15 Tips for Managing Event/Meeting Collateral Production
Managing multiple materials for a meeting can be chaotic. We have years of experience helping clients manage all different types of meetings. So, instead of having to figure it all out for yourself, we’ve put together a few tips we’ve learned over the years. The kinds of things that may seem obvious – but we know get overlooked – resulting in late projects, expensive re-work, and overall grumpiness.
Delivery timing is so important:
- Start with a real deadline. Tell everyone involved what it is!
- Find out how long it will take to ship the materials to the meeting. If you aren’t familiar with FedEx’s timeframes, click here to download our tip sheet
- Determine when you would like the materials to arrive on-site.
- Remember to build in the shipping time to create a REAL drop-dead ship date.
What to do:
- Prepare a shared guide that includes the types of materials needed for your meeting. Here is an example of one
- Partnering up with a shop to do the design, layout, and printing of your pieces can reduce the amount of time you spend managing the project (hint: that’s what we do :))
- Need a bio? Only have a CV? Check to see if your graphics provider can write you a short bio.
- Having a proofreader or QC person really helps ensure all the materials are laid out correctly.
Nitty gritty:
- If you’re going to be downloading participant names from a registration site, be sure they are all correct before going to layout. It is easier to change the excel or CSV file rather than each individual piece where the name appears.
- After approval of the invite, have your designer put together templates of each type of material before layout — it’s better to make any design tweaks before all of the pieces are laid out. Some of those materials can include, Invite, Signage, Letterhead, Eblast, Name Badge, Tent Card, PPT Template, etc.
- If an attendee’s name is changed or removed be sure to globally change/remove it on all pieces (i.e., Name Badge, Tent Card, Attendee List, Bio, etc.)
Other tidbits:
- Ask for an MS-Word version of the letterhead, name badge, and tent card in case you need to use them on-site for any last minute needs.
- Make sure the name badges are printed and fulfilled in ABC order.
- Consider using black text on your name badges and tent cards in case you need to print on site and you only have a black and white printer available.
- A bleed design will usually be more expensive to produce than a non-bleed design – so, make sure you need it and take the cost into account.
