Task One: Research and Understanding

The Events Management Process

Example of an Events Management Hierarchal Structure

Example of a generic Events Management Checklist

Task Two: Applying My Knowledge

Example of Arley Hall Calendar of Events

These are my calendars that I wrote deadlines on at every meeting. This allowed us to stay on task and ensure we did not fall behind and did not forget any jobs that needed doing.
Each time a deadline was missed it had a knock on effect for other departments. Such as if the marketing team did not print tickets in time for when the tickets went on sale, there would be a delay in getting the tickets to those who booked them.

Example of Arley Hall teams minutes

Minutes were taken by the assistant events manager, Paul, during each meeting we had as a group. He would write down notes, referencing who said what and what matters were discussed on the whole. This was relevant because it ensured that we had evidence to look back at to determine where we were up to in relation to the planning process. It also meant we had in written form, what members of the teams had taken responsibility for, e.g. roles/tasks to complete and the deadline they had to reach. This was important because it ensured tasks were done by the people who said they would - people were true to their words.

Arley Hall Legal Documentation

 

 

 

 

 

Above are the Risk Assessments from Priestley College that Jordan PS wrote as the assistant events manager and also the Arley Hall risk assessment. We needed risk assessments because it was essential that we followed the law, in order to keep not just ourselves, but the audience and acts safe too. 
Hazards and risks are identified in this documentation to eliminate any potential accidents from occurring. It was our responsibility to minimise the risks as much as possible. 

Staffing and Resources lists for Arley

 

 

My specific job role within the Arley Hall event

My job role for A Classical Serenade at Arley Hall was the Events Manager. As the manager, I was responsible for chairing the meetings we had as a group, and controlling / managing timings (aka deadlines) for the entire event throughout the planning process. These meetings allow me to communicate with managers in other departments, such as the marketing, technical and Front of House managers.

 It was important that their developments as I was in charge of the over all running of the event and to ensure everything was cleared with Shelagh, at Arley Hall before we made any decisions for certain. An example of when this came about was when Gemma (FoH) wanted to cover Arley's car parking sign with our own for the evening. I was the point of contact to Shelagh on behalf of production arts, therefore I had to know what was going on so I could act professionally and be confident in what I was saying at all times. The meetings gave me and other members of the teams a chance to challenge or put across our views on a decision and to hear what their plans were and whether they were working to deadlines and they understood their job roles fully.

My other responsibilities were to create a risk assessment for our event at Arley Hall and to purchase any licences we may have needed. Lastly, my job role included being in charge of the overall budget, including that of each department. I had an income and expenditure spread sheet to manage this. 

Task 3: Practical Application

Arley Hall Reflective Evaluation

Evaluation:

Back in October 2013, we, Production Arts, were provided with a Client Brief for an event that we would be organising and running close to Christmas. The event was named ‘A Classical Serenade’ and I had been given the role of the Events Manager. As the manager, I was responsible for chairing the meetings we had as a group, and controlling / managing timings (aka deadlines) for the entire event throughout the planning process. My other responsibilities were to create a risk assessment for our event at Arley Hall and to purchase any licences we may have needed. Lastly, my job role included being in charge of the overall budget, including that of each department. I had an Income and expenditure spread sheet to manage this.

Our aim from the beginning was to raise £1,000 at this concert for children in orphanages and also families in Moldova. This is because for our Events Management Unit we will be hosting numerous events throughout the year, hopefully raising a total of £3,000 for Moldova. The money will be taken, by us, over to Moldova in July 2014. It was important that £1,000 at least was raised through the Classical Serenade. The Client Brief was as follows:

Charity Event
Concert
Monday 16th December
Arley Hall
Audience Capacity: 100
Title: A Classical Serenade
Concept: A professional and elegant evening that reflects the setting of the house with reference to the Christmas season. An intimate and welcoming environment for the audience.

I feel the planning process in general was executed well, however it could be improved. I was organised because I had a calendar on which I wrote in deadlines in every meeting we had. Problems arose however when deadlines were missed. For example the date for which the marketing posters should have been completed by was overdue by a week. This led to more complications because tickets could not be sold without people knowing about the event. I was fortunate enough to have support from my 2 assistants, Paul and Jordan P.S, who helped other teams complete their tasks in time. For example when Paul aided Matt (set designer) with the plans – this was helpful because I could not organise transport until I knew what set we needed to take with us.  Paul and I also helped the FoH team collect raffle prizes by asking a variety of shops in Stockton Heath Village for donations, a handful were very generous. I think it was worth stepping in because it ensured tasks were done and completed sooner rather than later and so deadlines were indeed met.

The technical team did well to meet deadlines. When we had a meeting on the day of a deadline, the lighting designer, Joel, had his plans drawn and knew what he was going to do, as I had asked. This meant his design was complete and ready weeks before the event. As for the sound, it was not set as a priority for the technical team, therefore was left until last. However mics for Mark (the performer) were arranged at the beginning of December, which was within plenty of time. On the other hand I asked for the Christmas songs that would be played during the interval to be put onto a CD by a certain date and it was not done because our sound designer did not here this job given to her. Next time we would double check that everyone understood their tasks that they had been given by getting them to write down so it is not forgotten about.  

As for marketing, a number of their deadlines were pushed back due to reliance on others (such as those in reprographics) who were kindly printing our posters, tickets, signs and programmes free of charge. I understood that a lot of hard work and time had to go in to every task they were set, therefore I tried spreading out their deadlines as much as possible. However this was not possible at all times because it was their responsibility to get A Classical Serenade recognised and sold. They did an excellent job of the designs because they looked professional, and a continuous theme ran throughout every piece of work.  

On the morning of the event, there was a lot still to do such as rolling scrolls (programmes), printing off a register with a chart explaining how each member of staff was getting there and home, codes of conducts had to be signed by everyone and Front of House needed to print off  a list of raffle prizes and a list of refreshments and prices for those also.

I also put together the checklist from all departments, include the management team. We should have realised just how important these lists were prior to leaving the college. Because it transpired when we arrived that some things were missing and several items had to be collected again, such as Box Office equipment for FoH, card for FoH and cables for the technical team.

An updated running order was also created that morning by me. Looking back I should have made it much more detailed as it was extremely general and did not contain all of the information that it should have done. For example, I did not schedule in a time that we would have a break; even though I knew it would be ‘roughly 5:00pm’ it needed to be written down.

Before arriving at Arley Hall / leaving Priestley, it had been decided that all staff involved would meet in P1.10 at 1pm, ready to leave at 1:15pm. A register was taken by Paul, who along with myself arranged who would be travelling in which minibus. We left for Alrey, the cakes made by a member of staff at college were taken carefully by a student who was driving herself and another to Arley to avoid them getting damaged on route. Any other valuable items such as the hamper basket raffle prize were not put in the transit van because there was a high risk of it breaking.  

When we arrived at Arley, I quickly went over who would be helping with what (First year prods) Gemma, the FoH manager took a group and Jordi took the others to help set up the technical equipment. Paul, JPS, Jordan, Anna and I were supervising and helping when needed. I think I should have stepped back more and observed to ensure everyone was working as a team, which at some points we were not. We had 2 hours to set up as we arrived at 2pm, and at 4pm Mark would be having a rehearsal with John, the pianist. Luckily we did come together as a team and the second years did help the first years out for time management. Everything was (apart from some refreshments) set up by 4/4:15pm)

In the dining room, behind the gallery, I helped set up a table for the raffle. Here there was the money for the float (that Gemma had organised) there was £35 worth of change. We also displayed the prizes over the table in an organised and clear way. We had the sheet and pen to write down the details of those who bought tickets. We then scattered pieces of holly over the table as a hint of decoration. Either side of the table were the easels, thanking those who donated to the raffle, and those who helped us with refreshments. We placed fairy lights around them to add to the Christmassy effect and to brighten up the room even more so.

TV screens were placed in the small dining room and the dining room, on which the dvd that Paul created was played. We used the dvd to show people exactly what we were organising this event for and to show them exactly how desperate the children and families over in Moldova are.

As the sound was being checked in the sound check, it became apparent that the set list was in the incorrect order on Qlab. This should have been organised by the technical department / sound beforehand. We know that this will happen next time.

Afterwards we all got changed into out black ‘uniforms’ (with a hint of red). Everyone looked very smart and it really suited the theme/style of the evening. I am happy with my decision of Black with a hint of red because I think it gave something a little different and it also provided a Christmassy touch, tying in with the snow and Christmas trees for the set and also the holly for decoration.

We catered for the choir and Mark and John by asking if they had any requirements. We provided them with jugs of water and were on hand at any point if they had any queries. I went into the ‘green room’ to ensure they were comfortable on a few occasions because we aimed to be as professional as possible.

Before the audience began to arrive, Gemma and I set up the coat collecting system. Whereby we asked a guest if we could take their coats, we hung it up on a peg (2 raffle tickets per peg) and gave the second ticket, matching the peg on which their coat hung, to them to keep hold of. Lauren (first year prod) did this well whilst I supervised. Lucy, Andy and Toby were also greeting guests as they arrived. Lucy asked to see their tickets / gave the tickets out to those who had them left on the door, and collected the stubs off the end. Joe also helped by opening the door and using the clicker to count the number of bodies we had. It was vital that no more than 100 people entered. This was my biggest worry as 6 tickets were spare; however 99 tickets had been sold through the cash office. I concluded that these tickets must have been those of people who could not make it on the night and had given up their ticket. I was hoping I was right but this should not have been a concern. I should have felt confident that nothing would go wrong.

