How To Plan a Kick-Ass Event With Outplanr

Budgeting, branding, marketing, scheduling, logistics, booking a venue, catering, making speakers’ arrangements or hire a band… When planning an event there’s quite a long list of things to get done. There’s just so many things that can go wrong. Deadlines can be missed, the budget exceeded, resources pushed to the limits, a confused team not able to cooperate with each other. It can all easily become a dreadful nightmare. Event planning is stressful, that’s a fact. The good news is that a project management tool such as Outplanr can be applied to simplify the process of coordinating tasks and resources. It will help you not feeling overwhelmed with a never-ending to-do list.

Create a project

Your event will be your BIG Project. You can slip it into Sections which will help you organize all tasks and events within the project. This way big, scary undertakings can be broken down into bite size tasks that seem much more manageable.

Identify all tasks and subtasks

This will help you figure out exactly what you need. Break big tasks into all the steps it takes to accomplish it. Those will be your subtasks. In the Project Details View you’ll have the list of all sections and tasks, and there you’ll be able to add tasks, check their status, progress, time balance against the planned duration and the person they are assigned to.

Set due dates

It’s crucial to create a detailed timeline to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. So you can set the start date and the deadline for each task. Additionally you can add a description, define its duration, associate files and even comment on it. Another feature that can be very useful is setting the priority of the task: normal, urgent or low.

Organize a team

Every event takes a concerted team effort to handle all the details. In Outplanr you can create a team and associate it to your project (aka event). You can then assign tasks to several team members taking all of the responsability and stress from one or two shoulders and distribute it through the team.

Set THE date

To do that in Outplanr you can simply add an Event. It works similarly to a task. You can set the date, the duration and add a description, files and comments. You’ll also be able to set the location and invite attendees. Adding events in Outplanr can be used to book meetings or for project milestones. For example, if you have a meeting with a potential sponsor, an appointed visit to check your venue or need to gather all the team for a status meeting you can do such by creating an Event.

Your game plan

You’ll need to plan your whole event and make sure no detail is forgotten. In Outplanr, all the tasks and events you set will be visible on the Plan view which is basically a calendar where you’ll have a visual impression of your workweeks till the event day.

Track your progress

You’ll be able to start, pause or check as done every task. In the Track view you’ll see what’s going on with your event planning in a glance by getting a quick overview of who started or completed each task.

Plan everywhere

You can access your event plan and update your team from anywhere. Both the app (available for Android and iOS) and the responsive mobile version make it easier for teams to collaborate, even when they’re not at the office.

Plan, execute, repeat

You might be planning the same industry conference every year, for example. If you’re planning the same event regularly, then you can probably re-use the same template-plan. In Outplanr, you can quickly duplicate any Project (active or archived) and create a new Project that includes all tasks, sub-tasks and files that were associated with it. Of course, you’ll then be able to rearrange it and make any improvements you find necessary. Having access to past projects will surely save you some precious time.

When you plan an event you want to make sure everything goes off without a hitch but you definitely don’t want to be overwhelmed by endless to-do lists. So whether you’re planning an event solo, with a small team or a big one, Outplanr can be exactly what you need to make sure you set a foolproof plan of your event, keeping everything organised and on track.

👉 Want to give it a try? Sign up for a free trial right away.