Category: Events

*Disclaimer – This blog has been created as general information and should not be taken as advice. Make sure you have the correct level of insurance for your requirements and always review policy documentation. Information is factually accurate at the time of publishing but may have become out of date.

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11:45:14 GMT • 14 January 2025

How to Ask for Event Sponsorship

4 October 2022

•

6 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

If you’re planning or hosting an event, have you considered looking for sponsorship? Whether it’s a private, public or commercial event, sponsorship can grow demand, visibility or attendance to support your efforts and make the occasion one to remember.

This guide gives you all the information you need to learn how to: get event sponsorship, identify opportunities for sponsorship and find the right sponsorship for your event.

What is event sponsorship?

Event sponsorship is when an organisation or individual provides financial assistance in return for promotion. Sponsorship comes in several different ways, which can be a direct payment or the supply of goods or services with the aim of enhancing the event’s success.

The sponsor should receive a benefit in return for their support. This could be visibility through signage or branding, free tickets for staff members, access to participants’ data or the opportunity to speak at the event. Whatever the perk for the sponsor, the objective will always be to receive exposure and grow their own business simultaneously.

Why is sponsorship important for events?

Gaining event sponsorship is a brilliant way of attracting investment, visibility and participants to your event, as you will:

– Create partnerships with new companies or business owners

– Receive a healthy contribution towards the budget, so that you can plan and execute the best occasion possible by providing better catering, hiring more staff or marketing your occasion to a wider audience

– Add credibility to your event which would take years to build organically (sponsorship can show that a company believes your occasion is going to be a success)

Through their additional contacts and resources, your sponsor can also use their resources to increase the quality of your event. Your sponsor may be able to deliver professional services or provide their expertise to supply quality goods that can enhance participants’ experience throughout the day.

How to find event sponsorship

One of the key aspects of gaining event sponsorship is finding the right brands to sponsor your event and ones that will provide the right type of sponsorship.

Firstly, you must understand the objective and background of your own event. If you’re planning a small gathering, you’re unlikely to receive sponsorship from a global, well-known company. Instead, you should be realistic and target the right size of sponsor, it will also be beneficial to target sponsors who will have a vested interest in your event. This may be for geographical reasons if it’s a local company, or a businessman who wants to grow their reputation in your community.

You’re also more likely to receive sponsorship from brands that share the same values as the event you’re hosting. For instance, if the aim of your gathering is to promote health and fitness, a local fast-food takeaway is not the best brand to work with to share your message.

A good place to start is to target brands who are open to sponsoring an event. It’ll take a lot less convincing to get them on board as they’re already accustomed to sponsorship, and you may be able to charge more if they have a pre-existing sponsorship budget. As a result, we recommend using dedicated sponsorship websites such as sponsorseeker.co.uk to find your perfect partner before reaching out to businesses.

A great organiser is always able to attract the best sponsorship deals from brands that will have the most benefit to the event. You can find out more about developing your event management skills here.

How to get event sponsorship

The first step of asking for sponsorship is having a clear idea of what you want from your prospective sponsor. The sponsorship package should be a win-win for both sides, so the package should clearly set out what the perks will be for both the organiser and the sponsor.

You should consider incorporating varying price brackets, so that your potential sponsor can choose the level of input they want to commit to. The more expensive the package, the more benefit for the sponsor and while you may have to concede more control over your event the more money they will add to your budget.

To maximise the sponsorship, the package could cover part of the event (for example, one day of a weekend event), or cover multiple days at an increased cost. By having a package that covers a part of the event, this will give you the option to have multiple sponsors across different days. Ensure that you alter the targeting of your sponsorship package for each brand that you are approaching to sponsor you, so that they get more focused and relevant experiences.

If you have a target brand in mind, attempt to identify a specific person from the company such as the sponsorship or marketing manager, or someone higher up if possible. This will allow you to contact the decision-makers who will have more influence over whether they want to sponsor your event or not. Using generic email addresses or contact forms risks your approach reaching the wrong person or being lost amongst spam folders.

