An Organized Ant

How do you ever know that you are ready for an event? As much as you prepare and no matter how many countless hours are logged leading up to that big day, you never seem to have the "I'm ready" feeling. From small meetings to large multi-day productions, it all works the same; the event management team is always scrambling into the wee hours of the morning the day before. Finishing scripts, prepping training materials for staff, deploying security, preparing checks for vendors, creating last minute signage, or changing site maps are just a few things that seem to pop up at the last minute. The key to a successful and low stress event is recognizing that many elements will come up last minute and a seasoned planner will manage and trouble-shoot as much as possible to limit the stress that can occur in on-site execution.

I must say that hustling at the last minute is not a bad thing and would offer up that a key essential to great on-site execution starts with the sweat, tears, and blood shed in the days prior to an event. Just a month ago, leading up to a conference we were preparing for in San Francisco, I told my colleagues that I would much rather catch mistakes in the early planning and put in the late hours in the pre-planning phases fixing potential issues rather than allowing them to pop up while we are on-site. The old saying: "preparing today promotes success tomorrow" is totally true. Any event that doesn't have a struggle or an over abundance of work done in the pre-planning is an event waiting to fail on site!

What I love seeing during an event is watching all the details coming together in harmony! It is the feeling of sitting back and watching it all flow into it's proper place. If you have ever paid attention to an ant colony, you may understand this next analogy. Looking at an ant farm, there are hundreds of ants going in all different directions. However each ant is playing a role in either building their home or scouting food for the colony. I would like to think is that their "big event" is bringing food into the colony. The scouter ant goes out and finds the food. What is amazing to see is the organization that happens after the food is located. The ants disperse in a single file line and return to the colony in a single file line...all carrying food! How in the world can the chaos happening "pre-feast" turn into an organized hunt, gather, and feast! The pre-planning of an event often times feels like many different ants going in different directions building the colony. But the actual event comes into the place in sequential order just like the ants bringing food back to the colony.

On-site execution of an event is definitely entertaining to watch! However, it only happens harmoniously, if the proper planning that we call "organized chaos" happens on the front end! The next time you see an ant, I hope that you take the time to appreciate the organization of the event that they are putting on!