How to Fight Stress While Planning an Event

Throwing an event takes a lot of careful planning, coordination, and multitasking. In other words, event management can be incredibly stressful. For individuals who seldom throw events, the amount of pressure and stress one experiences can come as a surprise.

There are some tricks to manage stress and even ways to avoid it completely. Have a look:



1.) Surround Yourself with Good People –  No event organiser should have to do this alone, and having the support of a strong team can really get you through stressful times. Knowing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses in stressful situations can ultimately help avoid larger problems for the event’s execution. It’s even more helpful if your team is knowledgeable about the kind of event that you’re throwing.


2.) Learn to Love Your Checklists–
There are A LOT of different components that make up an event: venue, catering, guest lists, staffing, entertainment, security, etc. If you’re running an event for the first time, juggling all of these different parts can be challenging. Visualising all of your tasks on a checklist can be incredibly helpful.


3.) Make Enough Time to Prepare -

If you haven’t picked the event’s date, consider pushing it back an extra week or two to give yourself more time to prepare. Devoting extra time at the preliminary planning stage helps review all necessary components in ways that you probably wouldn’t when you were more pressed for time.


4.) Prepare a Defence System -
The most stressful part of coordinating an event is when it’s time for the actual event itself. That’s why it’s beneficial to have an emergency system set up for anything that may pop up, even if you can’t be around.


5.) Keep Everyone Informed –
If you don’t have it already automated, send out an email to all of your attendees about 24 hours before the event starts. It’s your best chance to reach everyone in case there has been any last minute changes to your event. Sending out a message too far in advance wont be as effective, and sending it the day of the event won’t give everyone a chance to read it in time. A day is usually enough time to let everyone get the information, saving you from the stress of having to answer to a bunch of uninformed attendees.


6.) Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff -
As prepared as you are, there are bound to be a few small bumps in the road. It’s going to happen, but don’t let any of the minor hiccups bog you down.


7.)Take Time to Relax - This is probably the most challenging to remember when planning an event, but it provides the most noticeable rewards. Stress has way more negative effects on your health and wellness than you may realize. If your body and mind can’t operate well, then chances are your efforts towards your event will suffer. Remember, breaks and full nights of sleep are important, so it’s ok to say ‘NO’ to pushing yourself harder. Take deep breaths, listen to music, or go for a walk.

Taking the above steps into consideration will help set yourself up for a much smoother and less stressful event. If you have any other tips or recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments below!

credit:eventjoy