If you’re organising a formal dance or
ball, whether it is for your end of year university bash, or a tea dance for
older ladies and gentlemen, you’re going to need to have a solid plan in place.
There are all sorts of dances you can host, such as a ceilidh or line dancing but
in the beginning, every event like this is organised in the exact same way.
Just follow these steps, and you’ll have everyone dancing until midnight.
Start Planning a Year in Advance
A year in advance might seem a little too
much, but some things are best cleared up sooner rather than later. Before you
know it, it will be the week before the big event, so it’s good to get on the
ball (pun intended) early. Having all of your tasks laid out month by month
will help you to keep everything in good order and is the easiest way of
organising any big event.
Objectives
Yes, it sounds like you’re organising an
AGM instead of a ball, but all events have objectives, even if your main objective
is that everyone has fun. Think clearly
about what you want this event to achieve, and your goals in planning it. Is it
to raise money for a cause? If so, then this needs to be at the forefront of
your mind. How much will make the event a success? Other goals can be more
social, such as bringing the team together or getting more members to join your
group. Knowing what you want to achieve, and the key things you want to see at
the event is a good way to start.
Find a Venue
If you have a year to go, then it’s the perfect
time to lock down a venue. Dates can fill up fast at certain times of year,
particularly for ballrooms. Many also offer their own catering for dinner and
so naturally these are the most popular. There is a good range of options for
ballroom venues to hire in London, so have a think about what is going to be
right for you.
How it Looks
If you don’t know the theme yet, the venue
that you choose might help to inspire you. However, it is recommended that you
do know before you look at ballrooms, as there is such variety that it’s hard
to know which one is right. Think about what type of dancing is going to take
place, as this will have a big influence on what you need.
Access
Is the ballroom easy to get to? If it’s far
away from where you usually meet or where the majority of your guests live, you
might need to organise a bus to accommodate everyone. If not, there needs to be
adequate parking for all of those looking to attend.
Other
When choosing a ballroom for your formal
event, there are a number of different questions that you are going to need to
ask. One is if they can cater for a sit-down meal. Some ballrooms are
specifically for dancing, and so you’ll be asked to have dinner elsewhere if you
are using them. This makes sense as the special flooring on some ballrooms
could easily be damaged from multiple chairs and tables.
Budget
There’s no planning if you don’t have a
budget in place. Knowing exactly how much you are going to have to spend is
essential when organising a formal event. Maybe your group has gathered money
throughout the year from other events, or maybe you’ve received a bursary from somewhere.
You need to estimate what each part of the event is going to cost you and do
some research on what is reasonable. Not only will this help you when booking
other aspects of the night, it will also give you an indication on how much you
will need to charge each attendee for tickets.
Volunteers
As much as you’ll probably want to take
charge of the entire night yourself, every big event needs a set of volunteers
to help out. Whether it’s designing the tickets, selling them, keeping social
media up to date or just generally lending a hand. The more people you have on
board to help, the better. This is going to be very useful on the night as well.
As it’s an event that’s centred around dancing, organising the groups will be essential,
particularly if you are hosting some sort of competition.
Dress Code
This should be an easy one, but it’s still
something that a lot of organisers forget to tell their guests about. When it comes
to what to wear, it will all depend on the type of dancing that will be taking
place. If it’s traditional ballroom and everyone knows what they’re doing, the
dress will be very formal and Strictly
Come Dancing inspired. If it’s just a bit of fun, or you have a teacher in
showing the group some basic steps, then comfortable clothes and shoes will be
needed – this will ensure that no one injures themselves while trying to learn
some new moves.
Entertainment
The entertainment is of course going to be the
dancing itself, but you need to consider exactly how you are going to organise
this. Are you having a competition between couples? If so, you’ll need to think
about rules and judges. Or perhaps you are you hiring someone in for the night
to compere a group dance? You’ll need to decide on the difficulty of this, as
well as how it will all fit into your budget. Maybe you’re just going to get a
DJ or a playlist and let everyone come up with their own moves? The choices are
endless, but you need to make a decision.
Ballrooms are wonderfully versatile venues
and are the perfect place to hold any type of formal event. Once you have your
to do list put together, you’ll have no problems in organising a dance-off to
remember, glitter ball and all!
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