Sponsorship examples

If you need some event sponsorship ideas, then branded items can help you activate the marketing spend of your sponsors. These items can help you ensure that your package is unique and innovative and entice brands to choose your occasion to sponsor. Examples of items that can be branded include:

– Photo frames

– Unique Wi-Fi name or password

– Giveaway items

– Charging stations

– Sponsored live stream

– Ticketing or wristbands

Get event insurance with Protectivity

No good event takes place without good insurance cover that protects the health, well-being and interests of organisers, visitors and sponsors alike.

Whether you’re an organiser or a stallholder, get a free, instant quote for Event Insurance and ensure you’re not left out of pocket as a result of any unforeseen circumstances. For larger scale events its also worth considering events cancellation insurance.

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11:42:37 GMT • 14 January 2025

Craft Fair Display Secrets

10 May 2022

•

5 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

Get craft fair insurance from Protectivity

If you sell your crafts at events, then how do you make your display stand out from the others? Here we discuss craft fair display secrets to give you some inspiration.

About Us

At Protectivity, our Craft Fair Insurance is designed to protect those organising or attending a craft fair as a stallholder. Protection includes event cancellation as well as optional cover for employers’ liability and event cancellation.

Getting that ‘Wow’ factor

For your craft stand to be a success, it needs to both showcase your products and motivate buyers.

So, how do you give your craft fair stand that ‘Wow’ factor? Follow the steps below then do a test run at home or in your workshop. This will give you a chance to play around with the design until you are happy with it.

Here are several considerations to help you design the perfect display for craft fairs.

Get inspired

Get inspired craft fair display ideas from retail brands. Look at brand stores, see how they put together window and instore displays. They don’t need to be the same products as yours – it is more about looking at how companies display trainers, perfume, clothes etc. This will give you a lot of ideas you can then use for your own craft fair ideas.

Have a centrepiece

To draw people to your display, create a centrepiece that really showcases your talents.

For example, if you are a jewellery maker, you could use a special piece of jewellery you have made – such as a one-of-a-kind, intricate necklace that has taken hours to make – as the focus of your display. It doesn’t even have to be for sale, it just needs to attract custom.

Colours

Depending on the type of craft you make, your colour palette can be used to enhance any display. Think about blocks or grades of colour and use the colour to draw the eye to sections of your display.

Line and composition

Simply laying out your items flat on a table just won’t cut it. You want your stand to pop, you want people taking photos of it to be shared on social media.

Create a three-dimensional space. Use stands, holders, small shelf units as well as themed props to bring out the best in your crafts.

Use these elements to draw the eye to items you wish to highlight.

Motion

In a field of static objects, the eye will be drawn to movement. Using motion on your stand will be a great way to stand out. The item doesn’t have to be physically moving, it just needs to give the impression that it is.

Use design to give the viewer a way for them to fill in the gaps themselves in what they are seeing.

For example, you can display fabric in a way that makes it look like it is floating in the breeze.

Humour

Humour can be a great way to be memorable and stand out from the rest. But do remember, your sense of humour might not be for everyone, so do try to stay conservative. While being edgy can be a good thing, you don’t want to upset or offend anyone. Know your audience.

Contrast

Using light and dark together or hard and soft, rough and smooth, can all be ways to help make a display stand out.

Another way to use contrast can be to offset large items against small items.

In a busy room or hall, try and create an area of peace and quiet.

Lighting

Use clever lighting to enhance your display, such as using battery operated fairy lights, LED lighting under shelves or a spotlight on a particular product etc.

Getting people to your craft fair stand

As we said before, you should create your fair stall at home before the event. Once it is how you want it, take lots of pictures to really show off your products.

Share these photos on the relevant social media channels and in your email newsletters.

You could consider advertising to drive people to your stall at the event and/or incentivise custom by running a special offer-only available in person at the event.

Whatever you do to promote your stall, you want to create a buzz.

Summary

There are many ways you can make your craft fair stand out – we hope these craft fair display secrets have given you some inspiration for your next event.

Get Craft Fair Insurance from Protectivity

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11:39:22 GMT • 14 January 2025

5 Ways to Measure the Success of your Event

28 April 2022

•

4 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

How do you know if an event you worked so hard on was a well-attended, successful event? Here are five fool proof ways to monitor how well your event went. Some of these things should be built ahead of time, so do ensure feedback and tracking strategies are a component of your event planning.

