Student Activities
Bush Campus Center, Rm. 107 · (570) 327-4763
Student Organization Event Planning
So you are going to plan a big event, but you don't know where to start. Learn how to plan and prepare for a successful event. A program can be planned in five steps:
- Identify needs.
- Develop program goals and objectives.
- Organize program plans.
- Implement plans.
- Evaluate the event.
- Who is your audience?
- What does the audience want to see or experience with this kind of program?
- What are the needs of the audience?
- What methods of assessment (e.g., word of mouth, surveys, suggestion box) will you use to determine this?
- How big do you want this program to be?
- Does the type of event you're planning limit the audience size? If so, how will you determine who can attend?
Develop program goals and objectives
- What are your desired program outcomes (goals)?
- What do you specifically need to do to accomplish those outcomes?
- What's the purpose of your event/program/project?
- How does the purpose impact when, where, and how it should take place?
- Define specifically what you want the participants to learn or experience from your event, program, or project—this will be its goal.
What do you specifically need to accomplish your objectives? When do you want to hold the event? Consider whether or not you have enough time to make all the necessary arrangements and whether your members can complete all of the tasks. Determine a timeline working in reverse: start at the day of the event and fill in publicity deadlines, facility agreements, etc. This can help you see if you are realistic in your objectives. The following are areas you will want to focus on in organizing plans:
- Scheduling facilities is vital to the success of your program. Facilities can determine audience size, date, and time. Facilities can also set the mood for formal, informal, or auditorium style programs.
- Establishing a budget is necessary because it helps shape your program. Budgets help to establish guidelines for spending, admission fees, and the amount of fundraising or resource-finding work you will need to accomplish.
- Contracts are often required for facilities, catering, or entertainers. Read them carefully and submit them to the Student Activities Office to be reviewed. The Vice-President for Business Affairs must sign all contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding, grant applications, and similar documents obligating Penn College to a specific relationship with an outside party.
- Publicity is vital to the success of your program. If you plan a good program but nobody knows about it, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Publicity can include posters, flyers, banners, newspaper display ads, direct mailings, public service announcements on the radio, etc.
- Determine the program's details. Make a list of what needs to be done before, during, and after the event. Sample details are equipment needs, registration tables, special power hookups, etc. Even the smallest details should be written on a checklist.
Once you have thoroughly prepared yourself for the event, determine who will implement it. In the beginning of the process, be clear as to who will perform what tasks and what roles and expectations everyone has of each other. Give people enough time for the responsibilities and make sure that they are within their abilities. People support what they help to create—so involve as many people as is meaningfully possible.
The evaluation process looks at three areas:
- Audience feedback
- Presenter/entertainer's reflections on experience
- Planner's thoughts and recommendations
Each of these groups should be asked whether they felt the program's goals and objectives were accomplished. What went well? What could have gone better? There are several different methods of obtaining this information, but the most frequently utilized method is a written evaluation distributed following the program.
Evaluations should be kept on historical file with the organization so future programmers may learn from past experiences.
Additional Tips and Suggestions
- In the ideal program, everything runs so smoothly that the participants may see little evidence of pre-planning or behind the scenes work.
- Don't compromise on details and don’t “wing it.”
- Don't assume anything or allow situations to continue that make you uncertain or nervous.
- Meet all problems head-on.
- Things rarely go as planned—if you are prepared and avoid panic, any problem can be solved.