Lesson 2 - Elements of An Event – Part 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student must be able to:
• Identify each element of an event
• Explain the scope of each element

INTRODUCTION:
This lesson deals with the study on the scope of each elements of an event

CONTENT:

Elements of an event:

1. The type and title of event

Your title is the first thing that sells prospective attendees on your event.

Standard Example: The 23rd Annual Black & White Ball

Creative Example: 23 Years in the Making… Tuxedos under Twilight

Useful Tips on Creating Event Titles

• The event title should be less than 120 characters long, including spaces.
• Principal words should be capitalized. Do not capitalize words like “a,” “and,” “in,”
“of,” or “the” unless they are the first word of the event title. All caps should not be
used.
• Single quotation marks should be used around the titles of books, plays and
movies.
• Event titles should not include details like event sponsor. These details should be
included in the event description, which appears on the event detail page.
• Please proofread titles for proper grammar and spelling.
Event Descriptions

❖ The event description should typically give community members a sense of who,
what and how. Briefly explain who is speaking/ performing and what will they
be talking about or doing. A lecture title alone generally won’t get people to
attend.

❖ Provide more details and context to generate interest. If there are multiple event
sponsors, the description will also list the co-sponsors. Please proofread
descriptions for proper grammar and spelling.

Example

[Event title]
Government Careers Forum

[Event Description with two sponsors]

Explore public service through this popular networking and recruiting

program.

The Government Careers Forum will feature a keynote presentation by

Massachusetts State Representative Tackey Chan ’95, followed by round
table networking sessions for students, alumni, faculty and staff with
agency representatives. This event is sponsored by the Hiatt Career
Center and the Brandeis University Alumni Association.

2. The Purpose for holding the event

Every successful event has a primary purpose or mission, accompanied by

goals and objectives, which are the measurements of success. Understanding
the purpose/mission of the event leads to good planning and appropriate
allocation of resources (time and money).

Even a press conference or policy speech or public ceremony has to have a

specific purpose or mission in order to succeed.

The mistake most often made in special events, especially fundraising events,
is that the organization does not understand the reason for having the event
beyond some simple concept of raising money or having some sort of ceremony.

Do you have clear goals for staging a special event?

• Is the purpose to raise money?

Assuming one of your purposes is to raise funds, it is important to

determine when the funds are needed and what your financial net goal
 is. The strategy to raise significant funds will be considerably different
than one to generate a few hundred pesos. As a basic rule of thumb,
match the event to your financial needs and timeline.

• Is the purpose to generate new donor prospects or volunteers?

In most successful fundraising events, one of the goals is to attract new

volunteers and money to support the organization. Otherwise you may be
redirecting money previously given to the organization through other
avenues and overtaxing current volunteers.

• Is the purpose to increase public awareness of your organization?

If you want to increase the visibility of the organization, the event should
be held where many people are exposed to the name and mission of your
organization and great efforts should be aimed at good media coverage.

• Is the purpose to bring attention to your cause or mission?

Too often the population served by the organization is confused with the
audience for an event. Although the two should be compatible with
regards to the basic values of the organization, the audience of your
event may be significantly different than the clients you serve.

3. The Participants of the event and the role they play

• Wanting to stage an event will not guarantee success unless you have
connections to and the interest of appropriate attendees and financial
underwriters.

• Ask yourself: Who would be the natural choice of event participants for the
organization?

• It is also important to know if any other community activities will be

competing with your event for the audience, volunteers and donors you
will be targeting. There may be other activities going on in a community at
the same time, but the important issue is whether your target group will
have too many competing activities on or around the same time of your
event. Many communities have groups that keep community calendars.
Check out other potential competing activities and make certain that as
soon as you know the date of the event you get it on the calendar and get
the word out so that others will not plan competing events.

• Before committing to an event, be certain that both volunteer and salaried

staffing is adequate.
 • Any event needs to be properly staffed so it’s imperative that you have your
staff on board for the occasion. Make a schedule that everyone is
comfortable with and accommodates your team members’ personal lives
(particularly if your event is on a weekend). The worst way to start is to
have an event staffed by unhappy employees.

• Is there an effective leader, agreeable to chair the event? Often an event

will have two chairs with distinctly different jobs: a celebrity chair and an
organizing chair. The celebrity chair agrees to be associated with the event,
make some important contacts, sign some letters endorsing the event or
encouraging people to attend and will also attend the event. The organizing
chair coordinates the considerable details associated with producing an
event.

