How to Create the Perfect Event Brief and Why It Matters
All great event managers know that the secret to delivering a successful event lies in having a clear, measurable goal and a strong event brief to communicate it. An event brief is essential before you even begin ticking off the rest of your event planning to-do list.
Pro Tip: The most successful events have an event brief guiding the way.
What is an Event Brief?
An event brief is a key document that serves as a guiding light for yourself and your team.
The event brief provides an overview of your event from top down - it starts with a summary of the strategic purpose and typically includes key details regarding timeline, deadlines or milestones, budget information, attendee profiles, the look and feel of the event, and venue recommendations.
Unlike an event strategy, which covers your high-level targets such as the event vision and brand objectives, an event brief lays out the roadmap to achieving those goals and informs all your event tasks from the start. The event brief provides a complete overview of the event you are planning, clarifying the 'how' of getting to event day.
Want to know more about the event strategy? We explain it here in our article Mastering Event Strategy: Your Blueprint for Event Success.
💡Pro Tip: Creating an event planning brief from scratch for every event can take time and effort. Using an event brief template lets you breeze through and streamline your planning process. It also helps you establish a standardised process that can be used for future events, making your work faster and more efficient.
Why You Need an Event Brief
An event brief provides direction and simplifies the complex process of planning an event. Whether you are working with an events agency, a client, or a venue coordinator, it is crucial for everyone to be on the same page.
An event brief empowers you to set clear goals, lay out a timeline and budget, create attendee profiles, and ensure your venue looks and feels the way you envisioned.
A well-crafted event brief reduces the chances of ambiguity and misunderstandings when creating the event program and designing the format. If written well, it should also eliminate the need for countless (and sometimes expensive) revisions and redesigns.
Unfortunately, many new event planners struggle with creating event briefs because they don't know what to write. In fact, most planners skip it altogether.
We drafted this how-to guide to help you get the most out of your Event Brief template, included in the Event Planning Essentials Kit.
Key Elements of the Event Brief
Describe the Event
To give your events team or client a clear picture, start with a detailed overview of the event. What does the event look and feel like? Who attends? What is the theme? What is the main event program?
Clarify Your Goals
Organising an event costs time and resources, so it’s important to tie your event to an achievable goal. Define what you want to achieve with this event, such as raising brand awareness, generating leads, promoting networking opportunities, or providing educational content.
Lay Out a Budget and Timeline
When planning the event budget, get a range of quotes to ensure accuracy. Plan your budget around your expected revenue from the event. If you are selling tickets, determine how many tickets you need to sell to turn a profit and at what price point.
Once you have an idea of your budget, sketch out a timeline. You will need to have a date for the event, but also establish other important milestones along the way. For example, secure a venue at least three months before the event and start promoting your event.
Profile Your Attendees
A networking dinner for sales executives will look and feel different from a community festival. Include a detailed profile of your attendees to tailor the event experience to meet their expectations effectively.
Include an Overview of the Program
Write a brief description of the program and any related theme or design elements that can be referenced throughout the planning process.
Event Brief Template
Get our ready-to-use Event brief template and Event Brief Writing Guide. Our beautiful tools are designed to help you plan your events quickly and easily. Buy Now
5 Steps for Creating an Event Brief Template
Creating an event brief from scratch for every event can take time and effort. By using an event brief template, you can scale your efforts, focus on event strategy and achieve repeatable success, making your planning process more efficient and effective.
Step 1: Conduct Initial Event Research
Start by conducting initial research about your event. Gather relevant information, understand the event landscape, explore similar events, study their successes and challenges, and examine various aspects such as venue options, potential sponsors, and vendors.
Step 2: Define Event Objectives and Goals
Identify your event goals. Are you looking to raise brand awareness, generate leads, promote networking opportunities, or provide educational content? Setting specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant goals is essential to track progress and evaluate the event’s success.
Step 3: Identify Target Audience and Event Theme
Understand your target audience. Identify the demographics, interests, and preferences of the attendees you wish to attract. Select an appropriate event theme that resonates with your potential attendees to create a cohesive and memorable experience.
Step 4: Establish Event Budget and Timeline
Keep your event budget in mind to avoid overspending. Allocate resources effectively, considering costs such as venue rental, catering, marketing, audiovisual equipment, staffing, and additional logistics. Structure your timeline to secure the venue, book vendors, finalise the event program, launch marketing campaigns, and take care of other critical activities.
Start your next event with 90% of the work already done.
Time is money, and you starting from from scratch for every new project wastes lots of it. Get started faster, customise with ease, and plan your event with templates that practically pay for themselves. Shop Event Kit Templates
Our Event Planning Essentials Kit is designed to help you plan your events quickly and easily. Buy Now
Featured Event Toolkits
Event Planning Essentials Kit
Start using our Event Planning Essentials Kit and experience the peace of mind that comes with confident event management. But don’t take my word for it. See what event planners around the world are saying about our Event Kit templates:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
These templates saved me a lot of time not having to create my own…Would definitely recommend to any new or experienced event planner.
–Leanne Allicock, LA Event and Photo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I'm so thankful you’ve created your resources and templates. It’s hard creating everything from scratch, so having something already done that you can tweak to your own needs is a godsend!
–Casey Bonacci, Bonacci Agency
Ask Our Team
Still don’t know where to get started? Not sure how to pick the right templates? Let’s chat!
Related Content
Popular Posts
Hey, I’m Rachella!
Welcome to our blog. If you’ve come to find ideas and inspiration about event planning and entrepreneurship, and everything in between—you’re in the right place. Enjoy!
Shop 150+ Event Planning Tools
Better events, less stress. Pre-made event templates for seamless and easy event planning. Shop Templates
30 ready-to-use event templates and tools designed to give you the essentials for planning events from start to finish! This is our signature toolkit—if you only buy one thing today, make it this special collection of event planning tools.
Made for new event planners and busy event professionals. Price in USD.
See full description