Event Planning Guide

  1. Hosting Guidelines –  begin 4 – 8 months in advance of program
    2. If this is an EW Chicago event, tell the PI we will pay up to $300 travel expenses and $150 honorarium.  Once the event is committed, you may pay the travel expenses ahead. Plan to pay the honorarium after the event.
    Try to have a reasonable cushion of time for the PI to arrive before the event if flying in, at least 6 hours so you have a 4 hour cushion.  Arrival the day before is wonderful.
    If this is an event hosted and sponsored by another organization then they are responsible for negotiating and paying travel expenses and honorarium.  Tell them our guidelines, but make sure they communicate directly with the PI.
    If the PI is staying with a friend in Chicago , offer transportation to/from the airport and to/from the event as appropriate.
    We offer to host the PI in a team member’s home.  The host is then responsible for arranging pickup at the airport and hosting them in their home.  EW Chicago does not pay for additional expenses, but the expenses incurred can be deducted as charitable donation expenses.  (See your tax advisor).  The default is the Coordinator of the Field Rep team does this, the coordinator of the event has second priority, but anyone on the team or anyone for that matter can be the host, and others may help with transportation, especially to/from the airport.
    Often we have a small dinner/lunch for other team members, PTMs, and friends.
    Often we are able to take the PI for Chicago sightseeing, or to visit scientific peers at The Field Museum, Brookfield Zoo, or Lincoln Park Zoo.
    Have a good time.
  1. Restaurant Planning and setup – If it is a PI event, do the date planning in conjunction with the PI
    2. Weekend dinners or Sunday brunches work out best.  Sunday evening is easier to get a restaurant than Saturday.  We haven’t done Friday in a long time, it seems too hard for people to get to an event on Friday evening.
    We recently switched to starting Sat. and Sunday evening programs at 5:30PM so that serving can start by 6PM, and the talk by 8PM and over by 9PM. 
    Know if any minimum is required, and what the maximum capacity is.  We like to have the minimum no more than 25 or 30, and we need a capacity of 60.  Our usual attendance is about 50.
    Know total cost, including extras, taxes, tips
    Get tax free if possible by using the tax-exempt letter from EW HQ from IRS
    Know time we are allowed to setup and expected to be gone
    Arrange for a cash bar, if not allowed, request that no extra beverages be served.  Ask people to go to the bar to get extra beverages.
    When is final count and menu choice needed?
    Know who your contact is
    Is the room private?  Is there room for posters or slide show set up as appropriate?
    Parking - know options and cost
    Figure out cost by working with Mary and/or Rick.  We usually do cost (remember to include meal for PI, air fare up to $300 and honorarium up to $150. We are trying to keep the cost down by figuring on the expected number - 50, but not more than the max obviously. For pre-pay events, our pricing policy is to charge $5 more for reservations paid at the event.  We also allow cancellations without penalty up to the time we can reasonably expect to be able to let the restaurant know of a change in reservation without penalty to us.
    Let the post card person (currently Mary) and website person (currently Bruce) know the details, including location, RSVP deadline, cost and reservation procedure (if any), speaker(s), parking, project names and link (if known).
    Reconfirm the reservation and price about 1 week before the event.
  1. Arranging for volunteers or PI -
    2. This needs to be done with a very long lead time, so be aware that the volunteers and even PIs will need to be reminded, and may have conflicts that cause a change in their plans.
    Get name, phone (work and home), and e-mail, if possible.  Get what expedition they will be presenting, the location,  and the PI name.
    Let them know the reduced cost (if applicable).
    Let them know the format and guidelines.  For posters, the posters are 40  by 30, and fit no more than thirty with twenty being a nice number for an uncrowded looking board.  We prepare a title header for them with the Expedition name for them.  We provide the poster board, the sticky stuff to attach the photos.  They need to get to the event 30 minutes ahead of the starting time to allow time to prepare the poster.  They can bring other artifacts, etc. for showing or putting on the poster.  They will have informal discussions with people viewing the poster, and will need to be able to explain briefly what the project objectives were, and what they did on the project.
    For slide presentations, see the Volunteer Speaker Guidelines.  It may be easiest to just email them this information.
    Remind volunteers 1 - 2 weeks ahead of the event.  Try to get a response back that they got the reminder and do plan to attend
    For PIs: find out what audio-visual equipment they need.  We have a big screen and Kodak Carousel slide projector.  If Power Point is needed, Kendall College rents us theirs for $50, but otherwise, it is prohibitive at most venues to rent a power point projector.  So the PI needs to bring one from their own institution. Katie Lennox has been able to borrow one from work on several occasions.  We also have a microphone speaker set-up we can bring if permitted and needed.
    For PIs: tell them the time allotted, usually 45 – 50 minutes, with 10 minutes allotted for questions and that you will signal them when the time is up, and let the audience know when there is time for “1 more question”.  They usually don’t need much guidance, obviously we are looking for objectives, results, and “pretty pictures”, but it can help to request that they show volunteers participating and what volunteers do on their project and where they stay.  
    Text for poster presenters Text 
  1. Getting the Notice out – get information to Mary for the notice.

