Running the ultimate event By pastor: Anthony Higginson
Through asking a series of questions such as, who what, why when, where and how an event being organised by church - organisation can have tremendous effect in building that much needed credibility factor. Whenever a church organisation organises a community event normally the left hand does not always aware know what the right hand is doing creating with it frustration and confusion. The below questions have therefore been compiled by the Dream Centre as we have found asking and answering relevant questions such as the ones below critical to our success factors. Some of the below questions may not apply directly to your organisations event whereas others may. Asking the right questions when organising an event can have tremendous bearing on the overall outcome whereas forgetting to ask that all important question can serious impact such as wasted resources and man hours which nobody wants. In fact failing to do ones due diligence so to speak can result in lawsuits being issued thus damaging not only ones credibility factor but damage community relations as well.
1. What kind of event do you want to hold? 2. What is its aim? (example fundraising, social, spiritual, raising awareness of something else)
3. Have you got a plan/budget for the event? 4. Who will the event be aimed at? 5. What is the projected overall cost? 6. Is it realistic and why? 7. Are there any initial outlay cost? 8. Can you foresee any extra incurred expenditure? 9. How will you cover these costs? 10. Who’s responsible for this event? (is it a committee or individual) 1
11. How will you publicise this event? 12. When will the event take place? Things to consider when doing Event Management | The Dream Centre
13. Where will the event take place? 14. Is the event easy accessible to people (is it on a bus route) 15. How big will the event be? 16. What will be the benefit to your organisation? 17. Is this event worth the time effort and finance and why? 18. Does the event need to attract a certain number of people in order for it to be classed as a success? 19. Do you seek partnership or co-operation from out side forces such as (local counsel, businessmen, church pastors, other voluntary groups) if so what is your strategy for getting them on board? 20. Do we have enough time to organise it? 21. Do you have the man power to pull it off? 22. Is the manpower voluntary or paid staff? 23. If the staff voluntary or paid what is the recruitment plan? 24. If the staff is paid has this been grafted into the overall budget cost plan? 25. What is the structure for people purchasing tickets? 26. What is the publicity plan? (what avenues of media are you using) 27. Does the event clash with any other event going on at the same time? 28. Is the event accessible physically and geographically to the people you are aiming at? 2
29. Are there any authorities that have to be informed?
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30. Are there any licences that need to be applied for (example public performance as in music & entertainment) 31. What technology do you need? 32. Is the skill base strong enough to run this event and if not where can we gain the necessary skills and expertise? 33. Do we have public liability insurance cover? 34. Do we need first Aid cover? 35. How many people are we looking to attract through this event? 36. Is the road infrastructure capable of handling such vast quantities of people? 37. What training plan is in place for the knowledge needed for all participants? 38. What emergency plan do we have for exiting people from the event in the unlikelihood of fire or civil disturbance? Other things you may not have considered
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1. Is what we are doing copyright (example performing arts and music) Therefore do we need a licence? 2. What are the health and safety laws regarding what we are doing? 3. Food hygiene laws what are they? 4. Are we insured and what are we covered for 5. Do we have a contingency plan namely a plan B if something goes wrong? 6. Does everyone know what is expected of them and have they been fully briefed? 7. Do we have a check list in place? 8. Do we have teams in place to ensure that everything will be cleared away? 9. Is there anyone who can take pictures of the day 10. Do we have a sundry list such as pens, paper, mobile phones, drawing pins for example?
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Event Management (by Andy Duffield) The primary purpose of an Event is the defined objective of what the event is designed to achieve ie The Main thing is to keep the Main thing the Main thing. In this document Programme Management is referred to in the context of multiple projects or in our context Events. In truth Programme Management is much larger than that and I include an outline of one persons view, which is pretty accurate. The main difference to managing multiple projects is that Programme Management is about managing organisational change. The reason for including is that if we are about changing to be an Evangelistic house, then some of the ideas may be useful in setting out what is meant by this and maybe provide some steer as to what that may look like, thereby set some makers to see what movement has been made. Lets not use “success criteria� as its not the right language for the house. Its more like we need to assess if we've moved to be in the right place and we need a plan to do that. Within this we need the right people and the right skills. Moving onto event management.... To achieve the event objectives, a core team is needed and in this there are a number of key roles, which won't change too much irrespective of the size of the event and these can be summarised as: Title
Function
Event Owner
owns the event in terms of determining the objective, the key Stakeholder – the buck stops here person
Owns the whole shooting match in terms of budget setting, vision, timing and post event to gauge overall success and derive lessons learnt
Project/Programme manager
Ensures all the sub elements work towards the achievement of the Event
Not tied to any one work stream but is there to facilitate progress, identify key areas of concern in any work streams, fill gaps and filter and manage work stream activities to event owner. Difference is that Project manager generally does A project a Programme manger generally does multiple projects.
Work stream leaders
These are the points of Work with Programme manager and accountability, responsible for Administrator/Budget manager delivering their specific field of activity example Logistics of setting up and down, or managing the Production end to end. responsible too for their budget and teams activity
Budget manager
Co-ordinates and owns the overall budget.
