Running an event: Considerations from beginning to end

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1 Running an event: Considerations from beginning to end There are certain things you should consider before embarking upon planning an event. It is important you let the Union know you are running an event, because, as a club or society, you are running that event in our name. Furthermore, if you are planning an external speaker, you must tell someone first. Your best points of contact are either Lynne, Head of Opportunities, lynne.simpkin@uea.ac.uk or Frances in reception f.abbott@uea.ac.uk Another fantastic contact to help you with event planning is our Enterprise and Activities Coordinator, Victoria, v.cook@uea.ac.uk. Our communications team can also help you publicise your event online and around campus! Just contact Simon, Communications Coordinator, s.cross@uea.ac.uk for help. Planning your event Why? What are you trying to achieve? Aims Be as specific as possible. What is the purpose of your event? o Keep reminding yourself of the purpose whilst you are organising the event. o Communicate the why to people both when advertising the event & when they come. o If fundraising then make sure you communicate the cause - fundraising is at its most successful when supporters are engaged and enthused about what they are supporting, and know where their money will go. What? What is your event going to be? What can you realistically achieve? What it is you want your event to achieve? And how will you judge success? o If it s to raise money, how much is your target? o Looking to raise awareness are you measuring attendees or sign-ups? Be realistic about attendance. Plan things on a conservative basis and then anything over that is an extra bonus. Where? Suitable venue: a. Capacity you don t want a venue either too big or too small.

2 b. Facilities divide your requirements into essential / useful / bonus. c. Location & type make sure the venue is in the right place and is the right sort of place. d. Cost This is a great area to cut costs by getting a venue for free (or cheap). When? Arrange your event in advance, the Event Permissions Group need to consider events taking place on external locations on campus so if you want to put on an event outside in the University you need to give them 6 weeks notice. Rooms in the University get booked months in advance. For Union House, the more time the better, however if you want to put on an event in the LCR or Hive it may be difficult to book it more than 4 weeks in advance, due to the Union booking our own events. Speak to the relevant people (see end of factsheet for names and s) and they will give you the help you need. The date and time of your event is important: Make sure that this event does not clash with any key dates in the University calendar or any other big events going on. What day of the week would be good? Think about when people would be most likely to attend. What time of the day? But this depends on Who? Who is the target audience for your event? As well as other students think about University lecturers, staff and the wider community, family and friends. How? How are you going to pull off the event, and what or who will you need to do that? Get your team together. Make it clear who does what, who decides what, and write responsibilities down so there can be no doubt. Make a plan, write it down and stick to it. Make sure everyone involved is aware of it and is happy with it. o Include deadlines for as many things as possible but build in some flexibility if certain things go wrong. o Keep a track of progress against it. Risk? Ensure that you have risk assessed all areas of your event. France Abbott and Lynne Simpkin can help you with this. Different areas to think about: Publicity Your event will live or die by its publicity. So make sure people know your event is happening. Think about the key messages you want to send out that will attract people to your event. Think about the different groups of people you can target in different ways. Don t rely on just one channel of advertising publicise the event in as many different ways as possible.

3 Show any publicity and blurbs you write to people who aren t involved in the event to get some honest feedback. When you are writing any publicity always try and do it from the perspective of the person you are advertising to. If you plan to use leaflets or posters speak to reception about distributing them in Union House and to our Communications team if you want them in the poster boards, or follow the University guidelines if you plan to distribute them on campus. s Money Any event ultimately hinges on money so make a budget. If you need any advice on how much is currently in your accounts, contact Katy, k.daly@uea.ac.uk Draw up all the different categories of expenditure. o Don t just guess - find out what realistic figures will be. Ask people who have run similar events before, speak to the Union to find out how much posters will cost etc. Key categories include: Venue hire Food and refreshments Publicity Speaker costs you should always offer to cover a speaker s expenses o Also include appreciation in your budget it s often forgotten about but you should thank your team. This doesn t need to be expensive. E.g. give a thank-you card to all the speakers. Now draw up sources of income. o Distinguish between confirmed income and expected income. o Be conservative in your estimates of things like ticket sales. From the outset think about what happens if you don t get enough money in. o Draw up 2 or 3 different budgets. What is the absolute minimum you need to run the event? What do you expect to run the event on? What would you like to spend in the ideal world? o When will you know how much income you will have? Get as much money in advance. Remember Profit = Revenue Costs. o For any event (whether the aim is to fundraise or not) think of ways both to increase revenue and reduce costs. Also think about fundraising. What are your different sources of income? o Sponsorship o Grants o Donations o Advertising o Ticket sales

