Format of the guide

The format of this guide is simple and easy to follow. The process of denning, researching, planning and running an event is broken down into simple stages and each stage is described in a separate chapter. I have already stated that as your event is unique, you are free to change the order in which you complete the stages, as long as you do complete all of the stages. Beware of switching stages too much. As the output from one stage usually feeds in to the following stage, the sequence used in this book is carefully planned. If you wildly change the order of stages you risk losing the benefit of the method. You should also note that the illustrative lists are for guidance only, you may have to add non-standard roles, signs and facilities.

Where I consider a point of information to be worthy of a special mention, it is displayed as a boxed ‘Tip’, at an appropriate point in the text of the relevant chapter.

At the end of each chapter, I have listed the progress you should have made (during your second reading of the book). There is also a list of the ‘products’ that you should have completed and delivered after working though each chapter. You should remember that if you have created additional ‘products’ for your specific event, you should write them in at an appropriate place to remind you.