About Us

Organising and running an event can be challenging throughout the whole process. For example, the unexpected such as adverse weather or damage to or loss of key equipment may scupper the occasion.

At Protectivity, our Event Insurance gives you the peace of mind that your occasion is covered against a wide range of scenarios, leaving you free to focus on running a successful event.

1. Track your social media

One of the easiest ways to monitor reach for an event is to use social media. With multiple platforms available, there could be a wide range of different sources to monitor. One way to gauge interest is to use an event hashtag – so #event2022 or something unique – and use various platform searches to see how many times and who has used it over the course of an event.

TIP: Give it at least a week to 10 days after the event as attendees might still be talking about it.

You could decide to focus on the results from one social media platform such as Facebook or Twitter. Or use Instagram if it is a public event, or LinkedIn if it is a business occasion.

Once you have picked your chosen platform, you can look at ways to capture measurement.

2. Profit or loss – the finances

One way to prove if it was a successful event or not, is to look at the finances. Now while this might not be a main goal in and of itself, the finances can be a good indicator if an event was successfully run.

After you have deducted all the costs from the sales amount, have you made the profit you expected?

3. Sales numbers

Another financial way to see if the event was a success is to work out how many sales the event generated.

You may have had great attendance numbers but not have made as many sales as expected. Identifying the reason why can help you with future events.

Making sure you are tracking enquiries and sales can be the best indicator of whether to run an event again, and whether there need to be changes made going forward.

4. Surveys

Following up with attendees can be a great way to get feedback on whether people thought yours was a successful event. This can be great for testimonials and to gauge event sentiment.

This can be done in two ways.

A powerful idea is to run exit surveys at the event and even ask for video testimonials. Getting attendees’ reactions while they are still at or just after they have been to something they have really enjoyed will help with promoting future events.

Secondly, if you have the data, you can email all the attendees afterwards and ask them to complete a survey. Easy surveys can be used with a service such as SurveyMonkey or even Google Forms. This might get you more quantitative data that is easier to analyse.

5. Sponsors’ feedback

Finally, if your event has other partners or sponsors involved, getting feedback from them on how they found it, if it was profitable for them and if they are likely to attend future events, can be a good indicator of a successful event.

Having happy sponsors makes future events easier to manage and fund.

Summary

As you can see there are several ways to monitor event success. Thinking about these things and having systems in place pre- and post-event means you could have several different success metrics to use in debriefing after the occasion. It will also help you make decisions about future events.

Get Event Insurance from Protectivity

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11:39:03 GMT • 14 January 2025

What are the Most Popular Event Types?

17 March 2022

•

5 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

As a busy event organiser, there are a plethora of different event types you may be asked to organise from parties and weddings to large corporate events. Here we look at some of the most popular event types.

About Us

At Protectivity, we are specialists in the provision of what we believe is comprehensive event insurance. Our event insurance offers protection for you as an event planner. Our cover options are suited to event planners organising or taking part in a wide range of events, including parties, food festivals and sporting events. From Public Liability cover to insurance for event cancellation, we have your back.

1. Corporate Events

There are a wide variety of corporate events with the main ones being:

Conferences

Conferences are typically large-scale events, that may run for one, two or even three days. They feature several guest speakers, often in different areas or large rooms, which means attendees have multiple leaders and potential topics they can learn from and about. These events involve lots of planning, but this also means you can charge a lot of money, to cover costs such as food and the venue. Plus, travel and accommodation for the speakers.

Seminars

Seminars are similar to conferences but on a smaller scale size and cost-wise. Typically, they may only last a day or even half a day.

Exhibitions

Rather like conferences in terms of being a large-scale event (but without as much outlay to you as an event planner as exhibitors will organise their own transport etc.), exhibitions allow different product and service providers to showcase their businesses. They allow businesses to connect, carry out market research and even test out new products.

Other corporate event types could include workshops and classes, networking, awards and competitions, VIP experiences, speaker sessions, trade shows and expos.

2. Social Events

Reunions, parties and themed events can be as small or large as the customer requires. You may be asked to plan a Wedding which will involve everything from organising the venue, table decorations, seating etc. to bridal accommodation on the day and comfort and facilities for the guests.

For reunion events you could get together old photos of the people involved and display them on a screen. Organise an on-site photographer to make more memories for the attendees.

