Learn from event mentorship expert May Yeo Silvers as she shares more about creating event planning contracts.
The majority of #eventrepreneurs out there are extremely good at planning and designing events, but when it comes to running an event planning business and anything to do with legalities, they are clueless.
One of the most commonly faced challenges that event planners encounter is what to include on a client’s contract. They have a vague idea of what to include, but anything that requires an understanding of the legal terms, they are completely lost. Thus, several event planners suffer a financial loss when the client disputes the event planning services as the event planners do not have an iron-clad contract to protect them.
Must-Have Items To Include In Your Contract
1) Name of the person, contact number, email, and mailing address of the signing party
You need to make sure the person is at least 18 years old, has the authority and capacity to sign such as signing on behalf of someone/company.
2) Your name, company name, title, contact number, email, and mailing address
3) Purpose of the contract/what is this contract for
Is this a contract to secure your event planning services, or to secure your decorating services and rental items, etc?
4) Date, time, and venue
The start and end times must be listed. The address of the venue must be included and the name of the particular event space must be included if the event is happening within a location inside the main event space.
5) All products and services contracted and their prices
All tax, delivery, set up, and tear down charges need to be listed. If you are offering a discount for cash payment, that needs to be listed as well.
6) When the payment is due and how payment can be made
Deposit amounts and due dates must be clearly indicated. The method of payment (cash, check, wire transfer) has to be included.
For check payment, you have to indicate who to pay the check to.
If a deposit is not refundable, that needs to be indicated.
7) Is insurance required from all parties?
Some venues will require each vendor and sometimes even the host to provide a certificate of insurance. So if the venue you have selected requires that, you need to include that on your contract.
8) Indemnification language
This clause will protect you and your staff from any misbehavior or negligence from your client and their guests that resulted in any damage or harm to the property and personnel.
9) Termination/Cancellation language
Can the contract be terminated? If yes, under what circumstance?
You need to be very clear about the cancellation policy and the due date that the contract can be cancelled.
In addition, you have to indicate what is the financial repercussion if the contract is cancelled.
10) Intellectual Property
To protect your work, you should have some form of language that clearly states that your work is your intellectual property and cannot be shared or copied.
Conclusion
There are a lot more items that could be included in the contract, but those are the most common and essential items that must be included.
Understanding how to read contracts and how to write contracts are some of the things we teach inside our Unstoppable Eventrepreneur Mentorship Program®. We provide attorney vetted templates so you can just customize the template to your needs.
Want to learn more about how you can join our mentorship program? Schedule a call and let’s chat!
Standing By You
May Yeo Silvers
