%20(1).webp)
Event Planning Guide For 2025 With Checklist
Associations planning events in 2025 have a lot to consider to ensure event's success. Whether you’re preparing a one-off workshop or your association’s annual event, questions will arise: How will budgets be managed, especially rising venue costs? Are there ways to plan more efficiently? How can event technology be harnessed to create advantages? It’s likely you or someone on your team will have questions pop up throughout each stage of the event planning process.
We’ve created this guide and an event planning checklist to assist in the process and keep your event objectives front and center. Plus, we’ll detail how technology like event management software for associations fits into the picture. Stick around for all the details.
Introduction To Event Planning In 2025
The event industry has already seen plenty of shakeups in 2025. Here are some of the current trends and how they’re impacting event planning:
Expenses Are Rising
The current tariff situation is increasing the prices of goods and materials, including many materials used during events like decorations, booths, and AV equipment.
The ECA Tariff Resource Center lists several tariffs that have been temporarily paused but will go back into effect in the coming months, and others that are set to increase after the first 180 days, so the effects are likely to linger for some time.
Event planners must adapt and operate more efficiently to offset these effects. That’ll involve carefully managing budgets, negotiating with vendors, and identifying local resources that are more cost-effective. Using technology like an event management system (EMS) will help organize all these details in one system to plan effectively.
Virtual And Hybrid Events Are Still Rising In Popularity
A survey conducted by Zoom showed that 37% of event budgets are going to hybrid events, 35% are going to virtual events, and 28% are going toward in-person events.
There’s a lot more overlap between virtual and in-person nowadays to make events more accessible and inclusive, whether you’re running a community workshop or a large corporate event. That means you need technology that can make all types of events possible. Our Eventscribe EMS at Cadmium is built to handle events in any format to help with this.
Interactivity Is Becoming More Important
Interactive events that provide experiential learning and get attendees involved are more memorable and impactful. It’s why you’ll continue seeing an increasing number of event planners using these elements during activities.
An EMS can help provide these experiences in an efficient way that works for both in-person and virtual event attendees. For example, Eventscribe can help you create an event app with a live audience response system, polls, quizzes, and an ePoster gallery. Each feature can keep guests engaged throughout the day.
What Are The 5 C’s Of Event Planning?
Now that we’ve covered the elements affecting event planning in 2025, it’s time to discuss the overall planning process and strategies. The 5 C’s framework can help you stay organized and keep team members on track throughout each phase. It goes as follows:
- Concept: The first thing you want to begin with is the overarching idea and goals behind your event. For example, a dental association may want to bring awareness to their new continuing education course on infection control and use event activities and presentations to educate on its importance.
- Coordination: After setting a goal and event idea, it’s time to coordinate key tasks like event promotion, venue selection, and presentation management. You can use an EMS to set up tasks, automate, and track progress to organize more effectively.
- Control: As you progress through event setup and execute the plan, it’s important to monitor how things are going and adjust as needed. For example, you may have trouble finding a vendor for materials for an activity and will need to rework the event schedule accordingly to replace it with something else.
- Culmination: Here, you’ve reached the day of the actual event. Everything has come together, and it’s time to execute the schedule. Some last-minute delays or issues may arise, so make sure to manage them promptly and have some backup plans ready for any major changes that affect your event schedule.
- Closeout: When the event ends, there’s still some work to wrap up. First, make sure you follow up with your guests, vendors, and speakers to thank them for showing up or for the role they played. Then, assess the data to see if you achieved your goals and where you could improve for the next event.
How Do You Create An Event Planning Checklist?
Creation of an event planning checklist helps you manage every task you need to complete. The best way to build a checklist is to break it down into small, manageable steps for each event planning stage. It’s a good idea to assign deadlines, ensure each step aligns with your goals, and review and revise if your plans change.
Event Planning Checklist Template
Below is an example event planning checklist to give you some ideas. You can customize this to your organization’s needs to ensure all your tasks are covered.
Pre-Planning
- Define the event’s goals and objectives
- Set a date and time
- Determine event type (in-person, virtual, or hybrid)
- Establish a budget
- Create a planning committee or assign roles
- Select a venue/platform
- Draft a preliminary event agenda or schedule
- Research the necessary permits or insurance
Promotion And Marketing
- Create event branding (logo, colors, and tagline)
- Build an event website, landing page, or app
- Set up a registration system
- Design marketing materials (flyers, graphics, banners, etc.)
- Plan and schedule email campaigns
- Promote on social media using a dedicated event hashtag
- Arrange for signage and print materials (badges, brochures, etc.)
Partnerships And Vendors
- Reach out to potential sponsors or exhibitors
- Confirm sponsors or exhibitors
- Book a caterer/food service
- Hire a photographer/videographer
- Arrange transportation and parking
- Purchase or rent equipment (AV, chairs, booths, etc.)
