Event: the Step by Step Saga-Part 1

I thought it would be fun to share my experience planning our upcoming live event with you over the next two months—step-by-step. It’s really quite a ride, so I wanted to share the good, the bad and the ugly. (Hopefully not too much bad and ugly!)

The idea for the Radiant Success Event started maybe 2 years ago when Denise Wakeman, Kathleen Gage, Ellen Britt, Marnie Pehrson and I were in a Mastermind Group together. We often discussed the lack of really great teaching events for women entrepreneurs, particularly for those who were very small or home based businesses and who needed to master online marketing as well as business strategy. We talked about creating a live event that would fill this need, but somehow it never happened since we were all so busy.

However as I was developing my business plan for 2010 I knew it was time to get outside my comfort zone and be the lead person on this event. After all someone had to get the ball rolling and I’m committed to pushing outside my comfort zone because I know it’s necessary to grow my business. When I proposed my ideas to this awesome group of colleagues they were all excited and agreed that now was the time. So I got to work figuring out where, when, and how we would pull it all together.

We started meeting for regular tele-conferences to hash out the details and slowly it began to take shape. The thing about planning a live event it that you know it’s going to be a ton of work but you’re not sure exactly how that will play out. There are always twists and turns and unexpected setbacks. Already our to-do lists are massive. My team and I have spent hours creating:

• the web pages
• the e-mail lists
• the follow up messages
• the affiliate program
• the event listings and press releases
• the different packages and pricing
• the event schedule
• the task checklist

plus the 5 of us have created all of the event content, including the panel discussions, as well as $1000 worth of bonuses which all attendees will receive on a CD when they arrive. We also reviewed the master task list and divided the tasks among us. Each included a clear deadline.

Of course I also did extensive research into local conference locations early on and I settled on a brand new hotel. I worked out the many details and signed the contract.

The next step was for us to plan two high content preview calls. This required a good bit of collaboration, which has gone really well. If you ever plan an event with a team of people make sure you know them, trust them and that they are all hard workers who meet deadlines and follow through.  In our case everyone on the team runs a highly successful business with demanding clients and we share a core belief in delivering quality products and services that improve our clients’ businesses. If you have a team and even one person is a slacker it can really cause problems.

Yes everything was going very well until I got an unexpected and shocking call from the hotel sales manager…… to be continued.

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