Free download

The Event Operating System Map

The six-step system every professional event planner uses, now free. See the whole event on one page, and know exactly what comes next.

Free · Instant download

PDF, two A4 pages

What you get

See the system behind 25+ years of professional events

The six steps of the Event Operating System: Purpose, Design, Plan, Build, Operate, Review, and the question each one answers.
A one-page Event Brief template to get your purpose, objectives and audience down in one place.
A how-to guide for each step: what to do, in what order, and what “done” looks like.
Instant download. It lands in your inbox as soon as you sign up.

The Event Operating System

This is how professional event managers actually work. Now you can too.

Six steps, always in this order, for any event. It’s a loop, not a list: every Review feeds the next event’s Purpose.

Think

Prepare

Deliver & learn

01 · Think

Purpose

Why does this event exist?

Pin down the goal, the audience and what success looks like before a single thing is booked.

Event Brief

Audience Map

02 · Think

Design

What will people experience?

Shape the concept and format, then scope it realistically against your time, money and team.

Concept & scope

03 · Prepare

Plan

How will we deliver it?

Build the master plan: timeline, budget, suppliers, stakeholders and risk.

Timeline

Budget

Supplier Tracker

Risk Assessment

04 · Prepare

Build

How do we get it ready?

Book and confirm, promote the event, open ticketing and brief your team.

Site Plan

Run Sheet

05 · Deliver & learn

Operate

How do we run it live?

Run the day to the plan, and manage risk and safety as things happen.

Operations Plan

Run Sheet

06 · Deliver & learn

Review

What did we learn?

Measure against your objectives, capture the lessons, and feed them into the next event’s Purpose.

Event Review

Who it’s for

Made for the moment you think “where do I even start?”

First-time event planners

You’ve been handed an event and don’t know where to start. The Map gives you the order to do things in.

People overwhelmed by planning

Too many tabs, lists and loose ends. The Map puts everything in one of six steps, so nothing gets missed.

Teams across departments

Give everyone the same language for where the event is up to, from the first idea to the final review.

Used by event professionals

with 25+ years of experience

Based on university-level

event management teaching

Works for any event

of any size or type

Get your copy

Download the Map (it’s free)

Enter your name and email and the Map, the Event Brief template and the how-to guide arrive straight away.

We respect your inbox. Unsubscribe anytime. Read our privacy policy.

Ready to go deeper?

Get the documents behind every step.

The Starter Kit gives you working templates for your whole event, for $27.