Seeking guidance on event planning? You're in the right spot!
Over the years, we've observed numerous events hosted by various organizations. Although it's impossible to pinpoint every specific detail necessary for planning (since requirements often vary by event type), we have compiled a collection of universally applicable best practices.
This guide is perfect for both beginners and those seeking a quick refresher. It includes:
Without further delay, let's jump into the fundamentals of event planning!
Starting with defining the event type is fundamental. This decision sets the stage for what you aim to achieve—be it raising awareness and flexing your power through a rally, educating members in workshops, or discussing strategic plans in invite-only meetings. The nature of the event will determine the audience, the content, and the activities involved.
| Type of Event | Good for... | Keep in mind... |
|---|---|---|
| Phonebanking Event | Mobilizing supporters, building deep relationships, developing community leaders, securing event commitments | Structured call guides, comprehensive volunteer training, maintaining updated and segmented call lists, ensuring meaningful conversations |
| Public Rally | Big crowds, media attention, morale-boosting, impressive photo ops | Permits, bathroom facilities, weather, potential police interactions |
| Workshops and Training Sessions | Educating members on rights, negotiation techniques, organizing and leadership skills | Expert facilitators, materials, venue and tech for presentations, follow-up support |
| Lobbying Events | Influencing policymakers, advocating for legislation, voicing organizational interests | Lobbying laws, clear talking points, participant training, appointments with officials |
| Town Hall Meetings | Dialogue between leaders and members, community engagement, transparent decision-making | Venue capacity, open forum facilitation, speaker time limits, effective Q&A handling |
| Invite-Only Organizing Committee Meeting | Strategic planning, confidential discussion, in-depth organizational matters | Secured location, invite protocol, agenda clarity, member inclusivity |
| Picket Line | Demonstrating solidarity, raising awareness about labor disputes, employer pressure | Picketing laws, peaceful protest, participant scheduling, safety and visibility |
Next, deciding between in-person or virtual formats shapes the attendee experience. In-person events offer a sense of community and immediacy, whereas virtual events can reach a broader, potentially global audience. This choice also hinges on your expected audience size and who you specifically want to attend. For large-scale public rallies, an in-person format might be preferable for its visual and emotional impact, while a virtual workshop could better serve a specialized audience spread across different locations.
Lastly, determining whether the event will be recurring or one-time impacts how you engage with your audience over time. Recurring events build community and sustained interest, perfect for a targeted group you wish to keep engaged. In contrast, a one-time event might aim to make a big splash with a broader audience for a specific occasion.
For each of these steps, considering how many people and which you want attending is essential. It influences not just the format and frequency of your event, but also the logistical planning—from venue size for in-person gatherings to bandwidth requirements for virtual ones. Identifying your target audience—whether it's the general public, members of your organization, or a select group of stakeholders—guides your promotional efforts and content creation to ensure your event resonates with and reaches those most likely to be interested and to benefit from it.
Crafting a detailed plan is crucial for event success, avoiding the pitfalls of "building the plane while it's in flight." Start with defining the event's structure, including timelines, roles, and responsibilities for every team member. Clearly outline who is in charge of logistics, who will handle outreach, and who will manage on-the-day activities.
Assemble a diverse team of volunteers to handle key roles like logistics coordination, media relations, safety oversight, sign-making, chant-leading, and providing refreshments. Ensure language diversity within the team to enhance outreach efforts like phonebanking supporters in their preferred languages.
Selecting speakers and organizing the content agenda requires early attention to align with the event's objectives. Similarly, an outreach and mobilization plan is essential, utilizing various channels to engage potential attendees effectively. This includes event pages, email & text blasts, social media campaigns, and community outreach.
Selecting the right time and place for your event is pivotal. For in-person events, consider location accessibility, parking, and necessary permits. These logistical aspects can significantly impact attendee experience. For virtual events, choose a reliable platform and ensure all participants have access to the event URL. Provide clear instructions on how the virtual event will be managed, including engagement tools and technical support. Solidarity Tech can streamline this process, offering features to manage registrations, communicate venue details, or share virtual event links and instructions efficiently.
Solidarity Tech can simplify the process of managing recurring events. The intuitive interface, as shown in the screenshot below, allows you to easily set the frequency (weekly, monthly, etc.) and duration of your event. This eliminates the need to manually create multiple event entries for gatherings that occur on a regular basis.
To effectively promote your event and gather RSVPs, start by creating a detailed event page that caters to a wide audience, including multilingual support to ensure accessibility for all interested attendees. This event registration page serves not only to inform but also to capture attendee RSVPs through a web form, enrolling those contacts for automated & personalized text & email reminders.
Next, leverage the power of targeted email and text blasts to reach out to your potential audience. These communications should be crafted to resonate with your audience's preferences and languages, including direct links to your event page for easy access to more information and RSVP options.