Other social events could involve ‘special’ parties such as an 18^th Birthday party or wedding anniversary celebration. These may or may not be themed.

For people who cannot attend, the event could also be virtual. (Which leads us on to the next point).

3. Virtual Events

Especially since the Covid pandemic, virtual events are extremely common. They are a cost-effective way for businesses to run conferences, webinars, classes and summits. They can even be interactive.

For an event planner, making sure you arrange the right technology needed for a virtual event will make sure there are no glitches.

4. Fundraising Events

Holding events to fundraise is a popular way to spread awareness of a cause as well as raise funds. Fundraising events could be small, online auction type events requiring very little spend or, on a much bigger scale, such as sponsored sporting events and gala dinners held at large venues.

5. Festivals

Festivals typically involve music or food and are large events usually run over a few days. They involve a lot of planning from finding the right venue to lining up the acts (if a music festival) to organising vendors.

As many festivals tend to be outdoors there can be weather challenges. With our event cancellation insurance, if you have to cancel or abandon an event due to adverse weather conditions, you have the peace of mind of financial protection.

6. Community Events

Bringing together communities could involve events such as street parties or swap shops. If you are planning a street event, organisers do need to be very aware of local council rules and regulations.

7. Hybrid Events

We have mentioned these before in other categories. Hybrid events are events such as festivals, parties and conferences that are held both at a venue and virtually.

8. Pop Up Events

Pop up events may sound very spontaneous, but they still need a lot of organising. These are typically a one-off event that lasts for a limited time. This gives business owners the chance to showcase their products or services and can include exercise classes, food collaborations and boutique shops.

Being an event organiser can involve organising many different event types, with each type needing its own special considerations. We hope this blog has given you some useful ideas.

Get Event Insurance from Protectivity

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11:37:36 GMT • 14 January 2025

Let’s Talk About Event Budgeting!

3 March 2022

•

4 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

As an event planner, seasoned or beginner, there are a few crucial steps you need to consider while planning and delivering your event. Most of this revolves around your event budget and your ability to manage it. You need to be able to deliver an event, not just on time, but also on budget. In this article, we look at the elements that may impact whether you can stick to your event budget.

About us

At Protectivity we are a specialist in niche commercial, leisure, and lifestyle insurance. Our tailored products cover thousands of individuals and small to medium size businesses across the UK, including our popular Event Cancellation Insurance, to protect our customers against unforeseen events.

Event focus

The focus and goal of your event are really the most important thing you need to decide before you even consider a budget. Without knowing who your event is targeted at, how many people you want to attend, and the outcome you want, it is difficult to plan. Consider:

1. Is this a small intimate event such as a networking event or something larger like an Expo with multiple vendors and speakers?
2. Is it a free or paid-for event?
3. Is it a local or national event?
4. Is this an exposure event or a profit-making event?
5. How many people do you want to attend?
6. Is it a few hours, a single day or a multi-day event?
7. Do you already have people to invite, or do you need to market to attract attendees?
8. What kind of refreshments are you providing? Do you need to arrange caterers?
9. Will this event be run online as well as the physical event?
10. Have you already been given a budget that you need to work within?

As you can see, these are just a few questions you should be asking. Hiring a room in a hotel needs a very different budget and planning to, say, hiring Wembley stadium. You need to do this first before you ever consider building or opening your event budget template.

Event budget

Once you have decided on the focus for your event, you can start thinking about a budget. While a budget is not set in stone, it needs to be accurate enough that you can get an understanding of what it will cost and what you need for it to deliver.

At this point you can start getting ideas for venue quotes, the cost for speakers, marketing spend for the event, and other items you will need to run an event. Here are a few ideas for what you need to consider. Please note this is not an exhaustive list.

1. Venue
2. Speakers / Host costs
3. Staffing – Paid or Volunteer
4. Equipment – AV Equipment
5. Food and Beverages
6. Event Marketing
7. Furniture – for stands, stage chairs or breakout areas … and much more.

The spreadsheet – your event budget template

How you collate and manage all of this comes down to a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet or event budget template can help you list all the costs you need. It can allow you to add a budget for each line item you consider you will need to run the event.

