Event Pros, What To Accomplish During The Off Season

We are sometimes asked, what do event professionals do during the off season?  The answer is that we continue to stay busy but in different ways.

This post is really meant for our colleagues in the event and wedding industries but it may also be of interest to the broader population including brides and grooms, event planners and others in the field, so here we go!..

In northeast Ohio, where we operate, the busy season for us starts in late April and continues strong right to the end of the year.  Our slower season is January, February and March, although we still typically have a number of events to fulfill.

First let's acknowledge that for serious event pros, our busy season takes a lot out of us. We're constantly on the go, traveling from one event to the other, conducting planning meetings with clients, setting up, performing and taking down equipment, etc.  It's a long busy marathon that doesn't seem to end but when it does, we're truly exhausted. And I can say this because I've been in the industry for over 25 years now, the older one gets the more it seems to take its toll.

A funny thing happens, however, when we finally do enter our slow time of the year. After a couple of weeks of recovery in the way of sleep, rest, and maybe a short vacation, we begin to get antsy for the business again, don't we?  We begin to get excited about the coming year and we try to prepare in the best way possible.

Here are some important tasks for event professionals to accomplish during the off season:

Respond to inquiries and book events - Many bookings for the year happen during the down time, so we're actually really quite busy responding to inquiries, answering questions, meeting with prospective clients and generating contracts. The goal here, of course, is to fill up our calendar for the upcoming year!

Review your pricing strategy - If you are going to change your prices, now is the time to do it.  Are you adding new packages and prices?  How will this affect your marketing strategy?

Review your marketing strategy - If you are going to change your marketing strategy, make these changes while you can before things get busy again.  Does your website need an update?  Are you going to do more or less paid online marketing?  What kind of traditional marketing will you do, if any?  Review your print material, are these documents still accurate?

Prepare for the upcoming tax season - Consult your tax preparer, issue tax related documents to employees and contracted workers.  Gather and organize receipts, copies of contracts, etc.  Make changes in your book keeping routines if you need to in order to have a smoother year ahead.

Repair or upgrade equipment - The field is tough on equipment.  During the year you have probably noticed a need to repair or purchase new equipment.  Perhaps you finished the last few weeks by using your back-up stuff because something was dropped or broken but you really don't want to start the new season with back-up equipment.  Be sure everything works perfectly going out of the gate!

Communicate with your insurance broker - Annually, make or update a written list of equipment inventory (as detailed as possible) and send it off to your insurance broker.  Savvy event pros will also include photos for good measure.  You want to be sure they know what kind of stuff you own and how much it all costs.

Communicate with your lawyer - Send your lawyer a brief email describing any new services or assets that you've added recently or intend to add to your business.  For example make sure he or she knows how many people you employ, describe your services, especially anything new you are adding.  It would also be a good idea to have your lawyer do a review of the language in your contract.

Communicate with staff members - It's important to communicate with employees and others who help you operate your business in order to share with them your strategy for the upcoming year.  What will be expected of them?  How will their respective roles change?  Are you adding products or services?  Will training be necessary to learn about new equipment, software, etc.  Be sure everyone is on the same page about what you want the business to accomplish when things speed up again.

Back up files - You should be doing frequent, periodic back-ups of electronic files during the year but at least annually, be sure to have a back-up system in place.

Prepare for bridal fairs - If you participate in bridal fairs and other such gatherings you know how much work is involved in setting up a booth or table, preparing marketing materials, etc.  Be ready with these items so that you can concentrate on being with guests and prospective clients and not running around at the last minute!

Get serious about your health - Many people begin their new year's resolutions during the off season and this is a good time to get serious about your health.  As an entrepreneur, your health is an asset of the business.  When asked about their biggest fears, self employed people will often say staying healthy is always a big concern.  They know that if they should get sick or injured, their business could suffer affecting their ability to make a living.  So now is a good time to establish diet, exercise and sleep habits to promote better health for the whole year 'round.

Well, I hope these suggestions are helpful.  Please let me know of other tasks to accomplish during the slow season that I may have forgotten to list.  I will add them in future updates to the article.  Best wishes for a successful year!

Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!

The Magic Words Are: "Please Send Us A Contract!"

This message will not read anything like a typical post from us here at My Life Media.  In fact, for those who know us, it will resonate contrary to our normal demeanor.  We are not high pressure sales people.  We don't believe in hounding people, using cheesy gimmicks or misrepresenting ourselves during the sales process.  So please don't read into this blogpost something that's not there.  We're not trying to pressure people into making their booking decision before they are ready.

We do, however, want to be sure that we are clear when communicating with potential clients, so here we go... If you are indeed interested in reserving our service for your event date, the magic words are - please send us a contract.

Each year we receive between 500 to 800 inquiries for the skills and talents of just two experienced, professional DJ entertainers.  Not only are we DJ entertainers but more specifically, we are wedding specialists.  Probably 80 percent of the events we do are weddings.  I estimate that I personally have DJ'd and MC'd over 500 weddings in my 20 plus year career.  It's not uncommon for us to get 20 or more inquiries for the same dates, especially if they fall during the peak wedding season.  And, often inquiries tend to come in waves.  So, for example, we might get several inquiries in one day for the same date 10 months into the future.

As you can imagine, a lot of communication happens with potential clients throughout the year as we are sending information, answering questions on the phone, scheduling meetings, etc.  This is all happening while at the same time we are communicating with booked clients to help them plan their special events as their dates approach.

Now, truth be told, we are pretty well organized when it comes to the way we communicate.  We have notes on each email, phone call, personal meeting, etc. We utilize state of the art event planning software to plan and prepare for events.  This is not to say that we can't make a mistake, certainly that happens - rarely - but occasionally.  Nobody's perfect.  But it is rare that we flub up big time when it comes to working with clients.

So we are always surprised each year to have a few people who have submitted inquiries who think that just for the act of checking availability and asking for information, they've reserved our service without actually going through a contract procedure.  This almost always happens when people procrastinate on their decision only to discover that someone else was quicker to make a commitment and say the magic words.

To set the scene: It's possible for us to have been communicating with an undecided potential client for weeks, even months, via emails, phone calls, personal meetings and then have someone else contact us out of the blue for the same date in a brief 5 minute phone call and seal the deal by saying the magic words.

It's a difficult conversation to have with the procrastinator because we can sense the disappointment, frustration and despair.  "But we really wanted you for that date!"

Thus the purpose behind this article is simply to educate those who are planning their special event to say the magic words when they are ready to make a purchase decision.  No other words have the magic!  When you contact us to say "please send us the contract" your event date will be placed in our calendar and we will begin the planning process that will lead to a fun and memorable celebration.

Click here if you want to learn more about our DJ service or receive a price quote for your upcoming event!