6 Common Event Planning Problems & Solutions

Event planning problems are a natural outcome of event planning. There are always going to be problems, some small and some big. The question is to figure out what you can do to mitigate the big problems and to smooth over the small problems, and, eventually, you’ll be managing events like a professional. 

Here are some of the biggest event planning problems and solutions that we’ve seen as we’ve been on the forefront of contemporary issues in event management. 

#1. Overspending is a Major Event Planning Problem: Here’s How to Manage It

Budgeting for an event you’re planning is perhaps the biggest challenge you’re going to face. It seems that almost every event, except for the biggest events planned for large professional gatherings, is going to struggle to get the amount of money they need to do all of the things that they want to do. It’s going to be a constant struggle to pinch pennies here so that you can splurge a little there. 

There are a lot of money management tools that you can use to prevent event planning problems, but we recommend two things: first, we recommend that you have a person on your committee--preferably a person and at least one or two assistants (or more depending on how big the event is) who is solely in charge of the budget. They manage the money, they hold the purse strings, and all expenditures go through them.

The second method we recommend is using an event management software that will more easily enable you to accept money from your attendees, and for that we recommend Timely’s Event Ticketing Software and Event Booking Software. These software platforms sync with all of Timely’s software, and they’ll take the stress out of ticketing, registration, booking venues, and getting all of your incoming money where it should be.

#2. Not Keeping Track of Your Planning Timeline (and It’s Changes) Is An Event Planning Problem: Here’s a Solution

The event planning timeline is going to be something that you set (supposedly in stone) and then which will forever continue to change as problems and schedule changes and crises come up and you set about putting out fires. This is the event planning problem: that the planning timeline is never as set-in-stone as you’d wish it was. 

The solution to this is Timely’s Event Calendar Software, which is expert at solving problems in the event management industry through clean and user-friendly interfaces which will move your project along, meeting milestone after milestone as you get closer to the time of the event. You can set calendar notifications such as “Last Day to Register!” and “Last Day for Early Bird Pricing!” to encourage people to pay attention to the calendar and make sure they don’t miss any important deadlines--so they won’t become event planning problems.

#3. Not Having Backup Plans Is an Event Planning Problem: What You Need to Do to Be Prepared

Whether the problem is that you’re waiting for an outdoor event to start and then there’s a sudden lightning storm, sending everyone to seek shelter, or whether the problem is that you’ve booked a ballroom that is simply not big enough to hold all the attendees who registered the night before the event, you need to have backup plans to avoid event planning problems. 

Being prepared means that you have thought through every contingency (and you can be assured that there will be SOMETHING that you forget) and that you have alternate plans to accommodate the changes. You may not be able to do anything about lightning at an outdoor event, but you can be prepared with plastic ponchos to keep people relatively dry during the rain. You may not have the right sized ballroom, but you could have put it into your contract with the hotel that you’re allowed to expand should the need arise.

#4. Not Having Professional Staff is an Event Planning Problem: How Do You Get Them?

Depending on the type of event that you are planning, having a professional event planning staff may not simply be convenient but it can be a necessity. If you work for a large corporation that puts on events on a regular basis there may very well be an event planning team who do this day-in and day-out. But if you don’t, rest assured that there are event planning professionals who work freelance who are available to make sure that your event runs smoothly. 

Think of these people as the wedding planners of your event. You may never need them more than once, but when you need them they’re incredibly helpful in getting things done because they know more than you do--they do this every single day.

#5. Not Having a Structured Event Management Software Is an Event Planning Problem: Here’s a Fix

There are a lot of event management softwares that are designed to make event planning problems a thing of the past. But the biggest problem with most of them is that they’re not integrated and that they only offer a fix for one problem. There may be a ticketing software--which works really well as a ticketing software--but which doesn’t integrate into your calendar system and your booking system. Having an all-in-one event management software is the solution to your event planning problems. (Hint: we recommend Timely.)

#6. Not Thinking Though the Little Things is an Event Planning Problem: Here’s How You Remember Them

In the early event planning meetings, you need to get everyone on your team, from your contracted professional event planner to your volunteer staff-relations person, to get in a room and think about everything that needs to be done. Is there going to be enough tables and chairs? Who’s going to put up those tables and chairs and how long will that take? Will there be time (and space) for mini-networking events between sessions? How will they be facilitated? How will everyone get their food? Who will wrangle the entertainers?

All of these things are essential, and having an event planning professional on the team will help you think of things you hadn’t considered before, but the real key is to get everyone together and talk through the event planning problems, leaving no stone unturned. Write it all down, and then assign someone to every single item. Make people accountable, and then follow up.

Conclusion

These are just some of the event planning problems that you can run into with the current issues in events. Contemporary issues in event management are a hot topic that are being hashed through in every organization, large and small, and you need to make sure that your event is living up to the high standards that your guests expect. 

Reach out to Timely to learn more, and try Timely for free!