Once you have your spreadsheet it will be easier to see what elements you have missed – or you can readily share it with colleagues to look at and add their own items if required. Remember your budgeted costs are not your actual costs, but good planning at this stage can mean these two numbers are close to each other!

You can add a suggested budget per item and that will give you an overall budget required. It would also be prudent to overestimate rather than underestimate those costs. Experienced event planners would also add a percentage of the overall budget as a contingency fund on top.

Summary

Budgeting for an event is something you need to work on before you start to book anything. The success of your event can come down to how well you manage and update your budget spreadsheet. Finally, having a detailed event plan with a well-defined budget that covers as much as possible – as well as a clear set of objectives of what you want from your event – will help you deliver an event that is a success and works for everyone involved.

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11:37:05 GMT • 14 January 2025

A Guide on Starting a Market Stall

2 March 2022

•

5 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

Get stallholder insurance from Protectivity

Have you noticed that some market stalls seem to attract crowds of eager customers while others languish with barely a visitor? What is the key difference between them? Let’s take a look.

About us

We know a thing or two about market stalls. That’s thanks to our expertise and experience in arranging insurance for events like food markets along with stallholder insurance. We also offer many tailored policies including cancellation insurance for events, all of which can be tailored to your needs as a small business or event organiser.

Your pitch – planning

Successful market stalls are usually not conjured up by chance. They are the product of careful and meticulous planning and research. If you want to attract the crowds and sell to them, you need to know just what the crowds want, what will convince them to buy, and how much they will be prepared to pay.

Planning will encompass your choice of a market stall – is it part of a permanent market, for example, or a one-off, one-day event? Perhaps it’s a weekly street market or even a farmers’ market – which might influence the kind of products you sell. A car-boot sale might be one of the easiest ways of testing out your initial stallholder skills.

Insurance

Some fairs will require you to hold Public Liability as standard practice and upon booking your stall, you may well be asked to provide a copy of your certificate.

Public Liability Insurance for stallholders protects you if a third party makes a claim against you for injury or damage for which you are found to be responsible for. Consider also getting insurance cover for your products and equipment in case they get damaged whilst at the Craft Fair.

Research

Just as you would for any other kind of enterprise, you must ensure there is demand for the type of products you are selling.

Ask yourself how that demand is also met by competing outlets – such as shops, supermarkets, online stores, and so on – so that you can develop a unique selling point for your stall.

For example, you might want to emphasise that your products are locally sourced, are fresher than your competitors, or are cheaper than customers will find elsewhere.

Setting Up

Once you’ve completed your planning and research, it’s time to buy the goods you’ll be selling.

Stock control will be an important measure of your success as a stallholder – too much in hand and you will have spent more than necessary. Not enough and you will be unable to meet your customers’ demands. Neither situation will help the bottom line of your business.

That is where a business plan will come into its own – showing you when you’re best placed to buy the products you want to sell and how much stock you might need to keep in hand and store. Those questions will also be influenced, of course, by the availability – or cost – of the necessary storage space.

Also, you may need to think seasonally – if you are planning on selling clothes, for example, then buy in clothes for the current and perhaps the next season.

By its very definition, a market stall is unlikely to require much at all in the way of equipment. Whatever is necessary – food-slicers, scales, or the like – you can probably start off with the very minimum and add further pieces of useful equipment as the business grows.

Now you’re in business

Once you’ve set up, running your market stall will require ongoing marketing – to attract new customers and reassure existing customers that you’re still in business offering even better deals than ever.

Your operations will also need to comply with whatever regulations, bylaws and legislation apply to your particular line of business.

Trading from market stalls, for instance, is regulated through licensing systems operated by the relevant local council. The size of your stall, its location, and when you can run it are all questions set out in your licence – and the details, of course, vary from one local authority to another. Whether your licence allows you to trade permanently or on a temporary or casual basis is also made clear in your licence.

Consult the official website to find out which local council grants market stall trader licences in the area in which you are interested.

Successful trading

Market stalls offer a unique and relatively easy introduction to trading. Follow some of the steps we’ve described, and you might be on your way to creating a successful grass-roots business.

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11:36:48 GMT • 14 January 2025

Top 5 Event Manager Blogs Every Organiser Should Follow

22 July 2021

•

4 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

Being a professional event manager is not easy. Whether you are organising a party, a craft fair or an exhibition, there is often so much to do it can be somewhat overwhelming.

