So you want to organize an educational event! Now that you are committed to getting this started, what are your next steps? Whether it’s for youth or adults, to make a good event, there’s a lot of organizing involved in the planning process to make sure everything runs smoothly. Here is a shortlist of the basics that you should be keeping track of when you are hosting your event.
A well-organized system. One of the more difficult things to do is keeping track of the logistics – finding speakers for the event, keeping track of costs, finding the right venue, creating an itinerary for the attendees, and so on. Make sure you take advantage of tools like spreadsheets and Teams/Slack channels to keep your information well organized from the beginning, as it becomes easy to get lost in the swamp of information otherwise.
Take good attendance. Use the information that attendees shared during registration to help keep track of your guests. You can also plan out activities and group people in breakout rooms or teams beforehand if needed. Attendee information should also be used for a post-event survey, if appropriate, and to advertise any future events.
Schedule of Events. Make sure your participants know what to expect. Include an itinerary that lists the start time and end time of each activity, as well as a breakdown of all the speakers who are attending and the time that is allotted for breaks.
Do a dry run of the event. Don’t forget to practice before the event! Test the activities at least once and make sure everyone involved in the event planning knows what they need to do in the actual event. Make sure the activities themselves work as they should and get feedback about them beforehand. Work out the kinks so that your event can go as smoothly as possible.
Be flexible. There may be some last-minute problems that crop up during the event, and it’s important to be flexible and adjust to the evolving situation. Sometimes there are technical difficulties or unexpected stumbling blocks. It’s crucial to keep a level head and make sure the event is running smoothly even when unexpected problems crop up.
Have fun! This is a unique opportunity to bring people together to enjoy a special experience, whatever the content may be. Make sure that you, too, are enjoying this event as you share this with other people!