The Event Planning Toolkit will help you rise to the occasion to plan and execute extraordinary meetings and events by getting organized, reducing time-wasting mistakes, and inspiring creativity. The Event Planning Toolkit provides the information you need to prepare and execute each aspect of your event with precision and enjoy the big day with less stress and fewer unpleasant surprises. It provides the assistance you need to make your event a real hit. Many people find the thought of planning an event to be an intimidating prospect. They think they're not organized enough, or they don't have the experience required to pull it off. But whatever the occasion, the path to success is straightforward; it's a matter of thinking through the details and using a proven strategy to create an action plan and execute that plan on time and on budget. In this book, you will not only learn how to manage your scope, time, and resources, but also identify goals, create a budget, find the right venue, assemble an effective team, and much more. Use The Event Planning Toolkit to uncover some juicy nuggets of information that you can apply to your next event and give you the courage and confidence take on any new project or assignment that comes your way.
Linda Joyce Jones is a self-proclaimed obsessive organizer of people, places, things and events. Her passion for planning events has been used in orchestrating special occasions in her personal and professional life for over 30 years. Her pragmatic approach and knack for sweating the small stuff has helped her organize successful corporate conferences, community events, retreats, fundraisers, and more. This includes serving multiple years as chairperson for The Ohio Sauerkraut Festival, a nationally recognized food and crafts festival that attracts 450 artisans and 250,000 visitors annually. Linda resides in Waynesville, Ohio with her husband, Matt.
Plan your event with ease, self-assurance, and less stress with The Event Planning Toolkit, which will walk you through the steps to planning and executing any event successfully.
Jones draws on 30 years of professional experience in this winning debut that strips the mystery out of event planning. Writing for those who 'find the thought of planning an event to be an intimidating prospect,' Jones lays out the project management basics needed to put together a business, family, or community events. Her tips cover logistics and essential resources (money, space, people, and connections), and she offers straightforward advice on how to assemble a team, design an efficient room layout, and manage aspects such as sound, lighting, and parking. The author also gives solutions for common complications, among them finding a speaker and rounding up volunteers, and an appendix of budget worksheets, event agendas, and equipment checklists rounds things out. Along the way, Jones writes of her experiences in event planning and how she made use of her missteps as 'prime example[s] of how not paying attention to a seemingly minor detail can create a lot of unnecessary stress and scrambling.' This comprehensive, encouraging guide is a great resource for anyone planning an event, large or small. * Publishers Weekly * As a veteran in the event world, I have seen many books to help the planning process. This one is an exceptional work written in a straightforward way that makes any task easy to understand and any challenge surmountable. This is the kind of book that will get all dog-eared and is destined to become the new security blanket for the industry and the new standard of excellence. -- David Adler, Chairman and Founder, BizBash, from the foreword Adding this book to your personal and professional library will allow you to stand out from the rest. Drawing on Linda's rich and proven expertise and experience, it provides all the information necessary to make your meetings more effective and efficient. The worksheets and checklists will help in planning any type of meeting or event, whether it's a sporting event, Chamber of Commerce luncheon, or large scale gathering of hundreds or even thousands of participants. You're in for a great journey: enjoy the ride! -- Edward E. Scannell, CMP, CSP, Past Nat'l Pres., ASTD, IFTDO, MPI, NSA, coauthor of "Games Trainers Play" series
