Events and Marketing

You may be considering booking a space to hold meetings in, or you need a space to hold an event. You can find all of the information you need about the spaces available, other events going on around campus, and the technology available to you online!

Requesting a Room

1. To get space on campus, all you have to do is fill out a Student Event Form at https://web.doane.edu/offices-services/event-planning/student-event-request no later than 14 days before the date you are requesting.
2. Fill in the event title, description, sponsoring organization, and advisor as well as all the 25Live prompts regarding space and technology needs, catering, and risk assessment.
3. You’ll receive a confirmation email that you requested the space. Once the reservation is set, you will receive another email that you have been officially approved for the space.
4. If you need to make an edit you can ether return to 25live and update the event or you can email Spencer Munson, Assistant Director of Student Engagement, at [email protected] and explain the issue. 

Ordering Equipment 

A lot of classrooms or meeting rooms already have technology like projectors, screens, laptops, or even additional AV equipment for you to use. If there is some kind of technology that you require, first try to book a space that already has that technology available.

If you are unable to find a location with the AV equipment that you want, you can request those items in 25live. You should also follow up with an email request to Spencer Munson, Assistant Director of Student Engagement, at [email protected], to ensure you get the necessary AV equipment.

These requests require a 14 to 30-day advance notice. Larger events will require a 90-day advance notice. Last minute requests, especially critical or busy times of year, may be difficult to honor.

Requesting Room Setup

If you want to make significant changes to the room, or you need extra items like tables, chairs, a podium, or a stage, you should make that request in your 25Live Request Form in the “Equipment” section. Please keep in mind that some rooms cannot be rearranged easily or at all. Email Spencer Munson, [email protected] for any specific equipment questions.

Programming can be hard right from the very first step of deciding that you actually want to put on a program! As a student organization, there is a very good chance that your group is going to want to put on some kind of program.

Misconceptions of Programming

The number of attendees is everything! Anything below 100 people isn’t successful.
This might be important if you need a certain number of people to attend in order to break even financially, but otherwise, don’t worry about that. The quality of the program and what the attendees get out of it should be your guidelines in measuring success.

Programming is easy!
If you’ve ever attended a program or event put on by an organization, you’re seeing the finished product. But a program that is well thought out, organized, publicized well, and uses good resources takes time to plan and put together. It doesn’t happen overnight!

Once you have a program type that works, stick with that.
People might get tired of going to the same kinds of events all the time, so be creative and just give it a try! You’ll have to put in some extra work, but students will be excited to try something new.

All programs are expensive to plan because only the programs that you put a lot of money into are going to be successful.
Most programs cost very little, or nothing at all. Use your resources creatively and intelligently – there are tons of students all over campus that might be able to help you with free entertainment or rare knowledge.

A good program will speak for itself, so you don’t need to publicize it.
If no one hears about your awesome program, you’ll limit your audience to just the ones who stumble upon it. Really put in the time to be creative and spread your publicity far and wide!

Don’t plan too much because things will change anyway.
Part of being ready for that change is to have a primary plan and backup plans.

You can organize and plan events effectively with informal organization and delegation.
Assigning specific responsibilities is the only way to ensure that someone is 100% accountable for the many pieces that go into planning an event.

Program Concept

Determine goals

Do you want to bring a community together? Educate others on a topic? Expose people to different viewpoints? Support another program? Or simply entertain and allow for some socialization?

Brainstorm

Get together with your members are start thinking of as many ideas as possible that can match your goals.

Choose something within your budget 

Discuss your options with your group and make a decision together about a program that will meet your goals while staying within budget.

Program Planning

Date & Time

Consult the academic calendar, facility availability, and student activities calendar! Find a time that is convenient for the members, as well as your target audience.

Location

Consider what your projected attendance might be and the kind of space you might need for a successful event.

Budget

Never forget your budget along the way! Project all expenses and leave a margin of error. Maybe even consider ways that you could get additional funding.

Food

Food attracts people, so determine the anticipated attendance and contact the appropriate vendors for catering or delivery.

