S 5 EP 3: 4 Key Tips To Plan A Successful Event

[00:00:00] As a site director or manager, you're going to be running around doing all the things. You're not going to have time to stop and take pictures. So that may be a responsibility that you can give to a team member or dig into your budget and outsource that responsibility to a videographer or a photographer.

[00:00:30] Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to School After Hours podcast where we talk about all things related to our school time program and education. I am your host, J. Lee. And today we're going to be talking about something very, very important. As the seasons are changing and we are officially in fall, you're going to have a whole lot of holidays just popping up. You know, this is the season of planning. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Planning your special events or holiday events for the summer.

[00:00:58] The year because before you know it, you're going to blink and everything's going to happen. So in this episode, I'm going to share with you the four things that I do to plan my events when I am with my students and programming and we are putting on a production for maybe a showcase or maybe a holiday party, all of the above. So with that being said, let's go ahead and jump in.

[00:01:21] Alrighty, everyone.

[00:01:25] When you are planning events for the year. One of the most important things to do is do a calendar check. A calendar check will allow you to get a bird's eye view of anything that's coming up. You know, special events that may be on the calendar for a different organization or for a different site or all together, maybe your school is having a specific event.

[00:01:49] It gives you an opportunity to see what dates are available or what dates are best to have this particular event that you are planning.

[00:01:57] One of the worst things that you experience is you planning an event for this specific day, but it is on the same day as something else.

[00:02:04] That means that you are not going to have the highest student participation, parent participation, community participation that you could possibly have.

[00:02:12] Why? Because their attention is divided between your event and someone else's event.

[00:02:17] So I strongly suggest always, always doing a calendar check. See what's on your calendar or see what's on your community calendar, what's going on so you know how to plan moving forward.

[00:02:29] This brings me to my next planning tip, which is to collaborate with other organizations or if you are in a school, collaborate with your school for holiday events or community events that may be taking place.

[00:02:40] Around the holidays, you know, everyone's usually doing the same thing.

[00:02:44] So it may be in your best interest to collaborate with another organization or community organization or even with the school if they are planning a holiday event.

[00:02:54] One of the benefits of collaborating is having a high participation rate.

[00:03:00] When you collaborate, you're bringing communities and families together from both organizations.

[00:03:05] So you're more than likely to have more people to show up for the event.

[00:03:09] And also you get to share a little bit more about your organization with different group of families and also youth so they can participate in your program as well during a time where they may not be participating in another program.

[00:03:23] Another benefit of doing a collaboration is having a greater pool of resources.

[00:03:28] When you come together, you're able to combine your resources and do more, not just for your students, but also for the family and the community that you serve, right?

[00:03:36] And everyone knows like budgets are a little tight.

[00:03:39] So if you are able to split the cost of something or add a little bit more for a specific type of prize for an event, it all works together in the spirit of collaboration and reaching families and students.

[00:03:53] Another benefit of collaborating is increasing your visibility of your program.

[00:03:58] Like I mentioned before, you're getting in front of a different audience, a different group of people, a different group of families.

[00:04:04] So you're able to promote what you do.

[00:04:06] Also share the benefits of your organization.

[00:04:09] So when you can collaborate as often as possible, it definitely takes a little for you as a site director or a program provider to have that additional person to bounce ideas off of and help with the planning process.

[00:04:28] Another tip that I have for you is to plan with a specific concept or theme in mind.

[00:04:34] I am usually a theme planner when it comes to events.

[00:04:38] So once I have that specific theme in mind, it's easier to go about my planning process when it comes to decorations, when it comes to having specific colors, when it comes to what type of utensils, when it comes to getting specific supplies to kind of decorate the space and what I want it to look like.

[00:04:57] So have a specific theme or concept in mind when you are planning for your event.

[00:05:05] And last but not least, my final tip is to delegate certain responsibilities or outsource some things.

[00:05:15] What do I mean by that?

[00:05:17] So for specific events, I always notice as a site director or manager, you're going to be running around doing all the things.

[00:05:27] You're not going to have time to stop and take pictures.

[00:05:30] So that may be a responsibility that you can give to a team member or dig into your budget and outsource that responsibility to a videographer or photographer.

[00:05:47] So someone that can capture video in case you want to play it back for families, you know, put together a video collage, whichever you want to do.

[00:05:55] And also have that individual take pictures.

[00:05:57] So you can have that as well.

[00:05:59] And it can be part of your catalog.

[00:06:01] But it's also a way of keeping data for your student engagement, but also your community engagement.

[00:06:06] You want to be able to see the people that were there.

[00:06:08] You want to be able to have moments that have been able to be captured to show the impact that you're making, all the wonderful things.

[00:06:16] So as a site director or program provider, that's one less thing that you have to worry about.

[00:06:22] Also, when it comes to planning and decorating, if that is not your strong suit, that may be something that you want to give to a team member that has that skill,

[00:06:31] that level of creativity that could create a space that is amazing for all the participants that's going to be there,

[00:06:40] but also the families and the community members that's going to be utilizing in that space as well.

[00:06:45] So those are just a couple of things that I wanted to share with you.

[00:06:49] I hope those things was helpful.

[00:06:51] In the comments, go ahead and share with me some of the things that you do to prepare for events.

[00:06:54] I hope that you enjoyed this and that it was helpful.

[00:06:58] Please let me know what you think and other things that you would like to hear on the show.

[00:07:02] And we will talk to you soon.

[00:07:05] Well, everyone, that brings us to the end of our show.

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[00:07:37] Well, that's all I have for today.

[00:07:39] In the words of Mr. Arthur Ashe, start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

[00:07:45] Until next time, y'all.

[00:07:46] Bye-bye.

[00:07:47] Bye-bye.