Checklist for a Successful School Event Planning
Events are an integral part of any school management. Schools organize varying events from time to time to keep students interested and interact with their parents. School events are great times to let students show their talents. Some schools also organize events to raise funds for a particular purpose or community. That being said, if you are a part of a school management team, you know how hard and time-consuming pulling off a successful event can be. However, it no longer needs to be like that, thanks to event management software like Ticketor.
Event management software is a one-stop solution for everything related a school event planning. Below is a checklist for successful school event planning.
1. The Right Time
Depending on the event's size, scale, and type, it is best to have some lead time of a few weeks to plan the event. This time frame allows the comfortable organization of the event without worrying about any last-minute hassles. To sum up, working on planning should begin as soon the school confirms the event.
2. Event Objectives
Whether it is a school event or any other function, it needs to have specific goals to achieve. Ensure that the goals for the current event are measurable, realistic, timely, achievable, and precise. The goals should support the event's marketing plan and business objectives. Some example goals can be raising funds, showcasing students' talent and learning, or increasing attendance from a particular community. These goals can also help plan future events and give the required information to the executive teams.
3. Budget Plan
The budget has a significant influence on different aspects of the school event. Each event element, including the venue, catering, speaker fees, seating, decorations, etc., make up the entire event budget. It's worth requesting quotes from multiple suppliers and ensuring they fit the budget accurately. Once the budget is ready, it is crucial to stick to it to keep things organized.
4. Date and Venue
The organizers should start booking the suppliers depending on the budget and event goals. The most important of them is the event date and venue. Choosing the venue depends on the event type and available dates. For instance, if the school plans to invite parents to the event, it is best to host it on a weekend so that maximum parents may attend. It is crucial to consider feasible dates to book the venue and find which venue options are available.
Finalizing the venue depends on a number of factors, including the number of guests, permissions needed, and infrastructure required. It would be best if there is enough space or hall within the school campus.
5. Ticketing
Once the event date and venue is set, it's time to make event tickets available. These days, most people do not want to visit a counter to buy tickets but prefer buying tickets online. This is where ticketing software comes to be of great help. It allows allocation of seats according to the seat layout, even if there are tiered levels of seats at the event. For instance, there might be different seat categories for students, teachers, parents, and VIP guests.
Whether the guests want to buy e-tickets, on-call tickets, mail tickets, print-at-home tickets, or digital tickets, the best ticketing program like Ticketor will support all these and much more.
6. Payment Collection
The ultimate goal of any event is to earn money and make a profit. Therefore, the event ticketing software should support payment collection in real-time without any third party involved. The program should allow event organizers to collect payments via multiple modes in different currencies.
7. Event Marketing
Great marketing is effective in driving attendance and boosting engagement at the event. Marketing the event properly goes a long way to ensure that more people know about the event and book their tickets. The marketing content should include all relevant information about the event, including the time, date, and venue. Some event management programs also support social media integration, allowing attendees to book their tickets from their social media page itself. Buyers may share the event on their social media pages as well, thus giving it more exposure for free.
Event management programs like Ticketor also support marketing with traceable links that help organizers track their sales, know where their buyers come from, and what share of sales is sourced from which marketing platforms. This information allows the event organizer to market through the proper channels for future events and get the maximum sales.
8. Management at the Event
A lot of management needs to be done at the venue itself during the event. The most important one is crowd management. Since each individual has their own ticket that they selected according to their preference, there should be no confusion for seats.
The ticketing program should offer various methods of ticket validation and gate control using a smartphone or barcode scanner. Some programs also have an app that staff members can download on their smartphones and validate tickets within seconds. If a guest wants to leave the venue for some time and re-enter, the ticketing software should support them too.
9. Wrap Up After the Event
Once the event is over successfully, it's time to send thank you emails to all suppliers and attendees. Close registrations on the website and respond to post-event guests' emails. Take time to look back and check if the event met the objectives set in the second step mentioned above. Post-event reports can help get these ideas. Therefore, an event management software that delivers such reports would be excellent. Such reports include event statements, sales, event audit, admission, and delivery. These reports help achieve goals and plan future events to get better results.
That's it! This ultimate school event planning checklist can help plan an organized and successful school event. The key is to choose an event ticketing software like Ticketor that streamlines all the processes involved and delivers the desired results.
