In the past, organizing big events was almost impossible without a BEO (Banquet Event Order). BEOs are documents that outline all the necessary details needed for organizing a certain event. The most frequent BEO users are hotel managers who want to communicate and execute logistics processes to all of their essential hotel departments. The catering or event manager located on site is the person who creates BEOs and it is common practice that the BEO is sent to the owner for review, before the event takes place. Learning how to read a BEO is difficult, and each one usually consists of the following parts.

Essential components of Banquet Event Orders

Order of events

The order of events outlines the entire timeline down to a minute, from beginning to end. Usually, corporate managers won’t list this on their BEO. However, in case of a wedding event or a gala, the order of events will include all activities from the bridal party to the ceremony, opening and closing of the bar, and even the exact time when the bride and groom will cut the cake.

BEO menus

Every BEO includes a menu of items. They are usually listed in the order they will be served. If there are special orders for people who have specific needs, such as vegetarians, children, etc, those items should also be listed on the menus.

Equipment and the set up for the event

A professional manager will attach either a diagram or a note to his BEO, explaining how the whole area will be set up and he or she will outline all of the arrangements, including table arrangements. Visual and audio equipment should also be outlined in this section. A manager should make sure that all the needed screens, microphones, monitors, or speakers that are needed are there on the list.

Information about vendors

This applies especially to big social events. The manager should include phone numbers, names, and other contact info of all vendors such as DJs, florists, caterers, etc.

Banquet event order forms are becoming outdated

Even though BEO forms were somewhat efficient in the past, the industry’s needs are slowly becoming too big for traditional banquet event order forms. The industry needs to showcase of all of the things mentioned above much better and people want this information available whenever the need arises. Furthermore, a lot of people like to check things on their phones, while on the go, and this is where BEO software comes in. The BEO software solution is deigned to do these essential tasks, however, they bring a lot of improvements to the table, and this is why most managers are starting to turn to them. Simply put, there are many improvements that help both the BEO managers and their clients, and this is what counts.

Cloud based BEO software

The first thing that is so amazing about BEO software is the fact that, with a cloud-based platform, both managers and clients can access the event organization sheet from any place that has internet connection and they can tweak it, update it or check the progress that has been made so far. Furthermore, the event plan cannot be lost and the cloud guarantees security for all your valuable information.

Much easier to understand

Clients can easily understand the BEOs that are on a platform. First of all, this is because almost everyone today uses the internet and some IT technology, and they can quickly make sense of these things. Online BEO software is quite intuitive and it allows users to modify, create and search details easily. With them, managers will be able to handle multiple bookings at the same time, without losing track of any project. The software can be configured easily for any kind of event.

Simply put, BEO software still preforms the same fundamental tasks, only now, they can do those tasks more efficiently. In the past, customers were frequently confused with the whole organization process, but now they can actually feel like they are a part of it.