Event Planning for Administrative Professionals, Pt 2: Sourcing Your Vendors
Welcome back to this blog series on Event Planning for Administrative Professionals. In Part 1, we discussed launching the planning process, and many of you requested a template to go along with the principles of creating a basic agenda and task list. That template has been created, and is now available at the bottom of the first post. If you haven’t read part 1, or would like a refresher, please be sure to access it by click this button before continuing on to Part 2!
So you’ve started the planning process for your event by creating a basic agenda and task list. The next thing to do is find vendors. It’s important to ask yourself a few questions about the event in order to determine what kinds of vendors you are looking for. For example, a meeting space is drastically different for a 10-person executive session vs. a 200-person client experience:
Where is this event happening?
Have you been asked to find “someplace in New England” to host this event, or do you know the specific city? Is there a preferred venue that your organization has a long-standing relationship with, or are you starting from scratch?
How many attendees are you anticipating, and are they internal or external?
Consider the different needs you have between a 10-person and a 200-person event: accommodation needs, meeting space size, private dining space, A/V considerations, car service, etc. Get this dialed in as quickly as possible!
An internal event is going to be very different than an external event. With external, you will have to consider how you are marketing the event, whereas with internal, it’s likely that a simple email and RSVP form will suffice.
What is the budget and expected feel of the event?
Is the sky the limit, and you are expected to go all-out with a 5-star experience? Are you on a limited budget, and you need to find ways to make every dollar stretch? Understanding this will help you determine the kinds of vendors you are going to be searching for.
What is the primary purpose and anticipated outcome of this event?
Is this a round table meeting to discuss some big strategy items? Is this primarily an informational sharing event? Is this a gala dinner with key stakeholders? Knowing what the purpose/anticipated outcome of the event is will help you understand the environment you are creating and, therefore, inform the types of vendors you should start searching for.
Once you get a better understanding of what your parameters are, and since you’ve already done the work to get your basic agenda together, it’s time to start sourcing vendors! First things first, make a list of the vendors you will need. Some of the basics to start with:
Accommodations (for out-of-town attendees)
Meeting Venue (could this be at the same place as your accommodations?)
A/V (meeting space, private dinners)
Food
Can the meeting space provide food? Are you eating out at restaurants? If doing a private dinner, you’ll need a catering company.
Ground Transport (between airport and hotel for out-of-town guests, to and from restaurants/activities, etc.)
Special Activities (team-building event, or offsite activity)
Print/Marketing Materials
Decor/Florals
Photography/Videography
As you work through this list, also consider what options you have to combine vendors! For example, for the large event I planned, our hotel provided not only our accommodations, they also provided our meeting space, AV, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, and all snacks. The caterer for our private dinner handled our event rentals. This greatly streamlined my planning process, as it meant less contracts to sign, payments to authorize, conversations to track, etc.
Next, and I cannot say it strongly enough: Utilize your network! Start within your organization to determine if there are any vendors with a pre-existing relationship. Reach out to other administrative professionals in the professional development groups you are part of (such as the ASAP Circle, State of the Executive Assistant, or the Executive Assistant Community) to get their recommendations. If you aren’t already part of one of these kinds of groups, then join them! The greater administrative professional community is built on a sense of helping and supporting each other, and reaching out to the network means that you are going to get honest feedback from others who want your success. I have loved the opportunity to respond to posts asking for recommendations in my local area, and it has been very helpful to get insights from others, especially when it relates to something I’m not familiar with.
Make a list in your main planning spreadsheet of all of the recommended vendors. I’ve included a template for what this should look like at the bottom of this post. You will want to gather not only the vendor name and email, but also who recommended them and why. You will also want to track when you sent out your request for quote (RFQ) and when they respond. It is important to note that, when you get a recommendation, you should still conduct your own research on the company. What do their online reviews say? Check both Google and Yelp! Check the company’s website, and see the work that they have showcased. Is the quality/feel what you are looking for? Does it appear that they’ve done work to the scale that you are looking for? For example, if you are looking for a photographer to take professional photos of the event, do they have business events in their portfolio, or just weddings? Make sure that the styles and expertise you see matches what you are looking for!
