Event Planning Experience

Greetings.

I have been working in SUPP for about one month now. For those of you who have not read my previous post, SUPP stands for Sarawak United Peoples' Party. It is a political party based in Sarawak. 

During this one month period, I've managed to learn a lot more on how things work in the real world. SUPP youth section had recently formed a new group named 'waSUPP'. The choice made to use this name is made up of several reason. As the youth section, the group would like to form not only a catchy name, but one which can relates and resonance with the youth people who are their target group. 'waSUPP' is chosen because it sounds very similar to the greetings used by young people - 'What's up?'. The pronounce of both deems a perfect fit hence it is chosen. Secondly, the first two letters is in small letter is so to stand out the 'SUPP' which is also the short form of the political name. The integration of 'SUPP' in the group name is to create consistency.

waSUPP had planned for a three weekend activities to kick start the group. The programme is divided into three parts: In Reach, Out Reach and Celebration Party. Each programme is aim to be carried out to achieve different objectives. The first part of waSUPP weekend activities, In Reach, had happened yesterday. I was involved in the planning of this event. There are few things and tips that I have learned through this experience. I would like to share them with you. 

1. Plan early helps.

We have an organizing team of three, including me, for the 'In Reach' programme. We only start to plan the whole programme one week prior to the actual date. This was due to a complicated reason which disable us to plan before hand. Furthermore, the 3 waSUPP programme activities is schedule to be held in the month of March. Hence delaying the first programme would mean pushing the dates for the other two programme backwards. Thus we do not have sufficient time to prospond but to stick to the schedule. I would say one week is a very tight schedule but the team really push hard and put a lot of effort to make ends meet. However, there are still shortcomings that I have observed on the actual day itself. I believe the lack of planning due to time constraint definitely had an disadvantage for the programme itself. My advice is to start early to plan. It really helps a lot. 

2. Important tools needed. 

'In Reach' is a 3-6PM event at the beach. The programme includes games such as beach soccer and tug of war. All these needs props and preparation before hand. Besides, the organizing committees need to source for canopy, tables, generator, sound system and catering. The helpful tools that assist me in this situation is to have a master checklist. A master checklist enable me to double check and it also serve as a reminder. To ensure we do not waste time or overshot time during the programme, we have a running list that indicates the programme time, specific details and person in charge.  

3. Turn outs is a number game.

When organising an event, we need to determine how big we want the event to be and how many turn outs we are aiming for. This would help in budgeting and decisions on catering. One thing that I've learn from this event is turn outs is a number game. We did not get the number of turn outs we aim for in the In Reach programme. After a series of post-event debriefing we found out that we have not been doing enough advertisement and channelling of message to the people we intend to target. If we want to hit our target number of turn outs, we should have put in more effort in thinking how do we get the message through to more people. For example: if the message is sent to 1000 people, not all 1000 will come for the event. Maybe 50% of that will turn out. Hence that reason should be taken into consideration too. 

4. Communicate is vital.

Event planning requires a lot of communication between all party involved: from within the organizing committees itself and to food caterers, sound system service personnel, Emcee, VIPs personal assistant, media and etc. Communication cannot be neglected. Another lesson that I have learnt through this event is we have to be initiative in communication. If the caterer said she is going to call back to confirm her availability but didn't we have to take the initiative to call and follow up on her. We should not wait but we should be active in seeking information. When we do not understand the information being communicated, we should not be shy and keep quiet. Instead, we should question and make sure both party fully understand and agenda being communicate. This is to prevent wrong flow of information and to eliminate errors. 

5. Double check

After everything is done, always double check everything! If necessary, seek help from other communities members. Do not hesitate. 

That's all what I've learn so far. I hope this would help and give you an insight of how to organize and event.

Regards,

Law Siaw Wen

Sarawak Campus 

Intern at Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP)