Introduction
Holding events or changes in a system can be a tedious exercise with the possibility of unsuccessfulness if it lacks a plan. Thus, whenever one wants to start a project, one should seek plans before starting the development. However, programs have to include critical aspects which will ensure that it is successful. This expectation calls for project planning skills, with the event manager working with the developer to create a project plan document. Thus, the project plan document is the approved schedule that defines how the project will be initiated, monitored, and controlled. Birthday events are among the event projects that the event planner must manage to ensure they are perfect, as speculated. A better plan must outline all the steps the project will take while controlled by the project manager. Although some events have been successful without programming, using a program in this event will improve the outcome.
Planning a Birthday Event
Before developing a plan, conduct research and preplanning, as this is a crucial step in formulating ideas for the party, making it enjoyable and successful. The process involves understanding the project scope and value, which consists in understanding the project goals and outcomes, partnerships of the event and outlying dependencies, potential issues and risks, and how to handle them. This information will be provided by interviewing the stakeholders and using the project development experience to process the data (Wu). In the preplanning stage, get to know your team; their skill and communication style is preferred because communication and collaboration are primary in project development. In the case provided, the key stakeholders are the host parents, sponsors, guests, and the host child as the chief guest for the party.
The project manager could proceed and draft the event plan with enough information regarding the event. Drafting will involve the sketching of essential components of the program. It must include the objectives and how they were created, the partnership and approval process by the client, timeframe, resourcing, risk and assumption, and the estimated project budget (Lester). When we consider the case presented, the project estimated funding has already been provided; thus, it is up to the project manager to ensure that the event is successful using the restricted expenditure. The host issued the deliverables, with the client approving the process but no stipulated timeframe.
The project will then proceed to the design of the detailed plan since the required information has been provided. At this stage, the project manager should be confident of the steps they will take, thus writing them in detail and affirmation (Shirley). Better plans are developed using the project development tool, and at this birthday party, the project manager will use the Ms. Project manager, which is familiar and easy to use. While preparing the steps, you should know the team members and their preference on Gantt charts and the Kanban board. At the end of the plan preparation, the project manager will run the final program by their internal team before proceeding to review the plan with the stakeholders. The project will then be executed under the control of the project manager.
Conclusion
In summary, since this is a child’s birthday party event and the parents have provided a restricted budget, it should be simple but colorful to portray the project manager’s skills. While preparing for the event, one should identify a venue suitable for children. The attendees must be known for the invitations to be sent earlier and guests informed of their honor. Finally, the media team should be involved to ensure they capture all the memorable actions during the event. This planning shows that despite the event being small, steps are consistently applied to ensure the event is successful.
Works Cited
Lester, A. “Project management and network planning.” Project Management, Planning and Control, 2021, pp. 211-223.
Shirley, D. “Planning for a project.” Project Management for Healthcare, 2020, pp. 15-32.
Wu, T. “Organizing project management knowledge – Principles, knowledge domains, life cycles, and Agile versus traditional approaches.” Optimizing Project Management, 2020, pp. 21-36.