·         Decide on pricing.  Work with the treasurer to decide on pricing.  We usually have 50 attendees, and our goal is to break even most of the time.  Be sure to include tip, and if they can’t accept our federal tax-exempt letter, include the appropriate tax as well. We also like nice even charges, so we round up or down to keep it simple.

·         We encourage people to pay by check before the event. Set a deadline that you need to have reservations and money.  We have been quite successful with an extra $5 charge for payment at the door.

·         If email notices only, then the first notice is usually 6-8 weeks out, and a reminder is sent about 1 week before the reservation deadline.  If we have information before this, we put it on the web page and include it in earlier mailings to “save the date”.

·         If there will be a postcard mailing, then information is needed about 12 weeks out. This can sometimes be compressed a little, but it needs to be in the mail 7 weeks before the event.

·         - 12 weeks – information to Mary to create postcard and reminder to get spreadsheet for labels.  Need to get e-mails into the mailing list and create member address labels.

·         - 11 weeks – draft of postcard

·         - 10 weeks – post card to printers

·         - 8 weeks – postcard party to put on labels.

·         - 7 weeks – mailing out, bulk mail can take 3-4 weeks.

·        American Speedy Printing Centers , 778 Burr Oak Drive , Westmont , IL 60559 . My contact is Bill Brown on 630-920-8666. It is located just off Cass Avenue slightly north of Ogden . Take Ogden to Cass and turn left. Take the first street beyond the shopping center (I forget the name). Then take a left at the first opportunity. The printer is in the second bay of offices on the left. Bill has a folder on Earthwatch and knows what size and color to use. He also already has the address side of the card with the logo on it. So all you need to bring him is the content for the card and the number of cards you want. They need .25 inch border on each side. You can use the last card we sent out to determine the size of the margins that you need to leave. If you don't have enough margin, he will just reduce the whole text, but we don't want that because it will be too small. I don't go lower than 9 point type for the detailed info -- I'd like to stay above that if possible, but it depends on how much text we need.  

  1. Taking reservations
    2. Get name, phone number, and e-mail, if any, except for "regulars".  Since we usually make name tags, you want to get the correct first and last names for all the people who will be attending.
    Get checks made to you and mailed in time to have them for the event
    Remember we usually give a reduced price to presenters, usually just the cost without any extras added in.
    Wait to cash the checks until after the event, if the restaurant doesn ' t charge for no shows, you can tear up the check and let the person know.
    It is recommended that you use a spread sheet, if you want an example sent, I will send you one (Mary)
    You may charge the event (and deposit if required) to your credit card if the restaurant allows.  If you need to do a deposit, you can get reimbursed from the treasury and then be sure that is included in the final bill and in the accounting you give to the treasurer.
    Before the event - Make name tags and/or menu selection tokens to help keep track of attendees.  Mark or keep separate tags for those who still need to pay money
    Give regular updates to the team about the attendance and if we need to be rounding up friends or if the event is full.  3 days before the deadline, let Mary (e-mail list holder) know if an extra reminder should be sent in order to fill the event.
  1. At the Event
    2. Bring the attendee list so you can check off attendees or track no shows.
    Look at the check list to see that everything that is needed will be brought
    Interface with your contact or lead wait person to see that numbers, menu, and prices etc. are all understood before the meal starts.
    Help with posters or see that other FRT members are able to help.
    Be sure that all know that there is a cash bar only, o that they know to go to the bar to get beverages.
  1. After the event
    2. Cash the checks (except for no shows, unless we had to be charged for them, or for some other reason have a loss on the event).
    Calculate the overall finances for the event, if you have the information (honorarium, travel expenses, wine, misc. expenses)
    Calculate the net to (or from) the treasury for the event.  This is the difference between what you collected and what you paid out.
    Report the overall financial results and the net to/from the treasury.  If there is a net from you to the treasurer, send a check to the treasurer.  (If due to you, request a check)
    Send a thank you to the speakers or poster presenters.
Make suggestions for changes to this list or the event check list to improve the communications and/or process