This strategy ensures that your message is both personalized and far-reaching, significantly increasing the likelihood of higher engagement rates. It's usually best to make initial public event announcement this way, before you begin phonebanking and textbanking, to ensure that folks who will be receiving your outreach are aware of the event.
An effective event page is just the beginning; it should be part of a larger event management and leadership development strategy. Solidarity Tech facilitates this by allowing you to customize your post-registration engagement process.
For example, upon RSVP, attendees can be directed to a confirmation page that invites them to contribute further, such as:
Related Activism: Attendees can RSVP for a related phonebank, ensuring robust turnout and engaging them in meaningful activism that amplifies your message.
Leadership Development: Those committed to both the event and phonebank can schedule a call with an organizer, forming relationships, understanding motivations, and identifying potential leaders.
This seamless integration of event management with a leadership pipeline fortifies your organization's structure, ensuring each event builds a more resilient and empowered community.
Finally, utilize social media platforms and other promotional channels as complementary tools to broaden your reach. Sharing your event page across these networks can drive traffic back to your event RSVP page, amplifying your event marketing & promotion efforts.
Solidarity Tech's event management software is designed to manage various event types, with automated reminders to help boost attendance. Its integration with a CRM allows easy collection of RSVPs from multiple sources, and real-time updates ensure your event data is current. These features make Solidarity Tech a versatile option for event management.
Recruiting dedicated volunteers is crucial for orchestrating a successful event. Depending on the event, crucial roles may include:
Leveraging Solidarity Tech for roles like phonebanking and textbanking can streamline the recruitment process, enabling organizers to reach out to a broad audience with personalized messages, making these roles even more effective. For expanding your volunteer team, consider reaching out to individuals who have previously contributed to or attended your past events. They already have a connection to your cause, may be more likely to commit their time again, and can be easily found in Solidarity Tech using User Filters.
Effective communication is the backbone of ensuring your event is properly attended, and automations play a crucial role in streamlining this process. By leveraging the right tools, event planners can ensure that attendees receive timely and relevant reminders, enhancing the overall experience and maximizing attendance. Automations not only simplify operations but also free up valuable time and resources, allowing organizers to focus on creating truly memorable events. Solidarity Tech's event management platform offers a comprehensive suite of automation features designed to optimize event communication:
Automated Reminders
Team Member Triggered Communications
Leveraging event automations is essential for efficient event management. With Solidarity Tech's platform, organizers can streamline communications, ensuring attendees are well-informed with automated reminders and team-triggered messages. This reduces manual tasks, allowing focus on enhancing attendee experiences.
By utilizing features like immediate email confirmations, day-before reminders, and day-of event texts, event planning becomes more manageable, ensuring high attendance and engagement. Automations not only save time but also ensure consistent, accurate communication, crucial for successful event execution.
Securing reliable commitments from supporters to attend events is a critical aspect of successful event promotion. Two powerful tools that organizers planning an event can leverage to achieve this are phonebanking and textbanking. These methods not only facilitate direct communication with supporters but also provide an opportunity to solidify initial commitments and ensure active participation.
Phonebanking allows Team Members to streamline the process of calling a targeted list of supporters. Solidarity Tech's platform offers three distinct types of phonebanks:
Through phonebanking, event planners can efficiently reach out to supporters, gather valuable feedback, and secure commitments to attend events. The personal touch of a phone call can be instrumental in shoring up initial commitments and addressing any concerns or questions supporters may have.
Textbanking enables Team Members to send personalized text messages to supporters and field their replies. This method is particularly effective when the message includes a direct question, and a group of Team Members is responsible for engaging with supporters and responding to their replies.With Solidarity Tech's platform, initial textbank messages can be sent by Team Members with a single tap, and the workflow is a two-step process: sending the initial message and fielding the replies.
This efficient communication channel allows event organizers to reach a large number of supporters quickly and engage in meaningful conversations to solidify their commitments.
By leveraging the power of phonebanking and textbanking, event organizers can effectively engage and mobilize their supporters, ensuring that they are committed to attending events and actively participating in them. This not only increases the overall success of the event but also fosters a stronger sense of community and engagement among attendees, ultimately contributing to the overall impact of the event.
When organizing public actions where media attention is desired, a well-planned media strategy is crucial. This section is specifically relevant for events aimed at garnering media coverage and amplifying your message.
One key consideration is timing. It's advisable to request media outlets to arrive at least 30 minutes after the scheduled start time for attendees. This buffer period allows time for attendees to trickle in, creating a more visually impactful scene for media coverage.
Proactive media outreach is essential to ensure media presence at your event. This is typically handled by a dedicated media team, who are responsible for reaching out to relevant media outlets and providing them with the necessary details and talking points.
Training media contact volunteers is another critical aspect of your press strategy. These volunteers serve as the face of your organization, interacting with members of the press and ensuring that your organization's talking points are consistently communicated. Regardless of the questions posed, these trained volunteers must skillfully steer the conversation back to your core messaging.
