Event Planning Checklist Template
Event planning is a sequencing problem before it is anything else. Nearly everything that goes wrong went wrong because something was done in the wrong order, usually because a supplier was booked before the thing that determines what supplier you need. This checklist runs backwards from event day.
See the coursesEverything on this page is yours to copy and adapt. The courses cover the decisions behind it: what to charge, what to promise, and what to put in writing.
What yours needs to cover
- ✓ A first-fortnight section: the brief, the budget shape, and the contract signed before anything is booked
- ✓ Venue and date, which come first because almost every other decision depends on both
- ✓ A supplier booking order, sequenced by lead time rather than by importance
- ✓ A guest and numbers section, since catering and seating cannot be finalized without it
- ✓ A final-fortnight section covering confirmations, the run sheet and the final payment schedule
- ✓ An event-week and pack-down section, which is the part planners forget until the day
How to use it
- Work backwards from the date. Everything on this list has a deadline defined by event day, not by today.
- Do not book a supplier before the brief is signed. That is the single most expensive ordering mistake in the trade.
- Confirm every supplier in writing in the final fortnight, however sure you are.
- Treat pack-down as part of the plan, because that is when deposits are lost and damage is argued about.
Event Planning Checklist Template FAQs
How far ahead should you plan an event?
The honest answer is that the venue decides. Popular venues in peak season are booked a year or more ahead, and a corporate day can come together in six weeks. Work backwards from the date you have rather than forwards from today, which is what this checklist is arranged to do.
What order should I book suppliers in?
By lead time, not by importance. The photographer everybody wants and the venue itself go first because they run out. The stationery does not.
Is there a file to download?
The checklist is laid out on this page so you can work straight off it. Units 4 and 5 of either course cover the sequencing in detail, including the decisions that change the order for a particular event.
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