Regardless of whether you’re running a corporate event at a high-class function room in the city centre, or are putting on a creative workshop for a small crowd at an indie venue, wherever there is a group of people there is likely to be mess as a result. While, ultimately, the most important part of your day will be effectively delivering your event to an assembly of eager attendees, you shouldn’t let this distract you from the post-event clean up process that’s also crucial to your day.
Often overlooked as an after-thought, having a well-thought-out clean up plan will ensure the overall efficiency of your day – allowing you to leave the venue quickly and giving you more time to follow up with attendees and reflect on the success of the event as a result. To help you prepare in advance, the packaging experts at No1 Packaging are sharing their tips for clean-up success, with 3 ideas to help streamline your event.
Get To Know Your Event Space Before
It’s likely that you’ll be using an unfamiliar, rented space for your event. While, naturally, it’s important to get to grips with the location prior to your event for seating and performance arrangements, scoping out your surroundings will form an integral part of your clear up process too. As such, it’s encouraged that you consider this aspect of your event when viewing your venue.
For example, getting to know your venue will allow you to pre-plan where your storage boxes and cleaning supplies will go, helping you to quickly get to them once all of your attendees have left. Not only will it help you with storage, but it will also allow you to discover any hidden spaces (providing there are any) which you may miss in the rush of last-minute event preparations.
Plan In Advance
As is the very nature of event-planning, preparing for every eventuality ahead of time will serve you well in the long-run. When it comes to cleaning up, therefore, it’s vital you have all the supplies and necessary equipment at hand before the event even begins – allowing you to start clearing up immediately once your guests have left. With this knowledge available to your team ahead of time, you can ensure they’re prepared to handle urgent, adhoc mess as it occurs instead of becoming distracted by it during the day.
To ensure you’re fully prepared, keep bin bags (both heavy duty and biodegradable), carpet or upholstery cleaner, gloves, cloths and paper towels handy. Once these are in your possession, draft up a process for how different sections of the room will need to be tackled and by which team member. It’s also recommended to arrange your waste removal, if necessary, prior to the event – specifying a time that you envisage you’ll be done by and, in turn, setting a target for your team members to work towards.
Encourage Your Guests to Help Out
While your team is there to help you, encouraging similar engagement from your guests shouldn’t be overlooked. As such, make sure there are plenty of waste disposal areas throughout your venue, positioning bins and clearly-labelled recycling points in easily-accessible spaces of the room.
For those of you planning a larger event, why not consider implementing an incentive to get attendees to tidy some of their own litter themselves? Ideas could include serving drinks in reusable cups for a minor surcharge, which they can claim back upon returning the cup at the end of the event. Not only will this help alleviate the stress of a total tidy up process, but will ensure both you and your guests are doing your bit for planet Earth.
Whether it’s cleaning the kitchen after a large family meal or clearing up an event filled with eager attendees, at the best of times, tidying up is a nuisance. However, to ensure you’re in the best position possible to leave the venue exactly how you left it, we hope the above 3 tips have helped you feel a little more calm about the big day.
