The Best Way to Build Event Specs

(A 1-hour Pholeo Walkthrough from nothing to mid-program)

If you’ve ever stitched together BEOs, room setups, menus, and budgets across spreadsheets, you know “event specs” can get messy—fast. The best way to build event specs is to work from a single, structured system where spaces, services, timing, and money all stay in sync. That’s exactly what Gregory demos in this end-to-mid build: a clear flow you can repeat for any conference or multi-day event.

What we mean by “event specs”

“Event specs” are the living source of truth for what happens, when, where, and with what resources—down to the service notes that make execution real. In practice, that means tying rooms to setups, menus to service windows, fees/taxes to line items, and approvals to clean exports (BEO/MEO) your vendors can act on.

When the structure is consistent, collaboration and change-tracking stop being a chore and start being automatic.

A Step By Step Guide to Building Your Pholeo

Step 1: Lay the foundation — spaces & locations

Start by defining the venues, rooms, and setups you’ll use. Label them the way your team and suppliers talk:

• Venue → Room → Setup (e.g., “Grand Ballroom → Classroom 200”)

• Add practical notes (doors, load-in path, power) once—reuse forever

This gives every later decision (menus, rentals, AV) a precise “home” in your specs.

Step 2: Add your services — menus, rentals, and data sources

Pull in catering items, service staff, rentals, and AV with the same structure every time:

• Item → Quantity → Unit → Service window

• Attach service notes where crews will actually see them

• Use templates for recurring packages (coffee breaks, green rooms, breakout bundles)

You’re not just listing items—you’re encoding how and when they’ll be produced.

Step 3: Make the money real — taxes, fees, and service charges

Specs that don’t price accurately create downstream pain. Configure your tax rates, service charges, and concessions once; apply them consistently to the right categories. Your budget math should update as you plan, not after.

Pro move: Surface taxable vs. non-taxable items and comped lines early so reconciliation isn’t a surprise.

Step 4: Build the production timeline (agenda)

Translate what you’ve scoped into time: load-ins, service windows, changeovers, strikes. Use agenda blocks to express “who is where, doing what, at what time.” The result is a production schedule that actually mirrors your specs instead of competing with them.

Step 5: Keep everyone aligned — roles, filters, and views

• Roles/permissions: Give planners, producers, and viewers exactly the visibility they need.

• Views: Switch between grid (fast edits) and kanban (status clarity) as you move from planning to execution.

• Filters: Slice by day, room, vendor, or status to find what you need without scrolling marathons.

Step 6: Make it shareable — clean Function Sheets and PDFs

When a segment is “ready to produce,” you should be one click from a polished, BEO-style export—no copy-paste gymnastics. Keep service notes attached to the actual line items so nothing gets lost between systems.

Output mix that works:

• Internal: Pholeo Prints (Function Sheets)

• Vendor Provided: BEOs/MEOs/Invoices that can be attached to each item

• Supplement: Attached floor plans, inspiration photos, decor slides

Step 7: Let the budget build itself — inventory-on-the-fly

As you add items, your budget should calculate in the background—line by line, then rolled up by day, space, and category. You’ll spot cost creep early, justify scope changes quickly, and walk into approvals with math your stakeholders trust.

Step 8: Finalize and scale — labels, duplication, and version safety

• Labels (e.g., “approved,” “in-review,” “supplier-hold”) make status scannable.

• Duplicate event days or tracks to scale big programs without starting from scratch.

• Change tracking keeps revisions organized so vendors see what changed—without email archaeology.

Best Practices / Quick Wins for Building a Pholeo

What “the best way” looks like in practice

1. One structured system for spaces, services, timing, and money

2. Consistent item schema and notes that travel with the work

3. Time-based agenda that reads like your production day

4. Exports for humans (BEO/MEO, PDFs), not just data dumps

5. Budgets that update as you plan, not after the fact

This is how you get from “blank to mid-build” without chaos—and how you keep momentum all the way to showtime.

Quick wins you can try today

• Rename spaces the way vendors will recognize them.

• Convert your most common break to a template (items + timing + notes).

• Turn on the right tax/fee defaults so you never fix math twice.

• Use filters to review one vendor at a time before sending exports.