There are many reasons why you might want to be involved in organizing an event, and it’s a rewarding and interesting activity to be a part of. It could be a local charity event, a sporting occasion, a promotional activity for a group you’re affiliated with, a music event, a show, theatrical performance; the list is endless! Whatever kind of event you’re planning, there are some common themes which will be relevant to them all. If you want to help run a successful event, then you need to start by getting together with the other people involved and agreeing on a strategy.
The event committee
To keep all the wheels running smoothly and everything on track, you need to have a governing committee that oversees the project. For many events, such as those connected to charitable fundraising, this will be a legal requirement; but don’t let that put you off! It’s more prom committee than the straitlaced business committee you might imagine. You’ll have a chairperson who organizes meetings and keeps a controlling hand on everything, a treasurer who looks after all the finances, and a secretary who takes notes on what you’ve discussed and agreed at meetings. It probably sounds quite formal, but it makes for a far more efficient organization of your project than everyone doing their own thing and half the necessary actions being bickered over or forgotten altogether.
Assigning Roles
Apart from the three key roles of chair, treasurer, and secretary, you also need to assign responsibility for the various elements that make up your event. For instance, you might need someone to take care of finding and booking the venue, someone else to organize catering and comfort facilities, another person to check on the legal requirements and take care of any permits or licenses you’ll need, and of course, you’ll need somebody to take charge of marketing. No-one should be acting in a vacuum. Everything needs to be authorized and approved by the committee and progress monitored because if anyone isn’t doing their best, it will affect the success of the whole venture.
Team spirit
Your committee and all the volunteers who are helping you are part of a team, and there are skills required to make the team successful. You’ll find plenty of informative materials online that will help you work better as a member of your team, and achieve more from all the members. Some aspects of teamwork are common sense. For instance, you would choose the most suitably qualified person to head up each task, and give them enough autonomy to make them feel trusted and valued while giving them the support they need and not abandoning them to get on with it. Fostering a good sense of team spirit can be aided by making everyone feel part of something special. Clothing printed with the name of the event and dates, like T-shirts and baseball caps, or wristbands, give everyone a sense of identity and belonging. A smart variation on this theme is the iron-on embroidered patch. You can get more info about how to design your own bespoke patch and the options available by checking specialist websites. Having get-togethers and keeping up good lines of communication are also essential for keeping everyone on board.
Get your marketing right
The more people who know about your event, the better supported it will be, so your marketing efforts need to be focused on getting the message to as many people as possible. If you have a particular theme, for example, a music festival aimed at younger people, then concentrate on using the resources that they are most likely to engage with, such as social media. Regional radio stations, news outlets, and TV stations love a good local interest story, so speak to as many contacts in these industries as you can, and make sure they know not just what you’re doing, but why, and how this is of interest to their listeners, readers, and viewers. Flyers and posters still work well for local events, and if you have a budget for advertising, you can place official notices and promotional vouchers in local papers and on relevant websites. If your event is going to appeal to a particular demographic or section of society, find out where they meet or what communication channels they use, and target those. For example, if your event is aimed at raising money for an animal charity, target your local veterinary surgeries, pet stores, and pet owner clubs.
Enjoy it, and make sure everyone else does too!
If you’re giving your time to a good cause or trying to help out a friend or colleague, that’s a significant sacrifice. Even if you’re happy to sign up, it can sometimes be hard work and have its share of frustrations and setbacks along the way. You need to keep your spirits up and maintain your enthusiasm and be encouraging to all the other people involved. Showing your appreciation for their efforts is vitally important, and will keep people motivated even when things get a bit stressful. The results of your efforts will be reward enough at the end, but a morale boost along the way can work wonders in managing the run-up to your event.
What makes your event successful?
The answer to this depends on what the aim of the event was. If you were organizing a music event to get exposure for a friend’s band for instance, then getting a good attendance rate, selling CDs and downloads, and getting increased attention for the band are all the kinds of results you’re looking for. For a charity event, the main concern is raising money and making as much profit for the good cause as possible. The bottom line is that it should be an enjoyable experience for participants, spectators, and organizers alike and that your community continues to enjoy the benefits of such events.
You can gain a lot from the experience of event organization; enhancing your professional and personal skills, meeting new people, and gaining confidence and experience that will be valuable in other areas of your life. If you get the chance, grab the opportunity to get involved, and make a genuine difference to your own and other people’s lives.