- Order decorations and supplies
- Collect and review abstracts from potential speakers
- Confirm speakers and presentations
- Finalize contracts with vendors
Logistics And Operations
- Finalize the event schedule
- Prepare an attendee check-in system
- Coordinate volunteer/staff roles
- Test the AV/tech setup
- Plan for signage and wayfinding
- Print materials (agendas, programs, name tags, etc.)
- Order giveaways/swag (if applicable)
1-2 Weeks Before The Event
- Confirm all vendor details and arrival times
- Send event reminders to attendees
- Conduct a full tech run-through
- Walk through the venue or test the virtual platform
- Prepare emergency plans (weather, medical, etc.)
- Create backup copies of presentations/media
Day Of The Event
- Arrive early to review the setup
- Distribute materials and supplies
- Conduct a team briefing and assign shifts
- Test AV/tech one final time
- Set up registration/check-in table
- Greet attendees and guide them to activities
- Monitor the schedule and stay on track
- Troubleshoot any issues that arise
- Take photos/videos throughout the event
Post-Event
- Break down and clean up the venue
- Send thank-you notes to attendees, speakers, and vendors
- Distribute post-event surveys
- Review feedback and event performance
- Reconcile expenses and update the budget
- Create an event recap report
- Organize media from the event (photos, recordings, or presentations)
- Save essential documents for future reference
What Are The 5 P’s Of Event Planning?
The 5 P’s of event planning are another strategy to organize and assess your event at each stage to ensure it’s as effective as possible. They go as follows:
- Product: The product refers to the event itself and the experience it provides. It should feel worthwhile for your attendees to spend their time and money at the event while helping your organization achieve its goals.
- Price: This involves the financial aspects of the event. That includes your ticket sales, budget, and revenue. The pricing aspect often requires a balancing act between spending enough to provide a great experience while still ensuring you can generate a profit. You’ll want to review the numbers carefully before committing to any plans.
- Promotion: You need to promote as you’re building the event to ensure your target audience knows about it. That includes creating marketing materials and distributing them through resources like social media, email newsletters, or local networks.
- Place: You’ll need to choose a venue and location for your event that’s easily accessible for your guests and provides the space and resources necessary for the activities you have planned. It’s a good idea to review the pros and cons of several venues before making a final decision.
- People: The people are everyone involved in the event. That includes attendees, staff members, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, speakers, and exhibitors. It’s important to assess their schedules, needs, and roles when making important decisions.
What Are The 7 Stages Of Event Planning?
The 7 stages of event planning are another process you can use that’s similar to the 5 C’s mentioned earlier, just in a different format. They are:
- Initial research and idea generation: Perform research to understand your target audience, your organization’s goals, and how a successful event would benefit everyone involved. Then, form an idea for the event’s concept, activities, and theme that can help achieve your goals.
- Developing a detailed plan: Create a plan that includes an event date, schedule, activities, team needs, and logistical requirements to make the event happen.
- Budget creation and management: How much can your organization reasonably spend on the event? It’s important to avoid overextending here, so adjust the plan if needed to fit within your budget.
- Selection and negotiation with vendors: Your team will need to choose vendors to provide materials, food, and beverages. It’s a good idea to build solid relationships with vendors to speed up this process for future events, and it can help with negotiations going forward if you’ve continuously worked with them for a while.
- Promotion and marketing: Assign team members to create marketing materials like flyers, graphics, and social media posts. Then, distribute them according to your schedule to reach your target audience before the event.
- Event execution: On event day, you’ll follow the schedule you created, manage any last-minute issues, and focus on providing a great guest experience. You can use tools like an EMS to manage activities and keep the event fun and interactive for everyone involved.
- Post-event evaluation and feedback: Evaluate the results after the event ends. Compare them to past events to see trends and opportunities. Asking for feedback from your guests can help you get a better idea of how it went. Whether the feedback is good or bad, it can help you plan for the next event to keep doing what went well and fix any elements that could have been better.
Conclusion And Key Takeaways
In summary, the event industry has had its fair share of changes in 2025. However, many strategies are available that can help you plan a successful event that positively impacts your association or nonprofit. You can start by using the frameworks detailed in this guide and the right technology to organize the process.
If you’re looking for event management software to make event planning more efficient and effective, Eventscribe is a great choice for 2025 and beyond.
How Eventscribe From Cadmium Can Help You Plan Successful Events In 2025
Our Eventscribe EMS at Cadmium is equipped to help associations and nonprofits handle today’s event planning needs. It’s an all-in-one solution that can assist through each event planning stage discussed in this article. Some key features include:
- Automated logistics planning
- Attendee engagement solutions before, during, and after the event
- Speaker and presentation management
- Abstract submissions and reviews
- Attendee registration
- Exhibitor and sponsor management
- And more
Click here to learn more about how Eventscribe can fit in with your event planning needs.
