What Are the Major 5 Problems of an Event? (& How to Solve Them)

Planning an event comes with challenges that can be frustrating and difficult to overcome. Staff issues, time management, budgeting, cancellations, and keeping track of registrations and tickets are common problems that an event planner must deal with while planning a successful event.

Knowing the potential problems and, more importantly, their solutions can significantly help an event manager keep everything running as smoothly as possible. A streamlined execution of key tasks is pivotal in pulling off a successful event, and having foresight into the potential hurdles can help you better prepare to face them.

Let's understand the five major problems of managing an event and their potential solutions.

Event Management Challenges and Their Solutions

Planning a successful event involves a lot of time, effort, and money. However, event planners face several challenges that make their jobs challenging.

Knowing these challenges, being proactive, and taking the proper steps to solve them can help you pull off a successful event. Here are five major event management challenges, along with their solutions.

1. Managing the Time

Time management is certainly one of the most important aspects of event management. No matter how thorough you are, everything comes undone if you fail to manage your time. With an unending barrage of tasks, time management becomes one of the toughest aspects of event management.

So, how to manage your time better? Well, here are some tips that can solve this challenge:

• Prioritize tasks. Many event planners are good at making checklists but struggle with prioritizing, leading to poor time management. Some event management tasks are more critical than others, and spending an inordinate time on a low-priority job can add to your troubles.
• Keep the logistics and operations in mind. You should know the exact way a task must be executed, who is responsible for the job, and the time frame.
• Be realistic with deadlines. It can be tempting to challenge yourself or your staff and set stringent deadlines to help you stay on top. However, in many cases, setting up unrealistic and unattainable deadlines can add to your stress and ruin your event.
• Set aside time to double-check before you go live with an event. Many planners seem to forget that it takes time to go over the smaller aspects of the plan. Include the time required to do last-minute checks in your plan.

Pro tip: Flexibility is one of the tenets of a great event planner. You might have to change the timeline of your event at any time during the planning or execution process. Although it might not be ideal to have happen, if you know this possibility, you can deal with it.

2. Staff Issues

Event management is a team effort, and every team member is important. The last thing you want is a team that is uncoordinated and directionless. A cohesive team that works tirelessly toward a shared goal can achieve miracles but building such a team takes work and focus.

You don't want to have staff issues in the middle of the proceedings. Here are a few tips that you can implement to solve this problem and get on top of things:

• Ensure that every team member knows their exact responsibilities. If your employees clearly understand what you expect, they perform much better.
• Be realistic with your expectations. Challenging your employees is a part of being an event planner but ensure that you are not unrealistic with your expectations. Treating your employees respectfully goes a long way in building a stronger unit.
• Carefully calculate the number of staff members you need for a given event. You don’t want to blow your budget on hiring more people than you need. At the same time, you definitely don’t want to be understaffed either.
• Get information about the event turnout. Talk to the key stakeholders and get as much detailed information regarding the turnout and the help needed.

Pro tip: Calculate how many staff members you need if only a quarter of the expected guests show up. Then calculate the number of staff members you need if three-quarters of the guests show up. To begin with, hire a median number of staff members while keeping a few on call. That way, you won’t overspend on staff and will have the flexibility to add a few members if needed.

3. Budgeting/ Overspending

Budgeting can be a huge challenge for any event planner. If you also worry about your budget, you are not alone. Almost all professional event planners gripe about this issue.

Event management is a dynamic venture where things can change dramatically with the drop of a hat. You don't know when you will need some extra cash to plug the proverbial hole in the dam!

Here are a few tips that might help solve this all-important issue:

• Learn from your previous experiences when budgeting an event. If you are new, do some market research before finalizing any budget.
• Keep your budget in the middle. Being too stingy can be disastrous. While you do want to spend money judiciously, you don’t want to compromise the event to save a few bucks off the top. It’s your reputation at stake, after all.
• Going on a spending spree is equally bad. You don’t want to spend more than you should.
• Don’t be afraid of doing the math; the numbers don’t lie. Many event planners tend to wing it when it comes to budgeting. Rather than taking in vague terms, having numbers on the paper will help you avoid any budgeting issues.