4 Also think about opportunities to sell things during the event. E.g. at a comedy night as well as selling tickets to attend, the team also sold cakes and bags of sweets. Logistics Think the event through from start to finish in advance. Plan everything as much as possible leave as little as possible to chance. o For example, if you will sell tickets at the door, you will need people to sell them, tickets to sell, a money box, a float with the right amount of change, a table and some chairs. You need to risk assess the event to ensure that all possible steps have been made to avoid harm or injury at your event, and to ensure that your event is covered by the Union of UEA Students insurance. Write this up into a written schedule include everything that is supposed to happen during the event, including when each thing is supposed to occur and who is responsible for it. This allows you to minimize miscommunication amongst the team. o If it s a big event have somebody on the day who is just responsible for logistics - somebody other than the main person leading on the event. Making sure the schedule allows for the inevitable fact that things will over-run and people will arrive late. Things will go wrong! Other thoughts: Learn from previous events; speak with staff and other students. Meet with people who have run similar events before and find out what they wished they had known before they started. Can your event generate any longer-term impact? Think about putting together a hand-over for the next person who might run the event. If you ve run an event once, try and institutionalise it and run a similar event again the next term / year. Do an honest evaluation of the event what went well? What didn t? This will help anybody in the future running a similar event, but also will help you learn from your experiences. Sound Equipment If you're having a social and want amplified music, you'll need to speak to the Entertainments department about hiring equipment. From lighting to amps, in the Entertainments department they have it all. If you are booking the Hive or the LCR you will be given a form for hiring the equipment with your booking form. If it's just a small CD player you want, you can hire them at reception, where projection screens and projectors and display boards are also available. Audio-Visual Equipment If you want to show a film or DVD there are various places you can do it. The Blue Bar, Hive or even lecture theatres can be booked. See the Entertainments department for info on copyright law and help in setting it up.

5 Key Contacts You need to contact Lynne or Yinbo at the Union when you are organising your events, they need to know that the events are taking place within the Union. Lynne Simpkin, Head of Opportunities: Yinbo Yu, Activities Officer: Booking rooms in Union House: Booking rooms at UEA: or Permissions for events around campus: - If the event requires input from Entertainment: Event in Union House If you would like your event to be in Union House you need to contact reception first, If the event requires input from Entertainments they will pass you onto Gavin who will talk you through the processes. If the event is to raise money, Gavin will need to know who the money is being raised for due to issues with charity law. Ticket Sales If you re putting on an event and would like the Box Office to do the hard work of selling the tickets for you then we can just see our Selling Tickets & Using the Box Office factsheet. Event on an external location on campus If you would like to hold an event on an external location on campus (i.e. in The Square, or by the Broad) and would like to discuss any aspect of the planning or application process, you can contact Helen Mount, Campus Services Co-ordinator Please note, that as a general rule events on the square are only allowed between 12-14hrs during the week, it is more flexible at weekends. Helen can also assist with queries relating to Charity Collections and the leaflet and poster policy on campus. Before you contact Helen, it s a good idea to speak to Lynne or Frances in reception. Also see s for information and guidance about putting on events in the University. If you want to put on an event in a room or lecture theatre this should be arranged through Frances at Reception, union.info@uea.ac.uk