To help you keep up with the demands of the job, we have put together a list of our top 5 favourite event manager blogs. From tips and advice to design inspiration, these 5 event blogs will help you in so many different ways.

About us

Protectivity is a specialist in niche commercial, leisure, and lifestyle insurance. We cover thousands of individuals and small to medium size businesses across the UK, offering a range of tailored insurance products, such as Event Insurance, to protect our customers against unforeseen events.

1. Hippo – best for tips and advice

If you are looking for useful information and professional advice directly from experienced event managers, then following Hippo will provide you with exactly that. They are an independent, full-service agency specialising in complete event project management and venue finding.

You can not only find out what projects they have been recently working on, but they also offer some fantastic guidance, knowledge, and inspiration direct from the event management experts. You can get handy tips and ideas on event management, product launch, training, roadshows and team-building event management.

2. Eventbrite – best for planning & promotion

Eventbrite is a global self-service ticketing platform that allows you to manage your event digitally, so you can browse, create, share and promote local events.

Along with their event management services, they host a blog that’s packed with practical information for any event planner. By following them, you will get a little bit of everything – from event industry news and roundups to practical tips on “health and safety” to “how to manage your event budget”.

3. Event Industry News Magazine – best for event news

Want to keep up with what’s happening on the scene of the UK’s biggest events? This one is just for you.

You can also find the latest event management tips, event industry podcasts, event features and guest blogs from event industry professionals.

The widest variety of event news for medium to larger events in the UK such as festivals, concerts, and sporting events. It’s split into five main sections: Brand and Agency News, Conference and Meetings, Event Technology, Exhibitions and Trade Show, Festival and Outdoor News.

4. Event Manager Blog – best for trends & technology reviews

EventMB has been acknowledged as the go-to online resource for trends, technology, innovation and education for the event industry. Their content is varied, well-structured and very informative.

You can subscribe to their weekly podcast, where they “cover the latest innovations in event technology, case studies of successful events, new thinking in event design, and exciting destination updates”.

If you decide to follow their blog, you’ll be joining thousands of professionals from around the globe.

5. BizBash – best for inspiration

Bizbash is a really exciting hub that you cannot afford to miss, as it covers almost everything in the events world.

Being North America’s No.1 news source for event and meeting professionals, not everything is completely relevant for UK event organisers. However, it serves some fresh ideas for event managers and organisers that are still worth learning about.

In addition to the plethora of useful information, there is the GatherGeeks monthly podcasts which you can listen to for free without prior registration.

From organising small-scale family events to large conferences and festivals, any event can be improved by following the tips from these blogs.

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11:34:47 GMT • 14 January 2025

12 Event Planning Tools You Need to Try

21 August 2019

•

4 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

There are plenty of event planning tools available to support you when planning your event from project management tools to managing lists of attendees. But what is the right tool to make you more efficient when organising an event?

About Us

We provide Event Insurance to thousands of UK event organisers and stallholders each year. Our policy provides a range of cover options, such as public liability for events. Get an instant quote for your event insurance policy via the link below.

1) Asana

Asana is a great tool for managing team projects and tasks. So, if you need to keep track of your team and the tasks that they are completing, this could be ideal for you. Its easy to navigate dashboard means that it is easy to see what has been completed and what tasks still need focus.

2) Basecamp

Basecamp enables you to create to do lists, assign tasks and set due dates. It is less visual than others and is based on a series of lists. Although you can try it for free, there is a charge for this tool, but the charge is based on unlimited users and usage.

3) Caterease

Caterease is a great tool for managing the catering for your event. The wizard-driven booking and drag and drop functionality makes building menus for your event really easy! Attendees can enter their own food selections enabling you to see quickly and easily what food and beverage requirements there are.

4) Cvent

The Cvent event planning tool allows you to automate many event management tasks from small events to larger conferences. It offers a complete event management solution including venue finding, building a website, managing registration, room blocking management and much more!

5) Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a great event planning and management tool to enable you to manage list of attendees, the registration process as well as getting the word out about your event. So, no more endless excel spreadsheets and inputting lots of data, this tool means that inputting and managing the data is a lot less time consuming!

