Purpose

The purpose of the Event Planner is to provide support for the creation, execution, and evaluation of events, including seminars, workshops, and conferences.

The Event Planner will be useful in planning events of all sizes, from an event of a few hours to a week long conference.

Events are held to educate or train, to solve problems, and to provide briefings.

Organization

The Event Planner is organized with chapters 1 and 2 for use by those responsible for planning and organizing events. The first chapter is about scoping and planning an event. For a large event, the activities are normally performed by a Steering Committee. They may be performed by one person for an event of a day or less.

The second chapter is about developing support for an event. For a large event, the activities are normally executed by a Program Committee and by one or two people for smaller events.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 are provided for three additional groups involved with events, the presenters, the participants, and the logistics support people.

How to use the Event Planner

Those who are scoping, planning, and developing support should read the first two chapters. For a large event, the Steering Committee and the Program Committee should review the entire Event Planner. The presenters, the participants, and the logistics support people may use only the applicable sections of the book.

1.    Review the book briefly.

2.    Select the chapter(s) that apply to you.

3.    Read the chapter.

4.    Use the checklists or other tools.

Event size

Events may be large, small, or any size in between. There are two dimensions to event size, the length of the event and the number of attendees. An event may be called workshop, seminar, presentation, class, meeting, or conference.

The largest events are usually a week long and are often referred to as a conference. The smallest events may last just a couple of hours. One and two day events are common.

The largest events may have hundreds of people. The smallest may have twenty, or even fewer.

The structure of an event combines these two elements. There may be an event of several days with few attendees. It is unlikely, but a short event might have a hundred people or more. Normally, an event attended by many is several days long. Short events are usually attended by fewer. Most events fall somewhere in between.

Event purpose types

There are three basic types of purpose for an event. An event is held to educate or train, to accomplish a problem solving or planning mission, or to provide informational briefings. Events often include more than one purpose.

Table of contents

The introduction includes the following topics.

Topic

See Page

Educating or Training

3

Mission Meetings

4

Briefings

6