Last year, I shared my 6 lessons Women in PR Ghana Summit 2018 taught me here and felt I have to do same this year; sharing my planning experience and some lessons. It’s been the most challenging year but also the most fulfilling. From carefully selecting which Speakers we want at this year’s event and the kind of conversations we want to have, discussions centered around Collaboration, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence.

I can confidently say this year’s event was a SUCCESS from the feedback we’ve gathered so far.

Planning for an event as such doesn’t start a month or two but right after the last event. We started thinking about what kinds of Speakers we were going to have at this year’s event. We did send out speaker invitations to a number of people and at some point we feared we may have too many and as it worked well, we got confirmation from 4 main Speakers and also carefully curated our Panel to fit the discussion we want to have on Emotional Intelligence.

This year’s event has created a lot of buzz. We’ve been featured on many of the leading media platforms such as Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, B&FT, Metro TV, TV3, TV Africa, YFM,  eTV, ModernGhana, Ghanaweb, GNA, Business Ghana, Livefmghana and many others. And our social media pages have highlighted every process to keep everyone well informed.

LESSONS

Build Relationships with people of influence

This year’s event wouldn’t have been successful without support from people I have come to know and build relationship with. I can confidently say that, in our part of the world, simply dropping a sponsorship letter at a front desk of a company wont grant you result. People will help you (sponsor or support you) because they know you personally. A friend asked how we managed to get these big companies in these ‘hard’ times, I told her its relationship and a lot of work. Invest in building the right connections that can help you when you need it. Also know that its supposed to be a win win for everyone.

You can’t do everything

In this year’s planning, I learnt how to delegate more and let people help. People who were willing to help and had offered to help so I took advantage of that opportunity to bring them on board to help in areas I fell short and wasn’t able to deliver. This allowed me to transfer my energy onto some other things. A week to the event, I was all ready with everything needed for the event; sent out information (brief) to everyone who had a role to play on the day.

Keep people who have been with you since starting

One of the things I have been proud about is being able to keep people I have worked with since starting out. Many of them have become friends now. They tend to appreciate your journey and are willing to support you because they believe in what you do. When starting out, there were people who supported when you had no budget for them, keep them and when you can afford it, don’t leave them for someone new.

Let go off Negative Energy

In planning events, you need alot of energy and positive vibes. This is to keep you in focus and keep you thinking in the right direction. That said, there are times you will encounter challenges and issues that can draw your plan back and make you doubt all that you have worked for. To achieve that, remind yourself why you started and what you want to achieve. Learn to walk away from vendors that pulling you back, if it means re-engaging someone new.

SETBACKS

One of the setbacks of this year’s event had been managing registrations on who to attend and who shouldn’t attend. We were hoping to have 150 guests though we received a close to 400 registrations. Because it’s a Free event, it became difficult. Our 2nd registration did that magic and helped us to cut down the number. On the day of the event, we still had people standing because there were no seats for them. It was one of the setbacks we’ve had for this year. Godwilling, we would be able to afford a bigger space and more people in the future.

APPRECIATION

I owe a lot of appreciation to many organisations and individuals who believed in us and came on board to support. Special thanks to Newmont Goldcorp Ghana, Zoomlion, Touchpoint Magna Carta, Bijou Homes, Webster University , Total Ghana, Vivo Energy, Prudential Bank, Voltic, Presentation Plus, Excelsis, Neptune Technology and to our host Tomreik Hotel.

To Sammy Osei at Newmont Goldcorp Ghana,  you’ve been a blessing to WiPR. To Adiki and the team at Newmont Goldcorp for believing and supporting us this year.

To my team Josephine (who has been behind all the press releases you see) Dede (our social media manager), Patricia (managed all the registrations and my PA), Ohenewaa (handled some of the corresponding emails)

To my external team and support system (Bridget, Afia, Paulina, Joyce, Millicent, Catherine, Gertrude, Klenam, Yayra, Sadat, Nana Glover, Nana Mensah, Ob, Gameli Hamelo, Enoch and many friends who took it upon themselves to share our flyers.

I am eternally grateful to everyone and I recently told one of girlfriends that, I think I am blessed. I feel humbled by some of the people who offered to help make this years event a great one. Sigh..I think I need a break, I deserve it or? Drop a comment or share your thoughts