The Corporate Event Planning Checklist: Everything Austin Companies Need to Know

Twelve weeks out: the decisions that shape everything

1. 1Write the one job the event has to do in a sentence. Get the sponsor to agree to the sentence.
2. 2Set the headcount honestly, with a range, and decide plus-ones now; they roughly double it.
3. 3Set the budget as one number, and decide what is in it: venue, food, bar, transportation, add-ons, taxes, gratuities.
4. 4Choose the date and two backups. Check the Austin calendar: SXSW in March, ACL and Formula 1 weekends in October, the December crush, late-August heat.
5. 5Decide in town or out of town, and half day or full day.
6. 6Name the point person for the day. Not the planner, not the sponsor.

Eight weeks out: lock the venue and the way there

1. 1Hold the venue. For a winery or estate reserved whole, this is the week it has to happen.
2. 2Decide transportation at the same time: vehicles sized to the group, one pickup point, one departure time.
3. 3Ask the venue the questions that matter: where exactly the group sits, who leads the tasting or the service, the weather plan, where vehicles park and turn around, what food is allowed and from whom.
4. 4Request one proposal with one all-in number, taxes and gratuities included, add-ons on separate lines.
5. 5Send the save-the-date with the one thing people need: the date, the half day or full day, and that transportation is provided.

Six weeks out: food, bar and the program

1. 1Choose the menu, and make sure a vegetarian, a vegan and someone avoiding gluten can each eat a real meal from it.
2. 2Decide the bar: tastings only, a glass after, or open through dinner. Decide the non-alcoholic pour and make it a real one.
3. 3Write the program: arrival, the activity, the moment with the microphone, the meal, the end. Time it to the quarter hour.
4. 4Decide the add-ons: photographer, sound or full AV, signage, bottles for challenge winners.
5. 5Confirm who is speaking, for how long, and what they need (a screen, a mic, a printed list of names).

Four weeks out: the invitation and the details

1. 1Send the invitation with the RSVP deadline, the dietary question, the accessibility question, and the dress note (nice casual; shoes for gravel if it is a winery).
2. 2Confirm the vendor contracts and the deposits paid. Read the cancellation and weather terms.
3. 3Build the run of show: every time, every vendor, every phone number, on one page.
4. 4Order anything with a lead time: signage, printed materials, gifts, the bottles for the winners.
5. 5Book hotel blocks for out-of-town attendees, and confirm the pickup can start at that hotel.

Two weeks out: numbers and confirmations

1. 1Close the RSVP and send the final headcount to the venue, the caterer and the transportation partner on the same day.
2. 2Send dietary and accessibility needs to the caterer and the venue by name, and confirm how each will be handled.
3. 3Confirm the manifest: who is in which vehicle, and the departure time with the fifteen-minute window.
4. 4Walk the venue if you can, or have your partner do it: the room, the restrooms, the AV, where the coaches turn around.
5. 5Write the sponsor's remarks down for them, or ask them to. Under ten minutes. Names spelled correctly.

The week of: the message and the weather

1. 1Send the one message everyone reads: where to be, when, what to wear, when you will be back, who to text if late.
2. 2Check the forecast and make the weather call with the venue by the agreed date. Confirm the indoor room is held.
3. 3Confirm every vendor by phone, not email: the venue, the caterer, the transportation, the photographer, the AV.
4. 4Print the run of show, the manifest and the dietary list. Give copies to the point person and the host.
5. 5Pack the kit: name tags if you are using them, the gifts, the signage, a first-aid kit, sunscreen, a charger.

The day

1. 1The point person is at the pickup fifteen minutes early with the manifest and the driver's number.
2. 2Vehicles leave on time. The late plan is already stated.
3. 3The host runs the schedule. The planner is a guest.
4. 4The moment happens when the program says, not when the room quiets down on its own.
5. 5The photo is taken while the light is good, not at the end.
6. 6The last vehicle is counted onto by name.

The morning after

1. 1Thank the vendors by name, the same morning.
2. 2Pay what is due. A finished proposal has nothing left to reconcile; if there is, note why for next time.
3. 3Send the photos to the team within two days while the day is still the topic.
4. 4Write down the three things you would change, and the headcount that actually showed up versus the one that RSVP'd.
5. 5Put the next one on the calendar while people are still asking when it is.