Pro tip: It is crucial to assess the budgetary impact of any event-related changes before approving them. You need to reexamine any change that can potentially skew your budget. Sometimes, changes can be inevitable, and you might need to make them, but knowing what they would cost you beforehand can make a huge difference.

4. Last-Minute Cancellations

Last-minute cancellations of speakers, performers, or the entire event can be catastrophic for the success of any event. As the world is emerging from the tight grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and in-person events are coming back, unexpected complications can put you out of control.

Problems with the venue, bad weather, or cancellations for any other reason can be a huge pain to deal with in the middle of the event.

Here are some tips that can help you better prepare to face this event management challenge:

• Have a backup venue. Weather can be a real wild card when it comes to outdoor events and gatherings. A backup venue can give you the cushion in case the weather gods decide to act up on the day of your event.
• Have a backup plan for speakers and performers. When dealing with an event involving a guest speaker or a performer(s), it can be a nightmare if there are any last-minute cancellations.

Pro Tip: Planning activities to fill the time is crucial if your fallback speakers or performers are unavailable. It might not be what the guests have come for or expected, but it is better than having nothing planned at all.

5. Registrations, Payments, and Marketing

Traditional registration and payment methods can be frustrating for your staff and attendees. You need an additional workforce to do it in the ‘pen and paper way,’ and you have little control over the management of the process as a whole.

Online registration is the best way to streamline this process and get back on top of things. Ideally, your attendees should be able to register and pay for the event online. The online method can help you in many ways:

• It helps you get an exact head count of the attendees so you can plan better. Your staff will also breathe easy handling pre-registered attendees.
• You can eliminate transactions at the event location and take the burden off your employees going the online route.

Pro tip: Custom software solutions by Roverd can help you take your event registrations online. Our custom software gives you 100% control over your online and offline ticket sales and registrations. Here are a few features that make Roverd an ideal partner for an event planner:

• Your potential customers can buy event tickets 24/7
• With Roverd, you can issue QR tickets that can be scanned with a phone
• You can easily manage registrations and tickets for multi-day events.

What are the factors that affect the success of an event?

A successful event is the culmination of meticulous planning and flawless execution. Several factors can affect your event's success or failure. Focusing on these factors can help you make your next event a huge success.

Here are a few of them:

Reading the Audience

Knowing and understanding your audience is the most important factor determining the success of your event. If you know your target audience, you are in a much better place to plan and organize your event. It is also easier to promote your event if you know about your audience.
Before you start planning for your event, ensure that you talk with the organizers regarding their specific needs as well.

Finding the Right Venue

Selecting a venue is an important part of event management. The choice of venue will depend on the event and your target demographic. Make sure that the location you select goes well with the type of event as well as your target audience.
It is also essential to prioritize the comfort of your attendees. Picking a venue with ample amenities can be a big factor in the success of your event.

Timing

The timing of an event is also crucial for success. For instance, an early morning event during school days might see limited participation as people might be tied up in prior commitments. Similarly, people might not be willing to travel in extreme weather conditions.
It is therefore important to select a time that works for your target audience. An event late in the evening is better suited for a younger audience rather than seniors. Indeed, you can’t satisfy every demographic, but planning can help maximize attendance.

Food and Drink

Depending on your event type, you might be required to serve food or drinks. Providing bad food and watered-down drinks can be a disaster for an event.
The one thing people tend to remember after attending an event is the food and drinks! If you mess up on this front, it will surely affect the success of your event.

Ability to Book and Pay Online

There is no denying that we live in an online world. The availability of online bookings and ticketing options can be a great advantage to the success of your event, especially if you are targeting a younger audience.
Multiple payment options and e-tickets can be a huge bonus to attract more people to your event. A custom software system like Roverd can help you manage all the online aspects of booking and payment.

Final Thoughts

Planning a successful event involves more than ticking off tasks on your checklist. Problems and issues can wield their ugly head at any time and catch you off guard. Knowing the potential issues and planning to solve them can help you regain control and pull off a successful event.

Going online with your bookings, ticketing and payments can be a huge plus to your event management business. Here at Roverd, we offer an online event booking system that gives you that extra edge to thrive in a competitive world of event management.

Contact us today for a free demonstration of how our revolutionary booking system can help you take your business to the next level!