Events Management Checklist

Event Name:
Date:
Location(s):
Planner/Prime:
Description:
Purpose:
Time:
No. of Guests:
VIPs:

 

Three to four months before the event

Activity	Person Responsible	Due Date
Establish planning group and appoint chair
Hold Planning meeting re event goals and details
Establish responsibilities
Determine funding and budget sources
Reserve date on key attendees’ calenders  – follow protocol for requesting chancellor or provost participation
Determine and reserve venue
Confirm speaker and speaker needs
Determine guest list, request alumni data

 

Two to three months before the event

Create and order save-the-date-cards, invitations response cards and related materials (i.e. map, etc.), OR meet with director of communications or vendors to discuss print materials needed for event.
Meet with director of communication to discuss publicity
Draft program agenda
Determine signage requirements (pedestrian & vehicle)
Determine on-site registration procedures, including ushers
Book event with caterer and establish preliminary menu
Contact transportation for parking assistance
Contact campus police for safety and security assistance
Contact fleet services for bus and car transportation
Contact vendors as required for: tent, sage, podium, chairs, tables, AV equipment (sound, lighting, projection, computer, etc.), flowers, plans, and other decorations.
Mail save-the-date cards

 

Six weeks before the event

If alcohol is being served, request necessary approvals and NC permits – if “cocktails” are notes on invitation, complete this step prior to ordering invitations
Arrange for photographer
Send print invitations

 

Four weeks before the event

Approve final program/agenda
Draft script or talking points for speakers
Work with director of communication on copy or internal and external publicity
Meet with vendors on site, follow up on all orders
Consider site preparation (special cleaning, equipment and trash removal)(contact facilities operations for assistance)
Prepare event signage
Send electronic invitations

 

Two weeks before the event

Review staffing assignments for day of event
Meet with caterer on site to discuss setup and final menu
Sent out attendance update to planning team/key players

 

One week before the event

Send caterer final count
Print programs, name badges, seating charts, place cards, etc.
Confirm arrangements with vendors

 

24 hours before the event

Contact caterer to verify all arrangements
Confirm security requirements
Ensure tent, chairs, tables, stage, podium are in place

 

Day of the event

Check location setup to include chairs, tables, podium, food
Arrange printed material, nametags, etc. On registration table
Check sound and lighting equipment with vendor(s)
Ensure space and hook-ups are available for media
Ensure decorations are in place
Place water at podium

 

 

 

One to five days after the event

Write thank you notes to speakers, volunteers, staff and others as appropriate
Complete written evaluation of the event with suggestions for future events
Co-ordinate event story and photographs with communications
Send address updates to development office for submission to university database
Send final attendance list to development office so that contact reports/notes can be entered into database

 

Events management Hierarchy

Events Management Evaluation

I believe the event all ran very smoothly; the event itself looked and sounded professional. However the process leading up to it had minor hick-ups. During the set-up we had discovered that Jordi (The Technical Manager) had forgotten the Lighting and set design plans. Although this was not any fault of his, this could have been easily avoided if Both me and Matt had a copy of our own plans aswell. As well as ensuring that I have my plans next time I will have to triple check to make sure we don’t forget anything else. We can make this easier by having a checklist of all the things that we need. There were a few other things that we didn’t bring that later Julie had to make a trip back to college to pick up when she went to pick people up at 4 o’clock. The only thing needed by the lighting department was extension leads as we didn’t bring enough. Which had delayed the setup being complete, it didn’t take long to finish the setup after Julie had arrived with extras.

Another thing that could have helped immensely was documentation such as the colour call. Although I had my lighting design completed within plenty of time I had forgotten to produce a colour call which would have helped us when creating the checklist so we could see clearly which gels we would need and which size they would have to be to fit into the gel frames of certain lights (which wasn’t a huge variety as we only used 2 of the same gels for 2 fresnels of the 6 that we had taken.) this could have sped up the process of getting everything ready to take all at once to Arley. Next time to make sure that this doesn’t occur again I will create this piece of documentation when I find what I want.

Also during the process I had to make a few last minute decisions, such as deciding on which colours I would like to use for the L.E.D par cans. Even though there were decisions on the plan I couldn’t remember which codes were used. I had to improvise by quickly running through the options we had, In the end I decided that I would just keep a consistent theme of colour running through by using purple, The reason I chose those colours were because the original idea I had of using plain whites were too plain and weren’t a vibrant enough colour to light the architecture appropriately as well as looking more tacky the classical. I decided it would be better to add 2 more L.E.D pars in the fireplace using a warm orange to create the feel that the fire was lit. However it was too hot to have it lit while the audience were sat so close.

However, despite the things that went wrong during the process of the setup, The outcome of it all was very good, The set, the lighting, the sound were all setup to a very professional level. It looked classical with the Christmas theme included. The colours that were running throughout the whole event from the marketing side to the lighting and the set all had a consistent theme. The planning up until the night of the event was well organised. The feedback from the audience that we received as a whole was very positive, people would like to come to see the next events that we put on.

On whole I believe the Event was a huge success raising the amount of £1,407 towards our charity, of which we are all astounded with.