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+---
+title: "How to Plan a Successful Event"
+date: 2021-12-10
+draft: true
+---
+
+Note: This is not meant to serve as a definitive "how to plan" guide. This is
+tips that I have collected on both sides of event planning - that of an event
+team member, and that as a service provider and volunteer.
+
+Over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to plan and service quite a
+few events, including large multi-day events for a multitude of organizations.
+Most recently, that took the form of the 2021 WAVE[^1] VEX Robotics Signature Event.
+For that event, I was a sound crew chief for LNL[^2]. Since arriving at WPI, I
+have also been a crew chief for several events totalling hundreds of hours of
+work, not including preparation.
+
+In November 2019, I also had the chance to plan a FIRST Lego League qualifying
+event. As a member of the event core team for that tournament, I was in charge
+of the technical production including scoring and A/V. Here are some steps to
+take as you go through thinking about your event and how you interact with your
+service providers.
+
+## TL;DR
+Write down *everything*. Even if you think it's not important. Make sure that
+more people than you have access to it. Give as much detail as you can to your
+service providers.
+
+## First Steps: Pre-planning (T-3 months)
+The absolute first thing you should do is write down what your event will be at
+a top level, something like "Winter Formal". Then, write down *why*. This
+doesn't have to be anything complicated or more than a few sentences, but even
+saying "to give students a celebration before finals and relieve stress" goes a
+long way. This will set the tone and mood for your event, so it's okay to take a
+little bit to get it right.
+
+## Next: Planning and Preparation (T-2 to 1 month)
+The second step you should take is to start deciding on some specifics. Pick a
+venue and a date if you can. If you're waiting on a date, you can start to look
+at venues, but don't let yourself get too set on one in case your date doesn't
+work with it. As soon as you have a date and a venue, put in a reservation. Make
+sure you tell the person making your reservation everything they ask. If you
+don't know, make sure they know that you'll be changing your answer later on.
+
+Pick one or two people to serve as the point(s) of contact with the reservation
+manager and any service providers. Make sure that all communication flows
+through them. I can't tell you how many times I've receive conflicting
+information because the planning team all emailed different documents. It's so
+much easier to just have one or two people giving the same information.
+
+Then, nail down what's going to happen at the event. You've got your theme, what
+would go well with it? For each part, figure out:
+- Why it's being included
+- If it needs any special materials or equipment
+	- If it does, who will be providing it?
+- Who will be in charge of making sure it happens
+
+Try not to overload yourself or your team with too many separate parts. Try to
+keep the total number of components to around 2 per planning team member. Any
+more and you might get burned out teammates.
+
+Your event should have a way for all volunteers to see the status of tasks
+across the whole event and filter to certain parts. As tasks are completed, the
+task owner should update the status and close it out. You can use a Trello
+board, a spreadsheet, or anything else that might help you keep track of
+everything.
+
+This is the proper time to reach out to any service providers you may need. If
+you need lighting or sound, figure out a good company or other organization that
+will be able to provide those for you. If your venue needs a custodial fee or
+contract, make sure that's budgeted for.
+
+## Almost done! Final plans and promotion (T-1 month to 2 weeks)
+By this time, you should be starting your promotion of the event. Make a poster
+and put it up everywhere you can. Try and get your event onto weekly event
+emails. Get people to know about your event well enough in advance that they can
+generally avoid conflicts.
+
+At this point (generally about 2 weeks before the event starts) be sure to
+confirm with your service providers that they know about and are willing to take
+care of your event. Run checkins with your teammates about their components and
+ensure that everything's going according to schedule. Get a list of materials
+from them for each component and purchase those. Double-check the task list and
+make sure you haven't forgotten anything.
+
+## Run the event (T-0)
+Weeks and months of planning have hopefully turned into an actual event for you
+and your participants to enjoy. If you don't have a job during the event itself,
+sit back and let the people who do have a job work. Make sure to be on-call for
+any issues, especially if you're in charge of an important component.
+
+During the event, keep a running log of issues and successes. Anything that goes
+wrong or really well should be noted down for the next step.
+
+## Aftermath & Post-Mortem (T+3 days)
+No more than 3 days after the end of your event, when the dust has settled a
+little bit, gather your planning team again. Go through your lists of roses
+(successes) first, and then your thorns (challenges) second. Compile all of them
+into a post-mortem and share it with the entire team. Keep it around, so that
+future teams can have a reference.
+
+[^1]: WPI Annual VEX Event
+[^2]: Lens and Lights - a WPI club providing lighting, sound, and projection
+services to the WPI community