Question:
Event Services, along with our Catering Department, are going to start offering workshops to student organizations and departments on how to plan a campus event. We want to cover everything: procedures for making a reservation, timeline for planning an event, event advertising, catering, parking, etc. Is there anyone who is currently doing this that would be interested in sending me some of your materials, ideas, etc. Thanks so much!
Responses:
- I have an event planning/calendar workshop for our student leaders (RA's, Peer Eds, and SGAs) when they arrive early on campus to prepare for the upcoming year.
After repeated "individualized" training for our faculty and staff who forget the process (and increased amount of time spent reviewing the same information with many individuals), I'm also going to, for the first time, conduct sessions with new and current faculty members to "refresh" their event planning/calendar skills during their orientation next month.
Click here for handout
- We have done two of these. For the first one, our office did an overview of our event planning services, followed by presentations from each of the campus services departments and a couple of our frequently used facilities. This turned out to be way too long, but very informative and it was accompanied by a manual.
This year we changed it around. This one was structured as follows:
· Overview of our office and services
· Basic event planning
· Planning an event at Rochester Institute of Technology (This was interactive. We gave a sample event and the group helped walk through the steps, using the updated manual that we provided).
Following the event plan, the service and facilities providers were set up in a trade show format so people could visit and ask questions in the service areas they were interested.
Click here for handout
|
Follow-Up Question:
We've been talking about doing this kind of workshop this fall. For those who do it, how do you get people to come?
Responses:
- We make this meeting mandatory. We combine this presentation with Student Services practices. Student Services handles the organizations' budgets so the organization's budget is held if they do not attend. It's a little harsh but it worky s.
- We publicized ours through the campus Training and Professional Development Department.
- We make it mandatory--or they can't reserve space!
- We have had great success with "Events 101." For employees who attend, we provide a certificate to them, their supervisors, and their personnel file. We schedule employee sessions during breaks when classes are not in session. For student groups, we schedule a session at a mandatory student government association meeting. Oh, and of course we provide food, the largest incentive.
Click here for powerpoint presentation
Click here for certificate of completion
Click here for Event Planning Guide
Click here for strategic questions
|
