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How to Organise an Event in a University

how to organise an event in a university

It’s no secret that students love to spend both their free time and academic time learning, having fun, communicating, etc., because student life should be full of joy and happiness. Everyone loves organising an event in a university, so let’s find out why!

Reasons to organise an event in a university

In many universities, the school board tries to diversify how the students’ time is spent in the university by organising various kinds of events, both entertaining and educational. Various scientific events, such as scientific conferences, are periodically held at universities and other institutions of higher education. If it seems like the topics of a given conference are very relevant to your speciality, or if you’re just interested in listening to the speakers, an educational event is just what you need. Thus, knowing how to organise an event in a university well enough to succeed remains a critical task.

What can you expect from such events?

Based on the stated topics, determine whether you intend to listen to the reports attentively and participate actively or if you will simply attend the conference as a passive listener. Very often organising a student event that is both interesting and engaging is a real problem. Universities also look for professional event organisers to vary the students’ weekdays and provide them with high-tech events.

Types of events

A scientific conference (seminar, symposium, etc.) is a meeting of scientists from higher education institutions and other educational institutions, where reports on a topic defined in advance are read. Apart from that, you can also make your university event stand out with other modern and inclusive ideas:

  • “How to adult” sessions
  • TEDx talks
  • Club mashups
  • Local city tours
  • Workshops
  • Academic awards
  • Meet the grads
  • Fundraising or community service events
  • Fancy dinner mixer
  • Retreats & other stress-relief activities

All of these require thorough event planning, and should also be well adjusted to universities and endorsements awards event management.

How to plan an event in an Asian university step by step

When planning an event checklist, pay attention to the following items so your university event’s step-by-step preparation is successful:

Decide the budget

The budget process is a large, slow-moving process that faces plenty of challenges. Therefore, prepare it in advance and allocate it to your event goals.

Define event objectives

First, prepare a list of main tasks, and then detail this as much as possible in the form of specific steps that must be done. It’s important to indicate within the plan the time that is required to complete the overall task, goals, and strategy.

Decide the format and theme

Try not to dwell on traditional formats. Pay attention to “fun conferences” (e.g., the TED format, themed breakfasts, online events, outdoor events, etc.). The main thing is that the format should contribute to the goal of the event.

Create a guest list

Fast, reliable, and secure guest check-in is only possible after you decide on guests and include them in the event list.

Find a venue

Plan your university event venue, and take care of transportation and logistics. To speed up your venue search, turn to our event technology

Select your ticketing or registration platform

Choose the event management platform that is best for you to automate your registration and ticketing process. Create a document that is accessible to the entire team, in which everyone can see each other’s tasks as well as the big picture.

Approach sponsors

Start with a story to describe what you do at your university event. Provide the benefits and create an advisory board, after which you can ask for money or any other form of support.

Marketing and advertising

Come up with good ideas for the content and promotion of the event. Promote events via social media, direct mailing, word of mouth, etc. All of these will share the same messages but should be presented in different ways.

Identify and hire other vendors

To make sure the vendor you choose is the best one to provide the service or product you need, ask for help from event professionals or do some deep research into the university event market in your region. 

Final preparations

Come up with ideas for final preparations and follow-up after the event.

Things to do

Also focus on the plan both during and after the event to avoid any inconsistency. Here are the items to keep in mind:

During

  • Send a reminder email.
  • Finalise the media list, if any.
  • Do a walkthrough of the venue.
  • Create an “event box”.
  • Check the weather.
  • Review logistics.
  • Confirm details with vendors.
  • Check in with your speakers.

Post-event

  • Send Thank You’s. Everyone likes to be appreciated.
  • Encourage feedback.
  • Engage on social media to follow up.
  • Balance the budget.
  • Debrief everyone involved.
  • Update your university website.
  • Perform a technology review.
  • Report and then relax.

How to manage your event

It’s a true pleasure to manage your university event via a professional online event organiser platform from any region in Asia. Online and onsite management and event registration allow you to sell tickets and print them out and to provide event facilities, food, venue information, and so much more.
In other words, to power your entire event lifecycle and create the best university event experiences, go to GEVME and start managing your conferences the right way.

  1. Use the website builder to set up your event website in mere minutes.
  2. Provide a flawless registration process to easily increase your event registrations.
  3. Apply email marketing tactics to engage people at the right time and in the right place.
  4. If you need any onsite assistance, eliminate the need for queues with the same platform.
  5. Connect. Get your attendees talking, and use a survey.

GEVME makes it easy to organise and manage both large-scale academic events and smaller university parties, etc.

Event planning checklist

One more time, let’s review the essential items to plan a successful event in a university. Here they are:

  • Decide the budget.
  • Define the event objectives.
  • Decide the format and theme.
  • Create a guest list.
  • Find a venue
  • Select your ticketing or registration platform.
  • Build your event website and registration page.
  • Invite event guests.
  • Approach sponsors.
  • Organise marketing and advertising.
  • Identify and hire other vendors.
  • Do final preparations, etc.

With this event planning checklist, event planners can be much more confident. Check out the commonly missed but crucial items for conference planning, and make sure everything is included.

Best practices for organising an event

Here’s an example of the best organisational plan for a University Open Day that you can use as a template for your own university events.

  • Choose your date and time wisely.
  • Chalk out a theme. Do you want a broad event turnout?
  • Polish your content. Hold close to the theme and event objectives.
  • Get responsive. With a virtual open day, you will be selling convenience as the leading benefit to your university audience.
  • Be realistic about results.
  • Keep it short.
  • Apply metrics; they’re important, but they’re not everything.
  • Follow up and stay connected.

Remember that as a student event organisation, while planning an event in a university, you have a good deal of discretion regarding your approach to both the pre- and post-event processes. 

Event ideas to inspire your attendees

Among the wide variety of possible student event formats, give these a try, and create a memorable experience for your attendees in no time with the help of professional academic event management.

  • Secrets have always attracted people, so try a secret event.
  • Silent conferences are an engaging and unique format.
  • Lunch clubbing
  • Dedicated Q&A tracks at Startup Grind
  • Participant-Driven Open Space
  • Light-Speed presentations
  • Hackathon/Thinkathon/Editathon
  • World Café, etc.

For more ideas, feel free to look at the event planner’s quick guide for conferences or visit our blog.

Tips on how to make your event successful

Now that you’re aware of how to plan an event in a university, let’s check out some pieces of advice on how to make it a success!

  • Focus on how the attendees feel.

Set clear objectives. In order to understand whether you made the right choices, you need to have SMART objectives and remain focused on your attendees’ feelings.

  • Make the event easy to access and attend.

Do your targeting right and offer an easy and fast way to access the event for your target audience.

  • Create empowering spaces for collaboration.

Provide ideal networking opportunities for students both at your event venue and after it.

  • Provide access to high-quality knowledge.

Pick the right reporters and speakers, and use the help of good educators and endorsers to supply the best experience and knowledge to the students.

  • Generate positive post-event outcomes.

Work to understand your attendees regarding their most important experiences and expectations as well as other academic event issues to consider during your event management planning process.

Main tips & tricks in organising event for the university  

Organising an event for academicians is not an easy task, but you will succeed with the tips that we’ve highlighted, key planning points to consider, and other recommendations from professional event planners in ASP to ensure that everything goes well.
Don’t know how to manage an event at a university? Feel free to contact us at any time!

Level up your events with Gevme’s omnichannel event platform

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