Recently, Swank Events has been pulled into several last-minute engagements after a panicked call from the client saying “I can’t pull this together and I need your help!” Not having enough time, resources or knowledge can lead to frustration and stress, so here are the top 4 reasons why you should consider hiring a Professional Event Planner:
1 –Event planners will watch your budget. We have extensive industry contacts, spreadsheets with typical spending allocations (for food, entertainment, event décor) and experience helping clients understand what they are going to get for their allocated dollars. Our expertise is going to help make your budget go further. We will also help you understand where to spend your money to ensure your event has the look and feel you want to achieve without compromising on quality!
2 – Event planners will handle the details. While we know where to spend your budget, we also know about the hundreds of questions in the big expense categories of food, beverage, décor, entertainment and venue. Walking clients through the process of making decisions around these areas AND handling the follow-up is why utilizing an event planner is so beneficial! Event planners know what questions to ask, who should be responsible for providing what and how much it is going to cost. Swank Events provides clients with a detailed timeline of the event logistics so all parties involved know exactly what is going to happen, when and who is responsible.
3 – Event planners anticipate potential issues and come up with solutions for it. We pride ourselves on being able to anticipate a problem and resolve it before it becomes an issue, think quick on our feet and roll with the punches while keeping our client’s best interest in mind. Again, this is where experience comes into play and professionals can assist with decisions such as the best room layout to avoid a traffic bottleneck or coordination of speakers with meal courses to allow for the best event flow.
4 – Event professionals take the stress out of your event. Certified event planners can not only make the planning go smoothly, they can also help run the day-of logistics that could potentially take you away from enjoying your company event! We serve as the on-site contact so when a question comes up, vendors are calling us instead of you. Additionally, vendor / venue set-up and post-event clean-up are BIG time windows that should be supervised by someone who knows what should be happening when. Monitoring vendors, ensuring contracted items are being delivered / set-up as promised are crucial to a successful occasion!
Our main goal is to ensure the event goes off without a hitch and is a huge success, which can mean different things to different clients; whether the goal is to recognize your employees, provide an out-of-office bonding experience or simply throw a fun holiday party – Swank Events can help!
First of all, Happy New Year from your friends at Swank! We have been so busy during the month of January that we’re just now able to pause and reflect on 2018. And what a year it was!!
Our year kicked off with planning an annual meeting for one of our favorite clients. This wasn’t just your average meeting – sure, there were some company updates, but in between presentations, there was a magician/comedian who really brought some energy to the event. Immediately following the meeting was dinner and bowling at Kings. This company really understand the value of employee bonding time outside of the office. Photos by Kristen Renneker.
The summer brought a family outing for a Boston-based company at Steep Hill Beach at the Crane Estate. We really enjoy planning these as the day is all about fun, food and enjoying our amazing New England weather. Lobsters, a sundae bar, the beach and lawn games were on the agenda for this magnificent day!
One of our most exciting opportunities of 2018 was assisting with theNBC Universal’s Boston Media Center Groundbreaking Ceremony.There was a gorgeous cake by Cakes for Occasions, champagne toasts and a special ceremonial groundbreaking with customized shovels and hard hats. We had a lot of fun being creative with the primary colors in the NBC logo – adding the Swanktouch.
The use of the primary colors in the NBC logo brought color and life to this event which we really enjoyed.
In October, we were back at it with the PERKS team for the PERKS Chicagoshow. This event was held at a very different venue from Boston that created a distinctive feel and an intimate experience for attendees. It was the first convention we’ve planned where we brought in a stilt walker…and we LOVED every minute of it! Photos by Eric Michael Clarke Photography.
And to close out the year on a high note, we had the pleasure of planning and executing a 1970’s themed holiday party! The Motor Booty Affair band rocked the room and elevated the unique 70’s decor created by Swank Events for this company event. Photos by Kristen Renneker.
And our final piece of exciting news – we moved into a new office space. Stay tuned for a new series: from the desk of Kristin Healy, to get tips, insight into the event planning world and the latest on Swank happenings.
Very exciting things to come in 2019. What can Swank Events do for your company? We would love to hear from you.
Cheers to an incredible year ahead!
– Kristin Healy, Owner & Creative Director, Swank Events Boston
