10 tips for successful event planning (High Tea Party part 2)

Aug 20, 2014 | Pondering Life

Following on from the earlier post about The High Tea Party, here are ten tips I gleaned while chatting to organiser Alison Dean about the upcoming event in Perth. For Part 1 of our chat go to How A Simple Idea Became A National Success

Thanks to High Tea Party

Watch your costs

Unlike other people I have chatted to, the first thing Alison mentioned was ‘cost’ and the need to ‘keeping an eye on your costs.’ Perhaps it was because she was two weeks away from delivering the Perth event. Or maybe she was looking at a desk full of invoices, I don’t know but it was sound advice, and refreshing to be mentioned up front.

Planning

According to Alison planning is the key. She was at pains to point out that there was a team of five people working behind the scenes at the High Tea Party events. They begin planning the next event as soon as the previous years ends.

Branding

Alison reminded me that is it important to create a brand that is up to date and relevant. Equally important is not being afraid to change the brand when required.

‘Our marketing used to look sophisticated and then we rebranded it to make it something girls could identify with. We changed it to pink, light, pretty vintage.’

Thanks to High Tea Party – Alison

Dedication

I’m always interested in the skills required to run such events, and Alison nominated dedication, to ‘make sure the party goes ahead as planned.’

Good listener

Another key skill was the ability to keep quiet and listen. By listening Alison said she was able to make decisions.

‘I don’t have a hobby so this is my hobby. I enjoy the women coming up and saying hello. I learn a lot from their comments.’

Feedback

Similarly people approach feedback in different ways, some people prefer to ignore it, Alison thrives on it.

‘I always respond to feedback good or bad.’

Have good systems in place

Given that Alison has two children, and a third on the way, I was keen to know how she achieved all that she did. Her answer was to have good systems in place.

‘Make sure all your systems are in place that makes it easier. We’ve thought about outsourcing the ticketing but the difficulty is that we seat women together, so we can’t just outsource it to Ticketek.’

Constantly refine what you do

That said it was clear that Alison was constantly looking at refining their approach, be it their brand, marketing, or ticketing.

Expertise

Determine what your expertise is and realise that you can’t do it all yourself.

‘If you try and do it all yourself you just end up wasting money in the long run because it has to be fixed.’

Keep you sense of humour

I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with Alison and realised that a big part of her arsenal was a great sense of humour and the ability to laugh at herself.

Unfortunately Alison wont be able to make it over to Perth, this time, but I’m sure it will be a great event. Hope some of you get to take some time out and enjoy the event with a group of friends, if you do please let me know what you think.