Next time the ticket sales will be monitored even closer than this time and then double checked the day before and on the day of the event. I think this will definitely ensure that we are confident and are not as stressed when the day of the event arrives.

After the audience had had their coats collected, Toby handed out the programmes which were displayed in a basket. The audience members were led through the house by IB students, whilst at the staircase straight ahead the choir sang. However this part was disorganised because we were unaware of how many songs the choir were singing and the IB students were unsure about when to let the audience through to the gallery, where the concert was taking place. In future this too would go on the running order.  The second year production arts, plus all of those on car parking duty wore radios. This was a good decision because it ensured the communication worked well.

Once the audience had taken their seats, directed by IB students on the door, the concert began. Next time this must also be on the running order. This is because there was further confusion as to when Mark was to go onto the stage. In future there will be someone who tells him he can go and that we are ready to start.

When the doors closed, we had 93 people in and as the people on car parking could not see any more cars in sight, they decided to close and we indoors closed the box office. We then moved our float to the small dining room, where the refreshments (juice, mulled wine, mince pies and cakes) were being sold. Just before the interval, it was decided that Paul and I would go onto the stage to talk to the audience about the raffle and our refreshments. We also thanked our tutors for their support and help over the past several weeks and we thanked Arley Hall, along with the choir and John for helping us with our course and for our charity. I think by advertising the raffle it boosted our profit by a large amount because people were more intrigued and wanted to win one of the prizes.

At the interval, everything was under control as Gemma had a team of +6 helping her. However as we were setting up, e.g. pouring juice into plastic cups, I realised there was a mistake in the ‘deals’ that the FoH team had created. The maths was incorrect as it turned out people would be paying more for a drink and snack than they would by buying them separately. Therefore we took away the ‘deals’ and stuck to selling everything separately. I was not present for much of the selling of refreshments but I heard the customer service was excellent and even though the queues were long, it was well organised and well presented.

The raffle went well as it was extremely popular, with very long queues. Jordan helped by creating a second queue for people. We sold strips at £5 each because the prizes were worth over £10 each.
Unfortunately we began to sell single tickets when the raffle began. We would not do this again because it made it complicated when 4 tickets in a strip were left. The prizes were drawn a few days later and the winners were contacted on the day we broke up for Christmas. Therefore they will not be distributed until January. If we were to do a raffle again we will ensure this is done sooner and not as close to a 2 week break.

Again, as the interval ended, it was unclear when the second act was about to begin. This should have been more organised and again, put on the running order which was my mistake because I did not realise just how important it was to not only have a running order for the set up, but it was just as important to have one for during and post-concert as well. I will make a more thorough running order next time. To announce the second act, it was suggested that someone tapped a glass to raise attention as it was more appropriate than shouting loudly.

The second act was underway and we totalled up the amount of money we had all together. Impressively it added up to over £1,000. I was ecstatic because it was my aim from the beginning. After this buzz of energy, we decided to work as a team to ensure we were all packed away ready to leave as early as possible. We cleared away the raffle table, easels, TVs and fair lights from the dining room and then everyone was helping to tidy / wash up in the kitchen. We were very lucky to have been able to use the kitchen and it was very beneficial because it meant we could heat up the mulled wine before the interval, and wash up afterwards, as well as having plenty of space to work and prepare drinks etc.

As the guests left, we thanked them for coming and wished them a Merry Christmas to be polite and to continue our professionalism right through until the end. We ushered them out also to avoid congestion. At the door, Toby was stood with the bucket to collect any loose change. We knew we had raised a great amount of money and persuaded people to spend a lot but we also knew that every penny counts and it did increase the amount we raised.

Overall I was very proud of how the event ran and it was very successful. The feedback we have received has been extremely positive and already people are asking ‘when is the next one?’ Our grand total from the night was an amazing £1,407 combined with the money we raised doing the Mad Hatters Tea Party, we are currently up to £1,638 . I am confident we can raise £3,000 by June.

Other improvements for next time:

1. I think I underestimated the importance of a checklist. There was an issue here because there were things that were missed off the lists. In future lists will be made much more in advance and checked over and over multiple times. They can also be added to when they need to be.

2. Running order - again I underestimated. I did not understand how to add more detail because I was under the impression the technical team knew what they had to do exactly and who would be helping them. I know now never to be 'under the impression’ and to always know something for certain. I will also make 3 running orders in future. 1 = for the start of the day / set up. 2 = during the event. 3 = Post event. This will ensure everything is done to a good standard and will be much more effective because more will get done in a shorter amount of time. The biggest lesson from this is: Double check everything!

