Artist Bookings Insider guide to hosting great events.

Get stuff done early

Personal grooming – don’t wait till the last minute – get your haircut, facial, waxing, tanning, clothing sorted early in the week so any actual disasters can be managed. Think bleached blonde hair turning green, or finding your new shoes are uncomfortable and giving you blisters. I once heard of a lady who got her ears pierced the day before a wedding and ended up with septicaemia.

Clothing – check your outfit several days before the event. Clothes have to fit well, with all the buttons, zips and fasteners working properly. Check to make sure clothes are clean. We have heard 100’s of stories of people discovering stains on their clothing on the day of an event resulting in mad dash to the shops or emergency shirt washing and drying in venue bathrooms.

Hair and Makeup - If you are having makeup and hair done on the day of the event ensure you can get your clothing on without worrying about it messing your look.

Sewing kit– save the day with a small selection of safety pins, needle and thread (black, white and beige), Hollywood tape and elastic ready to repair the inevitable lost button, broken zip or falling hem.

First aid kit - headaches, the runs, itchy eyes, sores throats, allergic responses, falls, cuts – events can trigger a range of high stress emotional responses – make sure you have a first aid kit prepped and ready to go.

Food and venues– send a confirmation email to the caterers or venue confirming time, place, parking arrangements etc – ensure you get a response. Many a disaster has been averted by careful checking of dates and times. If you are catering yourself – get the shopping done now – better to have everything on site and prepped a day or so in advance then spending all day trying to manage food plus the 1000 other things heading your way.

Entertainment – confirm arrival times, event running order and important music with your entertainment agency. Confirm any requirements your performers may have like armless chairs, cover from the weather, performance space and access to power.

Ensure everyone knows which space has been reserved for the performers and make sure its safe. You cannot expect a DJ to play under a leaky marquee in the middle of a storm with the electrical cables running on the soggy soil nor can a string quartet sit outside in the blazing sun for two hours, not only is it unfair on the performers but also destructive to the instruments (and the sound they produce).

Work out who will let the performers know when to stop and start (have an event MC/coordinator/best friend manage this on the day). Sometimes the performers are able to manage this for you by following your running order.

For Large at Home Events – stock the toilet paper, soap and handtowels, replace faulty lightbulbs in rooms and outdoor areas people may be accessing.
Clean up trip hazards, mow the lawn, get rid of the dog poo, cut back the overhanging branches, empty the clothes line, put away your medicine, jewellery, fragile art pieces, clean out the fridge, run all the crockery you will be using through the dishwasher.
Have a contact phone list of key people attached to the fridge, inform the neighbours (let them know what time you will be finishing and when the music will end)

Plan for after the event.

Cleaning - If your event is at home or in a public space ensure you have the post event cleaning organised. Hire that cleaner/roster the staff/rally the family/delegate where possible - whatever it takes to ensure its not all left to you.

Excess food, excess cake, excess grog – do you have a storage or disposal solution in place?

Are you wanting feedback? Do you really need it? Will it make a difference to anything? If you answer yes to these questions, create the post event email/questionnaire/survey so you only need to push a button following the event. Or print out your questions on small cards that guests fill out at the event (remember the pens).

Are you giving feedback – Venues, Caterers and Entertainers make their living from word of mouth reviews. As a rule of thumb, we suggest being gracious with your feedback. If you receive second-hand complaints from your guests be aware that you are only hearing one side of the story. Unless the mistakes are catastrophic be gracious.

• It’s hard for the staff to serve the preferred food option to the right person, if that person has changed seats.

• If Uncle Jonny wants a beer after the licence has finished – its basically illegal for the venue to comply

• if someone wants a specific song played don’t expect the band to know it on the night.

• Same with a DJ – we’d heard many stories of drunk guests requesting songs that the DJ has never heard of, has already played 5 times or contain swearing, racist or derogatory material or just generally offensive.

Thankyous and gift bags- Are you one of those people who will definitely sit down and write and deliver thankyou notes after the event? If so, ignore this tip however it you want to save time, expense and brain-nag we suggest you pre write thankyou cards and put them in with the gift bags.

The RSVP’s are in – arrange the seating plan, door list and name tags now. If someone doesn’t show, no big deal – if someone is a maybe, still create their name tags (its always a nice touch to have an actual name tag), create a no rsvp/maybe table on your seating plan to place those who forgot to be polite.

On the Day

If you have done your preplanning work, everything is going to be fine. But we do have some simple golden rules that help to reduce the stress of the day.

Rule one - if it isn’t perfect – don’t worry, no one with any manners will notice.

Rule two – if its all about you – then its not about them. Don’t waste your energy on the drama or attention seeking behaviour of others – and if you are changing your plans remember it’s to suit yourself not accommodate them.

Rule three– don’t panic – if the caterer said they would arrive at 2.00pm or the band said they would arrive at 6.00pm don’t go chasing them earlier and give them 15 minutes leeway.

Rule four- as the key person of the event you are responsible for the atmosphere – if you are joyful and happy then so will be your guests. Be delightful and your guests will be delighted.

We hope you enjoy our insider tips for a successful event – please feel free to contact us with any feedback.