Publicity 

Consider optimal posting location, design strategies for the target audience, and coordinate everything with your theme!

Other

Make sure you have all aspects covered – travel arrangements decoration, cleanup, safety, volunteers, etc. Double-check with everyone involved (including the university) on the policies that are in play for your event.

All of these basics are a good general guidelines to event planning, but actually planning the event is much more extensive.

If you’d like to book a space for an event that you’re holding, you’ll have to do some planning first to know what you’ll need. Planning an event or project can take a lot of time and energy. The key to success is having a well-thought-out plan to accomplish every task that is necessary to have a smooth and successful event. 

It has been proven effective to use a “backwards planning” method where you start by thinking of the day of the event and working back to present day. This will allow you to schedule dates for completing certain tasks more wisely and hopefully avoid procrastination and last-minute scrambles!

Backwards Planning

1. What is your desired outcome?
   1. How many people will attend?
   2. What is your budget for the entire event?
   3. How do you want people to feel after the event?
2. What needs to be done before the program?
   1. Where are you going to have the event? Reserve the appropriate space.
   2. Get the word out so that people attend!
   3. Do you need to arrange any travel arrangements or accommodations?
3. Be aware that you may meet obstacles along the way.
   1. Some parts might take longer than you expect so always leave extra time to allow for those speed bumps.
4. Use a calendar and start putting down tasks and timelines starting with the very last task and working backwards.
   1. Consider other events or happenings that may influence your planning!
   2. Lock the tasks that are time sensitive onto specific days.
5. After you have all the tasks and some timelines laid out, start delegating to team members.
6. Revisit your plan periodically to ensure that everything is still on track and that all team members are able to complete their tasks.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming can help you come up with lots of ideas in a short amount of time. You might generate ideas of projects and programs, recognize foreseeable problems, and suggest possible solutions. But brainstorming can also be frustrating or chaotic.

Relax

Get comfortable in your brainstorming space and with those that you’re sharing with

Record 

Select someone to write down all of the ideas presented, so that everyone can see them and expand on them.

Focus 

Specify what you’re going to brainstorm about and try to stay on task so that each stage is thought out properly. We don’t want to miss any good ideas because we moved along too fast!

Blurt

Allow everyone in the group to just blurt out suggestions. There shouldn’t be any real discussion about the ideas as you’re brainstorming, so silly or off-the-wall ideas should always be welcome.

However, there are a few “rules” to put in place to make your brainstorming sessions amazing!

1. Leave out the evaluation and criticism. This is a time just for coming up with ideas; not deciding to go with any particular one, or shooting down others.
2. Encourage all contributions. Every idea counts equally and sometimes the ideas that seem impossible at first actually produce the best plans!
3. Quantity over quality. If you generate tons of ideas, you’re more likely to get a higher volume of plausible ones.
4. Combine and build on the ideas presented. Some ideas might not work on their own, but someone could contribute another idea that could make it better!

As you embark on planning your event, you should first consider the following:

• Name, date, time, location(s) of the event
• Concrete goals for the event
• Point of contact of your organization
• List of any food needed at the event
• Supplies or equipment needed throughout the entire event
• Any overnight accommodation that might be needed
• Contract and performance rider
• Budget for the entire event
• Student travel information
• Are Doane vehicles needed?
• Liability waivers (for physical activity and for the transport of students to an off-campus location)
• Itinerary of event
• Description of each activity for the duration of the event
• A crisis response plan for the event
• A marketing plan
• Your advisor’s thoughts and contributions to the event

Check out the Risk Assessment Form in the Forms section of this handbook (page 33). That will walk you through a lot of the above items.

Decorations

All decorations must follow these guidelines:

• Decorations must be removable, cannot be hung from the ceiling, and can only be adhered using Blue Painters Tape.
• Decorations must be flame retardant according to their packaging, must adhere to current fire regulations, and must be taken down immediately following the event.
• Glitter and confetti are prohibited.
• Doane University is not responsible for injuries that may occur from installing or removing decorations.
• Damage done to any space including the walls, floors, or furnishings could result in a damage fee.
• Decorations must not cover any exit signs or doors.

