Planning large meetings. Planning for large meetings poses different challenges to that of small meetings. In large meetings, you will have to deal with vendors and other external entities that you will depend on to help execute your plan. Another issue is coordinating the travel arrangements of those who are traveling to the event. There are many details to cover, and it really cannot be done all by one person. The F.A.S.T. strategy helps you organize who, what, where, why, and how for your large meeting. Let’s take a look. Form: In this phase, you will form your meeting project team. There are many things to think about and organize, and doing all on your own is taking a big risk. Gain approval from your manager to enlist the help of others in planning for your event. Once the team is formed, you should create project and budget plans. Acquire: In this phase, you will acquire the necessary information to begin solidifying your plan. Here, you obtain quotes from your vendors, caterers, entertainment provider, printing costs, and hall or hotel venue. In addition, you would acquire a list of resources you may need to bring from work, like reports or a presentation. Secure: In this phase, you will confirm the needed resources for your large meeting. Make sure you get these items secured in advance. Waiting till the last minute could result in you not being able to secure the resource. Make sure you secure the venue, caterer, attendees, transportation, hotel accommodations, and the date for the event. Take: In this place, take the time to arrive early and verify all is set up according to your plan. This is when you test any audiovisual equipment and the presentation. You should take the name of the manager of the venue and get to know them, just in case you need to contact them for an issue or problem. The same is true for the caterer and the entertainment provider. Take their names too. Finally, take down lessons you learned from this event for planning future events. This is how you get better at planning for large events. Large events do not have to be complicated. If you follow these F.A.S.T. steps, you should be able to handle this process with minimal stress, one step at a time.
