Characteristics of a Good Proposal

 An event proposal is one of the first things an event planner starts out with. It is the master plan or blue print that serves as the foundation and basis of an event and key decisions about it. It has to be very solid and well-written because it is what represents you to the clients. It could either earn you a contract or be the cause for disapproval of your event plans. At the end of a meeting, your proposal has to be able to stand on its own and defend your event plans and ideas to the client when he/she reads it by herself without you clarifying any thing that is unclear or left out. 

  A good proposal:

•  Is creative but do-able
• Is very clear yet concise
• Is realistic and clearly shows what can be done on a specific budget while taking into consideration the event requirements
• Shows the overall design of the event and the manner that it is should be constructed 
• Contains intensive research and development of ideas, suppliers, cost and other event elements
• Contains hard facts but is presented in a very pleasing and interesting way
• Contains great attention to details to show your credibility to produce and focus on details of your planned successful events no matter how complicated it is.
• Represents your company’s creativity and operational skill
• Paints pictures in the minds of the clients because it uses words and visuals that lets the client know what the guests will experience during the event(the sights and sounds, feel, taste and even aroma of the event) that elicits certain emotional and mental response
• Contains recommendations and options and suggestions on what should be done and what inclusions can be added should there be sources for additional plans.
• Leaves no unanswered questions

 Never pass a haphazardly done proposal just to beat the deadline. Remember that your proposal represents the way you work and the credibility of your company rests initially on it. Instead, ask for an initial meeting with the clients discussing the following:

• What is the image of the client?
• How do they want their brand/ event to be perceived?
• Why are they holding an event?
• What are the specific aims, objectives or target outcome of the event?
• What types of event, location, venue, elements, objectives and successes have been done and allowed in the past? What have been their successes and failures in these aspects?
• What was the final budget in their past projects?   

 Keep all these in mind when writing a proposal so that yours will be sure to outshine the rest that either gets buried in the mountains of files in the office or lands immediately in the trash bin because of irrelevance to the client’s image and objectives.

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