A Pro Event Planner vs. Committee
Darryl Scotti 15 March 2018
When attending an event, you might have noticed an individual who seems to be watching over everything, always attending phone calls, writing things on the notepad and managing the event. Well, in case you didn’t know, that person is called an event planner.
Professional event planners are highly skilled in coordinating and managing every aspect of entertainment, professional, leisure or recreational events. Budgeting, venue selection, publicity, marketing, coordination, floor management, transportation, accommodation, decoration, design, stage setup, invites etc. are few of the most important aspects of an event which are managed by a professional event planner.
Professional event planners are hired to coordinate events efficiently and it is common to see them in an event managing everything to ensure that nothing gets missed. However, some people prefer screaming and shouting at vendors at their events as they decide to manage the event on their own. Or worse, they give the complex task of planning and managing an event to a volunteer committee.
Volunteer Committees
A volunteer committee is basically set up to manage events without relying on professional event planners. Ordinary people are recruited to become a part of the committee and the fact that they have no prior experience in managing events is enough to give a glimpse of the kind of service they’ll provide.
People think that by working with a volunteer committee for event planning, they’ll save their valuable dollars and the event will be successful too. But, when they have to run here and there all stressed up, they realize that it was a lousy idea to give the task of event planning to people who have no idea what must be done to plan an event.
When it comes to taking important decision for an event, a volunteer committee who must make decisions collectively, muddles things up and completely ruins the event. That’s no surprise, since the whole team is mostly inexperienced and have no idea what they’re doing. Event planning is no rose garden for unskilled people, it takes years of experience and skills to manage an event, not everyone can do it! That’s why professional event planners exist to handle the complex task of managing an event.
Always a Disadvantage
To illustrate our point about volunteer committee being a bad option for event planning, we’ve compiled a list of six disadvantages of working with a volunteer committee for an event management.
1. Inexperience
As highlighted previously, members of a volunteer committee are inexperienced. Ask yourself, can you think about managing 200 guests at an event, set up the venue, arrange seating and food for them and guarantee that nothing will go wrong? Sounds like a daunting task, right?
Members of a volunteer committee have to do all these important things and although tasks are divided among each individual, but since they haven’t done any of these things before in their life, the work proves too much for them and they hesitate. The end result: your event is a mess.
2. Time
When it comes to planning events, the skill to manage time properly is a necessity. Since volunteer committees lack experience, they take more time to accomplish every part of preparation and fail to manage the time. As a result, the schedule of the event is disturbed- food service, speeches, entertainment, nothing is done on time and this proves to be a disaster for the host.
3. No Teamwork
In a volunteer committee as random people are recruited to complete event planning tasks, they lack the coordination required to perform each task efficiently. There’s no teamwork and they’re often found arguing over who gets to complete what task. Volunteers fail to agree on one thing and don’t listen to each other which lead to a poorly organized event.
4. Costly Mistakes
Inexperience, paying no attention to details and being unaware about logistics are all costly mistakes that could jeopardize an event. A volunteer committee is prone to these mistakes as workers are inexperienced and lack the necessary skills required to plan and manage an event.
5. Stress
Having an event planned by a volunteer committee proves to be extremely stressful. Since nothing is done right, you’re worried about displeasing the guests. You also worry about wasting time of the guests as everything goes out of schedule. More stress to an already tense life? You obviously don’t want that, so avoid working with a volunteer committee for event planning!
6. Lack Creativity
Since a volunteer committee is not experienced with planning different kinds of events, they lack the creativity required to make an event appealing to the guests. They won’t work on different themes, décor and other details to give you something unique. Instead, they’ll just see what others have done and provide you an exact replica of that.
Professional Event Planners
Professional event planners have years of experience in managing all kinds of events from corporate meetings, off-site meetings to weddings and parties. Professional event planners provide several benefits that a volunteer committee can never offer. Let’s take a look at few benefits of hiring a professional event planner.
1. Saves Dollar
No one wants to have their hard earned dollars wasted on vendors, caterers and other personnel who charge high rates for their services. Professional event planners have a network with vendors and are therefore able to negotiate special discounts for their clients.
Can a volunteer committee do that? Obviously, they can’t! Since they are not familiar with vendors, they get no discounts and you end up paying a huge amount for even a simple event.
