8 things to ask before you appoint contractors for your event
An event, conference or exhibition may take place over only days, but, more often than not, it’s months, if not years, in the making. A complex puzzle of lots of different pieces, your event will only be as good as the suppliers you work with to bring it to life – but finding and appointing the right ones for you can be a mammoth task in itself.
From stand building, AV and security to catering, features and ticketing (to name only a few), the list goes on and on when it comes to the people you may want to partner with when shaping your event and executing it to perfection.
Before signing contracts with suppliers and committing to contractors, you must ask eight essential questions to ensure you’re working with the right people for your event and you as an event organiser.
1. What is my goal?
Events are the most powerful way to bring people together, educate communities, inspire attendees and entertain the masses. If you have built a community or audience of like-minded people, running events for them is a natural next step. However, an event for an event’s sake will never be successful; you have to understand what you want to achieve. Is your event going to be seminar-driven? A showcase of products with no speaker content? A meet and greet for fans of a cultural phenomenon? Or a mixture of them all? Once you understand the key driver of attendance, you can set your goals and make a plan for the types of suppliers or contractors you will need to find.
2. Who do I need to work with?
Now that you know what you want to do, it’s time to figure out who you need to work with to do it. The venue is always the best place to start, and based on their offering, you will need to create a list of necessary suppliers. Is it a land-only space that requires council permits, marquees and portaloos? A dry hire, needing external catering and furniture, or a full-service location that only allows you to work with their preferred suppliers?
What is your vision for the event? Photo-worthy displays hanging from the ceiling? A catwalk? A stage or seven..? Are you going to offer your exhibitors space-only stands or a uniformed shell scheme..? Will you need a pre-registration ticketing process and crowd control or is your industry niche with a high-value but smaller community of attendees..? Are your visitors and exhibitors likely to be local or require extensive translation and wayfinding to make their experience the best it can be..? And, importantly, for the best chance of success, do you need an operations expert like us at Ways & Means to bring the answers and solutions to all of these questions together?
To be done safely and effectively, each of these areas requires the input of professionals who are experts in their field. Once you know each element you want your event to include, it’s time to list the people you will need to help you fulfil them.
3. What is my timeline?
Event suppliers and contractors can be in high demand! What’s more, the creation of concepts, designs, and features takes time, depending on the complexity level. A successful event, especially the scale of a conference, exhibition or convention, cannot be put together overnight. Make realistic timescales for yourself and check the availability of key suppliers, especially your venue, before you commit to the promotion of certain dates. It’s also crucial to ensure you’ve left enough time to fill a list of exhibitors, sponsors or speakers that will draw visitors to your event. If you have concerns about executing your event within a specific timeframe, Working with a team of specialised experts such as ours can help you stay on track and deliver your event on time.
4. What is my budget?
Impactful events don’t come cheap, nor does the expertise of the people who bring them to life most effectively. If you’re new to events, it’s easy to let your creativity run wild when you’re planning the concept, however, a realistic budget can burst bubbles. Not all is lost though, as partnering with seasoned event professionals, especially operations experts like us at Ways & Means, can help you prioritise for success and impact, negotiate with suppliers, and allocate budget to areas as required.
5. What is my goal (again)?
Now that you’ve considered the timeline and budget, it’s time to revisit the first question and assess if your goals remain the same. If your event is content-driven, is it better to drop an exhibition space and focus on enhancing the onstage experience? If the key reason for attendance is a scheduled meet and greet, is budget better spent on backdrops than carpeting? If most of your exhibitors will be sampling and selling food, do you need that extra catering outlet?
The long-term vision for your event may be expansive and multi-layered, however, bluntly, it needs to make money. Prioritising elements based on what is most likely to attract your community to your event is always the way to go, especially in the first few years of an event taking place.
6. What regulations and accreditation do I need to consider?
Like any industry, events need to adhere to strict guidelines when it comes to safety and security. What’s more, with so many moving parts, events have requirements crossing many different disciplines and skills including security, building, food & beverage, and first aid. Depending on the venue, type of event, capacity numbers and activity, the regulatory variables that can apply are endless. With this in mind, you’ll want to ensure that each supplier understands the requirements of their work and is qualified to meet them.
Ways & Means have the highest level of qualifications and a variety of specialist training, including Diplomas in Events and Safety management, NEBOSHs, Level 5 Awards in Crowd Safety Management, Personnel Licenses, Food Hygiene, ESSA Accreditation, a degree in Design and a Degree in Biochemistry just for fun!
7. Can I consolidate suppliers?
Streamlining your suppliers is a surefire way to minimise contact points, and therefore communication overload and accounting admin. It can also create opportunities to negotiate rates. For example, your security company may also provide first aid, your front-of-house staff may also be qualified to bartend, and your stand builders could also have an AV arm of their company. If you’re new to the industry or the UK market, you may want to work with an expert, like Ways & Means, who understands the event landscape and can help you consolidate suppliers for the best cost savings.
The choice to consolidate suppliers sits within two schools of thought. Doing so can be the perfect way to minimise contact points, and therefore communication overload and accounting admin. It can also create opportunities to negotiate rates across multiple services. For example, your security company may also provide first aid, your front-of-house staff may also be qualified to bartend, and your stand builders could also have an AV arm of their company.
On the other hand, concentrating on a supplier’s specialism and not diluting services also has its benefits. Working alongside multiple suppliers who are experts in their specific fields can help drive you towards your vision with the benefit of different perspectives and ideas.
Ways & Means can help you navigate this choice and decide the right approach for you and your event; addressing the balance between getting the right specialisms vs economies of scale.
8. Do I speak and understand the language?
If you’re new to the events industry, you may not realise how many moving parts have to work simultaneously for an exhibition, conference or convention to come to life. It requires the smooth integration of everything from graphics and lighting, building and carpet laying, and catering and security. Each of these niches requires understanding to ensure they seamlessly fit together on the day, this is where our team of operations experts can translate the language of events; supporting you in finding and appointing the best suppliers for you and your event.
With decades of event industry experience, the Ways & Means team has seen, done and heard it all. From huge productions to town hall events, bare-bones set-ups to expansive awe-inspiring creations, we know what it takes to create an event that meets goals, drives satisfaction and makes money.
If you are in search of an event operations professional to oversee your event, source suppliers, negotiate deals and manage your budget, we’re the team for you! Get in touch today for a no-obligation chat.