Organising an event doesn’t get any easier just because the guests have an earlier bedtime. True, it’s a little easier to anticipate what they’re going to want vs what can be vetoed straight off the bat, and, yes, provided you check a few boxes, getting those good vibes and happy faces isn’t quite the same monumental task it is when your guests are in their thirties or forties, but pretty much everything else poses the same kind of challenge.
What kids and VIPs have in common, however, is the fact that you won’t be liaising directly with them – even though their names are on the invite. That should represent a big relief, of course, but the same challenges that lie with other kinds of events – getting RSVPs, cataloguing special requirements in terms of food and accessibility, noting emergency contacts, and reducing friction at the door – are still there.
This is largely because parents are incredibly strapped for time. Kids usually have multiple events on the calendar at any given point in time and, for their parents, managing details that are spread across WhatsApp threads, emails (some of which end up in spam), loose paper in the bottom of a school bag, flyers and posters on the walls of the school, and hearsay at the school gates is a literal nightmare.
The result is that organisers spend disproportionate time chasing responses, and parents end up feeling more and more harassed.
How a single QR code can take on most of the heavy-lifting
Unless you’re a professional event planner operating like a well-oiled machine, there’s a good chance that one single invitation or notification to parents isn’t enough. Details may change, information may be missed the first time and only spotted after 500 copies have been printed, or updates may be needed in response to common questions or concerns.
What does that mean? It could mean multiple flyers, posters, emails, messages and updates that have to be sent out and which eventually create a garbled mess of information that no one can possibly keep on top of. Or, alternatively, it could mean simply updating one centralised place that parents can check and double-check as and when a question arises.
This is what QR codes make possible, and the fact that it takes nothing more than moments to use a free QR code generator to get your invitation active means you’re only moments away from making your next event infinitely simpler to plan and manage.
Scanning is fast, and everybody knows how to recognise and use a QR code these days. On the destination, you can include a form that collects all the information you need, which means no more 6pm phone calls chasing parents who wish they’d never agreed to come in the first place. You can have a database of guests coming, who their primary contact is, what their dietary requirements are – and, at the same time, who hasn’t RSVP’d yet.
Because the QR code is just an image, it works on anything: a printed invite, a poster at the school gate, a Facebook group post, a text message, or even a sticker on a party bag handed out in advance
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Lorraine is co-owner of Buggybuddys & Seniorocity and is a mother to two and furmum Cocker Spaniel Storm. Lorraine is also a qualified personal trainer and pilates teacher, once owning her own Yoga & Pilates studio in Perth. She previously lived and worked in London, UK where she worked as Public Relationships and Marketing Manager for several IT companies and worked with some of the largest tech companies in the world including Microsoft, Dell and EMC.
