# Free event planning template: a countdown checklist, budget, guest list and run sheet

> A free event planning template for Excel: enter the event date and the checklist dates itself, with a budget, guest list and minute-by-minute run sheet.

Source: https://plexiidesk.com/blog/free-event-planning-template
Topic: By role (https://plexiidesk.com/blog/c/by-role)
Author: The Plexii team
Published: 2026-11-08

Events rarely go wrong on the day. They go wrong eleven weeks out, when nobody books the AV because everyone assumed someone else had, or three weeks out, when the caterer's cut-off for final numbers passes unnoticed.

An event plan that works is mostly a countdown. Each job has a date, worked back from the event, and an owner. This template does the date arithmetic for you: type the event date once and every task on the checklist gets its due date.

Every sheet, column and formula is set out below, so you can build it in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, or start from the ready-made [event plan desk template](https://plexiidesk.com/templates/event-plan) in PlexiiDesk. It suits a conference session, a customer forum, a launch or an all-staff day, roughly 30 to 300 people. To run the plan, the supplier emails and the run sheet from one place, [download PlexiiDesk free](https://plexiidesk.com/download) too; how is explained below.

## The five sheets to set up

| Sheet | What it holds |
|---|---|
| **Tasks** | A checklist from brief to debrief, each with weeks before, a due date, owner, status and what it depends on |
| **Overview** | The event's facts, plus live counts: tasks open and overdue, budget committed and remaining, guests attending and seats left |
| **Budget** | Quote, committed and paid for each item, with a 10% contingency line |
| **Guests** | Invitations, RSVPs, dietary and access needs, and check-in on the day |
| **Run sheet** | The minute-by-minute plan for the day, with who owns each segment and what has to be ready |

Put Tasks first because it is the sheet you will work in most, and because most tools that import a workbook read only the first sheet.

To show how it fills in, this post follows an invented example: a half-day customer forum for 120 people on Thursday 18 March 2027, with a budget ceiling of $15,000.

## Overview: fill this in first

The white cells on Overview are the facts everything else hangs off:

- **Event date**, written as 2027-03-18
- **Venue** and **Capacity**, 120 in the example
- **Budget ceiling**, the most the decision-maker has agreed to, $15,000
- **Decision-maker**, the one person who signs off the brief and the budget. If there are two, there will be a week lost every time they disagree.
- **Final numbers due to venue**, from the venue contract

Below those, add counts that update themselves, such as open tasks: `=COUNTIFS(Tasks!F:F,"<>Done",Tasks!F:F,"<>Not needed",Tasks!B:B,"<>",Tasks!B:B,"<>Task")`, with similar COUNTIF and SUM formulas for overdue tasks, budget and seats. Glance at them weekly: tasks overdue should be zero, and seats left should not go negative.

## Tasks: the countdown

Each task has a phase, a **Weeks before** number, and a **Due** date the sheet works out as the event date minus that many weeks. Change the event date and every due date moves.

To set that up, lay Tasks out as Phase, Task, Owner, Weeks before, Due, Status, Depends on and Notes, in columns A to H. If the event date is in cell B3 on Overview, the Due formula is `=IF(Overview!$B$3="","",Overview!$B$3-7*D2)`. A conditional formatting rule of `=AND($E2<>"",$E2<TODAY(),$F2<>"Done",$F2<>"Not needed")` turns overdue rows red. Make Status a drop-down of Not started, In progress, Waiting, Done and Not needed.

The phases run in the order an event comes together. With the example date of 18 March:

**Brief, 16 to 15 weeks out (from 26 November).** Write a one-page brief: purpose, audience, date, budget ceiling and what success looks like. Get it signed off. Set a guest number range, a minimum and a maximum, because the venue depends on it.

**Venue, 14 to 12 weeks out (to 24 December).** Shortlist three venues against capacity, access and budget, visit one, then sign. The site visit task lists what to check: access, power, loading, toilets and mobile signal. Read the cancellation terms and the final-numbers date before signing, and put the date into Overview. In the example, the 12-week tasks land on Christmas Eve, which is a reason to do them early rather than late.

**Content, 12 to 10 weeks out.** Draft the agenda and speaker list, then confirm speakers in writing with talk length and AV needs.

**Suppliers, 10 to 8 weeks out.** Catering quotes, AV, photography, signage and furniture hire. Each depends on the venue contract, which the **Depends on** column says, so nobody books catering for a venue you have not signed.

**Guests and comms, 10 to 2 weeks out.** Build the list, send a save-the-date, then invitations at six weeks (4 February in the example) with the RSVP date and a question about dietary and access needs. Remind non-responders at three weeks. Joining instructions, with address, transport, parking and access, go out two weeks before.

**Budget, 6 to 4 weeks out.** Put every quote into the Budget sheet and check the total against the ceiling. Pay the deposits that are due.

**Final, 3 to 1 weeks out.** Give final numbers to the venue and caterer by their cut-off. Write the run sheet, test speaker slides on the venue's set-up, brief the team, print badges and pack the event kit: tape, chargers, adaptors, pens and a first-aid kit.

