A new year is a new opportunity to set goals that will take your events — and your professional life — to the next level. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, goal setting in the past few years has looked significantly different than the years before, and the event industry has seen countless changes and difficult situations. Nonetheless, making resolutions for the new year is a chance to set yourself up for success, even if you can’t foresee what changes will come.
Below are some goals for event planners to set this year to ensure all your events go off without a hitch!
Why Event Organizers Should Set Big Goals for the Year
For event professionals, 2023 is the time to finally regain a sense of normalcy and dive back into planning in-person events.
Smart goals for event planners this year will include blending all that you’ve learned over the last few years of virtual events with your knowledge on organizing in-person events. Take this opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in online, hybrid, and physical event types.
2023 will be a big year in the events world, and organizers who make resolutions for themselves will be at the forefront of hosting well-executed events.
7 New Year’s Resolutions for Another Year of Successful Events
Consider setting the following New Year’s resolutions to make 2023 a successful event-planning year.
1. Reflect on Last Year To Optimize This One
One of the best ways to guide the event planner goals you set this year is by reflecting on the last year and assessing how things went. Were there any goals you set last year that you didn’t meet? Set them with a clear path to meet them in 2023. Did any promotional tactics prove to be beneficial in driving ticket sales? Try implementing those same tactics this year to attract more attendees.
Assessing your strengths and weaknesses from last year can provide essential insight for future events in 2023.
2. Expand Your Client Base
Business growth depends on expanding your existing client base. To grow your client base, you need to prioritize both solidifying connections with existing clients through excellent customer service, and reaching out to new customers.
Use social media and other digital marketing avenues to your benefit. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are just the basics, but are still excellent ways to get the word out about your event or business. Digital marketing marketing is an ever-growing and ever-changing arena, and one that is absolutely essential to today’s businesses. The new year is a good time to explore how your digital marketing strategy can help your client base expand.
3. Improve Your Efficiency With the Latest in Event Technology
Event management software like Events.com can make the event organization process significantly easier.
Not only can you improve existing practices like scheduling and selling tickets, but exceptional customer support and data insights can also help you drive business growth.
4. Sell Out Tickets With Unique Event Promotion
One of the most significant benefits of being an event organizer in the modern age is having access to numerous marketing avenues. Make it a goal to promote events in new and different ways in 2023 to sell more tickets.
There are endless promotional opportunities, but some include:
- Making the most out of social media strategies
- Offering giveaways
- Incentivizing people to buy tickets with early-bird specials
5. Experiment With In-Person, Hybrid, and Virtual Events
As people return to in-person events, you can return to crafting the perfect experience for a group of people and observing how they enjoy your event. But you also have the chance to experiment with virtual and hybrid events.
In many ways, creating fun and unique virtual and hybrid events can be more challenging than in-person events. However, remember that each type of event has its benefits:
- Virtual events are often less expensive because you don’t have to pay for a venue, catering, and more
- Hybrid events may appeal to the widest audience as people can attend the event either in-person or via digital methods
- In-person events are excellent for making personal connections and promoting a positive group experience
A balanced understanding of the modern event landscape is essential for event organizers. As a result, you can meet more business goals and help a broader range of clients with experience hosting diverse event types.
6. Learn New Strategies and Skills
Now is the perfect time to learn something new! With the changes of the past few years, there have been numerous innovations in the industry. Adapting to the changes and implementing best practices in your own work will ensure that you can create the very best event experiences. Make 2023 the year that you challenge yourself and apply a new strategy or skill.
Potential skills and strategies you can implement this year include:
- Gathering more data on your target audience
- Learning one or more new event-hosting software
- Brainstorming new ways to make online events a seamless experience for attendees
7. Focus on Lowering Your Stress Levels
Event organization is a high-pressure career, and every portion of the event planning stage can be anxiety-inducing. However, taking time to lower your stress levels will not only help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, but it will keep you clear-headed and ensure you make calm and rational decisions.
When you’re stressed, the people around you can feel it, which can rub off on individuals helping you with your event as well as clients and attendees. Therefore, projecting a sense of calm and control is essential to making your event enjoyable for those around you.
Remember to take breaks as needed and use essential tools like event organizer software to set a detailed schedule that will keep your event planning on track.
As You Prepare for the New Year, Remember This…
Setting event planning goals is essential to growing as an event organizer and preparing for the future. However, setting event goals, implementing new processes, and staying abreast of the latest event trends is only part of the process.
In addition to planning for the year ahead, remember to do the following to ensure your event objectives are being met.
Always Plan for Unexpected Situations
Even the most perfectly planned events will have a few kinks. Thinking ahead about what could go wrong and preparing plans B, C, and D is valuable, but it will only get you so far. Practicing the art of adaptability and acceptance will ensure you can think on your toes and avoid getting frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. By mentally preparing for the unplannable, you’ll be poised to respond to unforeseen circumstances with ingenuity and poise.
Treat Feedback as a Valuable Asset
The best way to refine your event planning processes is by asking for and accepting feedback from clients, attendees, and vendors. Whether you utilize feedback forms, email follow-up surveys, or request feedback through any other means, gathering information on how your events can improve is essential.
Clients and stakeholders can provide insight into the efficacy of the event you organized, attendees can provide valuable feedback regarding their experience, and vendors can offer input on their ease of doing business with you.
Feedback is free advice you can gather from every event participant; without it, you’ll have difficulty knowing what you’re doing right and which areas you can refine.
Don’t Forget To Make Time for Yourself
Self-care is essential! Every career comes with its own set of challenges, and event organizing can be highly stressful.
Be sure to regularly set aside time during the planning portion of the event to breathe and review. In addition, arrive at your events with enough time to prepare so you don’t spend the entire event feeling like you’re trying to catch up.
Most importantly, don’t forget to enjoy your event! So much goes into preparing for events you may be inclined to spend the entire event running interference. But try to make sure you take some time to have fun and enjoy the payoff of all your hard work.
Start the Year Strong With an All-Inclusive Event Management Software
Event organizers who set goals in 2023 will benefit from utilizing an all-inclusive event management software tool like Events.com to achieve these goals.
With Events.com, you can access the best tools in event management, promotion, and sponsorship. Events.com will be at your side every step of the way, from the planning stage to the execution stage.
Reach out to Events.com to see how we can help you streamline your next event today.
