Saturday was pizza night. I stopped by to pick it up and had to wait a minute or two.
As I did, I noticed how smoothly things ran. It’s a tiny shop, carryout or delivery only, with customers constantly in and out.
I thought to myself, “this place runs like clockwork.” Not one of the cooks or cashiers seemed stressed. Everyone had a smile on their face. Every customer felt cared for. What was their secret?
It hit me. They had enough staff. More than enough help so that every aspect of the operation was attended to, from waiting on customers to wrapping orders to stocking the cooler. Everyone had a job, but no one was frantic. This sense of order, I noticed, had a soothing effect on the customers.
It’s the same way with special events.
When you plan an event, never “bite off more than you can chew.” Scale the event to the staff available to manage it. If you are working solo, or with one or two colleagues, don’t commit to an event you know would take double or triple the number of staff to run properly.
Can you pull that oversized event off? Sure you can. But you’ll look frantic, and stressed, and every guest will notice.
That’s not the message you want to deliver.
Take a look around at the next charity event you attend as a guest. How’s it running? Smoothly?
It’s because it is “right-sized.”