Experience

This was a networking art exhibit event that I, along with a group of colleagues, were chosen to design and plan, in partnership with both the schools of art and business. It took place on the 19^th of May 2022 at the Cathedral Café in Derby, although we started to plan it in late February 2022. Many of our roles were in the planning process of this event, and we also visited the venue on the day to discuss the set up.

The planning process included:

• Coming up with and pitching ideas for the event to the members of staff involved, we developed three ideas to fit with the initial brief and created a power point to visually assist in our pitch.
• Visiting the venue to view the space available to ensure that our plan was feasible, as well as to discuss dates and times with the staff. We also confirmed accessibility options if these were needed for any attendees.
• Attending meetings with different members of staff involved in the event to assign tasks that would need to be completed to keep the planning process moving.
• Meeting with the catering team at university to discuss a possible menu and how much different options would cost for attendees.
• Discussing what was needed to be included in the floor plan, such as if tables and chairs were necessary for the type of event it was, and how many stalls were needed for the exhibitors.
• Planning the itinerary for the day and including when the catering, exhibitors and guests would be arriving.

Although this event ended up being a success on the day, it was not an easy event to plan due to many issues that occurred. I have learnt a lot about working with senior members and that is it often difficult to communicate properly when having to make contact through others first. I believe that if the ideas were clear from the beginning, then it would have been a much easier process and would have been completed earlier with more time to organise small details, this being said, even with the issues the event ran smoothly and from feedback it is clear that the attendees enjoyed the evening.

To improve future events, I would suggest that the team make use of the students as resources who can ease the pressure of all the smaller details. If I were to plan this event again, I would use a project management tool, such as a RACI Matrix and stick to a gantt chart, to ensure all areas are considered, that they have a time frame to be finalised by and that everyone involved is aware of who is responsible for each task.