Specific buildings may have more specific decoration policies, make sure to check with the specific building management to ensure the organization follows all decoration guidelines.

Suggested Timeline

This timeline is intended for a larger event, but a lot of these suggestions are applicable to any and all events on campus.

THREE MONTHS PRIOR

• Meet with officers and advisor to:
  • Discuss goals of the event and how it relates to the mission of the organization
  • Create an event budget that covers all expenses for the event, including but not limited to: Doane security, facilities and services, parking, food, advertising, entertainment, stage/lighting/sound, etc.
• Time, location, and rain site reserved on 25Live
  • www.doane.edu/student-event-form
  • Carefully consider that if the facility/venue fits all of your needs
  • Consider risks and complete the assessment in 25Live
• Determine performing acts or speakers. Confirm!!
  • If you’re bringing a vendor on campus to supply novelty entertainment (climbing walls, mechanical bulls, inflatable equipment, etc.) then the contract vendor needs to supply an on-site certificate of insurance. If you have more questions about that, you can contact the Assistant Director of Campus Engagement.
• Create a detailed timeline and delegate tasks
• Request vehicles online at: https://web.doane.edu/offices-services/facilities-operations/reserve-a-vehicle
  • If necessary, arrange van driver training
• Review the rules and guidelines outline by the university (i.e. alcohol policies, new member events, travel, contracts, etc.)

SIX WEEKS PRIOR

• Contact performers or speakers about promotional materials
• Check in on the progress of delegated tasks
• Create a Crisis Response Plan for the entire event
• Create flyers and advertising materials
  • Confirm proper usage of Doane University logos and trademarks
  • Submit flyers and advertising materials to the Student Affairs Office for approval prior to printing and posting.

THREE WEEKS PRIOR

• Confirm advisor approval of the Event Planning Checklist you created above
• Identify if working funds are needed for day of event
  • Save all receipts for reimbursement from Student Congress if your organization receives allocations
  • Request a check for performers/speakers from the Business Office, according to the contract with the vendor
• Send confirmation email to performers/speakers
  • Include parking passes, maps, itinerary, and contact information for on-site personnel from your organization
  • Also confirm what was agreed upon regarding speaking point, performance expectations, and arrival time
• Submit an order for any food necessary.
  • You may want to consider Fresh Ideas, Doane’s hospitality provider. You must request Food Service on the event registration form!! All menu arrangements must be made at least 5 business days in advance of the event, but the earlier you get that finalized, the better! Contact Fresh Ideas Catering at [email protected].
• Specify the roles of your members for the day of the event so everyone know what they’ll be doing

ONE WEEK PRIOR

• Finalize the day-of schedule and member staffing/placement for the event
  • Include details about set up, break down, and clean up of the event!
  • Confirm all reservations with the Director of Event Services
• Complete student travel information for the Business Office
  • List all passengers and send to Facilities
• Plan the introduction of the performer/guest (who will do it and what they will say)
• Determine transportation needed for the performer/guest
• If your event includes any kind of physical activity for your participants (volleyball, dunk tank, inflatable devices), you must draw up a waiver form for them to complete to participate. An example of this is available in the Forms section (page 33), or you can get one from the Office of Campus Engagement.
• Establish a deadline for the latest point for cancellation, reschedule, or rain plans
  • At what time will you decide whether you will move or cancel the event in case of inclement weather? Who will make that decision? How will you notify participants?
  • Monitor for weather during outdoor event

DAY OF EVENT

• Follow the day-of schedule previously established
  • Allow time for setup and break down!
• Ensure payment of performer or guest by picking up checks from the Business Office
• Communicate with everyone staffing the event
• Ensure there is someone to escort performers or guests to the location if necessary
• Mitigate potential or occurring risks
• Keep up with trash as it accumulates
• Ensure the cleanliness of facility after the event

FOLLOWING THE EVENT

• Send out thank you notes to those who assisted or were special guests at the event
• Complete an Event Assessment (example is in the Forms section).
• Pay all bills and outstanding invoices
• Develop a transition binder to keep record of your timeline, estimated/actual budgets, some publicity, program, receipts, and all correspondence for your successor
• Document all incidents and accidents as they occur with Doane Safety Office
• If you utilized a waiver, make sure to keep those on file for at least one full year

One thing that you may want to delegate is marketing your event. This can be a big task for just one person, but it’s a very important task. A big consideration will be how and where you advertise your event.