3. Registers - I felt that this was left too late on this occasion because it was the morning of the event when the registers were created and code of conducts were signed. In a future event I would push harder for parental consent slips to be signed at least a week before the day. I would also stay on top of who needed a letter also because that way it would be clearer who is yet to get permission. Following on from this, I think it would be better to know how each student was getting home earlier than on the morning of the event. This is because it was stressful for tutors to organise who could come back to college by the minibus, and whether they had enough room for these people. I do not think it would work perfectly if we were to organise this sooner because plans change and people can change their minds about who they are going with. But it is a thought to consider more thoroughly prior to the event.
Additionally, Codes of Conducts would be signed earlier because again it was last minute. This is because it was left as an afterthought. I would not let this happen again and set a deadline specifically for code of conducts to be signed by everyone on the trip.

4. Promotion - Although I felt the advertisement was to a high standard and we did well to gain public awareness, I think there could be ways of improving advertising. This is through the handling of posters and flyers. I think we printed enough of each and they were distributed in appropriate places, however what I think would be more successful would be to physically speak with members of the public and hand out flyers / posters in person. I think this is better because there is more contact and we are more likely to gain interest whilst educating others in greater detail about what the event is for. It shows passion and commitment on our part also.

5. Communication: Between teams and from us to our acts. Talking to John, the pianist slipped our minds because we / the tech team were focusing on the major pieces of equipment needed and what they needed to bring from college, which they had been told to do by us. However it was unclear how the keyboard was being plugged in. Luckily John had the correct wires, but this should have been checked prior to the set up.  Another issue with communication would occur when a member of our team forgot to do a task they had been set and fail to remember it being delegated to them. This affected us all because it meant deadlines were pushed back. We could not do the work for them, therefore everybody carries some responsibility. Our attempt to control this problem was through taking minutes in meetings. In future I think it would be worth voice recording minutes to ensure there is no controversy over what was said on a particular day - there will be evidence. We / I could maybe make it clearer for individuals who have important jobs to do.

At Arley, every manager got involved in the set up and aided whereever possible. We felt it was necessary to ensure everything was ready for 4:30pm. However we now realise that on the day managers should take a step back to observe others setting up. This promotes better teamwork because if the manager(s) see something, such as people working individually on their own thing, they can suggest they pull together with others instead. The events planning process runs smoother when team work is present. 

Arley Hall Reflective Diary

Today we were given the Client Brief for the Christmas event we will be hosting at Arley Hall. It read:

Charity Event
Concert
Monday 16^th December
Arley Hall
Audience Capacity-100
Title: A Classical Serenade
Concept: A professional and elegant evening that reflects the setting of the house with reference to the Christmas season. An intimate and welcoming environment for the audience.

I then was given a set list for the night of the event and I am aware (we are all aware) of who the performers are. We have Mark Edgington and a choir, The Bridgewater Singers,  plus a pianist.

We have been given a calendar to mark on deadlines up to the 16th December, by which tasks have to be done. As a class/ company, we all come together to discuss points on our agenda and when we feel certain tasks should be completed by. This will also give people the opportunity to raise any issues or questions they may have. This will be crucial for meeting deadlines and ensuring the planning process runs smoothly.

From our first day, each team have been given action points to focus on for the Friday 8th (1 week's time.) For example, I personally had to contact Shelagh at Arley Hall to ask her about some enquiries we had before any other teams could get on with their tasks.

4/11/13:
Today was our first official meeting as the Events Management team. We discussed each department one by one and have clearly allocated specific job roles to each department. By Friday 8th November (our next meeting) I have asked for the technical team (lighting and set designers) to have their initial ideas ready to present. Same goes for the Front of House and I would also like to have the marketing campaign underway by Friday also.



8/11/13:
I have spoken over the phone to Shelagh to arrange a date that we (the technical team members, and the FOH manager and the Management teams) can go to visit Arley Hall in order to get a feel for the venue and so the set and lighting designers can improve / develop their designs for the event. it was essential that this visit was organised sooner rather than later because we could not have our set / lighting ideas until the trip had taken place.

11.11.13:
I have called Shelagh and booked a time when we (the managers of each department can visit arley hall in order to see the venue ourselves) as it was decided that Thursday would be the most ideal time to go, however for myself, it was not possible due to other commitments, therefore I delegated my role and what I wanted to ask Shelagh to Jordan and Paul. I did this because I needed the information from Shelagh such as a copy of a risk assessment.

