baenans / events

How to make an event: The Checklist

English | Last review: March 14th, 2016

Why making events?

TBC.—

Before

The basics

Format & Content

• Find a suitable format for your event: keynotes, roundtables, hands-on, working groups…
• Lookup for interesting content using Call for Papers.
• It might be good to create a narrative: using the right sequence of talks to tell a story.

Date

• Think in your main target availability and time-constraints.
• Avoid clashing with similar/big events.

Venue

• Find a suitable space for your activity.
• Take “no-show” into account.
• Changing the venue can improve diversity!

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Website

• For smaller events, you don't need a fiull website.
• Have clear indications about what will happen (display your agenda).
• Be clear about the price, location and date.

PR, Social Networks, Mailing

• Maintain your social networks / mailing channels.
• Reach out to people that doesn’t follow you yet & seek for diversity.
• Produce a press release (bigger events).

Tracking

• Track the impact of your social channels.

Sponsors

Do you need sponsors? Most of the times, if you have a middle size community (50 members) and there is interest in paying plane tickets for a speaker (perhaps around 250€ within Europe), the math talks by itself: your best sponsor is your audience. However, bigger events including several rations of food, professional media coverage and nice event dressing, might need an special plan for sponsors.

Offer clear information about your event

• If your website displays already all the information, that should be enough.
• In any case, your potential sponsor might appreciate summarized information about:
  • Agenda (and) Speakers.
  • Expected attendees.
  • Other partners.

Have a meaningful value proposition

• Research about the value for your sponsor: offering only marketing is not (very) interesting.

Get help from others

Organizing an event is a great excersise for training your multi-disciplinar teamwork abilities, getting help from others doesn't only make your life easier, but also enhances diversity and increases the value of your proposal and the overal experience.

Attendees

Similar communities

Sponsors / companies

During

Stick to the Agenda

Guarantee interaction

Use social networks

Afterwadrs

Wrap-up your event wisely, in order to make your community grow.

Feedback

Know your attendees

Spread the voice

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.