Step 4: Organise your event

Now that you have a clearly defined event goal, a plan outlined for how you will achieve your event goal, and an initial budget prepared, you can start organising your event.

Recruit 'The Dream Team'

The first step will be putting together your team. Determine positions required and find the right people such as an event manager, sponsorship manager, and other event coordinators. You will need to assign responsibilities, which you can add in to your already created master timeline/ event plan, for all key activities such as PR & communications, website creation and management, social media creation and management, collateral production, and all other activities that need to be owned by one person. This will help you keep everything on track as well as ensure everyone takes ownership.

Logistical considerations

Complete the comprehensive Master Timeline for your event as outlined in the Plan section. Logistics you will need to carefully consider, and then add into your timeline if you require them, are as follows:

1. Staffing & volunteers – positions/ roles needed, training required, participation effect
2. Ticketing – sales (points of sale, physical tickets/ e-tickets only), gathering attendee information
3. Creating a site plan – drawing of event lay out (power distribution, toilets, entries, stages etc)
4. Signage & collateral – print ideas, designer required, costs
5. Infrastructure – lighting, sound, power requirements
6. Traffic management – council sign off, road closures, management plan, Sport Southland
7. Attendee transport – extra cost or inclusive in ticket, drivers, vehicles, schedule, capacity
8. Security – required, when, where, what numbers
9. Consent – Resource/ building consents, environmental factors, contact ICC, SDC or GDC
10. Food & alcohol management:  https://www.southlanddc.govt.nz/assets/Alcohol-Licensing/What-to-think-about-when-fundraising.pdf
11. Waste management – effective waste management, bin locations, recycling, skips, removal

Plan the key milestones

Create a Key Milestones document with the most important dates you will be working toward for the public, for example:

Event Planning Toolbox

Step 1: Define the event goals

Step 2: Prepare your event plan

Step 3: Build your event budget

Step 4: Organise your event

Step 5: Promote your event

Step 6: Risk & safety at your event

Step 7: Evalute your event