Coordinating an off-site event: pre-event

Well, I'm back from being out of town coordinating a conference in Hawaii. Rough life, I know.

It was quite an interesting experience because, due to limited finances, I was not able to go check out the site or meet with people face to face. I pretty much did everything I recommend event planners not to do . . . didn't look at the site beforehand, didn't know who the volunteers would be, didn't know who the leaders were, and scrambled and made everything up on the fly.

It's situations like these where planning skills are put to test. Although circumstances outside of my control prevented me from being able to meet and see things onsite before hand, there were plenty of things to do in advance to keep things flowing smoothly once we got there. So here are some tips for coordinating off site to make your job easier!

Visit the site
It's a top priority to visit the site. In my case, due to limited finances in travel, I was not able to fly over to the site and visit it and had to go with photos, verbal descriptions, and totally winging it when I arrived!

If you are able to visit, go through the rooms and sketch a floor plan, noting electrical outlets, light switches, blank walls, windows, and obstructions to the line of sight (such as pillars). Bring a camera to take pictures - a video camera is a great tool for an accurate view of the room to show other team members.

Communicate via clear documentation
When you are long distance, making verbal arrangements is a good starting point but don't end there. Put everything down on paper or email as a confirmation. Send documentation over, such as:
• Travel information (who arrives when)
• Contact information (cell phone numbers of important team members)
• Schedule - setup, meetings, and events
• Site needs - what you need the site to provide, such as setup, supplies, staffing
• Volunteer needs - job descriptions, number of volunteers and times they need to be available. You will need a local volunteer coordinator to gather the volunteers for you.
• Financial arrangements - who pays for what, how it is paid, what is authorized
• Housing - where your team will be staying

Put together a comprehensive packing list
Start making your packing list in advance and decide who is bringing what. This includes arrangements of getting things from your office to your team members' suitcases and figuring out what stays at the site (and is given away or tossed) and what needs to be brought back home. If you have enough advance notice, try to ship as much as you can, particularly books that can be shipped media mail, which is a lot less cost than bringing extra baggage on the plane!

Plan for two shopping days
Plan for one full day of shopping for supplies, and a half day afterwards to return things or to divvy them up among people. Some things just won't get used and if you want to recover the finances in your budget, set aside some time to return those items.

Define clear job descriptions and responsibilities
Have a meeting of team members and assign jobs to each person. Communicate when each person is expected to arrive each day, what they will be doing, and when they can leave. Talk about how to communicate with each other and how decisions will be made. Some of the important job roles to consider are:
• Director - the person in charge of everything
• Logistics Coordinator - handles everything going on outside of the program (could be handled by the Director if the Director is not involved in the actual program, such as emceeing)
• Program Director (also called the Producer)- handles everything involved in the program, coordinating speakers, entertainers, emcees, tech, and creative elements
• Tech director - oversees tech crew, including sound, lighting, video and PowerPoint
• General Gofer/Runner/Floater - helps out where needed. This person is invaluable! Be sure they can drive in case they need to go run errands.

Other people helpful to have at the event (these can be jobs rolled into another job description because they are more of a part-time role):
• Front of House Manager - oversees the ushers, greeters, is aware of environmental concerns such as temperature, lighting, traffic flow and other issues involving what the audience experiences.
• Food Coordinator - oversees food-related arrangements. if meals or snacks are a large part of your event, have a specified person overseeing this. Otherwise you can delegate it to the Logistics Coordinator who can oversee a leader handling food.
• Registration/tickets - checks people in as they arrive, oversees ticket or registration sales and distribution. This can also be delegated to the Logistics Coordinator.
• Admin/computer person - last minute issues will come up that may need revisions to schedules, printing out new sign-up lists or signage, and other computer-related activities. It's a big help to have someone who is fluid in computer activities.
• Finance Coordinator - provides petty cash, oversees tracking and recording of finances, figures out what to do with the money afterwards, has procedures set up for cash, checks, and credit cards, oversees volunteers handling finances.
• Resource Area Coordinator - oversees volunteers handling sales of merchandise and resources.

Clarify travel arrangements
Let people know when they are going, how they are getting there and what they will be reimbursed (for expenses). If you are renting a few vans and carpooling, let people know what pickup and dropoff times will be so there is less chaos once you get there.

In short, the more work you can do from your office in advance, the less stress you will have once you arrive on site. The nature of events is for the unexpected to happen, so plan for what you expect and then be prepared to be flexible.