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Planning your own event well.

Host: guides, ideas and tools from EventPlans.ca for planning events in Toronto and the GTA.

Two planners seen from behind walking through a Toronto hotel ballroom set for a gala, pointing at centrepieces

Module 3 workshop: the gala budget, line by line

Module 3: Budgeting · 15 min

Build the full line-item budget for the 200-guest Harbour Gala with HST, gratuity, contingency and a payment calendar at a $40,000 envelope,…

Hands moving pawns on a blank floor plan beside a timer and radios

Module 10 workshop: tabletop simulation

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

Run the gala from the run of show with injected problems every ten minutes. Decide, act, record.

Technician resetting a power box under a stage with a flashlight

Real-time problems: the fifteen most common

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

Power trips, rain, no-shows, drunk guests, medical incidents, double-booked rooms, missing cake. The fix for each, in the order you do it.

Performer from behind adjusting costume in a green-room mirror

Working with performers

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

Green rooms, timing, intros, sound checks, audience management and what performers need from planners to do their best work.

Planner shaking a caterer's hand beside a rolling hot box

Managing vendors on the day

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

Arrival checks, the pre-event briefing, problem escalation, and paying balances on site.

Planner from behind with earpiece watching servers in a busy ballroom

Running the room

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

Positions, radios, cue calling, watching the clock and the crowd, and the quiet fixes that keep a program on time.

A planner's hands unzipping a black kit bag on a banquet chair, revealing gaffer tape, scissors, zip ties

The day-of kit and the first hour

Module 10: Event Day · 15 min

What is in the bag, when to arrive, who to meet, and the walk-through that catches 80% of problems.

A production crew from behind in a Toronto ballroom during setup

Module 7 workshop: full production plan

Module 7: Logistics & Operations · 15 min

For the gala: master timeline, run of show, load-in schedule, transport plan, seating and staffing in one package.

Event staff in black gathered around a planner for a briefing

Staffing and briefings

Module 7: Logistics & Operations · 15 min

How many staff per guest, roles, the 30-minute pre-event briefing, and radios.

Staff scanning a guest's phone at a check-in table with badge boxes

Registration, check-in and seating

Module 7: Logistics & Operations · 15 min

RSVP tools, cut-offs, name tags, QR check-in, seating charts with dietary codes, and the 10% who show up unannounced.

Hand moving a blank card along a brown-paper timeline on a wall

The master timeline

Module 7: Logistics & Operations · 15 min

Backward-planned milestones from the date, by scale. Use the timeline generator and learn how to re-plan when dates move.

Stage manager's desk with binder, stopwatch and headset under a blue clip light

Writing the run of show

Module 7: Logistics & Operations · 15 min

Minute by minute, one owner per cue, printed. Build one from the template with AV, MC, catering and entertainment columns.