So, you’ve got some events planned…
Each year, every Chapter Treasurer faces the challenge of taking all those ideas discussed by the board and finding the means to make those dreams a reality. Maybe you’re part of a small chapter that wants to send members to a national or quad conference for the first time. Maybe your chapter has a pretty strong history of event planning but wants to switch it up this year and include more professional events. Maybe your chapter is hosting its first large-scale fundraiser or major membership appreciation event. Either way, all treasurers play a large role in making these events happen.
“What exactly am I supposed to do in event planning?”
First and foremost, you have to remember that you are part of a team- any major financial decision you make should include the review of your Chapter President and align with the goals of your chapter. Your role in event planning starts with the budget; at the end of the day, your job is to maintain and sustain your chapter financially while allowing your chapter to provide the most value possible for its members. Your chapter may or may not have the means to achieve all the ambitious goals it sets forward, but you can present what means you do have and provide strategic methods to allocate these funds to achieve any major goals your board sets forward that year. As a treasurer, here are some easy steps you can take to make allocating funds a little easier:
- Look at past years’ expense reports and overall budget to understand how much your chapter can safely spend each year.
- Present a budget to your executive board and ask for a list of priorities. Being able to prioritize which events are more important can help you to work with your membership coordinator or events coordinator to spend the money where it counts.
- Figure out how much income you will need a month to support any more events that your exec board might find important. Use this to help your fundraising board member to plan fundraising events.
- Find a balance between quantity vs quality. Some chapters may need more events and some may only need a few each semester. Depending on your overall budget, there is nothing wrong with a simple movie night or game night to add to the list!
“What types of events should I be helping plan?”
There are multiple ways for your chapter to entertain and provide for your members and many different financial responsibilities regarding event planning. Here are a few different types of events we think you should look out for and how you might play a role as a treasurer:
- Social Events and Small Workshops: These are the smaller events that occur more often throughout the semester. These events sometimes may not even need a budget- like small software workshops- but it is nice to provide a small budget for food and drinks for social events. Try to cover the cost of these events with small fundraisers.
- Professional Events: Though these events may not be as often, they may hold more significance as they are intended to mix your members with professionals in the field. The budget may be larger for these events so you can provide the professionals with something a little fancier than pizza to thank them for their time.
- Fundraisers: Yay income! Fundraisers are a great source of money to spend on your members or when working with non-profits or scholarship programs. It is important to understand that there may be a large up-front cost before you see a profit, depending on the scale of the fundraiser- so plan for that.
- Formal Events:Some schools may do formal events as a form of member appreciation. These events may require a larger budget depending if you need to rent a venue or provide for a larger attendance.
- Conferences: These may be a little more difficult to budget for depending on chapter size and budget. Some members may be able to pay for themselves but the demand may be so high that your board wants to fund some people to go. Later we’ll share some ways to better prepare for and fund conferences if your chapter isn’t used to attending.
“What if I don’t think I can provide for these events?”
Ask, ask, ask! If you want to meet your chapter’s goals but there simply isn’t room in the budget for an event, the best thing you can do is ask someone if they can fund it! The best part about being part of AIAS is that your chapter is affiliated with a LOT of organizations both in the school and in the professional world, and they have money. Start by asking your department or head of student organizations if there is school funding for event planning that is provided to registered student organizations. Ask your local AIA chapters if they would like to partner with your chapter on certain events. Even ask firms in the area if they would like to sponsor any professional events. There are so many sources, all you have to do is ask!
“How can I help to plan for a conference?”
- Try to get an idea of how many people want to go ASAP and hit the ground running with fundraising, attending a conference requires a lot of planning so start doing so far in advance (in some cases, up to a year)
- Many schools have a system for students organizations to request travel with a set provided travel budget per year, reach out and ask how to apply and the regulations regarding in booking flights and hotels; in this case you will most likely be working with someone at the school and they will book
- Set up a specified amount of chapter-supplied funding based on the yearly budget and determine how many students can be funded based on this amount
- Set up cut-off dates for students to sign up for possible funding
We know that considering the global pandemic and the need to quarantine and socially distance, that having conventional AIAS events is virtually possible but physically impossible. So, these tips and tricks for treasurers in event planning currently might need to be viewed in a different light. If your school is continuing to have virtual events amidst the crisis, it’s very likely that you as the treasurer might not fulfill a large role in the planning of these events. During this time, we encourage you to search and discover ways that you may apply any extra time you have from not being a part of current event planning to future event planning. Be positive! This time of pause may be what takes next year’s in-person AIAS events to the next level! We encourage all you eager (and maybe cabin-fever antsy) treasurers out there to get with your executive board and ask, how can we now put even more time and thought into planning next year’s events? How can we reallocate funds for future spending and event planning?
Above all, we want to reassure you that times are not normal and it is okay to accept that. It means that the future will only be brighter!
