Board Blog: So you want to plan an event?

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Amanda Reesman, CBI Student Representative

A lot of people including myself get overwhelmed by the idea of a big campaign. Two years ago I was given the job of Promotions Director at WMUL FM; my first big task was to plan Hair from the Herd. Hair from the Herd is a Locks of Love donation we do every year. My first year was a major learning experience and I want to share what I was taught from then to now.R.A.C.E. is the bread and butter of any public relations campaign. R stands for research, A is for action, C is communication, and E is evaluation.

Research – You need to have an idea of what will work and what makes sense. So you need to figure out things like…

1) Cost – let’s face it in a perfect world this wouldn’t matter but in the real world it does. Sometimes we have a budget; other times we don’t. If you have no money that means you have to be creative. You may have to come up with smaller ideas to help raise money; things like a bake sale or March Madness brackets would help you come up with money. Another way to get money to fund your campaign would be sponsorships. If your event is for a nonprofit, companies may receive certain tax breaks. You need to talk with the nonprofit you are working with to see exactly how they do this. Some have the money go straight to their account and you have no access to it. A smaller local nonprofit may agree to give you the money to help with the event after it is has been donated to them if you solicit the donation.

2) Who is your target audience – you should cater to the group of people you want to attract. If you want to collect $10,000, like we do in my campaign class, you wouldn’t be targeting students. However, “Hair from the Herd”, where our main goal is collecting hair for “Locks of Love”, students are a pretty good target audience. A good way to break down audience is by age: Baby Boomers, Gen X-ers, Millennial’s. Most schools also have demographics of the student body listed, like number of students who live on campus and where they are from.

Action – So you know what you want to do and you have a target audience. Now it’s time to put your research into Action and find the plan that best fits what you want to do. You’ll need to figure things out some basic things…

1) Location – where is your event going to be? Not all locations are free and sometimes places are willing to help out student groups. Also, your school may have locations that are free for students to rent. For example, Marshall University has several rooms that students may rent at no cost or reservation fee. Be sure to do your research into what place best fits your needs. Another issue is some venues require you to use a caterer from their preselected list, even if you find a business to donate food for the event.

2) Setting a reasonable goal – After you research your target audience and determine an estimated total cost of the event, you must set a reasonable goal. So, if you are targeting students to raise money, a reasonable goal, depending on your school, may be $500. However, if you are targeting Baby Boomers, your goal may be closer to $10,000.

3) Approval – Make sure you get your event approved. If you are holding the event on campus, they may have rules that you must follow when fundraising. Always research fundraising policies and complete the paperwork to make sure your event is legal! For example, “Locks of Love” has a form to make an event an official “Locks of Love” sponsored event.

Communication – You must promote your event: if no one knows, no one can attend! Media attention is key to a successful event. Here is a basic break down of what I use.

• Two Months before
  • Hang Flyers
  • Send out a press release that states the who, what, when, where, and why of the event
  • Social Media announcements (Twitter, Facebook)
  • If you are getting shirt or something else made, get it ordered now.

• One Month before
  • If you have a production staff, make an in-house promo to run on your station.

• Two Weeks
  • Re-send the press release that says the event is happening.
  • If you have the ability to do remote broadcast, decide if this is something you would like to do.

• One Week
  • Rewrite a new press release about the event.
  • Make new posters to hang around campus
  • Make poster to hang at the event- I like to paint them with my staff; they tend to have fun doing it.

• Night before the Event
  • Send out a Press Release saying it is tomorrow!

• Day of the Event
  • Be ready for interviews! Have a point person to do all the interviews so you get the message you want across to the media.

Evaluation – How did the event do? Did the media cover it? Did you meet your goal? Figure out how the event did and what needs changed for next time — and if there will be a next time.

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