6) Eventopedia

This is a great website which enables you to find, compare and review suppliers and venues. They have developed a network of trusted event suppliers to create an easy to use directory taking some of the pain out of searching for the perfect team for your event.

7) Hootsuite

This is a great tool for scheduling your social media posts. So,you can plan key posts in advance and then schedule them to be posted at a specific time and date, meaning key opportunities don’t get missed!

8) Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a fairly well known email marketing tool, but as it is a free tool (up to 2000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month) then it makes it a very cost effective way of managing email distribution, invitations and newsletters.

9) Pinterest

Great for collating ideas and inspiration, Pinterest enables you to manage your ideas by pinning them to different boards. So, you could have a board for each event or even a board for different sections of your event. It’s free to sign up and is a handy way of managing those creative ideas!

10) Top Table Planner

11) Eventbrite

12) Bizzabo

Through this app you can create an event website, manage registration and lists of attendees, distribute tickets and even measure the success of your event.

You might only need a tool to search for venues, manage registration and invitations or you might be looking for a tool that will support you in managing the entire event from start to finish.

It is worth spending the time finding the event planning tools that is right for you, but it is worth knowing that some are free to use!

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09:39:25 GMT • 14 January 2025

Your Quick Guide to Event Licences

19 August 2019

•

4 mins read

Contributors

Mandy has been with Starpeak Insurance Solutions since 2018, starting in sales in the consumer department and mov...

So, you are organising an event and the venue and entertainment are booked, the food and drink is ordered. But, have you thought about what event licences you might need?

This will all depend on the type of event that you are organising, if you are serving food and drink and where and when the event will be held. Check if the venue that you are using already has in place the licences that you need.

Do I need a licence to be able to serve alcohol?

If you are holding your event at a venue which doesn’t already hold a licence to serve alcohol, or you are serving drinks after 11pm then you will need a Temporary Event Notice for events attracting less than 500 people. For larger events you will need to apply for a Premises Licence.

What is a Temporary Event Notice?

If you’re organising a temporary event and want to serve or sell alcohol, provide late night refreshment, or put on regulated entertainment at a non-licensed premises then you will need to complete a temporary event notice (TEN).

For the purpose of a TEN, a temporary event is a relatively small-scale event attracting fewer than 500 people (including staff) and lasting no more than 168 hours.

Do I need a licence to be able to play music?

This will very much depend on the venue, the numbers attending and the time that you will be playing music. The venue that you are using might already have a licence that covers your event requirements but if it doesn’t then you should check what is required through your local authority.

Do I need a licence to put on a play or show?

If the performance takes place between 8am and 11pm and involves fewer than 500 people, then you don’t need a licence. You may need a licence in other circumstances. This licence can also cover alcohol requirements for your event.

Do I need a licence to screen a film?

You do need a licence to show a film or exhibit moving pictures. Exemptions are made for places of worship, church halls, Education and television broadcasts. You will need a ‘non theatrical’ film licence for events such as film clubs, one off events, screenings in common areas for residents or passengers.

Do I need a licence to put on a sporting event?

You do not need a licence for most indoor sporting events held between 8am and 11pm and with less than 1000 spectators. If an event is to be held after 11pm, involve a larger number of spectators or includes boxing or wrestling then you will need to apply for a licence.

So, identify what your event will involve, timings and number of attendees and this will help you to identify the event licences that you will need. Most small events of less than 500 people can be covered with a Temporary Event Notice.

If your event takes place after 11pm or attracts more than 500 people you will need a licence to cover your specific event requirements.

Get event insurance with Protectivity

Whatever type of event you’d like to run, there is always something that can go wrong that is completely unforeseen. Whether it’s damage to someone’s property, injury to a person attending, or event cancellation due to forces outside your control, it’s easy for even the best-planned event to be left substantially out of pocket.

Because of this, no event should run without good-quality insurance cover in place, and this is exactly where Protectivity can help. Our specialist event insurance policies include Public Liability insurance, insurance for event cancellation, protection for equipment, and Employer’s Liability if you’re hiring staff to work on your event. That way, even in the worst-case scenario, you can be sure your business and organisation is protected from a financial standpoint.

Take a look, to find out more about our flexible and affordable event insurance policies.

Get Event Insurance from Protectivity

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