Event Planning Tips

1. Request a speaker first, before you have a room or funding. Generally, you will request speakers through the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), although you could contact speakers directly if you wanted to.

2. Start planning events early—even a year in advance. Some speakers’ schedules are very full and, even when they are not, it takes time for ARI to make arrangements with its speakers. It is not unreasonable to request a speaker nine months to one year in advance. You should not attempt to plan for a guest speaker less than two months in advance.

3. See ARI's list of speakers and topics. For other ideas on speakers and talks, you can browse through past OCON (Objectivist Conference) lectures, the ARI lecture series, Ayn Rand Bookstore items, speaker bios on the ARI site, and Objectivist publications (books, The Objective Standard, ARI op-eds, etc.). You can also look at the list of events being hosted by other Objectivist clubs.

4. Timing of the event is everything. Pay attention to your academic calendar. You don’t want to hold events too early in a semester, near or during academic breaks, or during exam weeks.

5. Do not repeat a previous event. Be careful not to schedule an event that the club has already hosted within the past four years.

6. Choosing a title. Choose a title for your event that will make it sound interesting or academic, provided however that you don’t deviate from the event’s actual subject matter. Whenever possible, you should select a title that includes Ayn Rand’s name. Keep in mind the audience at your school and what attracts them to events. For example, the University of Chicago students are very scholarly, and they like to attend events with complicated titles.

7. Book the right room—quickly. Once you have a speaker, you should book a room ASAP. As long as you are booking a room at least two months in advance, you should have no trouble finding something appropriate. Try to book a room that is neither too small nor too big. If a room is too small, you will not have enough seats for everyone. If a room is too big, it will look like no one cares about the club/Objectivism. You cannot prepare advertising materials and at many schools you cannot apply for funding until you have the location; so you should book a room as quickly as possible!

8. Audiovisual equipment. You will probably only need A/V equipment if you are hosting a panel or a debate. Check with your speaker or ARI about the speaker’s needs and consult with your school's events department. If you tell the events department the kind of event and how many people you expect, they should be able to assist you with any A/V needs.

9. Sources of funding. Campus Objectivist clubs generally receive funding for events from three sources: 1) student government, 2) ARI, and 3) individual donors. Even when you have full funding from other sources, it is good to request money from your student government too. There is no such thing as too much money.

10. Plan your budget and publicity in advance. Detailed budget and publicity information are provided elsewhere on the website. You cannot hold a successful event without the necessary funding, and there is no reason to host an event if no one attends it because you failed to publicize it adequately. When you are preparing a budget, you need to be thorough, realistic, detailed, and itemized. Regarding publicity, you need to prepare and plan as much material as far in advance as possible, and you should be sure to enlist the help of other club members.

11. Transportation for your guest speaker. It is customary for clubs to arrange for their speaker's transportation to and from the event and to provide him or her with dinner either before or after (usually before).

12. Enlist club members to help with publicity. You should distribute publicity materials and ask other club members for help at weekly club meetings. Take care of these matters before discussion starts in case people have to leave early. You need to have your materials ready to go and your plans made prior to the meeting; don’t try to figure out what help you need at the same time you are asking for that help. Keep in mind that people are more likely to agree to help you if you ask specific people to complete specific tasks. General requests (e.g., “Would someone please help post flyers around campus?”) are unlikely to get a response. Be sure to ask for help as far in advance as possible so that people can arrange their schedules accordingly. Follow up with club members to make sure they have completed the tasks they agreed to complete. Publicity Tips provides more information on how to publicize your events.

13. Managing the day of the event. Make sure that you have club members arriving early and staying late the day of the event to help set up and clean up. Assign helpers specific tasks to minimize confusion and to ensure that nothing is forgotten. Try to have other people doing all the specific tasks so that you are able to monitor the event as a whole and make sure everything goes smoothly. This is not being lazy; this is good management. Prepare all the materials you will need to take to the event the night before. We also have an event day supply list and helper list you can use on the day of.

14. Solicit donations. Put a donations jar out during your event. Make sure someone watches it so that it doesn’t get stolen. It is not a bad idea to put a few bills and some change in the jar yourself before the event starts because people will be more likely to give you a donation if they think that other people are donating too.

15. How long should the event be? ARI events typically consist of a one-hour lecture followed by Q&A. You could let Q&A continue until questions run out or the building closes, but it is better to let Q&A continue no longer than one hour. You want the event to end while people are still excited about the talk rather than wishing it were over so they could go home. People are more likely to donate money to the club if the event ends while people are still excited, and people will leave with a more favorable impression of the speaker and the club if you end the event sooner rather than later.

16. Train a successor. Try to train another club member in events coordination before you graduate so that the club won’t have to learn everything from scratch when leadership changes.

These recommendations are based on material provided by Maria McRaven.