It is the night (or at the very least very early in the morning) before your event, set up is done and you’re ready to kick off the event and welcome attendees, or so you think. As a planner I love a list - here is a helpful checklist of the things you should do the day before to ensure the morning of your event runs smoothly!
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Check To Make Sure The Times/ Guarantees On Your Final Agenda & On Your BEOs Match
This should be done during a precon (pre-conference meeting) with your venue’s food & beverage manager the day before your event - make sure you both have the same times and communicate expectations on when food should come out and session rooms should be refreshed. Double-check that you both have the same guarantees as well - there have been times where I’ve upped my food and beverage numbers in my head, but neglected to communicate it to the venue until going through our BEOs together.
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Walk Through The Space From The Eyes Of An Attendee
By this time you probably know your program like the back of your hand, but it will be your attendees' first time seeing your hard work come to life. I always do a final walk-through as an attendee, entering the building and then navigating my way to the registration desk, where breaks will be located, where the first session will be - It’s a good way to make sure the attendee experience on-site will be an easy one to navigate - and as you talk it through you may realize you may have forgotten to do something or need to adjust something slightly.
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Double Check Your Signage
Do this during your through - make sure all your signage is visible and the locations make sense. Double-check to make sure all session signage is where it is supposed to be and that directionals are facing the correct way. If you are using human signage to help direct people, decide where they should be stationed. If there is signage that will need to be switched out or put out during the event, make sure all of those are organized and stored where they can be easily grabbed.
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Double Check Your Room Setups
Make sure all your session rooms are set for the correct amount of people and all of the sightlines to the stage are good. Double-check your stage set up - is the backdrop positioned correctly? Are there enough chairs for a panel? Stand on the stage and make sure that speakers can see the tech table or confidence monitor. I also like to ensure that there are multiple aisles to access a row of seats, not just one aisle in the middle. Double-check that any collateral or promo that is supposed to be in the room is in there. If something in the room is wrong or needs changing, make a note and email your CSM while you're standing in the room to make sure you aren’t forgetting to mention it.
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Double Check Your AV
Make sure all your AV equipment is in the room and ready to go. You should also be pulling up and testing some presentations with your AV staff to make sure there are no hiccups the morning of. Make sure to consider the following: do you have the correct number of microphones for the room? Are the screens positioned so attendees can see? Is the sound quality good? Are all the presentations on the laptop? Make note of any presentations you have not received from speakers yet and be sure they know to bring them on a USB before their session.
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Double Check Your Attendance Numbers
Before the end of the day, I like to make sure I have the most up to date attendance numbers for my event. It’s important to take care of any last-minute registrations or substitutions the night before so that you aren’t rushing to add badges early in the morning or slowing down the registration process. I also keep track of how many attendees were registered when I gave my final guarantees (usually 72 hours before) and how many attendees registered since then up until the day before the event. This helps to account for what to expect for future events.
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Have A Meeting With Your Onsite Staff
Make sure to schedule a meeting with your onsite staff the night before or the morning of the event. It’s important for each member to know what their roles are and where they should be. This is especially important if you have enlisted volunteers or temp staff. Let them know what time to show up in the morning, if there is a room where they can leave their bags, what time their lunch breaks will be and their duties throughout the day. It’s helpful to put together a guide including their schedule, and any FAQs that attendees may ask them throughout the day also, as they will be representing your company during the event.
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Put All Important Phone Numbers In Your Phone
It’s a good practice to have a sheet of contact information for key contacts - including venue contacts, vendors, event staff, ect. But, I’ve found that I never have that sheet on me when I need it - so it is important to put those phone numbers in your phone the night before - it will save time scrambling to find a phone number of someone onsite who can assist you when you need something done quickly.
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Get A Good Night's Sleep!
In some cases, staff may still be setting up late at night, or AV won’t be set up and ready to be checked on until the morning. It’s important to recognize that you may not be able to control that everything will be finished and perfect the night before - the best thing you can do is be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to tackle it in the morning.