Effective media strategy involves striking a balance between providing compelling visuals and maintaining control over the narrative. By carefully orchestrating the timing of media arrivals, conducting targeted outreach, and thoroughly preparing media contact volunteers, you can increase the chances of garnering favorable coverage that aligns with your organization's goals and amplifies your message to a wider audience.
Ensuring a smooth event day hinges on effective coordination of various logistical elements. A well-organized sign-in process is crucial, with designated volunteers staffing a check-in area to streamline attendee arrivals. Tools like Solidarity Tech's attendance tracking feature can simplify this by allowing volunteers to quickly check in attendees using their name or phone number, or add new attendees on the spot.
Beyond check-in, day-of logistics encompass tasks such as streaming setup, volunteer coordination, resource distribution (water, t-shirts, handouts), and venue setup. Assigning dedicated team members to oversee specific tasks and establishing clear protocols can help mitigate potential issues.
Effective communication among the event team is key. Conducting briefings and providing clear instructions to volunteers ensures everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, contributing to a seamless experience.
Meticulous planning and execution of day-of logistics create a welcoming and organized environment, allowing attendees to focus on the event itself and maximizing their engagement and satisfaction.
After the event, it's essential to take the time to debrief and reflect on the experience. This process not only allows for identifying areas of improvement but also presents an opportunity to strengthen relationships and cultivate leadership within your organization.
If the event was a public action, consider organizing a post-event meal with your core crew and any new attendees. This casual setting provides a chance to get to know individuals you may have previously only interacted with digitally, fostering deeper connections and building a sense of community.
For invite-only events, a post-event gathering allows for more in-depth face-to-face conversations, enabling you to connect with attendees on a more personal level than digital or phone interactions permit. These meaningful interactions can help strengthen existing relationships and lay the foundation for future collaborations.
Additionally, it's crucial to debrief with your core team, discussing what went well and what could have been improved. This open and honest dialogue not only identifies areas for growth but also celebrates successes, reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement and shared learning.
The post-event debriefing process is not just about logistics; it's about nurturing relationships, cultivating leadership, and fostering a sense of community within your organization. By creating spaces for genuine connection and constructive feedback, you can build a stronger, more cohesive team that is better equipped to tackle future challenges and achieve greater impact.
Accurate attendance tracking is crucial for a growing organization, as it provides valuable insights and opportunities for follow-up engagement. Solidarity Tech's event platform offers a comprehensive attendance management system that streamlines the process of capturing and utilizing attendance data.
During the event, designated volunteers can efficiently check in attendees using the attendance tracking feature. By simply searching for an attendee's name or phone number, volunteers can mark their attendance with a few taps. If an attendee is not already in the system, volunteers can quickly add them, ensuring a complete and up-to-date attendance record.
The true power of attendance data lies in its ability to inform future outreach and engagement strategies. With Solidarity Tech's filtering capabilities, organizers can segment attendees based on various criteria, such as event type, location, or demographic information. This allows for targeted follow-up communications, tailored to the specific interests and needs of different attendee groups.
For instance, organizers can create a filter to identify first-time attendees and send them a personalized thank-you message, encouraging further involvement. Alternatively, they can filter for attendees who have participated in multiple events and offer them opportunities for deeper engagement, such as volunteering or leadership roles.
By leveraging attendance data effectively, event organizers can foster stronger connections with their supporters, nurture long-term relationships, and ultimately drive greater impact for their cause. Solidarity Tech's attendance management tools provide a streamlined and data-driven approach to attendance tracking & event data, empowering organizers to turn attendance data into actionable insights and meaningful follow-up strategies.
Once your public event is complete and you've added attendance, consider sharing event highlights and media coverage with your supporters. One way to do this is creating a blog post in Solidarity Tech and sharing that via social media. You may also want to just compile a set of photos and press coverage and send an email recap to all supporters or attendees.
Organizing a successful event requires meticulous planning, effective communication, and a dedicated team. This guide has equipped you with the foundational knowledge to navigate the event planning process from conception to execution. By following these steps and best practices, you can ensure a smooth and impactful event that achieves your desired outcomes.
Remember, the key to putting together a successful gather is understanding your audience and tailoring your approach accordingly. Clearly define your event goals, target the right people, and craft a message that resonates with their interests.
Solidarity Tech provides a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline the entire event organization process, with accounts starting at $29 per month. Consider these features to enhance your event experience:
Solidarity Tech offers a powerful solution for organizations of all sizes. Contact us today to learn more about our affordable pricing plans and how we can help you make your next event a success!
In conclusion, with careful planning, effective communication, and the right tools at your disposal, you can organize an event that leaves a lasting impression and achieves your goals. Consider Solidarity Tech as a valuable partner, providing the resources and support you need to streamline your event planning process and maximize your impact.
