Event Red Flags

There are tons of events on the news these days about HORRIBLE events happening. Fyre Festival anyone? But how do you know its a red flag event planner? How do you know that it isn't what you want or need when you are planning an event?

🚩 It seems too good to be true. A low price and promising you the world? Someone telling you I know I can do it for less than INSERT LITERALLY ANYONE HERE? Yep, those are red flags. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

🚩 Not holding boundaries. This can look like a lot of things, but someone not holding professional boundaries when it comes to meeting times (come on, you really only can meet at 7:30 at night?), or not communicating via email and phone calls, definite red flags. If things go south with your event planning process you need the communication paper trail to back it up. A good event planner should talk to you and then follow up via email with the things you agreed upon. Never be afraid to double check.

🚩 Accepting gift cards as a form of payment or really anything wonky with payment. Don't worry, I have a friend that has major connections, RED FLAG, don't worry, I will give you an receipt later, just Venmo me this amount, RED FLAG, don't worry I can get things on a major discount, RED FLAG. Don't mess around with funny payment methods. There are tons of scams out there, don't fall for one.

🚩 Lack of contract. Don't worry, we are friends, we don't need a contract. Um, no thank you, I will need a contract. When things go south you need that contract to protect not only yourself, but also the event producer. Without a contract you have no legal standings if they take your money and run, or you could be the one that is liable if things go wrong. Get. It. In. Writing.

🚩 Not accounting for their time. Your event is getting closer but you have no idea what is going on with the event? The event producer needs to provide updates to you in a professional and timely manner. That could look like monthly updates or even weekly as the event gets closer. Remember, you hired them. You are their MANAGER, they work for YOU. If you have questions, ASK!

At the end of the day no matter what the event is there will be hurdles, something will go wrong, but avoiding the major red flags and hiring a trusted event producer can make those things that went wrong become a funny cocktail story.