Planning a successful event

Consider organizing the event in cooperation with the students’ association, the administration, and other campus groups and unions. If practical, work with other faculty associations in your area. This will allow the work of organizing the event to be shared more broadly and provide a larger pool of potential event attendees.

In person:

  • Choose a venue that is accessible to people from the university and the community. Public parking should be nearby, public transit should be available, and the venue should be equipped to accommodate people with disabilities.
  • Make sure you are following health and safety guidelines for your region and that you are clearly communicating these precautions to attendees.
  • Book a room early. Choose a space that you can fill with people. You will have a much more energetic and lively event if the room is filled to capacity. Arrange for refreshments if possible.
  • If the room is relatively large, or has poor acoustics, make sure that you arrange for microphones, a sound system, and a technician to operate the system. You may wish to set up a podium for candidates to use.
  • Have the faculty association president welcome everyone with opening remarks.

Online:

  • When creating the online event, be sure to include a registration link so you can get a sense of attendance and use that list to follow up with attendees afterwards.
  • Accessibility: Virtual meeting platforms, like Zoom, often have closed captioning options that can make you event more accessible. The transcript can also be saved which makes it easy to pull quotes for your news release. Taking a few minutes at the beginning of the event to walk attendees through the raise hand, how to ask for help in the chat, and the un/mute functions will make sure everyone can participate.
  • Have two moderators, one for the chat who can pass questions along to the speakers, and one who is posing questions and inviting participants to ask questions.
  • Make sure to take a photo of everyone at the meeting for publicity afterwards.

Publicity:

  • A few days before the event, email a news release to all the local media outlets informing them of the details (see the communication guide for drafting a new release). Follow up with media on the day of the event. OCUFA staff can help you generate a list of media contacts for your region.
  • Contact faculty association members and other campus and community groups in your area.
  • Provide a media table for material to be handed out to media and attendees.
  • Assign people to meet and greet media.
  • Post the event to your website, include it in faculty email newsletters, and use social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) to publicize the event.

Follow up:

  • Send “Thank you” emails to any allies who attend.
  • Send out a follow-up media release about the event.