Successful Event Committee Structure and Resources

Other Sub Committees

Funding Sub-Committee

Identifying what you will need to support the goals and theme of your event is critical to the success of the event. Most organizations have an event budget from Educational Activities. Your event may need only this amount or you may identify the need for more money.

Here are some things to consider:

Your current budget is only a starting place
Other sources of funding are available if you are willing to do the work to get it
You can charge an admission fee to cover additional expenses for your event

The Chair of the Funding sub-committee should be the treasurer of your organization and is responsible for:

Advising the Event Committee and sub-committees on available funds and process
Creating a Funding Plan/Budget
Signing off on all funding plans in advance of any expenditure with the Event Chair
Setting time-line for purchases and paperwork submission for all committees
Creating Purchase Requests
Tracking all expenditures
Evaluating the Funding Plan
Thanking all of the participants

The Funding sub-committee is made up of the Event Chair, Sub-Committee Chairs, and the Organization Treasurer. They are responsible for:

Creating and agreeing on comprehensive funding plan inclusive of all the estimated expenses of the sub-committees
Determining how to solicit/raise additional funds if needed
Setting ticket cost and process
Reporting ticket information to Marketing sub-committee
Monitoring expenses in each sub-committee and reporting any overages or shortages

Decorating Sub-Committee

Decorations create the environment for the event. The environment can convey culture, mood, or an attitude, and is instrumental in meeting goals and communicating the theme. Table center- pieces, serving line set-up, back drops and stage decorations all add to the environment.

When determining the Decoration plan, these items should be taken into consideration:

Room Set-up
Stage Set-up
Food Area Set-up
Colors
Costumes
Lighting
Room capabilities and limitations

The Committee is responsible for:

Creating a Decorating Plan
Identifying needed supplies
Identifying where products can be purchased
Purchasing products
Making, building, creating decorations
Decorating
Clean-up after event
Securing reusable decorations

The Chair of the Decorations sub-committee is responsible for:

Convening a committee
Setting meeting times and agendas
Supporting the development of a Decorating plan
Communicating the Decorating plan to the Event Committee
Identifying needed human and monetary resources
Creating a planning and decorations time line
Assigning tasks to committee members
Communicating with the Facility
Schedule preparation and decorating times
Communicating the need of volunteers to Volunteer Committee Chair
Overseeing the prep and decorating
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Decorating plan
Thanking all of the participants

Volunteer Sub-Committee

Volunteers are critical to the success of an event. By supporting the work of the food, program, decorating and marketing sub-committees volunteers help complete the committee’s workforce.

Some things to consider:

Volunteers are future members and leaders
Volunteers expect to do things, let them
Communication is key to success

The Chair of the Volunteer sub-committee is responsible for:

Convening a committee
Setting meeting times and agendas
Supporting the volunteer needs of other sub-committees
Communicating the Volunteer plan to the Event Committee
Identifying needed human resources
Creating a volunteer committee time line
Assigning tasks to volunteers
Scheduling volunteer times
Confirming volunteer times with volunteers and committee chairs
Send a reminder the day prior to the scheduled activity
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Volunteer plan
Thanking all of the participants

The Committee may support:

Decorating
Set-up
Kitchen production
Serving
Venue clean up
Kitchen clean up
Booth staffing

Food Sub-Committee

Food has an international language of its own, an invaluable tool to meeting event goals, and is easily tied into any theme. Food can help convey culture and celebration, be a means for attracting participants or a way to provide sustenance. The food committee can choose to self-cater an event through the OSU Cultural Meal Support Program or hire an approved caterer. When determining how to move forward a food event consider these things:

The types of food desired, and a caterers ability to create authentic food
The groups ability to plan, produce and serve the meal
Theme and Goal of the organization and program
Skill level of committee members
Available funds
Available time before the event
Availability of raw food products

The Chair of the Food sub-committee is responsible for:

Convening a committee
Setting meeting times and agendas
Supporting the development of a Food plan; menu, recipes, production schedule, serving plan, clean up plan
Communicating the Food plan to the Event Committee
Identifying needed human and monetary resources
Creating a planning, production and serving time line
Assigning tasks to committee members
Communicating with Student Involvement or OSU Catering
Schedule production and serving times
Communicating the need of volunteers to Volunteer Committee Chair
Overseeing the production and serving of the food
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Food plan
Thanking all of the participants

The Committee is responsible for:

Creating a Food plan, that includes menu, recipes, production and serving plans
Developing grocery list or placing catering order
Grocery shopping
Production (prep, completion, packaging, transport)
Serving- set up, signage, training, portion control, serving
Serving area and kitchen clean-up

Marketing Sub-Committee

A well-developed Marketing plan will create a buzz about the event and your organization. The culture/environment of OSU, the history of the event, a small display in the Barometer and word of mouth will fill the seats. A good buzz will increase member moral, build membership and allow the OSU community to celebrate the work that you do.

When determining the Marketing Plan, these items should be taken into consideration:

Theme and Goal of the organization and program
Skill level of committee members
Available money
Available time before the event
Various Marketing techniques; print ads, flyers, posters, press releases, activities
Headline performers
History of the event

The Chair of the Marketing sub-committee is responsible for:

Convening a committee
Setting meeting times and agendas
Supporting the development of a Marketing plan
Communicating the Marketing plan to the Event committee
Identifying needed human and monetary resources
Creating a planning timeline
Assigning tasks to committee members
Proof-reading all materials with the Event Coordinator
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Marketing plan
Thanking all of the participants

The Committee is responsible for:

Creating a Marketing plan
Reserving bulletin boards, table tent locations
Creating flyers, posters, tickets
Writing press releases
Arranging for interviews by news reporters, prior to and day of event
Including ticket information on all advertising
Hanging posters on campus and the surrounding community
Documenting activities day of event

Publicity Tips for Marketing

It is impossible to have a successful program without an audience, and it is also impossible to have a successful organization without new members. Your advertising should get peoples attention, draw them in and keep their interest. There are a lot of ways to do that.

The best way to begin is to form a publicity committee or choose a publicity coordinator.

First, prepare a budget. How much money do you have to spend? Make sure you get estimates that are accurate as possible for all of your publicity needs. Don’t forget hidden costs like printing costs of flyers or mailing press releases. Once you have completed the budget and you have determined how you would like to spend your money, it is time to think about some more specifics.

Timing is everything. When you are working with radio, TV, newspapers or other publications, they will have deadlines that you need to follow. To display ads in newspapers, including the Barometer, usually you have a deadline of three or four days prior to the event. Make a calendar going backwards from your event date to determine when it would be best to start your media campaign.

Who is your audience? It is important to determine what populations will be most interested in your event and to target your advertising to those groups. If your target group is students your advertising will be very different than if you are targeting the community.

TYPES OF ADVERTISING

Word of Mouth- the cheapest and best form of advertising. Get the word out about your event. Talk to people. Do class raps (contact professors of large classes with subjects that might have an obvious audience and ask them if you can make an announcement in their class).
Display advertisements and posters/flyers- fun graphics and attractive presentation will attract people to read your posters and ads. Make sure you do not forget to include the basics. If you have a logo for your organization or for the event, be consistent and use it on all your display ads. Posters should be hung all around campus and in the windows of local businesses. It is important to ask permission of either the business owner, or someone in a campus building before you hang your poster or it may be removed.