r/EventProduction

Is every event company this disorganized? I work for a very small corporate event company as a coordinator. I've worked events before, but this is my first job at an event company.

Seemingly, there is no real structure or procedures in place to ensure any kind of coherence or quality control.

For example, I work under 3 project managers on up to 40–50 events per year, plus helping sales with proposals for future events. I frequently find myself confused and uninformed, because for each event I work on, I only see part of it. Sometimes the other coordinators are working on the same events, but none of us actually have updated information. Then something inevitably gets forgotten, because the PMs and bosses can't keep everyone in the loop, and somehow I or another coordinator are always at fault.

By the way, this company hates meetings. They never have them unless forced, and then the meetings are chaotic and long because the boss — the salesperson — never has an agenda and barely knows the big picture of anything.

The project managers work under the salesperson, who is herself a bottleneck and obsessive micro-manager (she is also the owner): only she can make decisions about how an event is run. PMs are not entrusted with any decision-making, and the salesperson is the main contact for clients from beginning to end. Yet due to her micro-managing, she has no time to do things like make sure contracts are signed (we lost clients over it this year) or organize workflow. I get work dumped on me from all sides and multiple people, but no one person ever actually knows what I'm working on. On top of that, it's always urgent and I always have to move at breakneck speed. If I mention it's too much, I just get slapped in the face with the fact that the PMs and owners work obscenely long days all year round, not just leading up to or during an event.

Other than my workload being immense and the pace being quick, nobody wants to check or review my work. My boss literally gets upset when I ask her to review anything. They send things out to clients without reading or reviewing them, then get upset when what I did isn't aligned with their vision. But I don't know what to tell them. I frequently try to keep them aware of what I want to do and ask clarifying questions, but in the end I am blocked from talking to clients or even being CC'd on emails, so I only get the PM's or salesperson's rehash of what the client wants, and in a very incomplete or vague way.

Recently, I purchased a corporate gift and chose the nicer bag option ($2 more) and put it on the bill. A PM saw it after the fact and got upset because in this instance the nicer bag was a "waste of money" for reasons I didn't know about. Another example: I was asked to do a task I had never done before to help a PM save time. I asked to see a previous example, was told to just do it because there was no time, then got reprimanded for doing it wrong — the PM didn't read it before sending it to the client, and the client complained. The PM then complained about having to spend an hour correcting it afterward, whereas the task itself takes half a day. So in the end, it was still time saved for the PM.

Is any of this normal? I'm looking for a new job but honestly I'm just curious.

Wondering what everyone here uses to manage their 1099 event staff and workers? How do you pay them out and track and collect W9s?

Any platforms or suggestions would be appreciated!

We have found some sponsors put things off to the last minute as a tactic. Best ways to get around this?

I’m currently refining a large conference general session run of show involving awards, sponsor segments, videos, presenter transitions, IMAG, and multiple production stakeholders.

I’d love to see examples of professional run of show templates or hear any best practices you recommend for:

•	segment organization

•	visual hierarchy

•	cue formatting

•	transitions

•	AV notes

•	backstage usability

•	sponsor/general session production

I’m especially interested in approaches that improve readability during live execution without overcomplicating the document visually.

Thank you in advance for any examples or guidance you’re willing to share.

I have never worked with an event planner or coordinator before and I want to reach out with a question before I look for this service.

I own a successful metaphysical store and I have a monthly psychic faire that does pretty well consistently but at this point it has become lackluster and mundane and we are basically just phoning it in every month. I have so many ideas to inject life and fun and excitement but I need somebody to spearhead and coordinate the changes. (We are a small team) Would it be acceptable to offer somebody a percentage of the growth beyond our normal monthly average as payment or is a pre determined flat fee regardless of outcome the only acceptable and accepted practice? I have limited resources but want to grow this event but at the same time I do not want to get something for nothing and insult any professionals.

I run small paid events, usually a few hundred guests a month.

We use ticketing tools for ticket sales (EB, TT) and they’re good for the basics. But I still end up doing the “real” event math in gsheets. Things like venue cost, staff, food/drinks, ad spend, whether repeat customers are actually worth much, and who should be invited again next. It is quite annoying.

How are you handling this?

Just Sheets? Airtable? CRM? Ticketing reports only?

I know there are bigger event CRM tools, but I don’t really want to pay hundreds per month just to know if an event made money and remind people to show up.

Curious if others have a cleaner setup, or if everyone is also duct-taping this together.

I’ve noticed a lot of work involves scaffolding, tents, and modular structures, which feels related to civil engineering.
What’s the best way to transition?
Required certifications or courses?
Key skills to focus on?
Common job titles in this field (e.g., Event Engineer, Temporary Works Engineer)?
Any advice is appreciated.

I worked my first live event (a rave) five days ago. I was under the impression that I would set up and be out of the room, but I ended up having to be in the room all night. 10 feet from one of the speakers. I had my airpods (thank god) and had them on the quietest setting, but my ears are still ringing five days later. The event lasted 7 hours.

I've seen loop, eargasm, etc. but those all reduce only about 17-20db. For people who do this a lot, is that enough? Foam earplugs reduce like 32 db. I've seen headsets that reduce a bit closer to that. It might just be bc I'm in the thick of potentially permanent hearing damage but I want to get the most reduction as I can.

What do you all wear if you're going to be very close to the sound all night? Do you combine in-ears and headsets?

Hey guys
I’m wanting/ thinking about starting my own business in event planning (Australia) and not clue where to start, if it’s worth it, how everything works

My main worry is how does it work, if I get a client do they pay for decoration and everything that ends up being at the event. Or do I and invoice them, or just do I as a ‘package’ or something. I am truly starting if with nothing so I am very grateful for any advice on how to do anything.

