THE EVENT CRITICAL PATH

WHY PREPARE IT?

1. Festivals and events are large, with many pieces that must be coordinated.

2. Long-term events require planning to ensure progress and continuity year to year.

3. Short-term events require planning to meet ambitious event dates.

4. A common plan helps ensure that all team members are working towards the same goal.

WHY PEPARE IT?

5. Planning helps you decide which tasks to do first and which can be postponed.

6. Planning helps you identify resource needs before the resources are needed.

7. You can improve your ability to estimate how long tasks will take by keeping track of your projected and achieved schedules.

8. Event stakeholders will require you to have an event plan.

STEP BY STEP PROCESS

1. Create a list of known dates including event date (the end)

2. Identify important dates 3. Brainstorm a list of a tasks to be completed4. Break the list into categories5. Prioritize the categories and tasks within

each category6. Determine completion dates for each task7. Assign tasks to individuals8. Define the monitoring system including red

flags and a communication system to deal with problems

EXERCISE

What are the common categories or committees often used by event organizers?

EXERCISE

Each group will take one of the categories and create a list of all the tasks within that category.

PRIORITIZING

COMMON SENSE AND THINKING THROUGH THE COURSE OF ACTIONS!

(Sponsorship Example)

DETERMINING DATES

Where do we begin when setting the dates?

(3 on 3 example)

ASSIGNING TASKS

What characteristics should we look for when assigning tasks?

3 Way Calling

STAFF & VOLUNTEER COMMITTMENTSIGNED AGREEMENT

1. Name and contact info

2. Event title and date

3. I ______________ agree to

4. My duties will include

5. Signatures – you and volunteer or staff person

Exercise

Prepare a critical path for the following with date, task and person(s) responsible.

Your arrival at Algonquin College to start the Event Management program. Backtrack to the date you first heard about the program and list the steps you took to be able to attend the first day.