Event Planning Resources

Detailed Information

A successful group needs to know where they are heading. Set all your events for the year with as much detail as you can gather. Here’s how you can create a yearly calendar:

1. Get an authorised member to call a special planning meeting
   • Put aside at least 1.5 hours
   • Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to run over e.g. a Saturday morning
2. Prepare a list of important dates before your meeting
   • Feast days
   • Fasting period
   • Public holidays
   • School holidays
   • Archdiocese events
   • Parish events
   • Other major events that may interfere with your goals
3. Remind your team
   • Make sure your group knows how important this meeting is
   • Send plenty of reminders and offer the opportunity early enough to change the date if required
4. Planning Meeting
   • Make sure your spiritual advisor is with you
   • Start with a prayer!
   • Organise fellowship e.g. tea/coffee, snacks, light meal etc. Your meeting should be enjoyable
   • Have a large planner available. This can be via:
     • Whiteboard
     • An Officeworks planner
     • Online (e.g. Google Calendar, Office 365 etc)
   • Be realistic and make sure you limit how many events you commit yourself to
   • The goal is to create a shortlist of events and try to include:
     • Critical details:
       • Name of event
       • Date & times (and recurrence if applicable)
       • Organiser/Organising Group
       • Goals (i.e. Why are you doing this event?)
     • Get ASAP after the planning meeting
       • Speakers and organisers
       • Location
       • Costs
5. End the meeting with a prayer
   • Only once you have a list of events with group consensus

Get Approval

So now that you’ve had your planning meeting and you’ve listed out your events, this needs to be set in stone. Here’s how:

1. 1. Take a final draft of your calendar to your parish priest, alongside all key dates including:
      • Feast days
      • Fasting period
      • Public holidays
      • School holidays
      • Archdiocese events
      • Parish events
   2. Leave it with them for a few days
      • But not for too long!
      • Ask them how long they need
   3. Follow-up
   4. If applicable, get Archdiocese approval
      • Your spiritual advisor will tell you if this needs to happen

Publish Calendar

1. Publish the calendar! Commit yourself to it!
   • Print it out on a paper and hand it out on a Sunday
   • Get a proper calendar produced with a frige magnet
   • Put a PDF on your website
2. Promote on other websites
   • See further below

Maximise Success

Do you want your events to succeed? Yes… of course, you do! This takes hard work and planning. The hardest part is getting started, but it gets easier and your volunteers will grow their skills!

Set all your events for the coming year with as much detail as you can gather. This will be hard to do in just meeting, but you should do this as soon as you can and revise the upcoming events at your regular group meetings.

To be successful, ensure the following:

1. 1. Gather all the event details ASAP
      • Name of event
      • Date & times (and recurrence if applicable)
      • Speakers and organisers
      • Location
      • Costs
   2. Plan early
      The bigger the event and your goals, the earlier you need to plan:
      • Small events- 1 month
      • Medium events- 3 months
      • Large events- 6 months
      • Bigger- 12 months
   3. Consider Sponsorship
      • Be organised… come up with a sponsorship package
      • Sponsorship should be suitable and appropriate
      • Provide the sponsor a benefit in return. This will encourage them to support in the future
      • Your sponsor should understand why their support is important
   4. Thank your volunteers and sponsors
      • Assistance should not be taken for granted! Thank your supporters sincerely
      • Consider an award and formal recognition where required
      • Be measured and fair in your thanks (i.e. money is not always more important than time)