Posters - Doane students have access to Canva Pro. Info below on how to access the Doane University Student Team. Make them visually appealing and themed around your event. Figure out the best posting locations and make sure they’re approved by the University! (See how to get your posters printed below!)

The Owl - Ask someone on the newspaper staff if they will do a short piece on your upcoming event, or even just run an ad to describe your event.

Word-of-Mouth - The cheapest way to get the word out about your event is to have your members talk it up to all of their friends and classmates. Best part is, it takes little to no effort, every single member can help, and if your members seem excited about it, then their friends will be, too!

Teaser Events - You could consider having small events or activities leading up to your program to get people interested and talking about it. If you pursue these, do them well. If they don’t go well, then people might think that the main event won’t be as stellar as you know it will be!

The Little Things - Don’t forget about all the smaller things you could do to get the word out: email, mailbox stuffers, table tents, social networking, getting in the weekly #TigerLifeWeekly email from SPB, etc. 

KDNE - You can run a Public Service Announcement (PSA) or an ad on the radio station. If it’s enthusiastic, it will get people excited for your event.

#TigerLifeWeekly 

You can have your event included in this weekly email by contacting Deb Sherard at [email protected] with all of your important details and a graphic/image. The email goes out on Sundays, please make sure to have all the information in by NOON on Friday.

Posters and Flyers 

You can email the Student Affairs Office, [email protected], a PDF, JPEG, or PowerPoint slide of your poster or flier for printing. You can choose between a few sizes of posters: 24”x36”, 18”x24”, 11”x17”, or 8.5” x11”. Posters can be printed in full color or black and white.

Please specify how many copies and the size of poster(s) you need. All flyers hung around campus must be stamped and approved by the Student Affairs Office. See the Office Manager for questions or concerns. Your organization’s student account will be charged for the production of these items.

Overall, just be creative and try to have fun with it! If you’re having fun, it will be a lot easier to accomplish, and others will naturally be more excited for the event. If you really have no idea where to start, or your strategies aren’t working out as you’d like, try asking someone that you see succeeding at this. It could be another organization that somehow gets a big turnout or you seem to notice their promos a lot – they could have some trade secrets to share.

Posters

A lot of organizations choose to go for posters as their first attempt at promotion. Please see above for how to get your posters approved and printed, and use the provided sticky tack to hang your approved posters in approved locations! Below are a few key things to keep in mind regarding hanging posters on campus:

• References to and/or regarding, pictures of alcoholic beverages, alcohol-related events, suggestive gestures, suggestive sexual content or discrimination of any kind may not be used. 
• Flyers and posters should only be placed on existing bulletin boards, kiosks, and other designated posting areas. They may not be placed on doors, windows, bathroom stalls, or painted surfaces. 
• After your event has occurred, it is your responsibility to go around and remove all posters and flyers you posted to promote it. Failure to do so may result in non-approval of your next posters or flyers.
• Residence Hall Community Directors will determine the posting areas for their individual residence halls and building supervisors will be responsible for posting placements in their respective buildings. 
• What can I use to hang your flyer/poster? Push Pins/tacks on cork bulletin boards/strips and sticky tack for designated areas are acceptable.