**On the day and after.** Bump-in, sound checks and registration, then thank-you notes, shared slides, a budget reconciliation and a one-page debrief in the two weeks after.

Give every task an **Owner** before anything else. A task with no owner will not happen. **Status** is a drop-down; overdue tasks turn red and done ones turn grey. Delete tasks you do not need, or set them to Not needed so they drop out of the counts. Add your own at the bottom and they get due dates too.

## Budget: three numbers per line

Each line has a **Quote**, a **Committed** amount (what you have agreed to pay) and **Paid**. **Still to pay** is worked out. The difference between quote and committed is where budgets drift: the catering quote was for 100, and you confirmed 120.

The template adds a **Contingency** line set to 10% of the budget ceiling, $1,500 in the example. Keep it as a line, not a vague hope. When a surprise comes, you move money from contingency to the item and can still see how much buffer is left.

## Guests

One row per guest: name, organisation, email, invite sent, RSVP, dietary needs, access needs and checked in. Overview counts how many are invited and attending.

The dietary and access columns are why this is a sheet and not a list of names. They feed the caterer's final numbers and the venue's set-up, and they are easy to lose if they live in reply emails. Treat the sheet as personal information: share it with the people who need it, and delete it when the event is done and the reconciliation is finished.

## Run sheet

The run sheet is the plan everyone working on the day follows. Here is a sample morning, starting with an hour of bump-in at 08:00, sound checks at 09:00, registration at 09:30, and the welcome at 10:00:

| Start | Minutes | Segment | Cue / what has to be ready |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | 5 | Welcome and housekeeping | Exits, toilets, Wi-Fi, schedule |
| 10:05 | 40 | Session 1 | Speaker 1 mic on; timer visible |
| 10:45 | 20 | Break | Catering out by 10:40 |

The **Cue** column is the important one. "Catering out by 10:40" means the break starts on time. Give every segment an owner, print the run sheet, and keep a copy at registration.

To keep the plan, supplier notes and run sheet on one desk, [download Plexii free](https://plexiidesk.com/download).

## Running the event from one desk

The workbook is enough for one event run by one person. When suppliers, speakers and colleagues are involved, the trouble is that the plan, the emails, the contracts and the venue details end up in different places.

The [event plan desk template](https://plexiidesk.com/templates/event-plan) sets up a PlexiiDesk desk for one event. A Tasks work widget holds the checklist, with due dates worked back from the event and **Waits for** for jobs that depend on each other. A Suppliers table shows a Kanban lane per status so anything stuck at Quoted stands out, a Document holds the run sheet, and a Map shows the venue. On the day, you can add a Timer for each segment and pin the current one to a corner of the screen. The interactive demo can [build an events desk in your browser](https://plexiidesk.com/demo?persona=events) first.

To bring this checklist in, add a Table work widget, right-click its title bar and choose **Import CSV, JSON or Excel…**. It reads the first sheet, Tasks. If you want a board by status, create Status as a Single select column with the same options as the workbook before importing. See [Import CSV, JSON or Excel into a table](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-table-import).

PlexiiDesk is free forever for personal use on Mac and Windows. See [pricing](https://plexiidesk.com/pricing).

## After the event

The debrief is the step most teams skip, and the one that makes the next event easier. One page: what to keep, what to change and what to drop. Save it with the workbook, then copy the workbook for next time with the dates cleared.

If someone else will run the next one, [a project handover that does not lose the thread](https://plexiidesk.com/blog/project-handover) covers what to pass on. For the follow-ups promised to guests and suppliers during the event, [how to keep track of everything you have promised people](https://plexiidesk.com/blog/track-commitments) helps. And if your events folder is already a mess, start with [a simple system for organising project files, notes and links](https://plexiidesk.com/blog/organise-by-project). For guides written around particular jobs, see [by role](https://plexiidesk.com/blog/c/by-role).

## Common questions

**How far in advance should I start planning an event?**
For a half-day or one-day event of 50 to 300 people, three to four months is comfortable. The template starts 16 weeks out. Venues and speakers are the long lead items; book them first.

**What should an event planning checklist include?**
The brief and sign-off, venue, content and speakers, suppliers, guests and invitations, communications, budget, final numbers, the run sheet, the day itself and the debrief, each with a due date and an owner.

**How much contingency should an event budget have?**
Ten per cent of the budget ceiling is a common starting point, and it is what this template uses. Keep it as its own budget line so you can see how much is left.

**What is a run sheet?**
A minute-by-minute plan for the day, listing each segment with its start time, length, owner, location and what has to be ready. Everyone working the event follows it.

**What happens if the event date changes?**
Change the date on the Overview sheet and every due date on the Tasks sheet moves with it. Check supplier contracts for any fixed dates they depend on.

**Will the event plan work in Google Sheets?**
It will. Build it directly in Google Sheets: the due-date formula, the overdue rule and the Overview counts work the same way there.