A clear process is every event planner’s friend. If you don’t want to discover three weeks out that the signage hasn’t been ordered or the caterer clearly has no idea of the numbers, we’d recommend a carefully managed timeline with clear responsibilities so everything falls neatly into place at exactly the right moment.

Successful events come together through a number of decisions and actions made at the right time. From choosing the venue and setting the budget to deciding what’s for lunch and figuring out where that six-foot branded installation will actually fit, every task matters.

At Hippo Events, we manage that process through six stages: Listen, Plan, Build, Deliver, Close and Review. Here’s how those stages fit into a typical 12-month event planning timeline.

12+ months to go: Listen
Before shortlisting venues, choosing themes or getting excited about giant LED screens, we’ll always ask: why are you holding this event?

This is the Listen stage. We start by understanding the brief, audience, objectives and messages, because those decisions shape everything attendees will eventually see, hear, learn, taste and feel.

What does success look like? Who needs to be there? What do you want them to think, feel or do afterwards?

This is also the perfect time to establish your scope, indicative budget and measures of success. It’s important to know what you’re building before you start buying the bricks.

12-9 months: Plan
We’re exploding with ideas, so the planning can now get underway.

Venue finding begins, alongside site visits and conversations about capacity, location, accessibility, production requirements and cost.

This is also when the project plan starts to take shape. Key milestones are mapped, an initial budget is created, and potential risks and dependencies are identified early, rather than being allowed to jump out from behind a curtain later.

With around 9 months to go, supplier conversations should be underway, venue coordination should be more detailed, and the agenda can start evolving from “some great speakers talking about interesting things” to an actual programme.

9–6 months: Build, build, build
This is the biggest stage of the process because it covers the multitude of moving parts that turn a plan into a live experience. Hippo acts as the central point of contact across suppliers, venues, registration, AV, logistics, operations, budgets, health and safety and contingency planning.

At around 6 months out, registration should be taking shape. That means creating the website or registration platform and starting to think seriously about the attendee journey.

It’s also time to develop the event’s creative identity and theming. What artwork is required? Do we need promotional products or other branded items?

It’s vital to also keep talking to the venue and suppliers throughout. Nobody has ever improved an event by assuming everyone else knows what’s happening.

3 months to go: The decisions get real

Three months out is when plenty of things that previously had ‘TBC’ written next to them need to lose those three little letters.

The agenda should be finalised. Invitations and registration reminders need to be working hard. Suppliers and venue arrangements should be confirmed, and the budget should be looking increasingly like a real number rather than an optimistic estimate.

This is usually when we start thinking with our stomachs and begin food tastings, wine tastings and analysing dietary requirements from registration data.

It’s also a good moment to look at the event as an attendee rather than an organiser. Is the information clear? Does the agenda flow? Are there awkward gaps? Do attendees have enough time to eat the carefully chosen food before being called to their next session?

1 month out: No nasty surprises
With a month to go, detail rears its devilish head. Final attendee numbers are coming in. We’ve confirmed F&B requirements. Signage goes to print. Rehearsals and speaker briefings are scheduled.

Risk assessments, health and safety requirements and contingency plans also need their moment in the spotlight. It’s time to start asking those questions that nobody particularly wants to ask. What if a speaker cancels? What if technology fails? What if trains are disrupted? What if 200 people arrive simultaneously?

You don’t need to predict every disaster. But you do need to know who will do what when something (inevitably) doesn’t go according to plan.

Event week: Deliver

We’ve listened, we’ve planned. We’ve made tough decisions and kept building. Now it’s time to deliver.

A final team briefing ensures everyone knows their responsibilities, while rehearsals and technical checks iron out last-minute problems. On site, the focus switches to logistics, suppliers, attendee experience and dealing calmly with whatever the day decides to throw at us.

If you’ve done the previous 12 months properly, attendees shouldn’t see any of that machinery. They should simply experience a great event.

After the event: Close and Review
And we’re not finished yet. Close means reconciling invoices and the final budget, gathering feedback, tracking KPIs and conducting an internal debrief.

Review then brings Hippo and our client back together to identify what worked, what could be improved and what should change next time.

Because the best event timelines don’t really end. They just make the next event even better.

If managing everything from month 12 to show day sounds like rather a lot of spinning plates, that’s where we come in. Talk to us about taking your next event from Listen to Review, without any smashed tableware.

Hippo offer Event Project Management and Global Venue Finding services. Contact us today on 01372 460 100 or events@hippoevents.co.uk to see how we can assist.