1 December 2022

Managing Workload

If you follow me on social, you’ll see that things are pretty busy here at Lucy Claire Events with a number of festive celebrations underway alongside lots of 2023 event planning.

All great and really exciting but, as you can imagine, there are a lot of things flying about and it is very easy to get overwhelmed. Over the years, I have learnt how to manage my workload in hectic times, and this has very much come from learned mistakes throughout my business growth – there have definitely been a few tears with me surrounded by paper in the past!

As an event organiser, I have to be organised – I mean, the clue’s in the title! But there’s being organised and then organised for events. Here’s how I work, and I hope some of these tips help you in your world in some way.

Have lists about lists!

Anyone that knows me knows I love a list and every day starts with one otherwise I can easily lose my way. Each evening, I write my list for the next day with my priorities at the top with deadlines, so I ensure my time is spent on the most relevant things. These are often date-dependent for events but with large events, such as retreats, often venues need securing months ahead.

Give each event a separate folder

Sounds obvious, but I know people that don’t do this which makes me feel slightly nervous! Whenever a new event kicks off, I start a folder and document everything in there from the initial chat notes to images, contracts, venue packs – everything. Even if the event doesn’t happen for whatever reason, the folder stays as the client may want to revisit in the future.

Don’t overload your diary

I need to take more notice of this one, but a big thing is to not cram my diary so full that I don’t have time for my admin. So, emails, marketing, time to look at trends and new venues and what is going on in my local area. It’s very hard to make time at times, especially when there is so much on, but it is imperative to my future success that I do. I have learnt the hard way in years gone by that to drop the ball on admin and marketing really does impact the bottom line of my business in the future months!

Organise your contacts

In events, contacts are everything and I am lucky enough to have many incredible venues, suppliers and colleagues in mine. I make sure I document and store all contacts, so they are easily accessible as and when needed as I never know what type of enquiry may land in the inbox that I need to draw on that little black book!

Make sure wellbeing is paramount

Working in events can mean long hours, no food, little sleep and a lot of travelling, which all together can be a recipe for burn out and illness, so I try as much as I can to manage this. I’m not the best, but I go out each morning with my dogs and then when I can (given the short days) the afternoons too before it gets dark and eat well. I plan my busy periods and make sure I book rest time in for afterwards to re-charge and reflect. It’s so vitally important.