Our Guide for Planning Your Next School Event

Hosting a school event can be a rewarding way of connecting the school community. It’s a chance to share the talents of your students, celebrate achievements or raise money for a great cause. Whatever the type of event, there are a few big considerations that you will need to think about.

In this guide, we will cover all the basics for planning a great school event. This includes:

• Types of school events
• Kickstarting your event planning
• Working out the logistics
• Marketing your school event
• Things to do one week before the event
• Things to do on the day of the event

Plus, we have made this handy checklist. Print it out and carry it around as you start planning your own event.

Kickstart your event planning

So, it’s time to start planning your event. Whether it’s one that happens every year, or you are organising it for the first time, it’s best to allow between 3 and 6 months of lead time so you can make sure you are sorted before the big day.

The main thing you will need to work out is the purpose of your event. This might be something like:

• Showcasing the school’s music program
• Having an open day to attract new students
• Raising money for a cause

Once you have a purpose, you can start to consider your key goals (or Key Performance Indicators). These will be what you use to determine if your event was successful. When it comes to setting goals, remember the SMART acronym: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Some examples might be like these:

• Satisfaction: To get a score of more than 7 from students who attended the event
• Attendance goal: To get over 400 potential students to attend the open day
• Money raising goal: Raising 5% more money than last year’s fundraiser

For events that happen every year, these kinds of goals are useful for ensuring you can continually improve your efforts, and address any feedback. It’s also a useful way of working out how to prioritise events based on the broader strategy for the school in a given term or year.

Working out logistics

Event logistics don’t need to be complicated. The trick is to set aside some time to think about everything you will need to get done. We recommended spending at least a few hours brainstorming every possible task you might need to complete, then creating a list of your top priorities. Having tasks clearly laid out makes it easier to see exactly what you need to do, and makes it much easier to delegate.

Working out a budget

It’s important to know your budget ahead of time so that you can make the right decisions. Budget can affect the size, scope and overall impact of your event. It’s always possible to get creative and meet any budget, with a little forward-planning.

Selecting the right venue

The venue you choose will be based on the size and type of event. There wouldn’t be much point booking out a singing hall for a swimming event, right?

That one is obvious, but there are some other considerations that might impact your choice of venue, including accessibility, acoustics, safety concerns and proximity to the school. Keeping a venue local can ensure access for most students - if they come to school every day, it is more likely they can make it to that area easily for the event as well.

You can also reach out to other schools, that may have larger facilities or ones more suited to your event.

Choosing the right time of year

School calendars can fill up fast! Making sure your event is hosted at a time that suits everyone can prove to be challenging. Not only do you have to avoid exam times, other major school events and religious holidays, you also want to ensure that you host it at a suitable time of year. An outdoor swimming carnival in winter? Probably not the best idea!

Make sure you have an up-to-date copy of your school’s event calendar. And double-check on religious holidays that students of different faiths might observe. This helps ensure no-one needs to miss out, creating an inclusive environment.

Booking catering and other vendors

When it comes to catering, doing your research counts. Don’t be afraid to shop around, and ask for advice from other schools. Make sure any caterer has a good reputation and is strict about adhering to allergen laws and hygiene guidelines. It is also worth considering general dietary requirements and how you can ensure everyone is catered for.

It is a good idea to book vendors in 2 or 3 months in advance and to have a backup company in mind in case anything goes wrong or falls through as the event date approaches.

Rostering staff and volunteers

You will need staff and probably some volunteers to help run the event, and ensure student safety. Reach out at least a month in advance, and be sure to show your appreciation for them giving up their time to help out. It’s also a great chance to help parents feel involved in the community, so think of ways you can help them feel like they are part of a team.

Marketing your school event

Your marketing budget should be included in your overall event budget. You might want to print some flyers for noticeboards, write some emails and social media posts and can even consider some ads in the local paper. This depends on the audience you are trying to reach - inbound marketing and those outside the current school community will require different channels and different budgets.

To reach people outside the community, an ad in a local paper, on the radio or a billboard placed in your school for passersby to read are all great ways of advertising that won’t necessarily break the bank.

For inbound marketing, it might be as simple as sending an email to parents and students letting them know about the event, and including a link. We have a built-in easy-to-use email campaign tool so you can send a bulk email to your guests right from your Humanitix event page.

Selling tickets to your event

When it comes to selling tickets, why not make life as easy as possible and use a dedicated ticketing platform. Even if your event is small, you can automate a lot of processes and save yourself a lot of time doing admin (like collecting emails and payments manually). If you list with Humanitix, you can have your event live in two minutes and create a beautiful event page design using Canva. And best of all, it means any booking fees for your school event will go directly to education projects.

One week before the event

It’s a week before the big day! It’s a great time to check that everything is in place to help things run as smooth as possible on the day. Some checks include:

• Contact all vendors and volunteers to check they are still available
• Check the weather report and make some contingency plans if your need
• Make sure you have everyone’s dietary requirements and access needs
• Send attendees an email with all the details, and ask for any last-minute information they have forgotten to tell you

Then one day before the event, send one more email re-iterating important information, including advice on how to access the venue and anything else they should be aware of.

On the day of the event

On the day, you’ll want to have a few processes in place to help you manage all the moving parts.

A good place to start is to print out all your event management documents and keep them in a folder so you can refer to them easily.

Also, prepare a check-in area for guests or a way of ushering people to the right place when they arrive at the venue. This might be briefing volunteer ushers or setting up a mini information desk near the entrance. This can help make sure everyone gets to their seat on time and safely.

During the event, make sure you are in communication with volunteers and vendors. This will help ensure you are aware of any issues as they arise, giving you the best chance of being able to fix them quickly. Also, ensure that any guest speakers have everything they need and that all your attendees are happy.

After the event has finished, you’ll still need to supervise packing everything up and making sure the venue is left clean. Take the time to thank everyone who helped out, and if you can, give them a small gift as a token of your appreciation.

Next Steps: Let's sell some tickets!

List your event with Humanitix, and use your school event to help fund education projects. Your event can be live in less than 2 minutes, and every ticketing fee goes towards funding a better future for disadvantaged kids.