• There are roughly 36 posting spaces across campus:

  Building - # of Posters
  Perry - 8
  Smith - 6
  Conservatory - 2
  Art/Ed -4
  Communications - 4
  Lied - 4
  Haddix - 0
  Hansen - 6
  Sheldon - 6
  Frees - 6
  Gaylord - 2
  Total - 48

Design Tips

• Make sure the basic information about your event is easy to find: time, date, location!
• Limit the number of different fonts and font sizes you use. Using more than two or three of each can make it hard to read.
• Leave some white space around the margins and between items on the page to make it easier to read.
• Always spell-check! Have someone else double-check your final before posting it. Your poster will be taken more seriously if it looks more professional and doesn’t contain errors.
• Don’t forget: you always want to brand your organization by including its name and logo. That way people will know who to credit for such an awesome event.
• Avoid having to redo everything, if you decide to put on the event again in the future, by saving your work!
• And, of course, have your poster design approved before getting the posters printed!

Canva! 

All undergraduate students, faculty and staff at Doane University will have access to a personal Canva Pro account. Not only will you be able to utilize Canva Pro for all your individual work, but you will also be able to create groups and work together on projects with other Doane University undergraduate students and other staff. 

Accessing Canva Pro through Doane University:

You can access your Canva Pro account through single sign-on (SSO) here. 

You will be joining the Doane University Student Team - do not panic - this is the correct team to join!
 

If you already have a free Canva account with your individual Doane University email:

• Once prompted to log in via SSO you will have a choice to link your existing account so you will not lose any projects. 

If you already have a Canva Pro account with your individual Doane University email:

• Once prompted to log in via SSO you will have a choice to link your existing account so you will not lose any projects. 

• If you would like to receive a refund for your personal Canva Pro subscription now that you can access Canva Pro for free through Doane University, please submit a Canva customer service request for a prorated refund for the remainder of your term.

For more information or support with logging into your Doane University’s Canva Pro account, review this Canva Help Center article about linking your Canva account with your SSO provider.

Using Doane University Templates and Brand Kit 

The Doane University brand templates can be found in the "Brand Hub." To navigate to the brand templates from your Canva Home Page, activate the navigation menu by clicking on the three-line menu icon in the upper left corner next to the Canva logo. Select "Brand" in the side menu. From there, select "Brand Templates" in the side menu. This will bring up a grid or list of available "Brand Templates" created by the Doane University Office of Strategic Marketing. You can access a selection of Doane University photos library on Photoshelter. Canva also offers a variety of royalty-free stock images to use in your designs. 

Create Groups with Your Peers:
You will have the ability to create groups with other students to allocate specific designs and folders to other student users. This could be useful for group projects, clubs, etc. so you don’t need to manually share everything each time.

Collaborating with Students/Faculty/Staff:

Students who wish to share designs with faculty/staff or vice versa should use the Collaboration Link. This works similarly to SharePoint documents, where multiple people can access a design simultaneously. 

Transferring your Projects:

Once you have completed your time at Doane University, you must transfer any designs from your Doane University Canva Pro account to any other personal Canva account. To save any projects before your Doane University Canva Pro account is deactivated, review this Canva Help Center article about copying designs or files before graduating.

Additional Resources:

Other resources that are available to you include:

• Thousands of tutorials on how to design like a pro, explore typography, design trends, and more with Canva’s Design School

• Weekly live webinars

• Canva’s Support Center, where you can find a wealth of information regarding product functionality and features

• Technical issue support from the Canva Customer Happiness Team

If you have any questions about the Canva process or access, please contact the Service Center by emailing help@doane.edu
If you have any questions about the Doane University brand templates, please don't hesitate to reach out to osm@doane.edu.

Fresh Ideas

Does your event include provisions such as food, snacks, or beverages? It is mandatory that all food orders for campus events be placed through Fresh Ideas. Fresh Ideas has first-right-of-refusal for supplying meals and snacks at all Doane campuses. Any external food items, such as pizza, donuts, snacks, or drinks, are prohibited unless approved by Fresh Ideas. The Fresh Ideas team is highly cooperative and will collaborate with the entire event planning team to ensure the culinary success of your event. 

By answering a few simple questions about if you will be having food, snacks, or beverages at your event within the 25Live reservation system, our on-campus food service vendor, Fresh Ideas, will be informed of your request and an email will automatically be generated to start communication between you and Fresh Ideas. For further information, please contact them directly at [email protected]. 

MORE:

Catering Guide

Price List