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Academy

Professional

Working or aspiring planners.

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

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Vendor contracts and insurance

Module 5: Vendors & Entertainment · 15 min

Scope, deposits, cancellation, substitution, COIs, additional insured. Use the contract outline and understand what a certificate of insurance actually proves.

A Toronto event vendor team gathered in a ballroom before a wedding

Module 5 workshop: book a full vendor team

Module 5: Vendors & Entertainment · 15 min

For the gala from Module 3, select entertainment, caterer, AV and photo from the Directory, collect riders and COIs, and build the…

Head table with floral garland and draped backdrop under amber uplights

Décor that photographs: where money shows

Module 6: Design & Guest Experience · 15 min

Lighting, the backdrop, the head table, tablescapes. Where décor dollars appear in photos and where they vanish.

Technician focusing a light that projects a leaf pattern on a dance floor

Lighting design for non-designers

Module 6: Design & Guest Experience · 15 min

Uplighting, pin spots, washes, gobos, dance looks, blackout. How to plan lighting cues for a program.

Guest walking along a candle-lined corridor toward a glowing ballroom

Guest journey mapping

Module 6: Design & Guest Experience · 15 min

Eight beats from invitation to the ride home. Find the moments guests remember, fix the ones they complain about.

Ontario squash, apples and kale on a kitchen counter with a chef's knife

Menu planning with the caterer

Module 6: Design & Guest Experience · 15 min

Seasonal, local, dietary-complete, timed to the program. Build a menu that serves 200 in 60 minutes.

Guest with a cane walking a wide clear aisle beside a lowered bar counter

Accessibility by design (AODA)

Module 6: Design & Guest Experience · 15 min

Step-free routes, accessible washrooms, seating, captions, quiet space, dietary and sensory needs. The AODA checklist for events in Ontario.

Hand pulling one of five face-down brochures from a fan on a desk

The venue search: shortlisting by the numbers

Module 4: Venues · 15 min

Capacity in the right layout, curfew, bar policy, catering policy, accessibility and budget. Six filters shrink 400 GTA venues to five.

Hand placing a fabric swatch on a mood board with colour chips

Writing the creative brief

Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min

One page that tells every vendor what the event feels like, who it is for and what cannot be compromised. The brief…

A planner's hands laying out fabric swatches, a small floral sample and a scale model of a tent on a café table

Proposals that win

Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min

A proposal is a decision document. Eight sections, four pages, two venue options, a budget with HST shown, and a fee the…

Hand on a calculator beside a timer and blank invoice pad under a desk lamp

Pricing your fee: percentage, flat, hourly

Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min

Ontario planners charge 10–20% of budget, flat packages, or hourly for consulting. Each model changes the client's incentives and yours. Choose deliberately.

Planner at a standing desk with blank sticky notes on the wall

Module 2 workshop: discovery to proposal in a week

Module 2: Discovery & Concept · 15 min

Take a mock client (a tech company, 180 guests, holiday party, $35,000) from discovery call to signed proposal.