Last Sunday we hosted our yearly Waffles Party. Yes, you heard me right – our yearly Waffles Party. It is a party to which we invite all our friends, relatives and closer work associates and we serve waffles with jam and whipped cream – that’s all – except coffee and tea too of course.
Around 60 guests found this a good idea and they came to the party. Most people ate 3 waffles each and with some simple math that adds up to around 180 waffles. That is an enormous amount of waffles! Waffles are baked in a special machine. They take each about 4 minutes to bake and we had 5 machines. Basic mathematics count to 15 waffles an hour in one machine – 5 machines make 75 waffles an hour. If you are superefficient! And you are not …….. no-one can be superefficient for so long in such a stressful situation. So, how is this possible to manage in a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon – and survive without getting totally stressed out?
The super-power word is PLANNING!
With good planning you can do a lot and still end up in good shape. I like planning big events; I would even say I am good at it. I have been to many big events during my working carrier and also to many big private parties. I have seen hosts that can enjoy their own event/party and I have seen breakdowns. And I have learned from both my own and other peoples mistakes.
This is what I do it when I am in charge for the whole picture in a big event:
- When I know I have a big task ahead of me I find it extra important to take care of my physical health to be maximum fit. You know – eat, sleep and do workout/walks regularly. That will make me have enough physical energy during the whole process.
- The mental energy I get from the planning in itself – I enjoy it and I try to always focus on solutions – not the problems.
- I make a list of everything I can think of that matter in the event. I brain-storm with myself.
- I put the list in front of me and then I go through the whole event in my mind, step by step, counting minutes like I did in the example above, counting other things that are involved to get a realistic picture of what is coming. I add in the list as I go along.
- I have the long list of things to do and I make a time schedule starting from the end of the event counting backwards. Writing down what/who/where things are to be done. When everything on your list is in your plan you see when you have to start working.
- Now it is time to look at the whole picture. Do I need to delegate? What services shall I outsource? And so on…..
I use this process for ALL events – private and professional that I am part of. If you do a good grounding job the event will go smoothly and everybody will be happy and no one will be stressed out. The bigger event the more planning you need. Real big events might take a couple of days just to the basic pre-planning.
You might say that you outsource the entire job to someone else – BUT I INSIST – even then you need to do the first steps in the planning to know what you are going to outsource and to get the best deal. Because if you are the host you want to do only the best, right? And in the end this means you will feel less stressed and that will be good for your health in the long run.
To conclude on this year’s Waffle Party I did hire a friend of one of my daughters to do the waffle work. She was magnificent at it and everybody got as many waffles as they wished and no waiting time occurred.
On top of it all it was the first real sunny spring day for this season and it was just a lovely afternoon in good friends company.
What is your best planning tip? Please comment below and share with me and my readers – I also love to get feedback and learn more.
To your success – and keep smiling!
