Refer to this guide whenever you need to hold an event.
Step by Step
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Any student wishing to run an event or activity bigger than just a meet up in the University needs to fill in an Events Request Form at least 6 weeks before the desired event
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A member of the C+B team will pick up the request within 5 working days and contact the student group to arrange a meeting
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C+B lead will take notes during the meeting and will send these to the student group with clear deadlines to complete tasks such as filling in a student events guide and budget plan
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If the date is free in the SU events calendar, the C+B lead will put it in as ‘HOLD FOR’ on the date and time of the event
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Student group to email filled in student events guide to C+B lead 5/6 weeks before event
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Once C+B lead is happy with the quality of the guide, they will forward it to management for them to approve the event
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C+B lead will change HOLD FOR to CONFIRMED in SU events calendar if event is approved by management
How to fill out an events guide
This is a guide to the event that everyone will use to see what is going to happen and when.
- You need to start by telling us the name, date, time and event of the location. This will let us know when and where to advertise the event.
- You then need to tell us the event description. This will be used to advertise your event on the UWLSU website. So sell the event! Why should people come to it?
- Who is your audience? Let us know who the event is targeted at. Is it your members? Is it every UWLSU student? Will there be external guests allowed?
- How much are your tickets going to be? You can fill this part out after doing the finance section later on in the guide. But you need to tell us what to list your tickets too.
Who are the key contacts from your group that will be running the event?
We will add the SU contacts in later on so just ensure you have which committee members are leading it. They will be expected to turn up to help set up for the event, not just 10 minutes beforehand.
Your key timings will be the key times on the date of the event. These can be added after you've done the more details ops plan timing.
You'll then go onto the build schedule. This needs to be as detailed as possible. The example given shows the timings of when everything to do with the event is taking place. We need you to be this detailed. This helps us and you to know what you need to do and when you need to do it. It will also help with your key timings. Include from before set up to after pack down and everyone is off-site.
Risk assessment
You will have already done a risk assessment for your generic group activity, but this is different. You'll need to do a specific risk assessment for each event you want to run.
You can find out more information by checking out our risk assessment guide.
Risk assessments
Communications plan
This will help you to plan the messaging around advertising your event. Remember, you can't advertise your event until your events guide has been signed off!
When possible, we will use UWLSU social media to promote your event. All events will be listed on uwlsu.com.
When desigining posters of events listings, we recommend using Canva. It's a free online design tool.
Budget
One of the most important factors in running a successful event is your budget.
What is your expenditure?
- How much do you have in your account to spend?
- What is your biggest expenditure? Can you get it cheaper elsewhere?
- If collaborating with another group, what is the split between budgets?
- Don't use all group funds on one event. This will cause issues later on.
What is your income?
- How much are you planning to make selling tickets?
- Is there any other source of income?
- Remember, UWLSU takes a small transaction fee for every ticket sold (around 1%). Build this into your budget.
Don't plan to break even by selling all of your tickets
When we run events in the Students' Union, we never set our break even limit at 100% ticket sales. This puts too much pressure on the event to sell out. Aim for around 50-60% of your total capacity for your event spend - this will then help you to set ticket prices.
Any money left over will go into your group's account.
Other information you need to know
We work with various teams to be able to process these bookings.
We'll need you to send us your events guide before your event is confirmed and can be advertised. If we have any issues with the form, we'll ask you to make the changes.
Failiure to meet deadlines will result in dates and events being lost.
Do not advertise or promote any room bookings until they have been confirmed with us.