Aau Event Planning Checklist printable pdf download

EVENT PLANNING CHECKLIST

Your event format, location, audience makeup and size, number of speakers, and other factors will

affect your time line and the number of committees and partners that you will need.

GETTING STARTED

Appoint an event manager and a planning team.



Put together a team of interested AAUW members and coalition partners to help decide

details and share the workload. The event manager will be the key motivator and

strategist for the event. Depending upon the complexity of the event, consider

appointing committees for programming, coalition outreach, community and media

promotion, registration, and refreshments.

Recruit coalition partners.



Invite diverse groups in your community to co-sponsor the event. Be sure to include

organizations that share similar concerns including the following, depending upon the

topic of your event: women’s organizations, local university or college women’s studies

classes, teachers’ organizations or unions, political organizations, or student

organizations.

Decide on a format and agenda.



Determine whether your event will be a briefing, panel discussion, workshop, debate, or

some other format. Be sure that your format will achieve your goals and accommodate

the number of people that you would like to attend.

Decide on an audience.



Determine who and estimate how many people will attend the event. For budgetary

and staffing reasons, you may wish to limit the enrollment. Everything about the event,

including the issues, co-sponsoring organizations, speakers, location, date, and time,

should be designed with the audience in mind. The expected number of attendees also

determines the budget, staffing, location, handouts, equipment, supplies, and the like.

Develop a budget.



While events can be held for little expense, you may incur costs for the location,

speakers’ fees, printed handouts, refreshments, advertising, and postage for visibility

and follow-up letters. In-kind contributions and donations from co-sponsors and other

organizations are good ways to stretch your resources. Decide if you will need to charge

a fee for this event. If you do, consider how much your target audience can afford and

charge accordingly.

Aau Event Planning Checklist