Can you believe it’s been over a month since the very first Coffee With Kirsten charity event?
It was such a wonderful afternoon with an amazing group of women. So wonderful that I’m going to do it again next year!
The planning is underway for CWK 2.0 and I’m hoping to have more details for you early in the new year. In the meantime, here are 4 things I learned from planning an event.
1. Action cures fear
I’d been thinking about hosting an event for ages. Well over a year in fact. But I kept pushing the idea aside. Why? All of the fearful things!
What if nobody wanted to come? What if I couldn’t secure any donations? What if I couldn’t sell any raffle tickets on the day?
But then I decided to make like Nike and just do it. I sprung into action and 8 weeks after being given the inspiration to do so, Coffee With Kirsten was happening.
If there’s something in your life that you can’t stop thinking about, don’t be like me and give into the fear. Take action today and you will be amazed at what you can achieve!
2. Events are hard work
There is an extraordinary amount of behind the scenes work that goes into planning an event. From sourcing a venue to meeting with businesses who would like to donate a prize to setting up an Eventbrite page. It doesn’t matter how small or large the task at hand is, they all add up to a huge amount of time.
My office – a sea of goodie bags!
I was completely and utterly exhausted once the event was over. I wrote about how I managed to stay on top of things in the lead up to the event in this post, however I failed to plan some post-event downtime.
If you’re thinking about planning an event, take care of yourself before AND after the event. Allow yourself some well deserved and much needed rest after the big day has been and gone. You will definitely need it.
3. Being organised is essential
I am a very organised person and love a good list. To be able to plan an event you really do need to have both of those skills. I had a folder on my Mac and an actual manilla folder on my desk (yes, I’m a bit old school like that!) Included in both were lists for pretty much everything you can think of.
I set up basic tables in Pages for Prize Donations, Guest Lists and Jobs To Do. I had an email folder specifically for the event and tried to answer all event related emails within 24 hours. Sometimes I failed miserably at that, other times I nailed it.
I also had a notepad on my desk which I used to quickly scribble event related tasks etc on as they popped into my head.
Our living room situation the morning of the event.
Planning an event while also working, parenting and running your own blog/business can be done. It just takes a lot of organisation!
4. People are amazing
The support that was given to Coffee With Kirsten still blows my mind. So many beautiful friends and followers from the Kirsten and co. community snapped up tickets that it sold out!
Brands I had worked with previously offered incredible prize donations. Local businesses who I hadn’t worked with before contacted me to kindly offer prize donations.
Friends offered prizes that they purchased themselves and on the day the raffle tickets sold so quickly I couldn’t keep up with the demand.
As a result, $1,467 was raised for and donated to The Pyjama Foundation.
People are amazing.
Read a full wrap of the Coffee With Kirsten event here. The next event will be held on Saturday 22 April 2017 – mark it in your diaries!
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