Anyone that works within the events industry knows that a running order is more or less the holy grail. Trying to make an event run smoothly without a running order could be compared to a pilot of a plane having a rough guess of the flight route, time and end destination, no-one else knowing any info and then hoping for the best.
Having recently watched the first episode of the newest series of The Apprentice, the importance of a running order of some sort was apparent. The teams were tasked to host a ‘corporate away day’ in the Scottish Highlands for a business teams’ day out. The team that lost ultimately did so due to the attendees asking for a refund as a result of the whole day running late. Arrival for lunch was an hour late, the food was cold, the last activity couldn’t take place, and by the end of the day you could see the guests desperately just wanted to go home!
The event running order is essentially a script for all involved in the production of the event to follow. Everyone is on the same wave length and everyone can more or less work to exact timings (of course there can be room for some wiggle room if needed).
Now the event running order doesn’t need to be sentences upon sentences, actually the clearer and more to the point it is the better. During the inevitable hustle and bustle on event day, you want to be able to quickly see what’s coming up next and at what time. It’s a good relief mid event to take a look at the running order and see that things are going to plan!
If everyone used a running order consistently in their every-day lives then we would all be efficient punctual machines not wasting a single second (not likely). Whether you’re managing a 300-person awards ceremony, a large conference, or a small business meeting, having a clear running order and sharing it with all suppliers involved is a fantastic start to a successful event.
At Grapevine a running order is created for all of our events to ensure everything runs smoothly. We will take control of this for you, so on the day you can be confident everything is in safe hands and you can focus on enjoying the event.
-Dan
