Are you in the process of organizing an event? Well, then, you’ll know how much hard work is involved! Event planning is full-on from start to finish. There’s an endless list of things to do and constant problems to solve along the way. It’s no surprise that event management was named the 6th most stressful job out there! As they say, though, many hands make light work. Finding people to help with the tasks on your event planning checklist ensures the job gets done quicker and with less stress. You share the load and work together to throw the best event possible! Unfortunately, getting people to volunteer their support can be easier said than done. Looking for ways to encourage people to sign up and lend a hand? Keep reading for top tips for getting people to help organize your event!

1. Create the Checklist Itself

If you haven’t already done it, the very first step is to write up the event planning checklist itself. This is helpful in different ways. Firstly, it’s crucial to stay organized. Having a detailed checklist of tasks will help you see exactly what needs doing and by when. Everything should feel in more control, and you’re less likely to forget something pivotal in the process!

Secondly, an actual list makes it easier to get people on board. Rather than doing a general recruitment drive, you can advertise specific tasks for which people can volunteer. Each individual will have different talents, preferences, and availability. With a list of tasks available, it’s possible to pick the ones to which they’re best suited.

2. Speak to Friends and Family

The next step is finding people to put their hands up and volunteer! This is where it gets interesting. Start by approaching the obvious targets: friends, family members, and work colleagues. Let them know about your event and see who might be available to help out. You might be surprised at how willing some people are to take on a task. After all, these are your nearest and dearest! They want your event to be a success, which means they'll almost certainly help out if they can.

3. Think About the Event Itself

Keep in mind that the event itself will play a role in who you ask for help. For instance, let’s imagine that you’re organizing an event for your local church. You’re trying to raise money for a new pulpit and have decided to throw an event to generate some cash. In this case, it’d make total sense to ask the congregation for support with setting it up. Speak to folks at the end of each service in the lead up to the event. Put a poster up on any noticeboards with your contact details. And so on! You could approach the vicar and ask them for help recruiting people too. They might be able to mention it in the Sunday service, telling anybody who’s interested in lending a hand to get in touch with you. Take the same tack with any event you’re throwing. Leverage the community for which you’re running the event to solicit their help.

4. Use Social Media

Social media (and Facebook in particular) is another brilliant way to get people involved. You may well plan to use SM to advertise the event itself. However, it’s just as useful for getting volunteers to help plan your event. Think about creating a Facebook group for that exact purpose. Give it a name that relates to the event and set about inviting relevant people to join it. As they begin registering their interest, you could post the task list in order to seek sign-ups. From there, why not encourage your friends to share the group? The more people that see the group, the more who can join it and agree to lend a hand. You can generate masses of interest (and volunteers!) with minimal effort.

5. Offer an Incentive

Some people will offer to help out of the goodness of their hearts. They want your event to be a success and will put themselves at your service as a result. Others, though, might need a bit of incentive! You’re sure to get more sign-ups if there’s something in it for would-be volunteers. For instance, you could offer a free ticket to the event, or free food and drink on the night if they buy one. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the prize, the more sign-ups you’ll get. This is a great way to get people to do the least enjoyable tasks on the list. Better still, you don’t have to feel guilty about soliciting peoples’ help in the first place!

6. Use the 'Pitch In Club' App

Not to blow our own trumpet, but we’d feel remiss if we didn’t mention the Pitch In Club. Our clever event planning/tracking tool is designed for this specific purpose. You can create an event and send out invitations for people to ‘pitch in’ somehow. You can provide the option to contribute something to the event (such as specific food or drink) or to lend a hand instead. The people will get an email with their invite, from where they can decide to pitch in or not. They’ll see everything on your event planning checklist and can select how they want to help. You can then login and see which of your attendees has decided to do what. It couldn’t be more straightforward to find willing contributors.

Complete Your Event Planning Checklist with Ease!

Organizing an event can take a lot of time, energy, and hard work. …Especially when you try to do everything yourself. It’s easy to get bogged down with the endless number of tasks on your event planning checklist. Getting people to help will make a mighty difference. It means you can share out the tasks and make lighter work of the job as a whole. Unfortunately, finding people to sign up for those tasks can be a challenge in itself! Hopefully, the tips in this post will enable you to do it with far less trouble.

Ready to do this the easy way? Click here to read more about party-planning like a pro!