Last year I attended, spoke at and organised more live events than ever before. While hard work, they are also incredibly rewarding and so much fun to do. I’m thrilled that doing them is such a huge part of my business now. The Blogcademy, in particular, has changed my life so much!
The first live events I hosted were parties for blog readers and people in the wedding industry, I then moved on to doing small afternoon-long, in-person blogging workshops before launching The Blogcademy, with Gala and Shauna, in 2012. Needless to say I’ve learnt a lot of lessons about what does and does not work when putting on events.
You need an assistant
When we first started doing The Blogcademy we didn’t have assistants for every class, but oh boy I wish we did! Having someone to help you prep for the event, set up the space, break it down afterwards and make sure you get from A to B is so vital and makes the whole thing so much less stressful!
If, like us, you are hosting an event in a city you don’t live in it’s also great to have someone that knows the area who can drive you around and take delivery of and bring along any supplies (like goodie bags) with them.
Our assistant at the Melbourne class in November was a professional events organiser and she gave us some great advice. Since speaking to her we’ve created a document that we now email to our assistants before each class that lets them know what is expected from them. It also includes the timings of the day, our contact details and anything else they might need to know. Doing this makes all the pre-preparation and communication so much smoother and means we don’t have to repeat ourselves each time!
Refunds and cancellations
Whatever your event, you need to have a solid refunds and cancellations policy. This must be clearly explained on your registration and FAQ pages. Include things like if you offer refunds, if there is any cancellation fee, by what date cancellations will be accepted and if tickets can be transferred. You should also include information about what happens if you need to cancel the event.
Over-communicate
I am a massive over-communicator and like to keep everyone in the loop at all times. As soon as someone signs up to your event, be sure to email them letting them know that you have received their payment and what, if anything, they have to do next. We have a document which we email to our Blogcademy sign ups with more information about the class and private forum.
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