Who should be in your lead team? You need someone to be clearly responsible for each of the main components: Content, Promotion and Logistics. You will also need an overall Event Lead.
Being the content lead is more than just putting the program together — it’s leading the process in deciding on the flow of the event, the vibe, the branding, the messaging, even the catering and the take-aways . It is the how of “how will I get the audience to do what I want them to do?”.
This is the person responsible for getting the audience to the event. They need to work hand in glove with the content lead to make sure the messaging and program meet the audience motivation to attend. They also have to do the detailed work of getting the invitation lists together and deciding on the registration and check in process.
Your promotion lead may also take on responsibility for securing sponsors and exhibitors — though this job may be big enough to warrant it’s own lead.
The person responsible for making it all happen. This is the person that keeps everyone on deadline, that manages the budget, that contracts all the suppliers, that makes sure everyone knows what they need to do on the day.
Sure — on some events one person does all of these roles and by default they are the event lead. When you have more than two in the team you need to make someone the overall Event Lead. Their role is to make sure everyone works effectively together and be the final decision maker when there is more than one path forward.
Often the difference between good and great events are how well the leads and teams work together: The closer you work together, bounce ideas off each other and help each other to succeed the better the outcome will be.
Managing the budget is one of the key skills of a great logistics lead. You should know at all times what your revenue and costs are — to the dollar. This means working alongside the content and promotion teams to know exactly what they are trying to achieve and coming up with solutions that are in budget by working closely — and often creatively — with your suppliers.
Your budget may change — you may even cancel the event — during the planning process if things don’t go to plan, so you need to set review dates.
If you are relying on revenue from ticket sales, sponsors or exhibitors you should set budget review dates to see if revenue expectations are being met.
If your event is free to attend you may have targets for the number of RSVPs. Again you need to set review dates to make sure expectations are being met.