How to organise From time to time most Law Centres organise events which have significant Public Relations implications such as launches, visits from Ministers or open days. These guidelines are intended to make organising these events easier. They re not intended for organising conferences, training workshops etc although they may have some relevance. The LCN can provide more detailed checklists or planners for the latter. Pamela Judge at LCN for help with this contact details below. What s the aim of your event? When you decide to organise you need to be clear what its purpose is e.g. to impress funders, attract more clients, educate VIP visitors or inform other organisations about your services. What messages do you want to send out? You need to think about what messages you want to give out and the impression you want to make e.g. The Law Centre is a professional organisation that is good value for money The Law Centre is friendly and approachable and easy to use The Law Centre has expert staff and deals with complex cases for vulnerable people While all these are probably true you will need to focus on the message most relevant to your event and makes sure everything is consistent with it. Who is your audience? Having decided on your aims and messages you can then decide whom to invite. It might be a small targeted audience e.g. senior councillors, or a large number of people from organisations who refer clients, people from a section of the community you want to encourage to use your services or a group of politicians who want to learn more about Law Centres. Do you really need? Having decided on your audience ask yourselves whether is the right method of communicating with them. If you want to communicate with councillors a display at the council offices, giving a talk to the political groups or a mailshot might be a better way. If you want to encourage clients from an under-represented group it might be more effective to ask if you can attend their meetings, include some information in Prepared for the Law Centres Network by 1
their community newsletter or give an interview on their community radio station instead of inviting them to. Having decided that you do need to organise... Planning You need to work backwards from the event and identify a series of deadlines that need to be met at certain times e.g. book venue, order catering, send out invitations. Always try to add a few days to allow for unforeseen hitches. If you put these on a spreadsheet you can keep track of deadlines and if they ve been met. If several people are working on the event, giving shared access to this spreadsheet will enable anyone to see at a glance what progress has been made. Prepare a checklist of everything you need to take with you on the day. You will probably need to include; pens and markers, spare paper, white tack, sellotape, scissors, stapler and staples and essential phone numbers e.g. courier, colleagues or VIPs. What format should the event take? Depending on your audience and your messages you need to decide on the format of the event. Will it be an audience listening to speakers on a platform, an information fair, a tour of the Law Centre with the opportunity to meet clients or a look round a new outreach venue? When should it be held? The date and time of the event is critical to its success. You need to give the guests and participants the maximum notice possible and pick a date that won t clash with other priorities. Bear in mind travel times and public transport times. Choose a date that will inconvenience as few people as possible. Avoid holidays, half terms, religious holidays and festivals. The date must be suitable for people who work or for those who look after children. Depending on whom you want to invite, think about when they re available. Is a sandwich lunch useful to attract workers in other agencies or will it clash with Friday prayers at the Mosque? If you re inviting politicians check that it won t clash with council meetings or your MP being in London. The best way to find this out is to have an informal word with some of the people you want to invite, or with your council or MP s office. However, sometimes the date is dictated by the availability of the speaker or VIP guests and you have to fit in with them if you want them to come. This may not be ideal but you have to work with it. Prepared for the Law Centres Network by 2
Choosing the venue Will it take place in the Law Centre, in a community centre, in council offices or the boardroom of plush local solicitors offices? You need to ensure the venue is accessible to people with wheelchairs or other mobility issues as well as having nearby parking for disabled people and is easily accessible by public transport. Check if there is a hearing loop in case someone needs one. You also need to think about what impression of the Law Centre the venue will give. A room in a community centre might be more welcoming to the people you want to invite than a posh boardroom or council chamber. Conversely if you want to emphasise to your funders your professional image and links with private practice, borrowing a plush venue might be appropriate. Never give the impression that you have spent a lot on the event or the catering! If you require AV equipment check that the venue can provide them or whether you have to bring your own. Check also that the electrical sockets are where you need them. On the day before ensure all AV equipment, laptops, cameras are charged and working as well as having spare batteries and chargers with you. Sending invitations and chasing them up If you re providing refreshments ask about any dietary requirements. Just sending an invitation may not be enough as busy people may overlook it. If you are sending printed invitations by post it is a good idea to let people know the date in advance by email so they can put it in their diaries. Make the RSVP date and whom to contact very clear. Once the RSVP date has passed it is a good idea to email a reminder to the people who haven t replied and follow up by phone the people you particularly want to attend. Guest speakers and other VIPs need as much notice as possible. It s a good idea to check their availability by phone first, either with them personally or their office, and get them to confirm by email that it is in their diary. Make sure they have the mobile number of someone they can contact on the day in case of lateness etc. Photography Having a photographic record of the event is usually a good idea. You can use the photos in various ways; to send to the press with your news release, in your annual report or other publications, in a display in your waiting room or to send to speakers after the event with a thank you. If you don t have someone in the Law Centre with a decent camera and good photography skills then investing in a professional photographer for an hour is usually Prepared for the Law Centres Network by 3
money well spent (probably around 120 for an hour including the photos on disc). You will need to have someone to mind the photographer and have a list of photos ready that you want them to take. Think about getting shots of your VIPs doing other things besides speaking on the platform e.g. chatting to a client, reading a law book. A good photographer will have ideas for making the photos interesting but it s up to you to say who should be in them. If you don t know of a good value photographer ring the press/communications office at your local council and ask them to suggest someone. Getting media coverage To attract the media, there needs to be a story or photo worth turning up for. A journalist or photographer will probably not want to stay for the whole event so you ll need to provide a time for them to interview key speakers and/or take photographs and film footage. This should be on the news release. It s very important to check deadlines with the local press. If the press do send a photographer you can usually buy copies of the photos from the newspaper ask the photographer how it works. It s always a good idea to have your own photos. If the press don t send a photographer you can email one or two of your photos to the newspaper as soon as the event is over. Arrange for your photographer to email you a few key photos as soon as possible after the event for sending to the press. If you have a VIP playing a prominent role e.g. opening the service or being a speaker, it is good practice to liaise with his/her office about any news releases. They will probably appreciate it if you draft a quote for the VIP for them to tweak. The easiest way to do this is to send them a draft release so they can see the quote in context. Of course this means you need to have the draft release ready in good time. You should ring the media a few days before the event to alert them and follow it up by emailing a news release two days beforehand. If you email them photos after the event do this as soon as possible and send the news release again with the tenses updated i.e. change a new service will be launched on Friday to a new service was launched on Friday. See How to Write a Good News Release section. On the day You need to have enough people to: Meet and greet guests, sign them in and give them badges two people. Look after the catering how many people depends on what the refreshments are. Prepared for the Law Centres Network by 4
Liaise with the media if any turn up or take phone calls from them. Give this person s number on the news release as one of the contacts. Look after the VIPs - ideally each VIP should have a separate minder. Deal with technical stuff e.g. microphones, laptops, projectors. Be the stage manager and keep an overview of the whole event and make sure it s on track. This person shouldn t have any other duties. The stage manager needs to be available on their mobile all the time and their number given out to VIPS etc in case of last minute travel hitches, illness etc. After the event Send an email/letter to thank guest speakers etc. If you have some decent photos of them it s a nice touch to send them too. Evaluation Consider: Did the event meet its aims? If not why not? What could have been done differently? What went well and what didn t? Any unforeseen bonuses/problems? Make a note of your conclusions to inform future events planning. For more information or advice on planning contact Pamela Judge, LCN Communications Manager tel. 01452 301520 or pamela@lawcentres.org.uk Prepared for the Law Centres Network by 5