Integrating Your Décor Suppliers at Phase One

BEING THE BOSS ON SITE 2 canadianspecialevents

You’re a creative person, you want every event to be an over the top immersive experience, recipe breathtaking in its design and decor and seamless in execution.  You want décor no one has seen before and custom lighting solutions that turn an empty space into a physical manifestation of your vision.

Then reality sets in, you’ve got budget challenges, venue limitations, last minutes hiccups and managing the expectations of the clients.  Your only one person but you don’t have to be.

Integrate your key suppliers into the design process and you gain their specialized knowledge to create a collaborative product.  Consider them partners in the process and you will create better events with far less grief

Start with the Venue

You might have to select a site, or the client may already have a chosen venue.  Either way you want to bring your key suppliers in and walk the room together.  Discuss your vision and open the floor up to questions.  Their pro’s that why you work with them so let them contribute the specialized knowledge they have.  You might be surprised at the solutions they offer, or, you may find the venue will not work for your vision.  If your preferred supplier is not interested in a site visit, find another supplier.

Be up front and firm on the budget

We all know the power of budget can determine the possible but be up-front early with the budgets you’re working with.  Your suppliers will appreciate the candor and the firm position.  They will have idea’s to manage your costs that you may not have considered.

Be open to new ideas

This sounds simple and you might think of course I would not turn down a good idea but you will, I have, we all have.  Keep yourself open to new ideas from suppliers.  They won’t’ all be gems.  I promise some of them will honestly leave you questioning their sobriety at 10 am on a Tue but keep an open mind, don’t belittle their input and your events will be stronger for it

If you find your key suppliers are order takers and not interested in being genuine partner’s then find better suppliers.  It’s a competitive industry and best practices should mean more than the lowest cost.   Create the kinds of event experiences that clients talk to their friends about and you gain the best marketing solution possible, a referral to your next client.