The themes and topics of our EVENTS 101 education programs are reviewed and revised to ensure our teachings are consistent with current best practices. Our team integrates insights from academic learning, broad or exceptional changes in rules and regulations governing the events industry, and the hard-earned expertise of our in-house team of events professionals and our wider family of events consulting experts. Some of the themes and topics we typically offer through EVENTS 101 include:

Mission Success Through Events

  • Stakeholder Engagement Through Events
  • Mission-Focused Program Design

Volunteer Management

  • Volunteer Recruitment and Selection
  • Volunteer Training and Supervision
  • Volunteer Retention

Sponsorship and Fund Generation

  • Sponsorship Program Design
  • Sponsor Proposals and Negotiation
  • Non-Sponsor Fund Generation Strategies

Program and Operations Planning

  • Event Timelines
  • Contractor Relationship Management
  • Event Metrics: How, When, and Why to Measure Event Outcomes
  • Program Design and Implementation

Budget, Finance, and Administration

  • Event Budgeting
  • Cash Management and Finance for Events
  • Event Data Management
  • Understanding Contracts and Event Insurance

Marketing, Public Relations, and Client Engagement

  • Engagement with Program Attendees
  • Social Media for Events
  • Event PR Campaigns

Safety and Risk

  • Crowd Management
  • Emergency Plan Design and Implementation
  • Risk Management Planning: Identification, Assessment, and Mitigation

Interested in HOSTING or SPONSORING events training for your community?

AVAILABLE COURSE TOPICS

Below are examples of some of the many topics we’ve covered in EVENTS101 and other teaching sessions in the past. If there’s a topic you’re interested in but don’t see listed, there’s a good chance we’ve already taught it OR that we’d be happy to create the class for your organization.

Designing and Producing Effective Mission-Focused Events

Nobody produces events just for the sake of doing it. Understanding the true purpose of your events is like having the address for your GPS app and is a crucial first step. This session paints a big picture perspective for your events, helping you achieve your mission success and objectives.

Events as Engagement: Building Relationships with Members, Guests, and Other Stakeholders

Engagement is the secret sauce for your organization, the magical ingredient that gives you the ability to connect with your audience. In this session, we’ll share our Foundation Engagement Model, a proven set of simple to understand points you can easily adapt into your engagement planning.

A Road Map for Event Sponsorship Success

Events are an outstanding opportunity to engage your audience and generate revenue. Often, though, we don’t know where to start and don’t understand the true costs of fundraising.  This session provides a clear road map to follow, allowing you to maximize your resources in a vibrant and successful event sponsorship program.

CREATING AND IMPLEMENTING SUCCESSFUL EVENT MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

You could create the perfect event, but without the right marketing campaign, who will be there to enjoy it?  This session focuses on the opportunities and challenges of event marketing, and the strategies and tactics to be successful.

IS THERE A COURSE YOU’D LOVE TO ATTEND BUT DON’T SEE HERE?

The courses listed here are just a selection of the many topics we can (and have) taught in the past. But even if the course you want isn’t one we’ve taught in the past, we’re happy to consider developing a custom session to meet your team’s needs!

BUILDING EVENTS FROM THE GROUND UP

Confused about how great events ideas are born? This session will open your eyes to event visioneering and how to effectively match your mission and events concepts with the hard reality of budget limitations, staff bandwidth, venue accessibility, state and local laws, and more. Discover how to gain initial organizational and stakeholder buy-in, and how to effectively use event timelines in the event creation process.

UNDERSTANDING AND NEGOTIATING CONTRACTS

Contracts for events-related services can be quite different than the contracts you may see in the normal course of business. In addition to a review of general contract best practices, this session will help you understand how to review events-focused contracts and effectively write your own; how to develop Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from vendors and contractors; how to handle agreements with venues and performers; key negotiating tips; and in-class exercises to help you up your contracts game!

FINANCE AND CASH MANAGEMENT FOR EVENTS

Managing on-site financial issues can make or break your event. Should your event be all-cash, all-credit, or a mix of both? How will you build accountability in systems and staff to ensure cash and credit transactions are secure across your site, from admissions to stores, concessions, and more. How to plan and scale effectively for cash and credit processes and technologies, online and in-person ticket sales and admissions. How to partner with security and law enforcement to develop financial procedures to ensure all financial transactions are handled flawlessly, counted accurately, and transported securely to your bank.

DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING EVENT TIMELINES

Events are often complex, dynamic constructs with tasks and dependencies that evolve constantly throughout your production. Timelines are a critical tool for keeping everything under control, from the status of key contracts through marketing, permits, fundraising, and more. Students will learn an approach to timeline development that will help them successfully manage each phase of the event process, from development and pre-planning, through the production process, to event implementation and evaluation.

INTEGRATING BOARDS AND COMMITTEES IN EVENT DEVELOPMENT

Organizations often have board members, committees, and constituency groups who want or need a say in various stages of event production. The trouble is that these groups often lack event production experience, which can lead to disaster for your event, thanks to missed deadlines, impractical or bad ideas, endless second-guessing, or worse. Just like it’s easier to ask your builder to move a wall or add a bathroom to your new house before the walls have been built, it’s so much easier (and sometimes fun!) to work with your board and others if you know how to guide and optimize their input to maximum effect.

7 Steps to Successful Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Have you ever thought, “we can never find enough volunteers?”  You’re not alone, but the real issue is retention and relationship-building.   We’ll discuss volunteer motivations and how to cultivate their interest in your organization’s success.

EVALUATION TACTICS FOR EVENTS

The best event producers constantly chase efficiency. How to make more money? How to make production easier? How to engage more deeply with our guests? Planning to do better at events is an ongoing process that depends on gathering, analyzing, and understanding data from past events. This class provides a big-picture perspective of evaluation objectives and detailed instruction on methods to gain vitally-needed information for future use.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

Whether you’d like to improve an existing program or build a new event that effectively embraces your mission priorities, this class is for you! Students will be introduced to a guided toolset for evaluating and implementing programs and experiences that have mission focus, provide experiential opportunities for guests, and minimize resources needed for production.

CROWD MANAGEMENT AND SAFE GUEST EXPERIENCES

Trained Crowd Managers are generally required by state or local laws in proportion to the total number of guests on site at your events. While state requirements and certification programs vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, this course provides some fundamental insights into effective crowd management, including powerful behavioral tools for engaging with guests, how to lay out your event and schedule your programming to positively influence the flow of crowds, and much more.

SAFETY, EMERGENCY PLANNING, AND RISK MANAGEMENT

This session offers a guided how-to for the creation of an emergency plan (often required by state or local Fire Code), methods for mitigating risk in event production, and tips to provide a safe event environment.

BUDGETING FOR EVENTS

“But what’s it going to cost?” Whether you’re in a for-profit, nonprofit, or government agency role, this is a question we’ve all heard from our bosses when we pitch anything, including events. A solid budget not only helps you envision and track hard costs but also helps you understand how your budget – and ultimately your event – will fare based on dynamic changes in scalable costs, changes in attendance, and other factors.

Unlocking the Unknown: Answering Your Questions (Even If You Didn’t Know You Had Them!)

The greatest challenge to producing events is not that you don’t have all the answers.  It’s that sometimes you don’t know the questions.  This session is an open dialogue, allowing you to ask any questions you have that weren’t answered in our other sessions.  Part networking, part Q&A, and part wrap-up to our Events101 Workshop, we’ll help you unlock the answers to your event planning and production questions!

Schedule an EVENTS 101 Team Training for your organization today!