Dealing with an indecisive client for your event. How can you navigate their ever-changing preferences?

This is key. When things start to feel like they are going off the rails, stop everything and have a meeting. Commit to not leaving the meeting until you get to the source of problem. When they are indecisive or constantly changing their mind or missing deadlines, there is usually an underlying problem. Slow down to speed up. Put on the breaks, re-evaluate and then sprint forward.

Not only set boundaries but set deadlines that state what happens when these are not met. Many times missing a deadline means not getting something printed on time, rush fees or a vendor no longer available. Many people assume they can ask for things at any moment when they can't.

Are you actually a “custom event designer” or are you afraid you’ll lose clients if you’re not? By setting the menu of options clearly, you both encourage your client to think clearly about their ultimate goals and provide yourself a fallback for when requests are out of bounds. Additionally, remember to price custom services in a way that makes them worth your time and energy spent changing things!

We have to remember that our clients just don't know. We do what we do every single day and for the most part it comes naturally to us. Our job is to educate and walk our clients through the process. If our clients are struggling to understand the process, the decision that needs to be made or the impact of a decision, that's on us. Our job is to guide them through so they can be confident in their decisions.

Most times clients who are always changing their mind or creating constant changes to the event plan believes that these changes are easy to make. That is not always the case. Set early on what are easy changes and what are hard changes. Outline what happens when constant changes are being made and how that slows down the planning process. Not making decision and waiting to hear from multiple people is also a way to slow down planning. The more they add to this the less successful their event will be. Have these open honest and frequent conversations with them.

A successful partnership between client and event producer is actually much more intimate than we often realize. Think about it, no matter the size or subject matter of the event, a client is preparing to expose themselves and their organization to a live audience. Even if they've done it before, the sheer anxiety of all the things that could go wrong, the fear of failure, the fear of making a wrong decision can be overwhelming. Moreover, clients often lack the knowledge & production expertise that allow us, as event professionals, to navigate live situations with calm and ease. Don't forget to be compassionate. Hold space for your clients. Take the time to understand their fears and guide them gently toward a more secure, confident place.