Event Planning Tips

Event Planning Essentials: Tips for Selecting Event Vendors

Juhi Purswani
,
December 7, 2017

Finding the perfect event supplier who is suited for the right task at the right time will ensure effective execution of the planning process.

A vendor who’ll provide top-notch facilities to an event planner for his/her upcoming event is an important and integral part of that event. The accurate selection of the suppliers plays a pivotal role in positive outcomes of the event.

Once the shortlisting of the vendors is done, you simply have to motivate them to show precise work in the field.

Here is a list of some of the best tips and guidelines that’ll help you chose the apt vendors for their upcoming events.

· Narrow down the vendors you require —

The trick to creating a good vendor list is precision. To do that, a planner must first understand his/her requirements. Sit down with your logistics checklist and note down the things for which you need a specific vendor. Try and club vendors if possible.

For e.g., you may require just one vendor for decorations as well as for technical setups OR in many cases, the venue providers will help you out with various planning scenarios.

Another example of the same is rather than hiring a vendor for the website and another one for designing an event app you can just choose the vendor who provides you with the entire event management software suite.

· Ask and Listen —

Two of the must-dos for an event. Communicate through your networking channel and ask for recommendations from clients, colleagues and from within your circle as well. With an active event planners network, you may get plenty of valid contacts of vendors that may be useful for future events too.

Go with the choice of vendors that have already been a part of a successful event. Vendor rating is an actual system that ranks the vendors on the basis of certain criteria like pricing, reliability, durability, support, lead time, emergency support and so on. Certified vendor providers are more preferred in comparison with others.

· Take the help of a little tech —

Technology has done a lot of enhancements by bringing people closer through various social platforms. With the use of Facebook and LinkedIn pages and event groups, you may get the information of the best vendor in town.

In addition, you’ll also get the ratings and reviews of their work which will help your decision of hiring them uncomplicated. In the era of event tech, vendors are using technology to provide their services to the event planners. Vendor technology is trending, efficient and effective for event planners.

· Create a list —

Planning an event is undoubtedly a hectic task. Managing all your work and details at a single place is crucial. Listing down the possible vendor choices and narrowing it down from hundreds of vendors from a haystack will give you a sigh of relief.

List down the vendors according to the logistic sheet i.e. for catering, decorations, securities, entertainment and so on. The listing of all the pros and cons of the chosen vendors will help you out to choose the best ones for the perfect task.

Create a event list

· Take a demo —

A demonstration of the vendor’s past work will let you acknowledge his/her working style, management skill and the success of the event, be it as small as a workshop or a huge summit.

Every organizer is unique and the level of services they provide must be understood well before being finalized. The demo provides a quality impact on the event planner with their achievements and the prospects they provide for future.

· Deadline Discussions —

After you are convinced by the demonstration of the vendor and decided to go for the best one, the next step is to decide the timeline of the events and how everything will fall into place. The deadline decision is vital at this stage as it gives the time to decide and make things work in that time span.

Discuss event deadlines

Abiding by the time, vendors also display quality services and the event becomes a big victory. If the vendor is unable to agree to terms and conditions for timeliness, better select someone else.

Managing the vendors:

The post-process of selecting the vendors and suppliers is of utmost importance as well i.e. Management. Managing the vendors and keeping an eye on their errands consumes oodles of energy and time. Even a single bad fish can ruin the entire pond; similarly, a single bad vendor can create a queue of misconceptions and a faulty image for the planner.

Some of the factors that come into effect post-choosing the vendor are:

· Negotiate —

While planning any event, you are not only responsible to look after the entire event arrangement but also to keep everything on a definite budget. Negotiation is a quality that all the event planner must master. Negotiation in terms of better services provided by the suppliers at the most convenient rates possible. Finalize on terms that are fair at both ends.

Take ample amount of time, strategize, and list down the possible incentives that will benefit your side of the event. Being straightforward with the vendors is appreciable. Practice and rehearse on how and what exactly to talk during the negotiation process and after a fruitful bargain, a written document for the same is a must.

· Open communication and transparency —

The lesser the opacity between the suppliers and organizer the biggie that event will be. Yes, the vendors appreciate total transparency and official responses rather than prolonged awaited replies that don’t guarantee any assurance.

Open communication and transparency

Communication is the key to success. Apply it. All the details starting from the requirements to the in-hand budget must be discussed with the vendor diligently.

· Connect on social media, help each other out —

Social media is an excellent platform to engage vendors as well as the organizers’ in a conversation that’ll profit both the parties and help each other out in their respective tasks.

For example, if an event organizer crosses his path with a supplier, he may directly talk about his requirements with the vendor and the entire process may initiate with that. It may also work as an event planner may contact several other planners to get a rough idea about what vendors to contact for the series of tasks for an event.

· Follow-up on the vendor deadlines at regular intervals —

A headache it may seem, but an essential chore of an event planner is to keep up to date with the deadlines of the vendor’s duties. Timely follow-ups will ensure the vendor that he is liable to complete his tasks. To follow the work of vendors through an event checklist is a simple task.

For additional information about event planning and improvising your event using event tech, you may browse through Hubilo.

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Author
Juhi Purswani

Juhi Purswani is a major in Information Technology. Currently a Content Developer in Hubilo, she is a passionate writer and loves to research and explore new and unique topics. Working in an event-tech company, she is getting accustomed to the technological revolutions that are taking place in the event management industry. Fond of Dan Brown books, she is an avid reader of fiction. In her relaxation moments, she pens down her thoughts in the form of poems and quotes. You can follow her on twitter on @19_juhi.

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