Below are some factors that you should consider when planning your event (not all items may be applicable):
Event Planning Checklist
Planning Meetings
- Dates of planning team meetings
- Date of event
- Distribution of tasks
- Planning team phone numbers
Site of Event
- Location
- Contact person & phone number
- Cost
- Insurance
- Map
- Travel directions
- Cleanup
- Food service
- Publicity
- Site visit
Site Visit
- Parking areas
- Parking guides
- Reserved parking
- Security
- Security guards
Signs
- Outdoor signs needed
- Indoor signs needed
- Amplification system
- Audiovisual equipment
- Videotaping
- First Aid / Doctor on call?
- Phones
- Information desk
- Handicapped access
- Restrooms
- Water fountains
- Procedure for communicating emergency
- messages
Registration area
- Tables & chairs
- Easel / bulletin board for poster
- Display table
- Wastebasket
- Workshop area
- Number of rooms and how equipped
- Dining area
- Arrangement & amount of seating
- Collecting meal tickets
- Billing process
- What if rain? (impact?)
Food Service
- Number to be served
- One or more seatings
- Date to give guaranteed number
- Date number can be increased and by how many
- Meal tickets
- Menu
- Cost and billing process
- Adults to oversee
Budget
- Costs
- Registration fee and deadline
- Early-bird registration? Deadline?
- Receipts for purchases
- Paying bills
- Deposits
- Refunds
Publicity
- Logo design
- Flier design
- Poster design
- Event on church website
- Registration form design (avail. on website?)
- Mailing lists
- Social media announcements: Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok etc.
- Radio & TV announcements
- School announcements
- Letters and fliers
- Calendar-of-events announcement.
- Newsletter announcement.
- Bulletin announcement
- Meeting at which to publicize event
- Contact for videotaping
- Background on keynote presenter and camera-ready
- photos
Program
- Schedule
- Program booklet design
- Request copyright permissions
- Workshop descriptions
- Number of copies needed
- Welcome remarks
- Announcements
- Communicate with sound and video systems personnel
- Seat reserved signs
- Opening prayer
- Special guests
- Persons to be invited
- Meal tickets
- Invitation? (who gives it?)
- Follow-up cards for prospects, take-home tracts, etc.
Keynote Presenter
- Cost
- Travel arrangements
- Ground transportation
- Accommodations and meals
- Introduction
- Videotaping
- Amplification system
- Person to assist presenter
- Confirmation letter, event schedule, travel directions
- Introduction of speaker
Supplies
- Souvenir items
- Name tags / lanyards (event schedule printed on
- backside)
- Meal tickets
- Ushers’ badges
- Pencils, pens, paper
- Extra information / booklets for adult leaders
Workshops
- Presenters
- Confirmation letter & travel directions
- Biographical and A/V form
- Meal tickets
- Descriptions for program booklet
- Introductions of presenters
- Product table (CD’s, books, etc.)
- Diagram layout of rooms
- Number of seats needed in each
- A/V equipment
- Workshops assigned to rooms
- Room signs
- Poster diagram of workshop rooms’ locations
- Hall monitors
- Person to verify room setups
Registration
- Location for students to register
- Mail-out with brochure re: event, registration card for
- event included
- Pre-registration deadline (consider food service)
- Registration process
- Assignment. of participants to workshops
- Registration desk staffing
- Supervise registration process
- Registration desk
- Lists
- Alphabetized list to identify workshop locations
- Emergency phone numbers
- Alphabetical boxes of registrants’ program booklets/
- name tags / meal tickets; A-F; G-M; N-Z
- Program booklets / name tag /meal tickets for staff,
- presenters, special guests
- Marking pens, masking tape, petty cash, cash box
- First-aid kit
- Ushers’ badges
- Blank registration forms for at-the-door registrations
- Items for display table
Follow-Up
- Thank you letters
- Youth volunteers
- Adult volunteers
- Presenters
- Contact persons
- Honorarium checks / travel expense checks
- Financial report of income and expenses
- Statistical report
- Evaluation
- By staff and volunteers
- By youth group members (have students evaluate at last
- workshop session?)