An event planning task list that counts down to the day

Start with the date and count back. Most of an event planning task list is deadlines that belong to someone else: the council wants the temporary event notice in good time, and the glass hire firm wants final numbers a fortnight out. Put each one in as a task with a due date and one person on it.

Then open the Calendar and look at the month. Whatever’s due this week is the countdown. Klusko won’t nag anyone by rule, since there are no automations, but due dates show in each person’s My work, and the Inbox tells them when something’s been handed to them. We’d add a ten-minute look at the board every Monday; it’s dull and it works.

A beer festival for 400 people probably has eight suppliers: toilets, glass, food vans, a marquee, security, bar staff, the generator and the band. Give each one a task, attach the quote and the booking confirmation, and tag it Suppliers so you can filter for them in one go. A custom field for cost means the Table view lists every supplier with its price in a column you can sort.

When the marquee firm rings to say delivery has moved to 7am, write it as a comment on their task. Whoever’s on site that morning will look there, and they won’t have to ring you at 6.45 to ask. The planning page shows the Table and Calendar views in more detail.

Volunteers don’t need to see your payroll channel, so make it private. Add them as guests on the festival project and they won’t see your other projects or workspaces, though they can read any public channel. That suits a volunteer who helps once a year and a partner organisation you’re co-hosting with.

For your own team, give each event its own channel, like #beerfest-nov, and keep the talk about it there. Next September, when you’re trying to remember which toilet firm let you down, you’ll search one channel instead of a year of #general. Charities running fundraisers will find more on the charities page, and pubs and venues on the hospitality page.

Make one task called Day-of checklist and put every item in as a subtask, so the person running the gate can tick them off as they go. For a festival like this one, ours would look roughly like:

• Toilets delivered, doors open and loo roll in
• Glass count on arrival (800)
• Float in each bar till
• First aid kit and accident book at the gate
• Volunteer briefing at 10am
• Radio check with security

Save it as a task template, and next year’s festival starts with the list already written. One warning: our iPhone app is still in testing and there’s no Android app, so whoever holds the list on the day should have a laptop at the gate, or a printout and a pen.