Behind Every Smooth Event Is a Long Checklist

Whenever people attend an event, they usually notice the things that are in front of them.

The stage. The lights. The décor. The food. The music.

They see everything looking ready and think, “Wow, everything is so well managed.”

And honestly, that is exactly how we want it to look.

But behind that “everything is perfect” moment, there is usually a lot going on.

I have been managing events for quite some time now, and one thing I have understood very clearly is that an event never starts on the day of the event.

The actual work starts much earlier.

At Baba Saab Events, we may visit the venue several times, speak to the client, call different vendors, check guest details, discuss hospitality, coordinate artists, check production and keep going back and forth on small things.

Sometimes even after everything is finalised, something changes.

And then we start again.

This is also why checklists are such a big part of our work.

Because on an event day, there are simply too many things happening at once.

I may remember ten things, but there could be another twenty that I might miss.

So we write everything down.

Stage check. LED check. Sound check. Lights. Branding. Guest seating. Transport. Hospitality. Artist timing. Presentations.

And then there are the really small things.

Extra cables. Batteries. Tape. Printouts. Chargers. Extension boards.

Nobody comes to an event and asks, “Did you carry extra tape?”

But when something breaks five minutes before the event, that tape suddenly becomes very important.

This is what most people don’t see.

They see the final setup, but they don’t see the hundred small checks that happened before it.

And then comes the actual event day.

This is usually when things get interesting.

A vendor can get late.

A guest can arrive much earlier than expected.

The client can suddenly ask for a change.

An artist’s schedule can move.

Someone can call and say, “Can we change this?”

And you have to figure it out.

There is usually no time to sit and think about it for half an hour.

You just have to find a way.

The funny part is that the guests should never feel any of this.

They are enjoying themselves, clicking pictures, having conversations, watching the performances and enjoying the evening.

And somewhere behind them, the event team is running around.

One person is checking the stage.

Someone is calling the vendor.

Someone is with the client.

Someone is coordinating hospitality.

Someone is checking the artist.

And someone is probably asking, “Where is that printout?”

That is event management for us.

It can look very glamorous from outside.

But there is also a lot of walking, waiting, calling, checking, rechecking and sometimes running from one place to another.

There are days when we don’t even get proper time for lunch.

There are days when the phone keeps ringing throughout the event.

And there are days when we are tired even before the event actually starts.

But then something happens at the end.

The event finishes.

Everyone has enjoyed themselves.

The client comes and says,

“Everything was so smooth.”

And honestly, that feels really good.

Because we know how many things happened behind that one sentence.

As Himani Sharma, CEO of Baba Saab Events, I feel that event management is not just about making a venue look beautiful.

It is also about being ready when something doesn’t go according to plan.

You cannot predict everything.

You can only prepare as much as possible and make sure that when something unexpected happens, your team knows what to do.

That is why our checklists may look unnecessarily long to someone else.

But for us, every little tick mark means one less thing to worry about on the event day.

So yes, people see the stage, lights, décor, music and the final experience.

We see all of that too.

But we also see the calls, the planning, the follow-ups, the last-minute changes, the running around and that long checklist sitting somewhere in our hands.

And maybe that’s what makes a smooth event feel so satisfying.

When nobody notices the problems, it usually means we did our job properly.

— Himani Sharma CEO, Baba Saab Events

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