Event Procedures

Barend writes:

I'm just pondering out loud. There must be people who have great ideas for events; but, feel stymied about how to begin to write up or even make a convincing proposal pitch to get it funded/approved.

There can be no perfect template, but, it's good to see the considerations laid out for examination.

Here are some thoughts for someone who's never organized an event before.

Our example event: a GBLTQ Art Exhibition

Procedure

1. Bounce the idea off as many people as possible to gauge interest.
2. Pick a venue and date. This almost always requires a lot of back-and-forthing between parties, so prepare to be patient. Different venues will have different costs and available times. Tentatively book the venue. You will confirm later.
3. Check the venue & date with interested parties- performers, artists
4. Confirm venue & date with the venue owner. Now you've got an event.
5. Begin writing the promotional material.
6. Gather the team who will run the event.
7. Make up a wedding-planner style planner: 3 months before, 2 months before, 1 month before, 3 weeks before, down to day before, morning before, afternoon of, day after etc and start running your project from that.

Considerations

Possible Venues

• Costs
• Accessibility
• Suitability for the purpose
• View your venue. In this example, we're interested in how much usable, well lit space is needed. Liability wavers. How to display, hardware concerns.

Judging and Criteria for entries

• Dates and times the show is open
• Set a date for the reception.
• How many pieces per artist? What dimensions? What media to include/exclude. What's suitable or not. Why. Who can/will judge if a work does/ does not meet criteria
• Deadlines: Latest date to accept a work. When artists must retrieve their works. What if some can't retrieve theirs quickly enough?

Your Team

• Who will oversee an exhibition to prevent theft/damage, welcome visitors. Take down and clean up crew.

Publicity and correspondence

• with contributors or other interested parties.
• Communication with artists who may or may not come through etc.

Costs & Financing

• Develop a budget. Be as precise as you can. Make as accurate a guess as you can. A rough budget is much better than no budget.
• How to concoct a realistic dollar figure.
• Who might offer financial help.
• Often "Bridge" financing is required because the grant $ doesn't come in until after the event - or part way through.

Food and drink

• Need to make a rough estimate of number of people
• It's OK to run out of food
• Ask a caterer for a "budget quote" on the food
• Selling booze is more work but can make money for you or a charity.
• If you serve booze you must serve food.

Miscellaneous

• Liability
• Multicultural inclusion
• Getting the womyn involved
• Dealing with unforeseen glitches.

This page is in the HowtoCategory