Tips For Planning A Great Group Event
Planning a High school retreat? A corporate getaway? A weekend reunion? No matter what the occasion for your event, below we have listed 5 great tips to help you along the way.
Our team has had years of experience planning group events for all sizes and occasions. We have hosted weddings, ran summer camps, planned weekend getaways, and some pretty epic birthday parties. In all the years we have been putting on events in different professional capacities, we have learned a thing or two about the most important parts to consider.
Whether you are planning an event right now or just thinking about planning an event in the future, we hope that you find our ideas here useful when it comes to putting your plans in motion.
Timetables and Scheduling
“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” is how the saying goes…You can plan, plan, plan, but may need to be ready to change everything at the last minute! Depending on the location of your event you need to make sure that your plans can go ahead successfully, come rain or shine.
This means finding our way in advance about the facilities available to you at the place you have hired. Do they have indoor spaces for you to use if it rains? If so, how many people can you comfortably fit inside? Do they have PA systems in place for you to address your group? Are they helping you plan your event or do you need to bring your own staff? Is it accessible for guests with mobility issues? Is everything easily signposted? (this is especially important if it is a large venue such as a summer camp where things are very spread out).
These are just some of the questions you should be asking your venue ahead of time.
Stretch Your Budget
No matter what sort of event you are planning, you are sure to have some budget constraints. There are always limits to what you can do but there are also ways to stretch your budget.
Food and drink are often one of the biggest costs for any group event. You can help keep your catering costs down in a number of ways: Ask your venue if you can provide your own alcohol or if your guests can do BYOB. For food, you could supply your own catering that you can purchase cheaper ahead of time. You could ask to have fewer food options for your guests on the menu, therefore lowering the overall cost of catering (this will help the venue as they can cater more specifically to your group). Or you could simply cook yourself…grab a BBQ, throw on a comedy apron and you’re ready to go!
Know your audience
You can spend your time putting together the greatest weekend ever, only to find that the people you have attending don’t really love the activities that you are putting on or that your venue has available.
One way to get around this is to mix up your schedule with choice periods where guests can fill their time doing activities that they choose to do (this also helps take the pressure off you to fill every minute). You can also promote and highlight certain activities by sending out sign up sheets ahead of your weekend. By getting guests to sign up ahead of time, you will be able to know what activities are going to be popular and can plan the rest of your weekend around this.
If you are planning to split your guests into teams for the weekend, tell them to bring certain colored tops ahead of time. This allows you to mix groups up based on colored shirts and also helps to mix up groups so that people meet new people.
Food, glorious food!
We already mentioned above how to stretch your budget by looking at different catering options. However, getting the food right is as important as any other part of your planning. From our experience, guests will tell you straight away if they do not like the food! This can be especially true of any guests with dietary restrictions. So be upfront with the venue about allergies but also dietary requirements. Vegetarians don’t just want to eat mushrooms all the time!
Speak with your venue ahead of time and make sure that you are happy with the menu options available. Most venues will be happy to provide sample menus for you ahead of time. Furthermore, if you know that your guests want certain foods on the menu, tell the venue’s coordinator that this is what you want. Usually, chefs will be more than happy to provide food that they know the guests are going to love.
It is important to remember that you cannot please everyone! No matter how hard you and the venue plan the menus together, someone is always going to want something that isn’t available!
Opening and Closing Ceremonies
Having a large or small group come together for a weekend event can be a wonderful bonding experience. It is important to help facilitate those moments to bond through occasions where you bring everyone together.
Holding an opening ceremony or event is a great way to set the tone for your weekend. Similarly, bringing everyone together again at the end to recognize the time you have spent together can really bring home what a great experience the weekend has been.
Finally, you can make time to recognize people at the the end of the weekend with awards or acknowledgments or potentially do this at the end of each night, around a campfire. Nothing closes a day better than roasting marshmallows and sharing stories over a fire.