So do you need insurance for your event? Yes. Yes because you can’t always predict the weather, the venue, potential accidents, etc. and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Insurance will protect you from risk and can help assure that all of your events in event planning didn’t go down the drain, just because something bad happened.
So the next question to ask yourself is what kind of insurance do you need for your event? To begin with having a basic form of public liability and employers’ liability will help cover the basics. For instance, public liability would cover a claim if someone gets hurt at your event and employers’ liability will help cover employee injuries at the event.
In fact, you usually have to have public liability insurance in order to secure a venue. Venue’s don’t want to be responsible for an organiser’s negligence and will protect themselves by requiring a certificate of public liability as part of your contract. And employers’ liability is legally required in the UK, so if you aren’t covering your employees or volunteers, you’d better get that policy together right away.
Event planners need to include insurance as part of their budget. Insurance companies will look at a variety of elements including the number of people in attendance, the type of event, the length of the event and any kind of any hazardous activities that might occur in order to determine the cost. Things deemed hazardous might include the presence of fire, people going in water or doing activities at tall heights. Consider this an early step in planning your event.
Beyond the basic protection from injuries, event organizers can also get cancellation insurance. So-called ‘cancellation and abandonment insurance’ or ‘contingency insurance,’ this form of coverage protects the event planner’s bottom line. If something goes wrong and the event doesn’t occur, then this kind of insurance could cover expenses and even a portion of the expected profits. So for instance, if weather prevents travel to the venue or the venue pulls out last minute. This is the kind of insurance is ideal for event planners that stand to lose a lot of money if the event doesn’t take place.
Event planners should also consider property insurance, which will help cover expensive equipment hired for the event including sound and video equipment and lights. These tools can sometimes costs hundreds of thousands of pounds, so it is important to have coverage if you are renting this type of gear or hiring people that will be bringing this in. You don’t want to have to spend your profits replacing a DJs complicated speaker system, just because a guest knocked it over while dancing.
Event planners have enough to worry about than the potential for disaster. But thankfully there are insurance companies that will help personalize the right insurance needs for your event. Early on in your event planning, you should reach out to get a quote for a reasonable amount of insurance for your event. Once you have coverage, let these worries rest and get back to work on how you are going to make the event a success!
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