Best Practices for Successful Special-event Execution

• Event theme and design, tabletop and room decor
• Strategic planning, contract negotiation and review, budget blueprint development and management
• Venue selection and event operations
• Teaser campaigns, printed material (invitations, menus, programs, etc.)
• Accommodations, transportation, food, beverage, floral, gift bags, entertainment and entertainment riders
• Photographers/videographers, special effects, audiovisual, stage lighting
• Fire Marshal regulations, permits, event insurance, stage insurance (covering all who will be on stage during your event)
• Function sheet preparation, pre-cons, speechwriters, emcees/master of ceremonies, show production, show flow, call sheets, show books
• Technical directors, stage managers, dry tech, teleprompters
• Recipient awards, live event and industry media coverage
• On-site orchestration, final reconciliation

Fundraising events require an added understanding of details such as ticket sales, sponsorship, silent-auction item procurement, silent-auction management and event advertising.

It's essential that each fundraising event you do is better than the last and has met your fundraising objectives and provided a return on your -- and your sponsors' -- investment of time and money. This will give you a solid foundation on which to launch your next event. Your media and sponsors will be focused on the financial results that your last event produced, the guests that came out and supported your cause and how well your event was received. Remember, strategically planned, this year's event can be successfully used as a marketing tool for your next fundraising event. One sponsored event, if favorably received, can result in additional sponsors lining up to be part of the next event, which is something to aspire to.

Organizations that have continued to grow their events find that new sponsors don't wait to be approached but instead inquire about sponsorship opportunities for the following year even as the current event is taking place.

It's not hard to build your event with that kind of response as well as to receive extensive television, newspaper and magazine coverage. Making the time and creating opportunities to become highly skilled in the business side of successful event execution will set you and your organization apart and raise the level of sponsors, attendees and the media -- and ultimately the fundraising money and awareness to your cause -- you bring in.