12.11.13:

The marketing team presented their Ideas about posters as I asked. As the Marketing team had presented the group with an array of ideas, and certain members of the group preferred certain fonts.  We decided it would be best to vote. We did so and the majority vote won. A font and colour scheme has now been decided. Voting was the best way to decide on a concept as this way, everyone’s opinion has been listened to and statistically if the majority in a room of 15 prefer one font and colour, it is more likely that this will be the case when we must sell 100 tickets.

With regards to ticket price, a price has been decided of £7.00 a ticket with a reduced price of £5.00 for a child’s ticket. This has been agreed as the price is almost half of what other Arley events are. This will ensure we sell all 100 tickets and this way we can charge for mulled wine and mince pies to again further our profit. Although it has been under discussion that we also stagger the price for OAP’s or students, we decided against this as the event is aiming to raise money and awareness for charity and as only 100 tickets can be sold, this wouldn't be a problem and wouldn't need to
use the marketing ploy of reducing ticket prices.

13.11.13:
Tomorrow the managers of each department will be visiting Arley Hall in order to see the space in which we will be working in just over a month's time. Unfortunately I am not able to go due to other commitments, but I am sending Paul and Jordan PS in my place to ask Shelagh some questions that I have such as in relation to signage, tea and coffee, the rooms available to us on the night etc. I wrote down the questions and gave them to Paul.  We could not afford, nor was it possible for all of our class to go on this visit and it was evident that not everybody had to. It was essential for Matt (Set Design) and Joel (Lighting Design) to go as they urgently needed to see the space to gain a greater understanding and to develop some ideas (gather inspiration whilst in the space.) It was necessary for Gemma as the FoH manager to go also as she needed to see / develop and understand for how the car parking management will work and how many staff she will need on the night helping her. I insisted that both JPS and Paul went on my behalf.

14.11.13:
 I was brought up to speed by Paul and the others on what happened earlier today at Arley Hall. The minutes from their meeting with Shelagh are below:



15.11.13:
Today we had a meeting to bring everyone in each department up to date with what has happened and what is yet to happen. Jordi is trying to source a Grand Piano and has contacted Cheshire Pianos who have quoted a baby grand to hire for one evening at £450, which is too expensive for us. It was later discovered after Jordan S rang again to explain it was for charity, that Priestley College and Cheshire Pianos are not currently working together or linked in any way. Therefore Jordi will be contacting Dawsons, another local store.

In addition to the technical side, I will email Shelagh and ask her to send me a copy of the electrical blueprints of the house for Joel and Matt. This will be done later today as it is vitally important that the designer's plans are completed by next week. Matt has decided he would like staging to raise the choir and Mark. He has until the 20th to complete his plans and find out how much staging / rostra he needs and how high it will be.

The marketing department were next to feedback. They have said that ticket sales will be managed and ran through the use of the cash office and I will be confirming this later today. We would like the tickets on sale by next Monday (25th)

The three of us on the events management team all had to come to a decision when Anna, assistant marketing manager insisted on going back to Arley Hall in order to take photographs of Mark in his suit for promotion. However I spoke with Shelagh, who advised us not to as it was a busy time for them and I felt the marketing department had enough to do and whilst pictures of Mark at Arley was a nice idea, there was little time and they had other priorities, such as printing the posters and advertising to the public. However we did suggest that she could use a green screen in college if she desperately wanted the picture. She did not meet us with this decision and this time it was left to one side as she and Jordan focused on other tasks.

18.11.13:
The main topic up for discussion in today's meeting was over which images should go onto the posters, as people had critisised it previously for it had too much text and images were needed to break it up. It was concluded that a picture of Mark holding one of the orphans from Moldova would be a warming image that caught attention. We recommended that 3 images were spread across, and that our charitable purpose could be shown through this, not necessarily through words because images strike first.



25.11.13:
Today Paul stepped in to assist Matt in designing the set for Arley Hall as Matt was behind on his deadlines. We could not afford to fall behind because it works like a domino effect; once one deadline is missed it greatly affects others working with us. Paul discovered that 6 pieces of rostra at the lowest tier would be the most suitable and fit within the space, accommodating all performers.

I set the deadline as the 30th of November for department managers (especially Gemma and Jordi) to provide us (the management team) with a list of the equipment and how many members of crew they would need for the event. This was important to settle sooner rather than later because we needed to sort out transport and book it if need be. 

26.11.13 : I’ve written a list of what my team (events management) need to do to ensure we are on task. These jobs include writing a risk assessment, creating an video to play in staff briefing that Paul and I will be attending on Monday morning, to thank those who contributed to the cake sale and to advertise our Classical Serenade. I spoke with Mike Southworth’s PA and she suggested going to briefing once more to promote any future events for Moldova. We want to play a video of the children to play and emotional effect on the members of staff in order to persuade them to help us. We want to pull at people’s heart strings. Another job we need to do is help out the Marketing department as the manager, Jordan is unfortunately unwell and Anna has many other commitments.

