Many of you have asked about events and wanted some general advice on things to think about to putting on a successful event. This list will be modified and changed to provide more help and guidance. Also - one tool that I had found useful was an Event Sheet - which I used to help assing specific duties and assignment. The Event Sheet is a Word Document. Please feel free to use the form and modify to your needs. Hope this information is useful.
Part 1 – Know why you are having an event
This may sound strange, but know why you are having an event. It isn’t just because we need to have one. Know why and believe in the reason. Event planning takes a lot of time and if you do not have a clear reason why you are doing an event, it will be very frustrating and you will not have fun putting it on. Is there a charity you are trying to help? Are you raising funds or collecting can goods or toys? Who benefits from this event?
I have talked with many people over the years that have hosted events and one very common response to why are you guys doing this? “Well… We have done it for five years.” The right reply is – We are doing this to help feed and take care of the needs of the animals that are in our shelter.
Part 2 – Set Goals
Whether it is your first event or tenth, set some goals. What do you hope to raise? Five hundred dollars? One hundred cans of dog and cat food? If it is your first event, set a conservative goal and try to blow it out of the water. If you set a goal that is really a stretch, especially on your first attempt, and come up short, you might feel like a failure, but in reality, you had a VERY successful event!
Part 3 – Who will attend this event and why?
Who do you want to attend your function and why would they want to come to the event? What would make YOU want to go to an event? Will there be games? Free tick exams for pets? Raffle prizes? (always check your local laws because this could be a form of gambling) Free food? Music? Are there any local celebs (maybe a semi-pro baseball team or a news reporter) that might be willing to come out and do an autograph session? Maybe there is a book release coming up with someone that visits your shelter or is a friend and would like to sell books and autograph them?
Part 4 – Know your resources!!! People, bathrooms, parking, all possible vendors, etc.
This is extremely important. There are so many facets to hosting an event. Here are some of the questions you need to consider:
1. How many helpers will I have?
a. What are the strengths of each
b. Can I trust them to do an assignment?
c. Having helpers you trust is vital! You can’t do it all and have to
be able to let those you delegate to handle anything that surfaces in their
areas. Surrounding yourself with good people is probably one of the best things
you can do. Here is an example of an Event Worksheet, which may help you with
your event
2. Where is my event location?
a. Will it be indoors?
b. Will it be outdoors?
c. What is the weather like at the time of year for the event?
d. Do I have contingency plans if it is raining?
3. Parking area
a. How accessible is the parking?
b. Will it accommodate all my attendees?
c. Is there an easy way in and out?
d. Who can I assign to handle parking and lead that team?
e. Would weather affect my parking – dirt lot, open field or paved road?
4. Bathroom access – Depending on how many people you have attending,
you need to make sure there are plenty of places to go!
5. Are you going to have food or drinks? Make sure there is plenty. Ice chests,
cans of soda and/or water. Ice for the chests. Assign someone to be over this
whole area. Again – take a look at the Event Worksheet for some ideas…
6. Police or Fire coverage – does the event have a need for police or
fire presence?
7. Publicizing the event? Do you have access to local media? Market before,
during and after an event. Lots of times donations will come after an event
has already happened. Contact local newspapers and TV and see if they can do
a story about an upcoming positive community event that you are hosting. Also
see if they can provide some coverage the day of the event as well. They may
run it on the news and that could be a lot of basically free publicity for
you. Consider partnering with some local groups (biker, rotary, veterans, etc.)
and see if they may want to help and possibly take on one of the tasks (parking?)
during the event. Let them set up a table and be a contributing vendor.
8. Vendors – Consider having some vendors at your event. They can “sponsor” a
certain portion of your event and all you need to do is give them use of a
table. Many times they will bring their own. Any costs or contributions vendors
make goes right to the donation’s total. Just make sure you are comfortable
with the vendors and their products do not conflict with your missions and
objectives.
Be organized. Make a list of all the items you need to accomplish and all the items you will need for the day of the event (scissors, tape, paper, pens, balloons, etc.) Do a dry run of the day. Pretend you are pulling up in your car to the location – what is the first thing you see and experience? Know how you are going to channel your attendees, make sure you parking crew coordinates with the ticket sales crew, and they coordinate with the food crew. Physically walk through the event, have others do the same well before your event day and see what your needs are. Do you have signs directing drivers from roads that are down the block to your event?
Events can be fun to host or completely awful. My advice – make sure you surround yourself with good people that you can trust to do their roles, be organized, but most of all – have fun. Very rarely is an event perfect. Just keep smiling.