How to Plan Your Mini-Session and Events Calendar

I love to plan Mini-Sessions and Events in my business. Events are high-energy, lots of fun and bring in quick revenue. Over the years, I have found that the better I plan for my events, the more profitable they are! By careful planning and putting a system in place, my events are very successful. Here are some tips to help you plan a successful event.

1. Event Date
   The first thing to plan is when the event will take place. I choose a day or days on my calendar when I will photograph the sessions.
2. Event Marketing
   The next date to go on my calendar is when I want the marketing to go out about the event. Depending on the type of event, I want my marketing in front of people 3-5 weeks before the event takes place. I’ve found that these days, most people don’t want to commit to something more than 5 weeks away and less than 3 weeks is not enough time to fill the event.

   Partner Contacts
   If I’m partnering with another business, a host mom or want to get my marketing into local daycares and schools, I also want to put a date on my calendar to contact them to make sure that I can get them the marketing that I’ve planned to send out.

3. Creating the Event Pieces
   Before the event can take place or the marketing can happen, all of the pieces that will be used need to be created. I schedule a day on my calendar to make this happen, whether I’m creating and designing myself or I’m outsourcing it. If you are planning to have pieces printed, you’ll need to make sure that this date gives you enough time to have your items printed and shipped back to you. At this time, I will create everything from my marketing to my pricing for the event and all of the studio pieces needed such as order forms, model releases, thank you cards and more.
4. Planning the Event
   A planning date with yourself and a notebook is the most important date you can set for your event! At this time you’ll want to plan what type of event you are going to hold and who you are going to market to. You’ll plan how long each session will be, how many clients you want to photograph and how much you want to average each session. When you have a session average goal, you can determine what your pricing structure will look like. Will you offer packages? Specialty items? Do you need to create a new pricing and product menu for this event? You’ll also want to decide how you will do the sales from your sessions. I choose immediate sales for all of my events and this really helps me to keep my averages up by doing my sales in person and not online. It also greatly cuts down on workflow!

Planning out all of the details of your events will make a big difference in your success rate! I hear from a lot of photographers who put events on their calendar and then get very frustrated with the results. Either their schedule doesn’t fill up or their sales are much less than they had hoped. By planning and following these steps, putting at least 4 dates on your calendar for each event, you will see better results for your events each time you have them.