I have decided that I will be responsible for checking with the cash office how many tickets have been sold. I need to do this to keep on top of how much money is being made and how many tickets we have left to sell.

We will also be helping Gemma and her FoH team make the programmes. She would like to make scrolls as programmes and I personally love this idea as it is different, authentic and it makes our event unique. We understand that in order for this to work, it is going to take hours of work so the more people that can help out the quicker it can be done. I have set a deadline to the 10^th of December for these to get done.

Next I will be speaking with Matthew Grant this week to persuade him / the college to pay for the mini buses to get us there as well as the van for the equipment.  Hopefully we will be successful because we do not have a budget and we aim to raise as much money for Moldova as we can, without having to pay out for more.

Paul has already written a permission slip for all the IB and 1^st year students for their parents to sign to allow them to come. We did this because they are under 18 they need parental consent to be out of college for a day and to be kept after the college hours.

28.11.13:
Today I went up to re pro graphics and asked them to publish 10 mission statements onto the Priestley College letter format. Before going to ask for raffle prizes around Stockton Heath, I felt it would be more professional if we took with us the Mission Statement on an appropriate piece of paper. They printed 10 and Paul, Joel and I went to Stockton Heath asking different shops to kindly donate a prize for us to give away in the raffle. We asked the florist, who said they would be happy to help. Other places who will get back to us are Esquires, All That Jazz, Tom at 101, BaaMoo, Mr Simms Sweet Shop and Pizza Express. Nandos gave us a voucher as did the Chinese Bakery and Ego. Going into the stores definitely was an advantage because we were able to talk to the managers face to face and it was much more efficient.  

 

This is what I took around to all stores.

I asked Gemma to plan where exactly her equipment was going on a map for me. I wanted a better understand of the details about where the refreshments were going as well as the raffle table.

Paul and I went to Cath Hope and explained to her how the tickets were being organised. We had both created a spreadsheet for Carol, who works in the cash office so she could keep on top of how our sales were going. It was paramount that we did not exceed 100 for health and safety regulations. The process has been finalised and I am happy with it. We debated having the tickets of guests outside of college posted to their address. However I disagreed and thought it would be simpler and easier for us if members of the general public picked up their tickets on the door on the night. Meanwhile those with a contact / connection with the college (e.g. family members of students or members of staff) could collect their tickets from the cash office. This is the decision we went for. Now the cash office have a structured spread sheet of the ticket process and are well organised. I will be going up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to keep on top of how many we have sold. I gave the lady, Carol, my number so she can contact me if she has any enquiries. This promotes healthy communication.

I sourced 2 buckets from Estates who kindly allowed us to borrow them for the event. They will be decorated later next week.  I wrote up a costings sheet later in the day so we are up to date with how are money is being handled and so we are in control of our budget.

30.11.13

Today I went to Stockton Heath distributing flyers around many different shops and hair dressing salons. Examples were: Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Toni & Guy, Johnsons and Peter Walsh. All of whom were willing to leave flyers on their desks/ on their coffee tables. Unfortunately they were unable to put posters in their windows. I then went to Morrisons to ask if I could leave flyers on every table in the café. I discovered this was not possible after speaking to the General Manager. Next I went on to Golden Square and distributed more flyers around hair dressing salons, shop cafes (M&S and Debenhams) and at customer services.

2.12.13
 Jordan and Anna are working on the scrolls and easels. Mark has sent to me the pictures I would like to use for the posters / buckets and I will ensure they are completed and ready by Friday.

I spoke to Matthew Grant on Friday who said that college would be able to pay for our transport to and from Arley Hall. I was very grateful about this because it meant that we did not have to reimburse anybody with money we raised on the night, which is all for Moldova. 

Paul and I went to staff briefing again this morning, we played an emotional video (available on YouTube) made by Paul, and we placed flyers on every other seat. We thanked everybody for helping us with the Mad Hatters Tea Party and we asked them to support our campaign through attending A Classical Serenade. Hopefully at least a handful of people attend. It is my personal aim to raise £1,000. This will be possible if we sell out.

I will be going to Stockton Heath later today to ask the stores we visited last week whether they can help us with a raffle prize or not. We need to know in order to confirm our 12 prizes. I’d feel better knowing for definite. Otherwise we should look elsewhere for donations.

  

3.12.13
Today we had a meeting as a group to keep everyone up to date. We discussed the possibility of opening up the raffle to members of staff within college who could not make it on the night of the event. It would be a good idea to because we would be able to make more money for Moldova. This turned into a debate because there were both advantages and disadvantages.


