Meeting planning is so much more difficult than many people think, and if you don’t keep on top of every detail, you can easily become overwhelmed and wind up in a time crunch. Thankfully, there are ways to avoid this going into a new year of meetings to be planned. Follow the simple guidelines below and never dread your deadlines in 2020!
Start Early
This can’t be emphasized enough: you need to begin planning as soon as possible, ideally NOW for a year or more of meetings and events to come. Everything – finding a meeting center, hiring staff, hiring speakers – everything will be more expensive, more difficult, and more time-consuming the longer you wait. Give yourself and your clients a break and give yourself plenty of time to set up a checklist of things to do and put that checklist in the form of a timeline that you share. That way, everybody is on the same page and knows what needs to be taken care of and when.
Use Technology
Let technology do the heavy lifting for you. Nowadays there are numerous ways in which the herculean task of event planning can be made easier by utilizing the proper software, project management apps, and marketing automation tools. On average, companies that use event planning software save themselves a whopping 223 hours per year! Technology and software in these three areas are key: registration, communication and collaboration of content and surveys and reporting. There are many applications on the market or each of these vital planning areas.
Focus
You may think you’re great at multi-tasking and that in fact, you’re being more efficient by doing so. However, recent research conducted by Stanford University refutes that notion. According to the study, high multi-taskers were more prone to distraction and had less retention than low multi-taskers. Distraction is one of the primary time-wasters, so it’s clear that an ability to focus rather than to spread yourself too thin trying to do many things at once will be far more efficient. If necessary, delegate tasks so you can keep laser-focused.
If you take these tips onboard, you’ll find the days transitioning into a new decade will go more smoothly and deadlines won’t loom over you. To ease your burden even more, connect with AMA Executive Conference Centers and we will help with planning your next executive meeting, team training or conference event!
