Policies, Procedures and People

A recent topic of discussion in my financial management class was that of policies and procedures.  Although our focus was on financial policies and procedures, I couldn't help but think of the number of times I was in a situation where had proper consideration been given to creating policies and procedures for people much confusion could have been avoided.

As I have discussed communication previously I wanted to touch on the fact that taking the step of creating actual documentation of processes to follow and sharing it with the appropriate parties is by far the simplest way to decrease on event confusion.  From my experience an area where this is often over looked is when it comes to people (volunteers specifically) on event.

The best part of policies and procedures is that they do not have to be neither fancy or include high level technical language. Simply answering the following questions gives you a great base to go from:

1. Who will play a role on event? (i.e. staff, volunteers, suppliers, etc.) 
2. What tasks are to be completed? (i.e. set-up, tear down, cleaning, crowd control, supplier management, etc.) 
3. What steps needs to be followed for successful completion of each task?

Once these questions are answered, align the person responsible with the tasks to be completed and assign a time line for completion of specific tasks.  Taking this one step further and identifying for each individual what they should move on to upon completion of their task (if their shift on event is longer than what they were assigned) helps to keep them engaged and focused.  If this document is accessible to everyone, expectations are clear and people can be managed and moved from one task to another as the event demands.  

I recognize this is a very simple way to consider the management of individuals on event, but why make it more difficult than it needs to be? I am still building up my experience of course and would appreciate any input from those with more experience than I on what you have found to be successful in this area. 

Events and Lines of Communication

Events often function with a lot of ambiguity.  This is a fact and I don't think I have ever met anyone involved in the events industry that would try to disagree.  However, there is absolutely no need to create more ambiguity then necessary as a result of poor communication.

Not only should the levels of communication be clear, but it is critical everyone is aware of the job functions of those they are working with.  Knowing who is responsible for what areas will allow your communication to be direct and effective.  Too often I have seen an e-mail bounce between 3 or 4 different people before it actually gets to the person with the answer.  This is incredibly inefficient and often results in a lack of correct information for those at the bottom.  The simplest way to resolve this issue is a clear organizational chart, that includes job function.  

The second feature I believe is critical for successful communication, is ensuring it is clear who has the power to make a decision.  For example, if you have client or customer facing roles for your event that are fielding questions, what are they able to do to resolve issues for them?  What can they offer to ensure that the client or customer is satisfied.  Knowing this makes it easy for these customer facing roles to make quick decisions that don't leave the customer or client feeling ignored as your employee is trying to get permission to offer something.  

Keeping these channels clear and delegating power is an easy way to ensure time is spent efficiently to create the best results while preventing people who are focusing on the big picture issues from getting bogged down by the smaller issues.  

A Second Race Around the World

As I mentioned previously, I am quite the Amazing Race fan, still wishing I had taken the time to apply for The Amazing Race Canada.  My love of the show came through in another event  I was part of creating, this time for local youth at a community center during May Youth Week.  Involvement in this event was strictly voluntary and I loved every second of it.

This time creating the event of my dreams was some what restricted as I learned really what it meant to handle restrictions and liability concerns.  As one would guess, this came as a result of the event being delivered by the city and city staff overseeing the event.  I was still able to stay within the race around the world theme, but on a slightly different note.

For this event I created "passports" for the teams of 2-3 children to use as they traveled to different countries located in different areas of the community center.  To keep it simple they were able to visit the areas in any order they chose, but understood that if another team was there they may have to wait for them to finish first.  Once they collected all the required stamps they were able to make their way to the finish line for some celebratory pizza.

Some of the countries and events included:
-learning a traditional German dance from a video (performed by myself and my oh so helpful boyfriend)
-turning their partner into a mummy in Egypt
-take shots at targets with a soccer ball in Brazil
-recreating a masterpiece painting in France

The event ran very well and the children had a great time, even though we had to have "border patrol" in the halls making sure they weren't running from room to room.

Some of the key skills I developed while creating this event included the ability to be a leader in situations where I am meeting and working with people for this time.  This event made me much more confident in the future when working with volunteers and on teams that had to accomplish a number of tasks shortly after meeting.  Prior to this I had always been more of a supporter, doing everything I could to ensure those around me were getting access to resources and completing tasks as required.  This position allowed me to realize when I need to step forward and take some control to make sure events run smoothly and successfully.

The event also allowed me to be quick on my feet with developing multiple solutions when faced with red tape so to speak.  To put this in perspective my first idea for this event was to have it in a local park and work with local businesses to allow the youth to come into their stores to receive clues.  I was really hoping we could work on challenging the stigma that all the youth in the area are up to no good.  But I suppose I can keep that in the back of my mind and who knows maybe some day I will have the chance.

It was also my first time working in a much stricter environment with regards to safety and ability considerations.  It was very important for this event to be accessible to anyone who would like to play without creating the possibility of exclusion.  I have become much more attentive to how I word anything that  a participant will need to read during the lead up and execution of an event.  This I found has been very beneficial as not everyone is aware of how what they say can or rather cannot be interpreted by others.

