1. HOW TO
organise
an event
www.solargeneration.org
2. 1
1
1
HOW TO
ORGANISE AN EVENT
1. WHY?
Organising an event, however large or small, is an opportunity
for your group to meet people, especially students. As well
as the main purpose of the event (to educate, demon-
strate, suggest a project, facilitate meetings, etc), you
should bear in mind that this is the opportunity for
your association to prove itself and to get
yourselves known.
Essentially, it’s an opportunity to win over, not only
students, but also teachers, administrative staff
and the media.
It’s also the idea opportunity to bond the group,
share in the good times and, importantly,
strengthen the team spirit!
It is essential to organise different presentations for
each stage of your project so that your demands hit
home and you can explain the results you’ve achieved.
Here are some tips for preparing properly and making your event a success.
Don’t forget that your aims must guide your action. What matters is what you
want to achieve.
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defi onsibilities
2. RECRUIT resp
VOLUNTEERS
While preparing the event, it is
6 TIP draw up an
organisation flowchart:
essential to form a group of
volunteers.
Make a note of all operations, You must therefore start by assess-
preparations, people in charge, ing your requirements (how many
their responsibilities (cheques, people and roles).
accounts to check, people to con- Organise an initial meeting, outlin-
tact) and essential dates. This way, ing your project to the team and ask-
everybody feels responsible. ing them to take part.
Once the volunteers are on board,
This should be regularly updated
think about making time to brief
(once a week) and everybody
them on its aims, give everyone an
should check it (it could be sent to
individual role and start planning.
an e-mail list).
Representatives on stands must
know their subject inside out so that
they can answer any questions.
Assign one person to supervise the event and co-ordinate the team. In
addition to this person, several roles should be allocated:
one person should be put in charge of administrative tasks:
obtaining the necessary permits, collecting funds (see “Guide – how
to secure funding”);
another person should be put in charge of logistics: equipment,
setting up and dismantling, tracking, posters, etc;
one person should take care of communication: making posters
and fliers, liaising with the media;
finally you should appoint a spokesperson, who will be the main
contact for the media (see Guide – talking to the media).
Other volunteers can organise activities in smaller groups.
4. 3. DEFINE YOUR GOALS
Goals should be aimed at a target audience and should focus on the issues
you want to tackle. In order to achieve them, your goals must be clearly
defined. The same event should be used to motivate group members,
strengthen a sense of belonging, inform your target audience, socialise and
meet people (through meals, workshops, etc), celebrate success, and put
pressure on the university vice-chancellor to advance your needs.
You will have a clearer picture of the type of event you want to organise
after you have established your goals.
4. DETERMINE THE
TYPE OF EVENT
Answer the following questions: where, when,
how, what, (type of visual aids?), why? Think about
logistics – movements, equipment, and timing.
Next, think about your goals, the target audience and
the setting for your event. For example, if your aim is to
collect signatures to support a project, set up a stand
or a lively interactive demonstration (with photo-mes-
saging, for example). If your goal is to celebrate the fact
that the president has signed a charter, organise a
cocktail party, or a conference.
For more ideas and inspiration, check out the “Ideas for
your events” factsheet.
Set up a meeting with the aim of promoting the event.
Include contacts, the type of advertisements, fixing
important dates, press and PR.
Flyer “Just a
Clic”used in more
than 50 campuses
5. 5. PLAN
Ideally, you should already have an overview of the different activities that you
are going to organise throughout the year (see the “Setting a calendar” sec-
tion in the “Ten key points” booklet), which will allow you to anticipate the
important organisational steps.
Next, allow at least one and a half months’ preparation for a really successful
activity, bearing in mind that this time frame depends on the type of event.
Even if organising it is very simple, you need to allow time to get permission
to use a hall or conference room, pass the word around to other students
(printing posters, placing adverts in the student newspaper, regional daily
newspaper or student radio all need to be thought about in advance),
find speakers (conferences, displays, stands).
e he
Careful! Depending on the type of speaker you want to et mor
To gs, look at tr
invite, some may need to be booked six months in idea as for you
advance (celebrity speakers, groups with existing commit- “Idents” guide
ments, etc). eve
The best solution is to plan in advance. Starting on day X, plan
the necessary steps, i.e. those that need to be done the day before,
two days before, a week before, etc.
Here is an example of an event:
Day-40 Day-25 Day-15 Day-5 Day-2 Day Day+2
List requi- Get Put up Put up Contact Day of Summary
rements permits adverts adverts the media Event
Commun-
Set up Prepare Announce Send icate the
team adverts in lecture invitations outcome
halls
Finally, study the timings of local, national and international demonstrations
so that you will have an impact. It is sometimes useful to link up with other
events (Sustainable Development Week, Climate Action Day, etc.) because
your event will benefit from an already mobilised audience.
Similarly, give some thought to “old chestnut” ideas. Back-to-school,
Christmas, the summer holiday, New Year’s Day and the January sales are all
topics that journalists have to cover every year and they’re always looking for
a new angle.
When choosing the date and place, the rule is that you should never choose
a day of action which is already being used by another important event (a foot-
ball match, transport strike, one-off concerts, school strikes, etc), the day
6. before holidays, or at the weekend (which is absolutely forbidden given that
the campus will be empty and you’ll not be successful). Be careful too that
you don’t end up competing with another activity organized by another
association!
Choose the date based on how busy the place will be and the main lessons
of the day.You could make an announcement at the beginning of a lecture and
benefit from a full audience (or even, if you keep the lecture hall afterwards,
have the audience already seated in the room!).
