Project: The hosting organization needed professional event support with vendor management for their event, from selection to contract negotiations to managing the relationship leading up to the event. Brought on event lead to provide expert event assistance and oversee this entire process, working within budget set by organization.
Approach:
The hosting organization shared information with the event lead, detailing the specs as to what they were looking to achieve with their event, including specifics such as color schemes, food preferences/requirements, and other details. The event lead identified the areas that needed to be covered, including catering, décor, entertainment and a film crew, and created RFPs for each area.
Additionally, they researched vendors in the space and contacted those that had positive reviews for similar types of projects. Upon receiving multiple bids for each aspect of the event, the event lead reviewed them, dug into teh specifics to ensure they understood every element of the proposal, and narrowed the selection down to 1 or 2 per area, using a matrix of cost, offerings, and reputation to determine who made the final cut.
The next step was to negotiate the best terms in the contract for the client, not only focusing on financials, but also ensuring that timing, deliverables, and other elements were in favor of the client’s needs, as well as including penalties for missed deadlines and errors on the vendors’ end.
Once all vendors were lined up and contracts fully executed, the event lead worked closely with all vendors leading up to the event, tracking key dates and deadlines and ensuring that the process was kept on track. Vendors were included on the run of show where appropriate and looped into internal meetings when required. When necessary, vendors were brought together to coordinate details and ensure a smooth execution of the event.
On-site at the event, the event lead served as the point person for all vendor communications and ensured that their participation mapped to the run of show.
Post-event, all financial agreements were reconciled, and accounts were closed out successfully. The event lead provided full reporting to the client for their internal documentation, and also updated internal software to maintain accurate accounts.
The organization was able to focus their energy on the VIP attendees and ensure that the event program ran as desired, knowing that the vendor management was professionally handled for them.