Interacts with work stream leaders and programme manager to ensure all key budget parameters are met and managed.
Administrator
Generally the one responsible for managing requirements from work stream leaders example licenses,
Works with the Prog manager to ensure all activities are minuted and clearly distributed to work stream
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booking rooms or facilities or external items requiring significant cost example printing, banners etc
leaders and to individuals within each team.
Its not a requirement to have all the above meeting all the time, but its the roles that are important. The key is to have clarity of who does what, where and by when. Typical areas involved in most events include: 1. What is the objective of the event e.g. socialising, education, outreach, relationship building or relational awareness? 2. What is your Key theme example. Does it have a name, a character to polarise people around? 3. Budget for the event. 4. Are their points of accountability for the event (event team) e.g. Programme manager, Budget owner, Administrator 5. Have you work streams responsible for delivering the event e.g. • Logistics setting up, clearing down on the day • Catering all food and refreshments • Youth and children’s events • Stalls • Music This would mainly be concerned with live music • Sound and Lighting: ensuring that whatever the event people can see and hear what’s happening • Engineering: concerned with practical aspects example building stalls, stage settings etc Each of the above work stream would have their own leader who would be responsible for the end to end needs for their work stream. One of the areas often overlooked is that work stream leaders will naturally go to the people they can trust and have used before and why not? It is sometimes hard but of value to have an 'A' team with individuals in hand to provide additional support should members of the 'A' team be needed elsewhere, or perhaps decide they don’t wish to do that role. This becomes an essential aspect when multiple events are involved. Multiple Projects The running of multiple projects is no different, the main issue is to PLAN as far ahead as possible, to minimise the impact of events overlapping each other. This planning will scope out the:
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Dates for each event Type of event to determine the amount and type of effort and skills required Budget External dependencies this could be obtaining licences, renting of kit, clashes with other activities example local Summer fair's, parades, conferences that could detract from the event objectives Work stream leader availability The main area of concern will be to ensure that the work stream team members do not become stale through overuse and consequently run low on passion and drive.
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To overcome some of the above a skills base is useful along with the knowledge of the work stream leaders of the team members they believe can effectively support and those that are willing, but not yet fully capable of unsupervised activity. If there is a skills base, then it is possible to try and build a 'pool' of available skills which could then be drawn upon to ensure an even spread of workers across the events. Mentoring and development has to be factored into the work stream leaders role. As the house moves nearer to the marketplace it becomes a requirement to have an idea of those who fall int one of the below categories: Has: Natural people skills and love people Natural 'back office' skills, those who really don’t function well with the general public Many in the second category are capable of being encouraged and simply lack confidence and some 'training' can perhaps help increase those capable of developing relationships with those who attend the events.
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) by Peter Carter Is programme management just multiple projects, managed together or is it more than that? The guidelines of MSP clearly show that it is much more than a disparate collection of projects acting independently. As with all investments, clearly defined success criteria will ensure that the investment is not wasted. But "Programmes are different from projects in that it is their outcomes that matter, not their outputs." Outcomes are the result of change that affects behaviours, and Benefits are the measurable and quantifiable improvements resulting from change. So Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) helps us to define where we want to get to and the way in which we need to get there. Before a programme is started the high-level strategic objectives for the programme should be defined. This is the Programme Mandate. This will have a number of levels of detail as the programme brief is defined but the Programme definition consists of the following:
Where do we want to get to? Vision Statement •
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What new capabilities will we have as a result of the programme?
Blueprint •
What will our business look like as a result of the programme? This may include its working practices, structures and processes.
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Business Case •
What value will you receive from delivering the programme? This may be the summation of the project level business cases but it must align with the Blueprint and Vision Statement
Project Portfolio •
the list of all the sub-programmes, projects and activities that together will deliver the required capability described in the Blueprint.
Benefit Profiles •
a complete description of each benefit expected from the programme
Stakeholder Map •
a matrix showing all stakeholders and their particular interests in the programme
How do we manage the programme? The programme may be sub-divided into tranches or identifiable stages. Each tranche will deliver a step change in capability after which the benefits gained can be assessed. Whether the definition is for a sub-programme or the whole, MSP calls the management of the programme "programme governance" and it is achieved by incorporating the following strategies. Quality •
This should be on-going for the whole programme and should be an integral part of the day-to-day activities.
Stakeholders •
Success relies on co-operative contributions and support from all involved. Not all the players will see things the way you do but you must understand and address all views.
Issue resolution •
An event that requires management intervention to resolve.
Risks 7 •
Something that is either negative or positive but which, if it occurs, might affect the course of the programme. When a risk happens it becomes an issue.
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Benefits Resources Planning and control
How do we deliver the Programme? The MSP approach includes : Schedule Benefits Realisation Plan •
The Schedule and Benefits Realisation Plan help to identify points where quick wins and identifiable benefits can be shown.
Communication Plan The Schedule includes : • • •
The Project Portfolio Summary of risks and assumptions against successful delivery of the plan The relative sequencing of projects.
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