• Is there an adequate pool of volunteers to plan and carry out the event?
As with all volunteer positions, each volunteer should be doing a job that
brings mutual benefit to both the volunteer and the event.

• Has the amount of staff time that will be needed for the event been clearly
established? Those planning for the event should present a realistic
proposal regarding the projected time that staff will be supporting the
event. Determine if this timing conflicts with other known busy times for
the organization. As much as possible, event chairpersons should arrange
for the preparation details to be handled separately from the daily running
of the organizations.

• If the event involves selling tickets to get people to attend, do you have
people (board, volunteers, staff) who can be successful at this? Don't just
assume that somehow tickets distributed to board and volunteers will
automatically get sold.

4. The Place or venue where the event is going to take place

The venue or type of event and its location is vital to success. There must be
a connection between the cause that the organization espouses, the venue
selected and the community being served. This includes everything from the
type of event, the space and the layout of the event, as well as the
convenience and appropriateness of the location in relation to the
community served by the organization. A special location can spark
excitement weeks before the event takes place.

When you’re ready to search for the perfect venue, consider the following 10
important factors:

I. Cost
• As a cost-conscious organizer, you may want to keep the venue cost down
to allow more room in your budget for food and beverages and
entertainment.
 • Being flexible on the date can be a great negotiating tool, as certain days
of the week tend to cost less.

II. Location
• A convenient location means different things for different events. For an
event with attendees within a limited geographic range, a venue within a
reasonable distance from most attendees’ homes or places of work may
make sense.
• If many attendees will be traveling from out of town, hosting the event at
a venue near the airport or their hotels will be beneficial.
• If attendees are being housed at a single location, hosting the event at that
hotel mitigates the need for valet parking and the chance that attendees
will be late due to getting lost.
• How to help attendees have all the necessary information about venue is
another important thing to consider.
• Nowadays offering attendees a mobile event app is a good way to inform
them with maps, a right direction to venue, an up-to-date parking /
shuttle arrangement information, and local attractions.

III. Ambiance
• Pay special attention to the existing decor inside the venue.
• What style is the architecture and what does the building’s interior
convey?
• If you’re holding a gala, you’ll likely need different venue accommodations
than you would for an expo.
• The less the ambiance matches the desired feeling of your event (upscale,
high tech, etc.) the more decorating you’ll need to do to make up for it.

IV. Services and Amenities

In addition to the appearance of the site, it is also important to take into
consideration the services and amenities that the venue offers. Consider the
following:

• Does the venue have a kitchen and can it provide catering to your event?
If so, often a venue will waive the facility fee and only charge a down
payment along with the cost of food for each attendee. Other venues may
not have kitchens. Those venues without kitchen facilities may have a
partnership with a food provider that you’re required to use, or you may
be free to bring in your own vendors. Many venues have an exclusive
relationship with certain vendors, typically food vendors. This can be great
if the venue has partnered with a fantastic vendor. If not, it can create a
huge headache, and negatively impact the experience of your attendees. If
you can’t book a venue that serves food your attendees will enjoy, it would
be better to select a venue that allows you to bring in outside food vendors.

• Does it have tables, chairs and linens you can use? If a venue has these
items, you can save a great deal of money and effort by using what they
have, assuming it matches your theme and ambiance.
 • Does it have a setup/cleanup crew? If you’ve found a venue which provides
a setup and cleanup crew, rejoice! This isn’t always the case. If these
services aren’t available you’ll need to build your event team.

• Does it have AV capabilities? Some venues have a built-in audio-visual

equipment for you to use, and others will require you to bring that in
yourself.

V. Capacity and Minimums

• What’s the capacity? If you’ve followed our advice, you already know how
many attendees to expect. You’ll need to know the room capacity of the
venues for a few reasons. First, for general and practical reasons, 500
people can’t comfortably fit into a room with a 250-person capacity. And
second, there are fire and safety codes that the venue has to abide by.

• What are the F&B Minimums? If your venue offers food and/or beverages,
find out what the food and beverage minimums, also known as F&B
minimums, are and get this information in writing. If you have past
attendance records for this event, ensure that those records are in line
with the minimums. You may have plans to attract an even larger audience
this year, but you also want to make sure that your bases are covered in
case attendance expectations are not met.

• How to make adjustment based on attendee feedback? It is important to

be able to make an informed adjustment for rooms and F&B quickly right
before or during your event.

Reference/s:

• CBLM IN EVENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES NC III