6. MEETINGS
You must meet at each stage of a project to bring everything together and del-
egate tasks. Meetings should have a
purpose and an agenda.
For the meeting to be useful, minutes
must be taken (delegate someone to
take notes before the meeting starts).
If you’re short of time, ask this person
to make a list of the essential deci-
sions that must be made. Answer the
question "Who does what"?
Draw up an accurate budget for your
activity. Write down every expense
(supplies, renting a stand (if neces- eting to
For the meyou have
sary), equipment, printing posters, be useful, report
a
etc.) and add 10% for additional to make rds
expenses (see “Budget” factsheet) aft erwa
7. 7. COMMUNICATE
Establish the message you want to convey.
Taking into account the timings for manufacturing and obtaining support
material, establish communication methods that are suited to the campus
in question.
TIP think about Documents must be punchy and should
communicating using a attract attention. Images and text must
“teaser” in two stages: stand out. The event name should be strik-
ing so that it sticks in people’s memories –
First wave of posters – make
it known that something is make it attractive but mysterious, or simply
going to happen, to whet lucid. Visibility is an essential part of
people’s appetite but without communication.
giving any details The name, symbol and logo are essential
Second stage – provide pieces of information to help people
details of the event. remember an organisation and symbolise
its activities and spirit. Don’t forget the
Solar Generation logo, which should appear on all communication
documents.
Advice: making contact with the appropriate people in the early stages of the
project will familiarise you with the conditions for putting up posters.
SOME TIPS
Z > Leaflets : hand out leaflets on Monday 10th for an
event on Monday 17th, as well as the day before and
the day itself.
> Posters : they can be covered over with adverts, so
you will need ample space (allow one poster for every 100
students targeted).
> Strategic positioning: phone boxes, coffee machines,
libraries, corridors, behind toilet doors, student newspaper,
student radio, free newspapers, town events listings, cafés,
computer rooms, etc.
> Ask teachers to mention events at the beginning of lectures, or
do it yourselves.
> Create a group e-mail address for important meetings.
Remember that good posters, visible communication, as well as talking to
students in the lecture theatres will help your association on campus! Don’t
forget to mention your Internet site, the names of those responsible, your local
office address, etc.
Think about advertising your event using the media; by drafting a press
release (see “Media” guide and additional sheets).
8. 8. ASSESSMENT
Organising events will help to advance your Solar Generation project. It is
therefore essential that you write a summary afterwards to see what worked
and what didn’t, and to identify problems that you can learn from for next time.
Think about the following questions:
How many students took part? How many leaflets were distributed?
How many posters used? If applicable, how many signatures did
you get?
Had the students you targeted heard of Solar Generation and your
project? Are they interested in helping to make the campus green?
Were they receptive to this type of event?
What were your organisational problems (timing, team issues,
distributing roles, external relations)?
What were the most commonly made comments? Did any questions
catch you out? What did this action bring to your association? What did
it bring to the Solar Generation project on your campus?
What do you want to do next?
These answers will help you to build on your project and to consolidate your
association. Consider sending this report to Greenpeace.
9. Summary:
- Identify your goal and message.
- Define your target audience – who could be interested,
whose awareness should be raised?
- Choose the most suitable type of event for the two previous
answers – establish how long the event should last, where and
how it should be held, how and with whom you’ll make it happen.
- Think about practicalities – permits, technical issues,
support material, partners, budget, etc.
- Bring the event to life – use supporting material, prepare
discussions and demonstrations, etc.
- Decide on a communication strategy so that your
initiative gets heard.
- Prepare well for your event – there’s always the unexpected!
- Assess the outcome – discuss this with your new contacts
and make your views known.
12. TÉSTIMONY
‘EFFET PAPILLON’ (BUTTERFLY EFFECT) ON THE GRENOBLE CAMPUS, BY NATHALIE
« The Butterfly Effect Association grew out of a project to install
photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the inter-university student
building at the heart of the campus, EVE.
It was the project’s
objective that moti-
vated new members:
we had to communi-
cate with students
even before the proj-
ect was fully defined.
We had the support
of EVE, its network
of associations, pro-
fessionalism, and a
telephone directory!
In this way, we grad-
ually carved out a
niche for ourselves
on the campus and
Greenpeace International Ottho Heldringstraat 5 1066 AZ Amsterdam Netherlands
in local communities. By making use of existing networks, we can cut down on a
great deal of event organisation or communication work, and benefit from the high
visibility of events that are already well known. For example, taking a stall at the
Frapna international festival of nature and environmental films gave us the chance
to reach a different audience from that on campus, and to meet politicians and jour-
nalists who are do not necessarily take an interest in student affairs.
After this period of making contact, we were ready to organise our own event with
the associations we have met and with whom we get on well. We benefit from their
Printed on 100% post consumer recycled chlorine-free paper
advice, experience and also their volunteers. In this way, we were able to organise
two one-day environmental conferences in March 2007, based on the themes Air
and Energy, which brought ten associations together in EVE. This was our flagship
project, supported by Solar Generation, and thanks to the number of associations
involved, the event immediately had a high profile and was well reported in
the media.
www.solargeneration.org
Co-operation with student and other associations is of paramount importance!
This shows that the association is outward looking, is a real support in running the
project, and also gives the association a higher profile. You know everybody, the
association, the decision-makers, the media - and everybody knows you (well,
almost everybody)! »