Some of the negatives include it not being fair on those who did attend the event, asking them to spend more money (£5 a strip) on a prize that they may be more unlikely to win. There was also a discussion about the price of strips, which we finally decided was fair at £5 a strip. Although it may be quite expensive, the prizes Paul, Gemma, Jordan and I have managed to collect are worth over the £5 we will be asking for.
 
Gemma must find out how much Mulled Wine will need to be purchased. We are buying the wine because it is too expensive to be donated. FoH are looking for the cheapest offer. I have set this deadline to Friday. By Friday I would like Lucy to bring a sample of a plastic cup that we could potentially use for the juices and water for the choir / Mark.
 I must talk to Shelagh this week to ask her if they have Easels at Arley that we could possibly borrow as a thank you board. As an alternative they do not we will take a blue board from college and decorate it with material.  I must also ask her about the costings for tea and coffee and whether we are allowed to gaffa cables to the floor.

I gave Jordan PS the role of creating the Risk Assessment. I gave the task to Jordan because as the events manager I need to delegate tasks and ensure everyone had fulfilled their job role.
 

5.12.13:

I went back to Stockton Heath today along with Paul to ask the shops we had visited last week to confirm whether they could help us or not. Unfortunately the florist could not because they had already selected the charities they would help over Christmas. However we did gain another prize from Esquires. I was happy with this because I wanted to collect as many prizes as possible as nearly 100 tickets would be sold.
 

Transport has been confirmed as it had to be through Mark because he is a member of staff and for safeguarding reasons, it could not be done by students. We will be taking 2 15 seater mini buses to fit all of our staff (23) and the FoH equipment. We also have a transit van to take our staging, cables, lights and set decorations.                                                                                                                              

6.12.13:

Today was the deadline for all raffle prizes to be confirmed, before emails were sent out to staff who too could be involved in purchasing raffle tickets. In total we have 9 prizes, all very expensive, therefore I am pleased with what we have collected. However next time I would work harder / get others to talk in person to businesses rather than email as it is much more effective, and I would also look for prizes sooner as it was left quite late. Places such as Pizza Express and Build a Bear could no help us in a short space of time.

We decided to set a reminder for staff to buy their tickets, and as we couldn’t go into briefing again we made short notes that could be put onto each seat. Invitations have been sent out to senior members of staff. Paul made a letter and put them inside envelopes, which were delivered personally to every member of the senior members of staff.   

10.12.13:

Today Mark forwarded Gemma and I an email he had received off some friends, the question was whether we could wish a couple a Happy Anniversary on the night. Gemma and I quickly came to the decision that they deserved special recognition and that Mark would say something in the lead up to the interval. We also have 2 more raffle prizes which I am pleased about because as stated previously I would have been happier with 10+ prizes, not 9.

Joel and I have made the buckets by sticking on 'A Classical Serenade' banner onto the outside along with pictures of the children in black and white. I chose this because I felt black and white pulled on emotions more. In white writing below was our slogan 'Help Us To Help Them.' We stood in the cafe at the interval of A Winter Showcase (opening night was tonight) and we made £30. It was definitely worth going.

Anna will be designing and making the easel herself because reprographics cannot afford to pint us anything else for free after we asked for the 100 programmes to be done today.

11/12/13:

I have contacted Shelagh and we have cleared up some queries. Firstly we are able to gaffa tape cables to the floor. I was curious as to whether Shelagh and her staff would be selling decaf tea and coffee as well as the normal tea and coffee, I found out that they would not.

Gemma and her FoH team have bought mulled wine and have their equipment checklist for Monday.  It totalled up to £45 and it was £25.50 for the cups and £1.38 for the gluten free mince pies. All of which I will add to the costing sheet.

I also asked Gemma how collected coats from our guests would work and she explained that she had a raffle ticket book system: 2 tickets per peg on a row of hangers, 1 ticket was given to the owner of the coat, which would be matching the ticket on the hanger. I told Gemma to explain how the system worked to her staff who would be on the coat duty at the start of the evening to avoid confusion.

Here is a screen shot of the Arley Hall website. Shelagh posted it because we asked her to advertise for us. We did this because we wanted to advertise in as many ways as we could in order to sell 100 tickets. 
Ticket sales are on 69 currently.

Abbie (one of the drama tutors) kindly put into the Winter Showcase programme a small paragraph about our campaign to raise public interest and awareness about what we are doing over the course of the year. Between 60-70 people were due to attend the show over the 3 running nights; therefore a large number of people would have the opportunity to read about us. We also, on the nights of the performance, stood with our collection buckets that Joel and I made earlier that day. I edited the pictures Mark had sent me of the children in Moldova and made it black and white because this effect usually makes people more likely to give. I also added text below the image in white writing ‘Help Us To Help Them’. As this is our slogan and the more people see it, the more they will recognise us in the future.
  

