Ensuring Your Next Big Event is Properly Staffed

Whether you’re planning a conference, music festival, or corporate event, proper staffing is crucial to ensuring a smooth and successful event. Having the right staff in place can make all the difference between a private event that runs like clockwork and one that is chaotic and disorganized. Properly staffing an event requires careful planning and attention to detail, from defining your event needs to selecting the right staff members and ensuring they are properly trained.

In this blog post, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide to ensuring your next big event is properly staffed. By following this guide, you can create a well-staffed event that runs smoothly, ensuring that your attendees have a positive experience and that your event achieves its objectives.

How to Ensure Your Event is Properly Staffed

We’re going to walk you through a comprehensive event staffing checklist to ensure you are ready when the event day comes. 

Step 1: Define Your Event Needs

The first step to ensuring your event is properly staffed is to define your event needs. This involves understanding the specific requirements and objectives of your event, estimating the number of attendees, and determining the types of staff needed.

1. Identify the goals of the event: Before you can determine the staffing requirements for your event, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the event objectives.
2. Estimate the number of attendees: The number of attendees will play a significant role in determining how many staff members you need to ensure the event runs smoothly. For example, a large music festival will require a much larger staff than a small networking event.
3. Determine the type of staff needed: Once you have identified the event goals and estimated attendance, you can determine the types of staff needed to fulfill those objectives. Some common staff positions for events include ushers, greeters, security personnel, ticketing staff, food and beverage service staff, and technical support staff.
4. Determine the event budget: Budget is also a very important aspect to consider when starting the planning process. Set a budget and try your hardest to stick to it when planning event details. 

By taking the time to define your event needs, you can create a staffing plan that is tailored to your specific requirements, ensuring that you have the right event team in place to make your event a success.

Step 2: Recruitment and Training

Once you have defined your event needs, the next step is to recruit and train your staff. This involves creating job descriptions, recruiting and interviewing potential staff, preparing training materials, and conducting orientation and training sessions at the event venue. 

1. Create job descriptions: Job descriptions should be created for each staff position, outlining the responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations for the role. This helps ensure that potential candidates are aware of what is expected of them and can assess whether they are a good fit for the position.
2. Recruit and interview potential staff: Recruitment can be done through a variety of channels, such as job postings, referrals, or recruitment agencies. You can even use a platform like Qwick to find hospitality freelancers in your area to staff your event. If you are in need of chefs for your upcoming event, INTUEAT has private chefs for hire. 
3. Prepare training materials: Training materials should be developed for each staff position, outlining the specific tasks, procedures, and protocols that need to be followed. 
4. Conduct orientation and training sessions: Orientation and training sessions should be conducted to ensure that staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities and are equipped with the necessary skills to perform their duties. 

By investing time and resources into recruitment and training, you can ensure that your staff is prepared and equipped to provide a positive experience for attendees and to handle any unexpected situations that may arise.

Step 3: Logistics Management

Once your staff is in place, the next step is to manage the logistics of the event. This involves coordinating staff schedules, ensuring proper communication and coordination between staff members, and managing any equipment or supplies needed.

1. Schedule coordination: Scheduling is a critical component of event staffing, as it ensures that there are enough staff members available at all times to fulfill event needs. A centralized scheduling system should be put in place to ensure that staff schedules are coordinated and conflicts are minimized.
2. Communication and coordination: Clear communication and coordination between staff members is essential to ensure that tasks are performed efficiently and effectively.
3. Equipment and supply management: Ensuring that the right equipment and supplies are available for staff to perform their duties is crucial. This includes ensuring that food and beverage supplies are properly stocked, technical equipment is functioning properly, and any necessary safety equipment is readily available.

By effectively managing logistics, you can ensure that your event runs smoothly and that attendees have a positive experience.

Step 4: Staff Safety and Well-Being

The safety and well-being of staff members is essential to ensuring the success of your event. This involves taking measures to ensure staff members are safe, comfortable, and supported throughout the event.

1. Safety measures: Safety measures should be put in place to protect staff members from any potential hazards or risks.
2. Comfort and support: Event staffing can be physically and emotionally demanding, particularly for long shifts or during busy periods. It’s important to provide staff with appropriate breaks and rest periods, as well as access to food and beverages.
3. Staff recognition and appreciation: Recognizing and appreciating the efforts of staff members can go a long way in boosting morale and motivating staff members to perform their best. 

By prioritizing staff safety and well-being, you can create a positive work environment that encourages staff members to perform at their best and ensures the success of your event.

Step 5: Evaluation and Feedback

Finally, evaluating the performance of your staff and gathering feedback is crucial to improving future events.

1. Feedback collection: Feedback should be collected from staff members throughout the event, through regular check-ins and surveys. Feedback from attendees and stakeholders should also be collected through surveys or focus groups.
2. Data analysis: Feedback data should be analyzed to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. This information can be used to refine staffing plans for future events and to improve the overall quality of your event.

By gathering feedback and analyzing data, you can continuously improve your event staffing processes, ensuring that future events are even more successful.

The Bottom Line

Proper staffing is essential to the success of any event. By following these key steps, including defining your event needs, recruiting and training staff, managing logistics, prioritizing staff safety and well-being, evaluating performance, and gathering feedback, you can create a well-staffed event that runs smoothly and achieves its objectives. By investing time and resources into staffing planning and execution, you can create a positive experience for attendees and set your future events up for success. We hope this event checklist was helpful for your upcoming event planning.