Wednesday, September 10, 2014
43 items in event planner on-site kit for day-of events
Planning Pod: Event planners are supremely prepared people, so it didn't surprise us that many of the hundreds of event planners we spoke with have a handy on-site kit that they bring with them every time they are on location at an event.
The average number of items in an on-site kit was 15-20 items. I guess the only thing we didn't ask was "What do you carry all these items in?" ... although whatever it is, I'm sure it's very stylish ;)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Having worked in events for the last two summers, I think this article breaks down this "tool list" in vary general terms. Before even considering the tools that you need, you first need to consider the type of event it is. A wedding is very different from a XBox launch event. Also, as the "event planner" what does that actually mean? Ive worked in both the management and technical implementation sides of these events. For me, if you say event planner, I think management. From my experience in event management, I would have my laptop, a wireless router, a flash drive, my phone, an iPad, and probably my letherman. Its of no use to you in management to drag around all the other crap. The contractors should have those tools with them.
I totally agree with Trent: the event you're working for should determine the breadth of your kit. There's no need to carry around lots of unnecessary crap. That being said, there's a lot of extra things in my stage manager kit. From show to show, I definitely could have taken things out, but when I was in high school, we were constantly changing locales and I didn't have time to accurately prepare for the next location. That's just the way it worked. For instance, while I've been at CMU, I've taken a lot of first aid things out of my kit. There are FAK's all around Purnell and it makes no sense for me to constantly carry that extra weight. Personally, I like to be on the side of having too many things rather than too little, but I can now see where I need to cut back.
I read through this article to see if there were anything in there that I'd consider adding to my kit. Overall, I didn't see anything in there that I didn't already have in my kit or at least have on hand at my apartment. Trent, and Katie's statement of letting the event determine your kit is entirely true, but I think that the kit should also be there as a group of things that you didn't think of. That's why I have a lot of things in my kit that I don't get used that often. The Event Planner kit is most a list of things that you should have on hand for an event, and honestly I think the event should provide or have the resources to have many of these things. Or at least a budget to get these items. It's one of my irritants that it's often expected for Managers to provide everything, and often out of pocket. This same mentality can be applied to teachers. I was a little irritated that they didn't talk at all about transportation of these items, since that's just as important as what is in the kit. I'm always interested in how other people in our industry do their jobs, since that's the best way to learn.
Overall I was extremely underwhelmed by this kit content. I similarly to Tyler compared it to my stage management kit, and what I found to be common sense and somewhat obvious. Maybe it's the management way of thinking, but in reality when you're making this kit, it's usually consists of things that are mostly "oh crap I need [insert blank]" or "I wish I had a [blank], but I guess I can try using [blank]. I think I honestly would have been more interested in HOW having those things in the kit were useful, or common situations you find yourself needing those things in. I mean they didn't even have unique things like a bouncy or tennis balls!
Post a Comment