Top tips for organising your event

If running an event isn’t something you do every day it might seem a little daunting, but if you remember a few key things and remain clear on your objectives there’s no reason why it shouldn’t go well, writes Fran Glover.

Fran, together with business partner Carrie Weekes (Fran, right, and Carrie are pictured with Charles Cowling, author of the Good Funeral Guide), run A Natural Undertaking, an independent undertaker based in Birmingham. Fran's tips are based on five Ps: purpose, planning, participants, place and promotion. 

We organised an event in our local square last year for Dying Matters Awareness week and thought it would be helpful to share some tips about putting on an event. Check out our top tips below; you can also watch a film about the event we held.

Purpose

Have a clear purpose for your event and communicate this well.

Think about introducing elements to involve the attendees while they are there. Active participation in the event will have greater impact and can provide more reason for people to come.

Planning

Give yourself plenty of time to plan. Putting on an event often requires liaising with a number of people: give yourself at least one month to plan and organise; more if you can!

Meet regularly and allocate tasks clearly with timeframes for completion.

Plan the materials and items that you're going to need on the day.

Make sure you order marketing materials from Dying Matters well in advance.

Participants

Ensure it’s clear how all participants in the event are relevant to its purpose.

Will all participants contribute to the costs of putting on the event? Will you have any exclusions?

Place

When choosing a venue consider whether you are catching passers-by or whether you’ll need people to reserve tickets.

If you're trying to attract passers-by, look for a place that is open and where people aren't passing to enter a building. It’s hard to persuade people to come into a space they can’t see unless they know in advance that they want to come.

If reserving tickets, free websites like www.eventbrite.co.uk are very useful to capture reservations.

Community spaces can be cheaper to rent and often have reduced rates for charitable / non-commercial purposes.

Do you and all the other event participants have the appropriate event / public liability insurances in place?

Promotion

Use social media channels where possible and remember to use relevant hashtags, reaching out to people who might be interested or who could share your information.

If you have a website, ensure you promote the event – are there local community websites that could promote it also?

It’s fairly easy to create flyers and posters these days; making sure the local area is covered is important. Sometimes walking up and down the street handing out flyers is the best way.

Can local businesses promote the event for you by placing the posters in their windows/noticeboards etc?

Can you get the local press interested?

Good Luck! We look forward to reading about the events you’ve run.

More

Find out more about Fran and Carrie's Awareness Week event.