So, you have your cocktail hour ideas, you’ve chosen your canapés, set up your fancy up-lighting, and your poseur tables are decorated and ready to go. The event begins; guests arrive and the introductory speaker takes to the stage. 30 minutes later, your guests are starting to shuffle their feet and the canapés are going cold in the kitchen, waiting to be served. NOT ideal. Here are our 3 tips to make sure that never happens to you!
1. Create a Clear Schedule
A clear, written schedule with timings is key to keeping your event running on time. Ensure that everyone who is involved in the event in any capacity has this schedule a couple of days ahead of time, so they know what’s what. Anyone going to be up front should know exactly how much time they have in the limelight, and the written schedule will help them prioritize timings because they can see what’s coming next.
2. Build-in Buffer Timings
Unbeknownst to everyone else, make sure your schedule has buffer timings built-in, to allow for slight over-running or things taking longer than expected, eg. a stage prop being brought on. This means you can give speakers/ performers a 5-minute warning to let them know that, hey, they need to start wrapping up…but it won’t be the end of the world if they actually wrap up in 7 or 8 minutes.
3. Pick Experienced People to be Up-front
An experienced speaker or performer will have a better grasp of how to pace themselves on-stage, whether that be a speaker with their speech down pat or a performer who knows exactly how long to leave for applause before going into the next big thing. If you pick people who know what they’re doing on-stage, you’re far more likely to keep your event running on time, and keep your audience captivated, ensuring that your event will be a success. If you’re looking for live music for your event, we’d love to hear from you! Check out some sound sample music and if you like what you hear, you can get in touch with us via this link here.