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Organising Functions and Events
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Timelines
If you've ever planned or hosted an event, you will know how overwhelming it can be. Attending to every small detail can leave you wishing the event was over before it even began. A good timeline is essential to keep you on track throughout the process. A timeline can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. The key is to make sure the timeline includes hard deadlines, i.e. important dates for tasks that that you can’t afford to over-run.
Your timeline provides you with an overview of the tasks to be completed.
Food and Beverages
Food and beverages for events and conferences are a major part of the conference programme and is usually the most expensive budget item.
Therefore, thoughtful decisions need to be made to balance the food costs with the total cost for the event.
The following aspects should be considered:
- What will the time frame be for meals/breaks?
- Will this meal/break enhance the overall conference?
- Meals at the end of a conference are often lightly attended. This should be considered in the planning of the conference and in ordering a lower number of meals.
- Hotels have set menus but are usually willing to take your budgeted amount and customise a menu for your group. This obviously only applies if you are hosting your conference or seminar in a hotel.
- The hotel will ask you to predict how many people you think will attend the meal functions; generally, this number will be listed in the contract. The hotel will usually set enough places and prepare enough food for 5% more than you guarantee. (Check your contract first just to be sure).
Choosing the Right Caterer
Here are some tips on choosing the right caterer for your conference or seminar.
- Make sure that your catering company can meet your overall budget and get it in writing that you will not be charged more than that.
- Get the resumé of the catering company as well as the cooks that will be preparing your food.
- Make sure to check that the catering company is listed with the Better Business Bureau.
- Check and verify that the catering company has a good history with other clients.
- Make sure that the company has previous experience catering the type of event that you are hosting.
- Check to see if the company offers specials or discounts for conferences or seminars (many do for corporate events)
- Get the credentials of the head chef.
- Take a tour of the catering company. This is invaluable because if the building is not up to health code standards or if the kitchen is dirty would you want to eat the food?
- Be sure to look at the portfolio of the catering company and ask about reference letters from customers.