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Planning an event can be daunting, particularly if you’ve only ever attended them! Here are Rain Marketing’s Do’s and Don’ts of event planning, and after this if it still seems like too much get in touch with us to see how we can help you.

DO

• Define your objectives and make sure an event is the right tool to achieve them.
• Establish how you’re going to evaluate the success of your event and what follow up you’ll do…..then make sure you do it!
• Set a clear realistic budget that you use to track your expenditure throughout the planning process
• Think about your guests and their experience and put that at the forefront of your event.
• Get help if you need it – it’s ok not to be a specialist in all areas but guests will notice if you’re cutting costs by not calling in the professionals.

DON’T

• Schedule your event at the same time as a major sporting event or on the eve of a bank holiday. Check the calendar for potential clashes!
• Do everything yourself, on the day make sure you have a team of others who have been briefed and given roles to help ensure everything runs smoothly on the day.
• Be surprised when something goes wrong! The phrase hope for the best, plan for the worst sums up our approach to event planning as something goes wrong or doesn’t turn out quite how you expect it to.
• Underestimate the importance of food and drink at an event – this is an area guests remember and an ill-catered event will be remembered and spoken about…and not for the reasons you want it to be.
• Forget to enjoy yourself, if your guests see you smiling then they’ll smile back!

With under 3 months until the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into play, replacing the previous Data Protection Directive, it’s really time to think about what it means for your business and what changes you will need to make. The fines for non-compliance are 2-4% of turnover or up to 10 million Euros, whichever is higher, and are designed to make you sit up and take notice! Whilst at first glance the GDPR is a complicated beast we’ve broken it down to help you on your path to compliance.

So that’s the scary bit, but we also want to reassure you that this exercise can really strengthen your business! Preparing for the GDPR will ensure that you are following best practice when it comes to data handling and putting your customers in charge of their preferences and data will mark you out as a company committed to using data sensitively and ethically!

Here’s how you should start preparing:

Take responsibility

Nominate someone (maybe yourself!) to take responsibility for learning about GDPR and making sure it happens. Make sure their workload is tweaked to allow them to spend proper time researching, training staff and implementing new ways of working.

Be self-aware

Quite simply audit your data. Learn about how you’re collecting it, where you’re storing it i.e. on a computer, in the cloud, on a server? Then look at your systems, are they fit for purpose, do they need updating? The ICO have a wealth of resources on their website including self-assessment audits so take a look.

Put the individual first

This is the essence of the GDPR, putting individuals first and in charge of their own data. So this falls into two categories:

1. Current data

Data gathered before the 25 May 2018 that doesn’t meet the new standards of consent can’t be used.  Individuals need to opt-in again. BUT be very careful about reaching out as even big players such as Honda have been fined for doing this incorrectly.

2. New data

You need to think about not only how you are going to get individuals to actively opt-in, and best practice is a double opt-in, but also how you are going to communicate with them about the changes and what you’re using their data for. This means updating your website, privacy messages, looking at e-newsletters and so on.

Prepare for the worst

The GDPR puts an obligation on businesses to report all personal data breaches if it’s likely to result in a risk to an individual’s rights and freedoms within 72 hours. So alongside making sure your data collection and storage methods are as robust as possible, you need to develop a breach plan.

Seek help

If all of this seems too daunting then don’t be afraid to seek expert help. Legal experts are available to come into your business and conduct an audit with a clear action plan.