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What counts as an event Researching and planning your event Budgeting your event External Contractors, Guests, Acts and Speakers Keeping your event safe Running your event
The Background
We want to encourage student groups to put on as many events as possible and will offer as much support as we can to help you create the best events you can! In Freshers Week alone, student groups organise in excess of 600 events for new students to participate in and that is before term even starts. This is a guide to help you create events from start to finish.
Trips abroad Cultural Days such as Chinese New Year or Diwali Balls and Dinner Dances Expeditions Fundraising activities such as sponsored events. Lectures, talks and networking evenings.
Other events are longer lasting and made up of several smaller events, such as: The Olympics Freshers Week National Student Volunteering Week Exhibitions
WHY
Why are you running an event? What is the purpose of it? Is it social? Ecuational? Promotional? Does it fit in with you aims and objectives?
WHO
Who is the event for? What do they want? If in doubt, ask them! There is no point in putting on an event if no-one will want to attend so this research is essential!
WHAT
Using the research you have done, you can now decide WHAT event you are going to put on. Use your imagination and think outside of the norm for your group! Will there be a theme? Is the theme realistic?
WHERE
Where will you hold the event? Is the venue appropriate? For example, paintballing in the Forum would not be ideal but Skirmish would be great! CHECK the venue is available and remember, even with pub visits you need to let them know you're coming.
WHEN
When will you sell tickets? Think about the timing! e.g. if you sell tickets in Fresher's Week before student loans come in, your uptake might be lower. Also think about when you will hold the event - does it fit with exams and deadlines? Is it weather appropriate? (e.g. Beach parties in November...)
If you intend to subsidise the event and how much by If you are trying to raise money from the event If an event is budgeted correctly you can start and end with a balance of zero. This means that whatever balance your society account has you can run an event. Never announce your event ticket price before completing your budget. It is good to have an idea of how much you want to charge but do not advertise it as things can change!
Top Tips
If a quote sounds too good to be true, it might be! If there is a reputable company that you or a group you know of has worked with before, it might be worth booking them even if they are a few pounds more expensive than a new company. If in doubt, have a chat with Activities Staff.
Example Budget
Item Venue Food Inflatables Drink - Champagne Credit Debit 500 (inc. VAT) 600 (inc. VAT) 250 (inc. VAT) 240 (inc. VAT) 720 (inc. VAT) 300 (inc. VAT) 250 (inc. VAT) 2860.00 280 3140.00 500 2640.00 Notes Barlow Castle 5 per head x 120 people Bouncefun company 2 ph, 1 glass reception 6 per head half bottle
Drink - Wine Band DJ SUBTOTAL ONE Contingency SUBTOTAL TWO Subsidy SUBTOTAL THREE Ticket Price One
10% total expenditure Society account 2640 divided by 120 guests = 22 per ticket. 22 + VAT = 26.40 NET = 500.00
500 2640
2640
3140
External Contractors
You will find that the more events you do, the more you work with external contractors for things such as food, venues, security, entertainment, travel, accommodation and printing. When working with or booking external contractors you need to make sure you:
Check if the company is reputable. If in doubt, ask other student groups if they have used them or come and speak to anyone in the Activities & Volunteering Office. ALWAYS check the small print of any contract before signing it. Some venues, for example, state you must pay 100% of the booking if it is cancelled within 6 months. If in doubt, Activities staff are more than happy to look over contracts for you.
Make a note of when the contracts need signing by and when payments need to be made. It can be damaging to both your event and the long term reputation of your group if payments and contracts are late!
Before any contractor works at your event you MUST make sure you have seen a copy of the companys Public Liability Insurance. This is the insurance that covers the company if any of their equipment causes injury or damage to any person or equipment at your event. In short, the company gets sued, you dont!
Use your common sense, if you think the event requires security, budget for it. If you think the event needs first aid, budget for it. There are no set rules for what each event needs in terms of additional safety measures so if in any doubt, check with Activities and Volunteering Staff. As a starting point you may want to consider: Will the event involve large amounts of alcohol? (Security and First Aid) Will the event take place in a licensed premise where security is a condition of the license? Does the event have the general public present, including children? (First Aid) Is the event featuring any contentious speakers? (Security) Are you expecting lots of people at an event with multiple areas? (Marshals)
Risk Assessments
We know that risk assessments, as a general rule, make you roll your eyes, but they are not as complicated as they first appear and we have a lot of them pre-made for you. What are risk assessments? Everyone performs risk assessments every day without even thinking about it. When you cross the road, you look both ways before you cross the street to prevent you from being hit by a car that is a risk assessment. This is the same with your events. Identify what could cause harm, identify how to prevent this from happening and then act upon it. Why do we have to do risk assessments? We have to do risk assessments for event by law. This is not something the Students Guild does for fun or to irritate societies but a requirement for all people organising something for other people to attend. Completing, reading and adhering to a risk assessment is what covers your student group on insurance and proves that you have shown due diligence in protecting the attendees at your event. How do we do risk assessments? The Activities and Volunteering Office have generic risk assessments which have already been completed for the most common student group events. Check out www.exeterguild.org to download them, read them, sign them and then simply email them to guildactivities@ex.ac.uk with the details of your event or drop them into the office. However, these are not exhaustive. If your event does not fit any of the generic risk assessments drop in or book a meeting with Activities Staff and we will take details of your event and write the risk assessment for you. YOU MUST TO A RISK ASSESSMENT FOR EVERY EVENT YOU DO TO BE COVERED BY THE GUILD.
At The Event
At your event whatever it may be you need to simply follow the risk assessment to the letter and use your common sense. Remember, it is much more difficult to do this if you are under the influence of alcohol so, if you are running and responsible for the event, you should not be drinking!
Can you plan the event yourself? Do you need to assign specific tasks to a subcommittee? How are you going to manage anyone else involved? How are you going to keep track of their progress?
Most events will need more than one person actively involved to keep them running smoothly. Equally you need someone who has ultimate responsibility. Dont try and take on too much but make sure that the delegation is productive. If you would like help with this, pop in and chat to any of the Activities Team. A great way of doing this and keeping track on over all planning and event progress is to create two timelines. Timeline One this is a list of everything that needs doing prior to the event from researching costs and booking contracts to collecting decor and sending out publicity. It should note the date completion is required, as well as who is responsible for it. Timeline Two this is the event day timetable. It should list everything that needs to happen on the day, with times for completion. It should also have a person assigned to each thing ensuring the item is completed. This should enable you to finish the set up in good time, but the timeline should continue into the event itself. As mentioned previously, if this is your event, you are in charge and it is your responsibility. This means that you should not be drinking alcohol unless you have agreed, in advance, with the venue that they will take responsibility for managing the event. Even if this is the case, remember that your attitude and behaviour as event organiser will shape the behaviour of those around you!
Dont Forget
Every event you do must have the budget and risk assessment signed off by an Activities Staff member to ensure you and your student group are covered.
Need Help?
If you are in any doubt of how or when to run your events, are confused by budgets and VAT, or would like help writing/planning your budget, please do come into the Activities Office anytime Monday-Friday 10am-4pm or email guildactivities@ex.ac.uk. We would also encourage you to book onto the Basic Events Management training course which will be running throughout the year. To enquire about the course, email guildactivities@ex.ac.uk.