Once you’ve compiled a list of recommended vendors, it’s time to start getting quotes/information. To ensure that you are comparing apples to apples, ensure that you are requesting the same information to each vendor type, with as much detail as possible. For example, if you are reaching out to get quotes for florals, you can send a detailed email such as this:
“Hello, my name is Katie, Executive Assistant to the President of AIT Worldwide Logistics, and I am looking to get a quote for floral arrangements to be delivered to a dinner event. For full transparency, my total budget is $2,000.
I am in the midst of planning a catered dinner at a private residence, (insert address here), on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. This is the final event following a 4-day offsite retreat for our company’s leadership team, so all attendees will be employees. We anticipate having 60-65 guests arriving by private buses around 6:00pm, who will first enjoy an open bar with passed appetizers, mingling around 10 highboy tables, and will afterwards be seated at eight round tables for a plated dinner. The company colors are navy blue and white, with gold accents. We are planning on utilizing those colors on the dinner tables between linens and florals, and are looking to get a quote for the following:
Twelve main centerpieces that are low enough so as to not block guests from seeing each other from across the table (Eight for the main tables, two for either end of the open bar, and two for the main entrance to the home)
Ten smaller centerpieces for the highboy tables that will be cohesive with the main centerpieces, but small enough to not be in the way.
At your earliest convenience, can you please send me a quote that includes all 22 requested pieces and any extra fees, as well as couple of pictures of your previous work that you believe would match what we are looking for? Additionally, if you have any specialty vases, votives, etc. that you would recommend to help us achieve our color scheme vision, please send photos and quotes for those as well.”
With this kind of email, you have given the vendor a clear picture of your event to help get their creative juices going, while also providing them with all of the details needed for a quote, such as date, event start time, numbers, colors, etc., and given them the freedom to think outside the box with specialty items, but also within the parameter of your budget. When crafting emails to request quotes, you will want to include as much information as possible so as to reduce the number of back-and-forth emails needed for a quote to be done. Now, imagine the look on the vendor’s face if I just sent this email:
“Hello, I’m planning a dinner event, and need some flowers. Can you please give me a quote for twelve big and ten small centerpieces? Thanks."
They would probably start banging their head against a wall before responding to ask you clarifying questions about what it is that you are looking for. What a waste of time, to have to start going back-and-forth to get them the information they need to simply provide you with a quote! Do everything you can to set them (and, ultimately, yourself) up for success by providing as much info as possible up front! In some cases, you may not have all of the details. In those situations, please tell the vendor, as it will then save an email back and forth with them asking if you have a certain detail.
Some vendors may not be available to assist on your chosen days. If that is the case, ask them for their recommendations on who to connect with! This is what happened with the musician we hired for our final dinner. I’d actually been recommended to Musician A, and he let me know that he already had an event booked that day and would be unable to help me. However, he provided me with the contact information for 3 other musicians that he had worked with before and would recommend. These kinds of recommendations can be the absolute best, because these vendors are professionals in this industry and they know that their reputation is being put on the line by putting someone else forward for the role. It was because he shared this information that I was able to book Musician B for the event.
After you get the quotes, it is best to not make final decisions in a vacuum. Is there a trusted colleague at your company that you could ask to work through the decision process with you? Maybe it's another administrative professional, maybe your supervisor? When you have decisions to make, it’s always helpful to get input from someone else to ensure that you aren’t missing anything. When a decision is made and the contracts are drawn up, who in your organization can review them for you? When I was getting the contract put together for our large room block, the meeting space, and catering, I sent it over to my organization’s legal department for their review and approval. Having another set of eyes will, again, ensure that you aren’t overlooking something.
After you work through the quote and decision process, make sure that you save the contact information for each chosen vendor! The template for this is also included in the download link below.
Vendor Name
Address
Main Phone #
Confirmation #
Contact Name
Contact Email
Contact Phone #
Website
Additional Info/Links
With your vendors lined up, you're poised to create an extraordinary event. While it may sound straightforward, remember that this is a significant undertaking. Thankfully, you can rely on your network to help you succeed. The administrative professional community is truly remarkable, filled with individuals who understand the value of mutual support. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed, and there's no room for gatekeeping. As you seek information from your network, be sure to share your own insights as well. To support you further, I've included two of my favorite vendor recommendations in today's template. If you're in the Southern California area, I highly recommend a wonderful small business florist based in Orange, CA. For all readers, I've also included my preferred ground transportation vendor, which operates internationally.
Stay tuned for my next post, where we'll explore creative ways to personalize the experience for your attendees. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback through the comment section below!
