The coach turned up at the old time
Three weeks before the event, the client moves the gala dinner half an hour later because their CEO is flying in. Your account manager updates the run sheet and tells the venue. The caterer hears about it a week later on a call. The entertainment agency finds out from the venue. The coach company that is taking delegates from the hotel to the dinner is never told, and turns up at the original time, with the driver's hours already planned around it.
Nobody was careless. The change was agreed in a call, written in one email, and then relayed by hand to the suppliers the account manager remembered were affected.
Why changes fall through the gaps
An event is a web of dependencies that only exists in the producer's head. The run sheet shows the times, but not who relies on each time.
- Changes arrive by phone, email, WhatsApp and in client meetings, with no single place to log them.
- The link between a time or a number and the suppliers who depend on it is not written down anywhere.
- Suppliers get told individually, so there is no record of who has been told and who has confirmed.
- Late in the planning, several people on your team talk to the same suppliers.
- Delegate number changes ripple into catering, transport, badges and room layouts, and each ripple is a separate task.
What a missed change looks like on the night
It looks like a coach at the wrong time, a caterer prepared for the old number, a band set up on a stage that moved, or a photographer who went to the wrong room. On site, your team fixes it with phone calls and goodwill, and the client notices the scramble even when the guests do not.
Afterwards it shows up in the numbers too: waiting time charges, extra meals, reprinted signage, and supplier invoices that reference the original booking and do not match what you expected to pay.
The change log we build around your event plan
- The event plan holds each element (session, meal, transfer, room, activity) with its time, location and numbers, and the suppliers who deliver it.
- Any change is logged once against the element it affects, by whoever agreed it, including the source such as the client email or call notes.
- The system works out which suppliers depend on that element and drafts a clear change notice for each, stating old and new values.
- The account manager checks and sends the notices, or approves them in one step.
- Each supplier confirms with one click from the notice, and anyone who has not confirmed is chased and shown as outstanding on the event page.
- Number changes are applied across all linked elements at once, so catering, transport and badges move together.
- The run sheet and supplier schedules are regenerated from the plan, so there is no separate document to forget.
| Change | Affected suppliers found | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Dinner moved later | Caterer, band, coaches, photographer | Three confirmed, one chased |
| Delegates up for day two | Caterer, badges, breakout AV | All confirmed |
| Breakout moved to another room | AV, signage, furniture hire | Awaiting AV |
After a change, what the team sees
A client call ends with two changes. The account manager logs both in a couple of minutes. Four suppliers get notices within the hour, three confirm the same day, and the fourth is chased automatically the next morning. The producer, looking at the event the following week, can see exactly which changes happened, who agreed them and who has confirmed, without scrolling through anyone's email.
When a supplier invoice arrives referencing the old time, the change log is the record of what was agreed and when they were told.
Is this happening on your events?
- Suppliers have turned up to an old time or an old number.
- Changes are relayed by whoever remembers, one call at a time.
- You cannot quickly see which suppliers have confirmed a change.
- Number changes need updating in several separate documents.
- Disputes with suppliers come down to who said what on which call.