Last year I created a Pre-Planning Worksheet as a resource for anyone planning an event. If you haven’t already downloaded it, you can find it here. It’s helpful for just about ANY event including weddings. Yep, even weddings need to have a primary goal, target audience and plan!

Planning an event without first defining your primary goal is like booking a vacation rental and getting in the car and driving without ever looking at a map to know how to get there. Or building a house without a blueprint. Or trying to order a Big Mac from Taco Bell. It just won’t work! And in the end, it’s a waste of time and resources.

So how do you go about defining your primary event goal? First, don’t overcomplicate it. Your primary goal should be short and to the point. It’s one primary goal, and the other smaller goals and desired outcomes are secondary. As an example, the goal of your event might be to raise funds for a specific project, to expand the reach of your organization, to build community, or even to celebrate a specific occasion.

Second, your primary goal should support the mission of your organization and add value in some way. Whether your event is personal or organizational, your goal should still serve as the starting point for all other decisions and will serve as the foundation for your event and communication plans.

When my husband and I were planning our wedding, what was most important to us was being able to focus on – and celebrate – our marriage itself in a way that would allow us, our family and friends to do that and fully enjoy being together rather than being stressed out and over-worked on our wedding day. That goal influenced all of our decisions for our wedding day, and it was so helpful to keep it top-of-mind when planning our wedding.

Defining the primary goal for your event also serves as a tool for determining if components of the event (or even the event itself!) actually add value or are just fluff. A little bit of fluff is sometimes ok in an event, but too much of it results in an event that lacks substance and comes off as disorganized and even confusing to attendees. By defining your primary goal, you can easily assess if the decision you’re making or the component you’re adding supports that goal and adds value.

Whether your event is new or has been taking place for years, I highly recommend that you hit pause on any plans or checklists that you’re making for your event and articulate the primary goal. Use that primary goal as a starting point to create and assess your plans moving forward.

I’ll continue unpacking the Pre-Planning Worksheet here on the blog, so look for more about determining the target audience for your event in the next post! If you’re having trouble articulating the goal of your event, I’d love to talk through that with you to help you define your primary goal. Just reach out to me directly at rebecca@rebeccawaldrop.com and we can chat!