I took on this role to design and make the pictures because I knew he marketing department had other tasks to deal with. I wanted to ensure we stuck to deadlines and that things got done so they could be ticked off our ‘to do’ list.

Rachel produced a list of what was left to do this week and thankfully most of this has been done. My version is attached below:

Jordan PS has sent  me the final documentation of our risk assessment, which I have added to our equipment checklist. It is attached below:




We do not need to purchase or acquire any licenses as Alrey Hall have an alcohol license, a perfomers / music license and a capacity license. Any others are irrelevant and we have what we need.

12/12/13

Today was my last lesson time with the group. I have ensured that Paul and Jordan PS are in charge tomorrow of making sure all equipment that needs to be charged is charged and that everybody has finalised their checklists. They also need to push people who are yet to purchase tickets to do so today or tomorrow.

I will go to the market tomorrow in order to purchase red ribbon for the scrolls. We need this to be completed tomorrow. In future this will be done earlier because there is a lot to do on the last day, it is very rushed.

13/12/13: I have purchased the 32m of ribbon and it cost £12. We think that this is cheap and we got a good deal, which is an advantage because it means we do not need to take a high sum of money out of Enrichment, or reimburse the money we raise through the event. 

Unfortunately when I caught up with Anna on the marketing team, she informed me that the programmes had not been completed in my absence. On Monday these must be our priority and I will ensure everyone gets on board to ensure they are done in time. Front of House also need to design and make menus. I asked them to do this yesterday however they are waiting to see the size of the pies before determining a reasonable price, which I believe is fair.

I also typed up a new running order for Monday which was proof read by Mark. We now aim to leave as 13:15 as Rachel and a team member have other commitments and the latest time we can leave college is 1pm. This still gives us plenty of time to set up when we arrive. We have until 4pm. 

Monday will be very busy. I have asked for everyone to be at college for 9am so we can ensure we have everything and have not missed anything off our lists. 

16/12/13:

The day had arrived and when I got to college in the morning, it was clear that the programmes had not been done. I helped Anna roll the scrolls and tie ribbon. However then I had to ensure registers for all staff were completed. It was last minute, however everyone needed to have signed a code of conduct for the trip and have arrangements over how they are getting home. I created a chart, holding every person's name, whether they had signed a code of conduct, how they were getting to and from Arley Hall and who would be collecting them from college if they were getting the minibus back as well. It was essential that this was done because we needed to make sure that we had everyone and for the safety of students we all needed to stay together and know exactly how . with whom people were travelling. 

I asked the FoH team, Lucy and John to print a list of the raffle prizes and what they are worth onto pieces of A4 paper with our advertisement posters template as the background to be in keeping with the theme and so it was consistent and was recognisable. Additionally I asked them to discuss, along with Gemma, their price list / deals for the refreshments. They settled for £1.50 for the cupcakes, 50p for the juices, fruit cake and mince pies and £1 for mulled wine. 

Gemma had brought the equipment she needed with her, such as pots and pans for the mulled wine, serviets, plastic glasses etc. 

I also put together the checklists and gave a copy to one of the members of staff. I too kept a copy for myself. Each department manager emailed me a list which I put together. This was important because it ensured all the equipment and necessary items we needed to take did not get left behind. 

Afterwards I ensured that each department was happy with what they had and that everyone knew what was happening. I typed up a running order for the day starting at when we left for Arley up until when the Event began. Attached to this, I added a chart which presented who would be doing what when we arrived. This was definitely beneficial because I felt that everyone had a job and it was clear what was going to happen when we arrived. Paul and I organised who would go in what minibus, everyone was informed. We were told about those who were driving themselves and others there and a register was taken.

Above is the register that we took and used on the day.  

Everyone signed this student study visit form before we left because we needed their details in case of an emergency.

Code of Conduct template that everybody signed on Monday morning is on the left and on the right is the running order.

These are my calendars that I wrote deadlines on at every meeting. This allowed us to stay on task and ensure we did not fall behind and did not forget any jobs that needed doing.
 Here on the right is the typed up set up / opening of the event list, displaying what each 1st year prods were doing what. It was simple and easy to read.

This is the spreadsheet Paul and I gave to Carol in the cash office, who wrote on the details of the ticket holders. There were 100 spaces, a place for the name, how the ticket would be collected (on the door or from college, a phone number, their payment method and the price of the ticket. plus a space for any extra notes.

The final poster designs.

Evidence of the Arley Hall Event

Here is the news paper article that was written for us by the Warrington Guardian on the night of the concert.

 

On the night:

Our raffle table.

Front of House Box Office.

 

Easels with the names of those we had to thank for the raffle prizes.

TV screens playing our Moldova video

Budget