After 5 Events↗ Live Band↗ DJ
Team Building

Team Building — the checklist

A team-building day is two events joined badly. The activity runs to a schedule, the evening does not, and the join between them is where things fail: people standing in a car park at six-fifteen, no plan, somebody's phone at eight percent.

This is a checklist. Use it in order. It will not make the day memorable — the people will — but it will stop you forgetting the thing that derails it.

Before you book anything

  • Have you named one person who decides when two suppliers contradict each other?
  • Do you know the split: how many hours of activity, how many hours of evening?
  • Is the activity provider quoting transport, or are you?
  • Have you confirmed the activity runs in rain, or do you have a indoor fallback?
  • Does the budget include the evening, or only the daytime programme?

The venue

  • Can the same venue host the activity and the evening, or will you move?
  • If you move, is there a gap, and where do people go?
  • Is there a room for the crew to set up before guests arrive?
  • Who holds the keys, and do they answer their phone after seven?
  • Have you walked the route from the car park to the entrance in the dark?
  • Is there power where you need it, or does the venue expect you to bring a generator?
  • Does the contract say what time music must stop, and who enforces it?

The programme

  • Have you written down the running order, with times, and shared it with every supplier?
  • Does someone other than you have a printed copy?
  • Who speaks: the MD, the activity provider, you, nobody?
  • If someone speaks, have you told them for how long and given them a hard stop time?
  • Is there a gap between the activity ending and food starting, and what fills it?
  • Does the evening have structure, or is it open?
  • If it is open, what prompts people to leave: the music stopping, the bar closing, or nothing?

The technical side

  • Do you need sound, and if so, for what: speeches, background music, or both?
  • Is the venue providing AV, or are you?
  • If the venue is providing it, have you seen it work, or are you trusting a spec sheet?
  • Does the activity need amplification — a whistle and a briefing to forty people usually does?
  • If the evening is indoors, have you confirmed the acoustics do not require a conversation-level system?
  • Is there lighting, and can it be dimmed?
  • Have you confirmed the crew has site access two hours before guest arrival?

Most suppliers quote what you ask for. If you ask for sound, you get speakers. If you do not ask where the crew eats or when they can load in, those questions stay unanswered until the day. The difference between a production company that plans the event and one that subcontracts it is that the first kind asks the questions you did not.

Food and drink

  • Is the activity catered, or only the evening?
  • If there is a gap, is there water?
  • Have you confirmed dietary requirements and shared the list with the caterer?
  • Is the bar open or ticketed?
  • If it is open, is there a limit, and who enforces it?
  • Does the caterer need the final headcount three days out, or the morning of?
  • Is there food for the crew, or do they leave site?

Guests and transport

  • Are you running a bus, or are people driving?
  • If people are driving, is there parking, and have you sent them a map that works?
  • If you are running a bus, have you shared the departure time three times and confirmed the pick-up point is not ambiguous?
  • Does the bus wait, or does it leave?
  • If someone arrives late, can they get in, or is the site locked?
  • Have you sent the schedule, the address and a contact number the day before?

The last week

  • Have you reconfirmed the headcount with every supplier?
  • Have you called the venue and confirmed your arrival time?
  • Have you confirmed the activity provider has your mobile number?
  • Is the running order printed, and does someone other than you have it?
  • Do you have the venue contact's mobile number?
  • If it rains, have you confirmed the plan B and told the guests?

The day

  • Are you on site before anyone else?
  • Have you checked the crew has what they were promised: power, access, a table?
  • Does someone have the guest list, on paper?
  • Have you confirmed the caterer knows the service time?
  • Is there a nominated person the venue calls if something is wrong, and is their phone on?
  • When do you leave, and who stays until the last case is on the truck?

After

  • Have you confirmed with the venue that the site is clear and nothing is damaged?
  • Did you collect feedback while people still remembered the day, or leave it a week?
  • Have you invoiced any costs the venue added on the night?

The decision now is whether you need someone who plans this once or someone whose crew builds it. After 5 Events is the second kind. Settle the budget, the date and whether the evening matters as much as the day. Everything else follows.

Who is writing this

A crew, not a middleman

These guides are written by After 5 Events — the team that grew out of the After 5 band and DJ roster and has stood on the stage itself. We are not an agency that forwards your brief to subcontractors and takes a commission on every line: the people who plan your evening build the stage, run the sound and light, and are in the room when the doors open.

When you get to booking

The pages this guide has probably made you want to ask about.

The same reader, other occasions
The same occasion, another topic
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