I was a function manager at a pub but they had every sorted and i just talked to people, but found an interest in this line

I do on location video and photo, corporate headshots, small events. For two years Venmo and bank transfer handled most of my collections, it worked until three things happened close together. A client had a corporate card out after the shoot, I had no way to take it, invoiced them, waited three weeks for accounts payable. Another client's Venmo sat pending for four days after I'd already delivered the files. At a wedding the groom just didn't pay for two weeks because nothing was actually owed yet in their mind, no charge had gone through, so it felt optional. Any app that you suggest for taking payments and that it reflects immediately?

On the grounds. Two crew just dropped out last second. Anyone know anyone who is competent and can operate a boom lift?

May 4-21 $26-$28 an hour, 12 hour days guaranteed. Lodging, travel, expenses paid. HEQ certs required

Hi all — I’m looking for practical feedback from people who build, manage or review live event budgets.

I’ve been working on a tool called ShowBudget. It came out of a problem I’ve run into repeatedly: most event budgets still live in Excel or Google Sheets. That makes sense — spreadsheets are fast, flexible and familiar — but once a project starts moving, things can get messy quickly.

ShowBudget is my attempt to create a more structured workflow for live event budgeting, while keeping the practical logic that producers, promoters, production teams, PMs, freelancers and finance people already understand.

It currently covers things like:

- show setup
- box office assumptions
- expenses and committed costs
- other revenue
- management fees
- artist deal logic
- scenarios
- ticket-sales snapshots
- P&L review
- import/export

I’m not doing a big public launch. It’s in private pilot, and I’m mainly trying to find out whether this is actually useful to people who deal with event budgets in the real world.

I’ve put a short walkthrough here:

https://www.show-budget.com

The feedback I’d really value is:

- Does this solve a real problem?
- Where does it look better than Excel?
- Where would Excel still be faster?
- What feels missing?
- What would need to be true before you’d trust something like this on a real project?

I’m not trying to spam or hard-sell anything. I’m looking for honest criticism from people who know the pain points.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes a look.

okay so i run a little concert house and basically everyday a different band/singer performs. the issue here is that i want to update them on their show’s ticket sales everyday like individually but i dont want to be messaging them daily. how do i go about doing that? is it just a different excel sheet per musician that they can access? or is there a hopefully easier and better way for them to see their show’s sales?

appreciate any help!

My friends are getting married in two weeks, and I have been asked to host the wedding. I want to create a quiz about the newlyweds to entertain the guests.

I looked up different quiz platforms online, and it seems like there are no free options for 200+ guests and about 20 questions. However, according to Mentimeter's website, users can exceed the 50-participant limit once a month for free.

There is no way I can test this statement before the wedding (because obviously, I do not have 50+ devices), so I would be grateful if anyone with similar experiences could share their opinions.

Question for conference organisers.

Following a cold call enquiry from an event organiser I was asked to speak at an upcoming industry conference. When I requested details it was confirmed that the conference organisers will not cover travel or accomodation which would leave me about $1200 out of pocket to speak. I'm happy to donate my time, but am reluctant to be left out of pocket for contributing (although I could possibly push the costs back to my company). I want to get an industry perspective if this is normal practice for conferences or unusual?

A few further specifics:

>The conference is a major industry conference with high ticket prices and the organiser is a corporate events company.

>I would be speaking about a major project I am leading and the attendees are mostly from the types of companies who supply into these type of projects, so there is no "sales opportunity" for me, in fact quite the opposite. There is some minor personal professional exposure benefits, hence being willing to donate my time.

Hi all. Ive had 15 years in event production sales and video work (some editing, livestream tech work and hybrid shows) and i think i need to get the hell out of here. I am curious if anyone has pivoted away to a different field that still lurks in this sub. If so, what did you pivot to, and how was it?

We have regular events of 200+ pax where we need to shuttle them from the airport to the event location. For convenience of the participants and their flight times, we offer 2 different shuttle times (not negotiable is the word). The bus company that handles the transfers needs to know the total number of seats ahead of time, as it's a 2+ hour ride and not a constant pendle.

We have buy links for the fares, and then a separate form in which people can indicate their preferred shuttle time. The problem is people change their plans and hence ask us to change their shuttle times. It halfway works but it's messy because people are not reliably responsive to forms, especially when we utilize multiple different ones. They also have to pay for the shuttle separately from their main ticket (and separate from the form with the times), adding another variable and more confusion.

How can I simplify this, make it more intuitive with less steps and friction, while still keeping the two different times option? For anybody who has a similar event setup, how do you do it?

A while ago I asked here if attendees actually read event FAQs.

Got a lot of replies, and the overwhelming answer was basically:

“No one reads anything.”

After talking to more organizers (different event types), I keep seeing the same pattern:

- People ignore FAQs

- They ask the same questions anyway

- And most of it happens last minute (right before the event or when deciding to attend)

A lot of organizers try to fix this by adding more details to the event page, sending reminder emails, posting info on Instagram / other channels …but the behavior doesn’t really change.

So I started exploring a different approach:

Instead of expecting people to search/read,

what if they could just ask?

I resolved this with a simple tool where you put all your event info (description, FAQ, links, updates, etc.) in one place, and it turns into a chat-style assistant that answers attendee questions 24/7, kind of like a ChatGPT, but only for your event.

You can share it as a link or embed it, and if something changes (time, location, etc.), you just update it once and it’s reflected everywhere.