It was an amazing event to be a part of and the smiling laughing faces of all the youth involved was more than enough to remind me why I love doing this work.

"A child's smile is worth more than all the money in the world." 

The Haks Do "The Amazing Race"

One of the most fun events I had the opportunity to plan, was not for work or even volunteering, but was the time I planned a mini "Amazing Race" for my family reunion.  A long time fan of The Amazing Race (new season starting Feb. 17th!) I created this version for my family just because I knew I would enjoy doing so.

When starting this event, I knew I had to do it justice, down to the smallest details.  My family was divided into four teams and after the "opening ceremonies" raced around my property, the park across the street and the fire department next door looking for clues and completing challenges.  Everything from searching through wine bottles, completing puzzles and digging through bowls of macaroni without using your hands was included.  I had road blocks, detours and clues found by GPS coordinates.  One of my favorite clues was having my cousin who was in France at the time record a video message as a surprise to kick off the race.  (Had a few people in tears after that one!)

Although I would say it went off successfully and everyone had a great time, I definitely learned a lot from the experience, here are just a few items from a longer list:

     1.  The importance of training those volunteering/working at events, preparing them for what is to come and ensuring they will follow direction.

In my case, this was my parents.  The morning of the event I had to explain to them the path they would take as I required them to move from station to station as the teams passed through them.  It was last minute and this caused some confusion and improvisation that led to some teams feeling others received an advantage.  It's important direction is clear and given in enough time to allow for processing and answering of any questions.  Great event staff and volunteers can often make or break an event! 

     2.  The importance of clear communication with those attending your event. 

Although I was just preparing this event for my family, I still discovered I could have done more to make the "rules" and expectations crystal clear.  I discovered it is better to push to the limit of over clarifying and simplifying just to be sure people don't become lost while participating in your event causing them to become frustrated.  You want people to enjoy your event through and through so anticipate potential areas for misunderstanding ahead of time. 

     3. Staff events appropriately.

As mentioned above to run the event it was only myself and my parents, which was not an adequate number of people.  Had I thought ahead I would have planned to bring in some more resources (I used to babysit enough kids in town after all!) to ensure that the event will run smoothly and as intended.

 
     4.  Get feedback.  ALWAYS!

At the time my family may have thought it was strange that I was walking around asking what they liked and didn't like, but even for a personal event this information was super useful!  In doing so I came to realize how differently people interpret information.  Which leads me to one of my final learning points:

 
     5.  A second set of eyes should always be required.    

Due to the fact that what you understand can be so different from someone else's interpretation share what you are working on with others (or share as much of it as you can).  This will always help events run smoother as any uncertainty can be taken care of. 

I know this is not anything new, but as I was starting out this was all very important information to learn and remember.  And if you are looking to plan any kind of event for your family or friends, I'm very willing to give advice or look anything over! :) 

Happy Planning! 

Where else to start but in the beginning

It took a long time for me to realize that working in the event management industry was something that I could do as a career.  However, my interest in the field started as a Rebel, a "Rebel With a Cause" that is.

(Ya that's me on the far left in grade 12, magical, I know.)  

In high school I applied for a peer leader position with the local health unit, uncertain of what I was really getting myself into.  It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my teenage years.  The job had me working with a group of youth advocating against the tobacco industry.  We created campaigns, developed events and managed a website.  When I think back it was truly where I started gaining all kinds of relevant experience.  We wrote press releases, contacted vendors, business owners and city council.  We also ran the event ourselves, interacting directly with the public.  And you don't really appreciate what it means to have to speak with the public for work until you have to discuss such a touchy subject as smoking.  We had adults telling us that what we were doing was bad (trying to educate youth about the harmful effects of smoking), so I empathize with those in similar situations.

The events and campaigns although centered around the anti-tobacco industry theme varied quite greatly.  We hosted movie nights in schools, "stomping out the smoke" with our feet to make people aware of all the tobacco usage in film and ending with a discussion about whether or not that usage was necessary.   When the new laws came into effect requiring stores to keep their tobacco displays covered, we created a large wall out of cardboard boxes, traveling around the county asking people to barge through it, knocking it down.   We also attended other events such as Sarnia Bayfest, I remember the Black Eyed Peas were playing and for that event we designed our own stickers to hand out as swag.  For a fun time we even created advocacy videos about general life issues and how to solve them.  The videos are actually quite funny now that I look back at them...my acting debut as "Sally" can be seen here.  

But note, one person did comment about how they love Sally! :)

Looking back the one thing I would have changed would be to create bigger, better events.  We had so much untapped potential in that group.  I now understand the importance of approaching all events with the desire to push the limits and maintain an "anything is possible" perspective.

"Nothing and everything is possimpible." 

-B. Stinson