Keep Your Eye on the Prize (The Prize Being Your Goals)

I was recently at a networking event that I was a plus one of a friend and once the hosts realised that they had an event planner coming to their event they got very nervous. The hosts were sweet enough to tell me this and ask for some free advice to make their event an even greater success the next time. I took this opportunity to discuss with them what their goals for their event were; this is something I do with all my clients, that way I know we are all aiming for the same target.
They explained to me that they wanted to create an event where professionals were able to get together and with the devised networking techniques that they had implemented throughout the evening, basically force their guests to interact with each other in a fun way that gave you an opportunity to talk to everyone. It was wonderful!
I looked around the room and told them that their event was a great success, everyone was walking around and interacting with each other, laughing and seemingly having a great time. But they then told me this about the limited decor and that about the food. Yes, those things matter, but if your goal is achieved without any excess of that cost, take a moment and pat yourself on the back and enjoy the fact that you organised a great event.
Goals are different for everyone, so my advise, know what you want to achieve and make that happen, everything else is icing on the cake after that. Enjoy!

“know what you want, work to get it, then value it once you have it.”
― Nora Roberts