How to Present an Event Design to a Client
The order, the views and the words that get a design approved in one meeting.
This guide shows how to present an event design so a client can approve it in one meeting. You get a running order to reuse, a chart of which view answers which question, words to use and to avoid, and a decision record to copy.
To present an event design to a client and leave with a yes, fix three things first. Set the running order. Pick the view that answers each question. Tie every choice to the brief. A good design can still stall in the room. It stalls when it is shown in the wrong order, with the wrong views, to people nobody asked.
Before the meeting
Find out who decides and who can say no. The list may include the venue, a safety officer, a sponsor and a boss who has not read the brief. Each one comes with one question, and the design has to answer it.
Brief the person who decides before the meeting, even in a ten-minute call. Do not email the design ahead without context. A PDF read cold invites reactions to taste, with none of the reasons behind it. Mike Monteiro's Design Is a Job (A Book Apart, 2012) treats presenting as part of the work. It is not a courtesy that comes after the work.
The client first checks that you understood the problem. Only then do they judge your answer. So say the brief back before you show a single view. The same test applies to a portfolio. That is why a portfolio built before you have clients should show your thinking, not just renders.
The running order for an event design presentation
Use the same seven steps in every client meeting.
- The brief. Say it back, with its measures of success, in the client's own words.
- The constraints. Show the room, the rules, the budget and the timeline.
- The guest's journey. Walk the plan from arrival to exit.
- The views. Use renders and a walkthrough for mood and sequence.
- The details that carry the idea. Show the stage, the lighting and the materials.
- Cost and timeline.
- The decisions needed today.
Constraints come before pictures for a reason. Say the client has agreed that the room seats 400 at tables. They have also agreed that the exit routes stay clear. Now a request to "just add 60 seats" is a question about those limits. It is no longer a question about your taste.
Which view answers which question
Each view answers one question. Show it to the people who ask that question, and keep the rest for the right meeting.
- To-scale plan. Answers: Does it fit, flow and hold the headcount? Show to: Everyone; the venue and safety officer in detail.
- 3D render. Answers: What will it feel like? Show to: Client, sponsor, executive.
- Walkthrough video. Answers: What do guests meet, and in what order? Show to: Client, executive, marketing.
- Elevation. Answers: How high, and in what material? Show to: Builder, venue, production.
- Production drawings. Answers: What is built, and where? Show to: Builder, venue, production.
Do not show every drawing to every person. It turns a decision meeting into a review of details, and nobody in the room can sign those off.
Make sure the views agree with each other. A render with a different stage from the plan starts an argument you do not need. Renders show the feel of the room. For the view from one seat, use a section drawing or a site visit.
The words that win approval
Say why, not what. "The bar moves to the north wall" is what. "The bar sits on the north wall so its queue never crosses the route to the stage" is why. Then add that the brief asks to keep that route clear.
Tie each choice to a line of the brief, and name the trade-off. For example, say "This gives you 40 more seats and costs the lounge." Avoid "I like" and "we felt". They turn a decision into a contest of taste, and the client holds the deciding vote.
Paul Rand showed his 1986 logo for NeXT as a booklet. It argued, step by step, for one solution. Steve Jobs later recalled asking Rand for a few options. Rand said he would solve the problem, and Jobs could use the answer or not. Show options early, while the brief is still open. Once it is settled, show one design. Late options hand the design work back to the client.
- I like this layout.: This layout keeps the stage route clear, as the brief asks.
- We felt the stage should go here.: The stage is on this wall because it has power and a clear view from every table.
- What do you think?: Does this meet the measure of success we agreed?
- We can do whatever you want.: Here is what that change moves.
- It's just a first draft.: This is our recommendation.
Handling client feedback in the room
Keep problems and fixes apart. A client may say "move the stage to the long wall." Ask what problem that would solve. Then say it back. You might say "so the worry is that the back tables can't see." Answer that problem. It may have a better fix than the one on the table.
Meet the late "small change" by showing what it does, on the spot. Show what moves, what breaks and which checks fail. A stage pushed three meters forward can put tables across an exit route. The client sees the cost of the change, and you do not have to argue it.
For why approval breaks down between the people who make and the people who decide, read The Architecture of Approval.
Closing with a decision record
End by reading out a numbered list of the decisions agreed in the room. Get a yes to each one before anyone leaves. Send the written record within the hour, with the scope and date of the next revision.
Written decisions cut revision rounds. A later change to an agreed point becomes a new request, with its own scope and price. That protects the fee, most of all once you have stopped charging billable hours. Copy this record.
- Project, date, meeting
- Present (name, role)
- Decisions agreed: 1. 2. 3.
- Changes requested, in the client's words
- Open questions (owner, due date)
- Next revision (scope, date)
- Sent by, at (time)
Approval is designed
Approval in one meeting is designed, not hoped for. Fix the order, pick each view for its question, tie every word to the brief and leave with the decisions in writing.
Frequently asked questions
Should you send an event design to the client before the meeting?
Send the agenda, the brief and the list of decisions you need. Do not send the design itself. A layout read cold, without the reasons behind it, invites reactions to taste. If the person who decides cannot come, walk them through it by phone first. Then send the files with a short note on each choice.
How many design options should you show a client?
Show one design once the brief is settled. Options help at the concept stage, while the brief is still open, and two or three are enough. Late options ask the client to do the design work. They also invite a request to blend all of them into one.
What should an event design presentation include?
Start with the brief and its measures of success. Then show the constraints and the guest's journey on a to-scale plan. Add renders or a walkthrough, the key details, and the cost and timeline. End with the decisions you need. Keep production drawings for a separate session with the builder and the venue.
How do you handle a client who asks for changes in the meeting?
Ask what problem the change would solve, say it back and answer the problem. If the change is small, show its effect on the plan live, with what moves and which rules it breaks. Write it down as a request with a scope and a date. Do not agree to it on the spot.
In Monet, the plan, the 3D renders and the walkthrough video of the event in the real room come from one model, so the views you show always agree. One change regenerates all of them and re-runs the layout checks, so a client can see what a late change costs before they agree to it.