2. Time is Saved
A lot of time is required to plan an event. Professional event planners save your time and energy as they’re familiar with vendors and have everything ready for an event. They pay attention to all the details and come up with unique ideas to ensure that your event stands out!
They don’t get overwhelmed like a volunteer committee and have the perfect idea about all the little details that need to be taken care of to make your event successful.
3. No Costly Mistakes
Unlike volunteer committees, a professional event planner is experienced, pays attention to all the details and has the logistic awareness required to prevent costly mistakes that can ruin an event.
Professional event planners don’t make mistakes as they have years of experience in the field of event planning and know how to handle everything. They don’t miss out on anything which can upset your budget and cause you to pay extra dollars.
4. Helping out with the Budget
Professional event planners have experience of planning different kinds of events and can guide you about how much money you’ll need for your event. They can help you set up the budget and provide you with suitable options or alternatives.
A volunteer committee often fails to assist with budget as they don’t know how much money will be required for a particular event. With no guidance, you end up spending more money on an event than you had originally planned.
5. No Stress
The task of planning an event can be quite stressful. Handing over the job to a volunteer committee proves to be even more stressful as they fail to handle the important event management tasks properly. Managing budget, time, guest lists, venues, suppliers, caterers… all of these things require experience and skills. Otherwise, the person in charge would panic and mess up everything.
Professional event planners have the skills and experience to handle the important event planning tasks. You won’t have to worry about anything going wrong and can enjoy the evening with the guests while the event planners take care of the rest.
6. Makes Your Dream a Reality
Have a specific detail in mind? The lights blue, the carpet red, illuminating lanterns, champagne to serve, Italian food, melodious music and a speech to end the event. Ah! Yes, that’s your vision. A professional event planner can bring it to life. Just tell them the details and they’ll make it happen.
On the day of the event, when you’ll arrive at the venue, you will feel like your dream has come true. That’s the kind of value a professional event planner brings!
7. Offers Advice
Professional event planners have planned all sorts of different events and can therefore offer advice on what works best. If you don’t have specific details in mind, they can provide suggestions on what you can do to make your event stand out. Or, you can leave everything for them to decide and they’ll give you something original and memorable.
A volunteer committee can never give you advice about your event as they don’t know the nitty-gritty of different kinds of events. And, if you leave everything to them, they’ll come up with a dull theme and a boring event that no one would enjoy.
8. Adaptability
No matter how well an event is planned, there’s always a chance of something going wrong. A volunteer committee can never handle crisis as they probably have never experienced one. However, professional event planners know exactly what to do, if things go wrong. They know how to adapt and can think on their feet to quickly execute Plan B. This adaptability proves to a vital asset when something goes wrong.
With quick thinking of a professional event planner, a potential disaster can turn into a memorable experience.
9. Meet Key Objectives
Product launches, client events, companywide conference, charity events or a trade exhibition are a few of the events that have a strategic purpose and are planned to achieve measurable goals.
By hiring a professional event planner, you’ll not only save time and money, but also ensure that all your key objectives are met. They’ll implement a clever strategy to ensure your guests are satisfied and notice your brand. They’ll even help you market the event to ensure that the right attendees join the event. Your event will reach a wider audience and stay in the heart of guests for a long time.
10. Professional touch
It is common for people to talk about an event after it is over. So, why not give them something great to talk about? A professional event planner can make it happen and give that professional touch to an event that makes it stand out. It’s not hard to tell the difference between an event planned by a professional and that planned by a bunch of inexperienced volunteers.
The décor, theme, elegance, food and aroma of an event planned by a professional are on a whole different level, no one can fail to notice it!
In a nutshell, a professional event planner will save your time and valuable dollars, help you plan your budget and meet key objectives and give you an event you have dreamed of. Not only that, they’ll take your stress away and make your event memorable. On the contrary, a volunteer committee will prove to be more costly and waste your time, won’t be able to coordinate and manage tasks and will make your event a nightmare that you’d wish you never had.
So, you answer, who is the winner in the battle “Pro Event Planner Vs Volunteer Committee”? We know what your answer is! That’s why at The Great Event, we are here for you to plan your next big event.
With 30 years of experience in planning corporate events, social celebrations, party events, meetings and casino parties, we exist to make events successful. Give us the opportunity to deliver quality customer service tailored to your specific needs. Call us today 408-298-3001 or click here to schedule a free consultation.
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