4 Roles To Fill At An Event

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Sounds so cheesy, doesn’t it? It’s so overused in every team-building event or catchphrase. But, the sentiment of these types of sayings remains true. The difference between a one-man show and a team is huge. The difference between an average team and a great team is just incomparable. This is especially highlighted when you plan an event. I know the saying “nothing is impossible”, but trying to pull off an event on your own is pretty damn close to an impossible task.

Look, we’ve all been there. We’ve had the experience of working with a poor team that doesn’t communicate with each other. The ones where a few people carry most of the workload while others don’t even know how to help.

And then you have the ones that just don’t pitch in and are unclear of their own role, they are just there to be there. Okay, enough ranting. The point is that planning an event is already tough enough in itself, so there is really no room for these tiny issues to hinders the entire team.

With that, here is a structure for putting together a team for your event, regardless of the size or type.

The Captain

This is the leader of the event. Or the president, director, any fancy title you want to give them. The captain is the person who knows everything. They are the visionary who understands the purpose of what the event is for and aims to delegate tasks to the team.

Before even starting, there should be an end goal that the event aims to achieve. This idea then trickles down towards how to structure the event, just a rough idea will do. Then, move on to the budgeting, the dates, the theme, and the type of attendees. Once this idea is established, look to share it and consult the rest of your team. Define each role clearly. You never want your team to be asking the wrong person the wrong question. That is very time consuming and it is a telltale that your planning process is flawed.

Another thing to note, you never ever want to have a situation where there are 2 captains. 2 captains sink the ship. 2 chefs make the food too salty. 2 drivers crash a car. Having a “co-pilot” is good, but having 2 pilots that are making decisions at the same time will only create unwanted friction. It doesn’t matter if the decision at the moment is right or wrong, having one person to direct the team is enough to direct the team and put the right committees in place.

Program administrators

Program administrators handle everything from catering to the scheduling. They are the ones that are in charge of the fine details of the event. In some cases, program administrators can be the assistants to the team captain. I’ll even argue that this is the most important role of an event solely due to the fact that program administrators are the person who executes the tasks given by the team captain.

Duties:

• Audience invitation
• Venue selection
• Choosing a caterer
• Seat arrangements
• Speakers, performances
• The itinerary
• Scheduling and timing

This is by no means a full list. Owing to the fact that there is less decision making in this role plus the workload that is required, having at least 2 or 3 committee members is the optimal number. Never only one. There are quite a number of things that this role is responsible for, so placing all the stress on one person can often butterfly effect into an even larger problem.

The operations committee

This division of your team greatly varies depending on the type of event you’re organizing. In essence, the role of an operations committee is to arrange the AV, security, and the setting-up for the event.

For example, if your event is a concert event, your operations committee will be focused on things like ticketing, security check, lighting, audio, and background visuals. On the other hand, if your event is a smaller event like a wedding, they will be responsible for setting up the props, the decor, arranging the tables, and even serving the guests.

Bear in mind as well that this team should also have tech support. Almost all of the events now have some sort of tech that is involved. And as we all know it too well, tech items can sometimes be naughty and malfunction when we need them the most. Having this tech support person or team to help with these issues immediately is even considered to be a necessity because not having them when things go wrong just wouldn’t look pretty.

Photographer & videographer

Well, if we’re to tirelessly plan an entire event, we might as well take full advantage of it, right?

The event photographer and videographer has a rather peculiar role. It’s either they are hired by the event planning company to capture the things that they are capable of or for the client to capture memories of the event. The footage can then be used on social media or for marketing purposes for the business.

Having a professional photographer/videographer will make a huge difference if you care deeply about the final product. Getting an amateur photographer for your wedding and photos that are hardly visible is just not something you want to deal with.

Use these items as a basic framework when you’re planning for an event. It doesn’t matter for what purposes or the size of your event, these roles are a necessity. Then, go into choosing the right people for the right tasks. Focus on what their strengths are and give them space to fulfill it. Also, don’t forget to find the right balance between giving them too much work and not having enough work. Delegate the tasks evenly among all the members of your team and you will have a much better time running the event.

Annaba Resources will help guide you through every step of your event planning to ensure that you only have the highest quality events. Our professional project managers will oversee the entire logistical management with you. 

Contact us now to set up a casual meeting at your convenience and let us help you with your upcoming project! 

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