So everything is moving along quite nicely. The venue is booked, the deposit is paid. You've organised the catering side of things. The speaker is arranged, you've spoken to them / met with them to hear them speak first hand (so you know what to expect), you've confirmed with them the date / venue and how much they are going to charge you. So what's left?

Well several things spring to mind. The first of course is who is coming?

If this is a - if you want to come you are going to have to pay for a ticket event, then you are going to have to consider getting some marketing and promotional items organised. Advertising is essential if you want to make a profit, but we'll look at the marketing side of things another time. What we need to discuss today is invitations and RSVP's.

If you are footing the bill, and don't need much in the way of lead time, you can set the RSVP for a week (but preferably 2 weeks) before the date of the event. This gives you time to chase the tardy ones and of course tell the venue how many people you are expecting to turn up on the day.

For things like parties and weddings especially - then you will need to give yourself a much longer lead time. Get the RSVP's back to you as soon as possible. Catering for a wedding along with everything else is expensive, so you don't want to be paying for meals that won't be eaten.

If the event is a pay as you go kind of event (seminars and conferences) then you will need to start confirming the event as soon as you have determined what your break even point is and the event will be going ahead. With smaller training events, again a 2 week lead time is ample. Confirmation letters can be sent out and invoices raised. Remember to check the bail out clause...how many days before the event, before they need to substitute rather than get refunds? as this may impact on your timing.

And as long as you remember the devil is in the detail you will be fine.