Event vendors can occasionally be the crux of your event planning campaign. Event planners know how hard it can be to work with different vendors to make their event experience stand out. It also plays into the overall event budgeting so it’s even more taxing to evaluate and choose the appropriate vendors for a successful event.
So, if you’re here, let dive into the dynamic reasons and factors that should be on your event planning checklist when it comes to hiring different types of vendors or partners while working with them.
Why are Event Vendors important?
- They save your time and energy.
- They make your event planning, management, & execution easier.
- They represent your event brand and offerings directly or indirectly
- They help you reach your event revenue or registration goals
- Their work execution directly impacts your event success & attendee experience.
- Their mistakes or shortcomings may reflect on your event brand.
- Event vendor’s online/offline reputation affects your reputation
- Food and dining partners can truly make or break the audience reaction
- A good vendor relationship goes a long way in making your brand offerings consistent.
9 Types Of Event Vendors You Need To Hire
1. Designers & Illustrators
A good team of designers and illustrators will breathe life into your e-tickets and social media marketing for any event. They can set the pre-event engagement and expectations to give the much-needed online buzz in a creative manner. Make sure you decide on a set number of deliverables you’d expect with deadlines and briefs beforehand.
Our Ticket Customization feature exists to ensure that you can explore a wide range of event ticket designs without feeling restricted to showcase your event style.
2. Photographers & Videographers & Cinematographers
Even though your event attendees, guests, and brand advocates might do a fine job capturing a few glimpses of your grand show, it’s good to have the professionals on board.
Many venues and large-scale event locations offer this as standard, so make sure to enquire about event photography and videography-related services that you can utilize. Learn more about Evaluating and Choosing Your Event Venue to get the most out of your venue and event vendor selection.
3. Dining & Event Catering Vendors
One of the biggest contributors to your event’s success or failure is the vendor who is in charge of food, beverages, catering, and fine dining. Empty stomachs are never a good recipe for successful event experiences, hence make sure to do rounds of taste tests before signing up with caterers.
Your ideal dining and event catering vendors are those who can adjust to any size of a kitchen set up, handle volumes of attendees, and has the ability to clean up along the way. Hygiene and taste are non-negotiable terms.
4. Florists
A little touch of nature can surely up the ambiance of your event sections. Flowers go back ages when it comes to decorating any space and uplifting the overall vibe of the place. You might want to hire a floral decor specialist if your event niche involves planning weddings, bachelorettes, charity dinners, birthday parties, and so on.
5. Sound & A/V
No! You cannot just play your Spotify playlist and get in legal trouble. Make sure you go with the right people who can cover logistics and production-related equipment for sound, lighting, and stage design.
If your event niche inclines more towards live acts, music festivals, or theaters, music is the key component. A lot of artists and live bands expect a certain level of audiovisual production and your audience surely does expect crisp and bass-heavy sound. Just ensure to do a soundcheck prior to booking anyone so that at the D-Day those equipment perform as expected.
6. Bartenders & Sommeliers
Usually, these services fall under the food and dining category, but for instances like a local Oktoberfest, you will need a dedicated team of bartenders, pourers, sommeliers, & hosts to pull it off.
When it comes to drinking, there are certain etiquettes and knowledge of alcohol, cocktails, liquor, and mixology that come into the picture. Hire the best of the best and you will witness an exhilarating event experience with high spirits.
7. Sanitation Services
Although this was mostly standard practice for many event venues and organizers, safety and sanitation event vendors are essential for any event that you organize. Onboarding this type of vendor will help offset the task of having to check spots and sections for cleanliness and enhance your time management.
8. Security Agency
Event check-in and ticket validation are not as easy as they may seem to outsiders. Event security agencies and task forces are mandatory for large-scale events, private affairs, or club events where the chances of people getting heckled or acting out of rage may ensue.
To avoid any sort of mishaps or stealthy practices at your event, it’s important to onboard a security agency that would make your guests feel at ease.
9. Marketing Agency
A marketing agency may also fulfill the requirements of designers and videographers along. However, if you need a 360-degree approach to promoting your events online and offline, a full-time marketing agency will help you reach your desired goals.
Make sure that you brainstorm the event flyers, email tonality, content deliverables, and social media campaigns in advance so that your event promotion is timed correctly.
Event Vendor Onboarding Checklist
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Clarify event dates, locations, and time
Make sure they have it noted down or communicated over mail so that they can add it to their calendar.
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Ask for complimentary samples or services
Especially when it comes to food, beverages, and cocktails.
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Discuss long-term association & benefits
You might get a discount or yearly package if you book vendors for multiple events.
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Summarize the event deliverables with deadlines
If you’re expecting event flyers or social media posters, make of list of them and mark their delivery dates.
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Develop an official contract or written agreement
To make it legal, outline all the finer points and ensure each vendor signs it in agreement. This avoids confusion and miscommunication.
Now that you’re sure about the type of event vendors that you’d need to onboard for your upcoming events, make sure you’re signed up with Yapsody as your official event ticketing partner. Also, don’t forget to check our blogs for more event-related insights.
