GEM/SMC GRASS ROOTS PROJECT

Guidance Notes -  

Organising an Educational Event

An educational event can;

 

As well as the following notes on planning, you may be interested in:

Organising an Educational Event Planning Sheet:

                                                            word (64K)  pdf (46K)

An example of the planning sheet in use: word (66K)  pdf (35K)

 

Step One: Plan your event

Before you start,  think about :

Who is your target audience?

Families, adult learners, under 5s, schools, etc. (It could be more than one of these groups). 

What is the theme/idea of the event?

Does it link to a National theme, e.g. Museum and Galleries Month or National Science Week?

Why are you running the event – your aim?

This could be as simple as ‘to bring families into the museum’ or ‘to increase local awareness of the museum’. 

When is the appropriate time to run it? 

What time of year, day(s) of the week and time of day?  Is it an all day event, one-hour sessions, etc?

Are there any other partner organisations or groups which you wish to involve? 

Remember, partnerships can help to share the work and costs of the event.  It can often help if you are seeking funding for your event.  It can also help increase visitor numbers, for example, if you get a local children’s community group involved they will invite friends and family to the event. 

What will be needed…?

What staff and/or volunteers will be required (in addition to your day-to-day running)? Make sure you include who will be in-charge on the day of the event! 

What materials / resources / equipment will be required? 

If you are using facilitators, e.g. an arts worker, they will write or advise on requirements, however, it is worth estimating an amount from the start for budget and funding purposes. 

Where in the museum will the event take place?

Do you have a dedicated educational space or perhaps the event will take place throughout the museum.  Plan where each activity will be and what will be required in that area.  Think about water/ power supply, toilet facilities, storage space, security, etc. 

Will you need extra parking space, lunch space, etc.?

How much - Will it cost the museum?  Will it cost the participant to attend?

From this you can look at your costs and budget, work out if you require additional funding, source facilitators and market effectively. 

Step Two:  Make sure you have complied with appropriate legislation

If the event involves children and/or vulnerable adults, you will need to think about child protection and disclosure for staff and volunteers.  You will also need to think about risk assessment and health and safety procedures for the day (fire conduct, first aid, etc.)  Don’t be daunted by these – if following good practice you should have policies in place for these anyway and it should only be a case of additional risk assessment for any unusual activities not normally covered.  Voluntary Arts Scotland has basic guidelines for writing risk assessment and child protection which can be downloaded from their website www.voluntaryarts.org . 

Step Three: Get other staff/volunteers involved

Once you have established your idea, it is worth having a meeting with other staff and volunteers to go over the event.  In this way you get everyone on-board and actively involved in participation – who knows – you might even get some extra people volunteering to help!  It also provides an opportunity to take onboard other ideas and suggestions at this point. 

Step Four: Organise Facilitators

Using a facilitator offers a new slant on your museum’s activities and enhances your services  during the event and may help with future ideas for your programme.  Once you have worked out what your event is and what you need, you can begin to organise any outside facilitators.  They could be a storyteller, artist, poet, actor or musician to name but a few.  Use reputable organisations and seek recommendations from others when looking for a facilitator.  There are many organisations set up to help.  The Scottish Storytelling Association, GEM, Engage and the Scottish Arts Council all have freelance databases and can recommend and advise on appropriate facilitators.  The GEM freelance network has produced guidelines on ‘Choosing and Using a Freelance Educator’, see ../../../fnet/fn_menu.html  for details. 

Going through an organisation also means that they will be up-to-date with current rates of pay and guidelines. 

Step Five: Organise your materials, equipment and facilities

Make a list of all the equipment which you require for your event.  If there are any speakers, musicians or similar, make sure that you make all the necessary arrangements for sound equipment, microphones, etc.  It is also a good idea to stop and think about where the event is to take place.  Ensure that it is a suitable area and allows for a steady flow of people around the museum and that you have a sufficient power and/or water supply.  Also think about whether it is fully accessible and clearly signposted.  You may wish to make additional signposting to help with the flow of visitors during your event.

If you are organising your event on a limited budget;


Think about security during the event, especially if you are expecting large numbers over a short period of time. 

Have adequate refreshments available for the event.  If you have a café and shop, make sure they are included in the planning if there is potential for them to be extra busy as a result of the event. 

It may sound obvious, but make sure you have adequate change in the tills both in the reception, café and shop and also at any additional ‘stands’, e.g. raffle. 

Consider the cleaning before and after the event.  If you expect it to be very busy, there is likely to be the need for additional clearing up at the end.  Make sure you have the staff available and bear in mind the time it might take. 

Step Six: Market your event

Linking to a national event can help with marketing, especially if you are on a tight budget.  Many events such as Museum and Galleries Month, Science Week and the Big Draw have websites with details of all the events happening across the country.  Some have additional booklets and flyers produced with free listings for events. 

Advertise in plenty of time – at least a month to six weeks in advance (this could vary depending on the nature of the event and publications deadlines).  If you are running workshops it is often good to ask people to pre-book, as in that way you can regulate numbers and you can do additional marketing if numbers are low. 

There are a number of ways to get free publicity –

 

You could also pay to have-

 

If you are distributing your own flyers and/or posters, use local community centres, volunteer/friends contacts, local churches, etc.  Ask other local organisations, e.g. theatres and arts centres to publicise your event as a goodwill gesture. 

Voluntary Arts Scotland has guidelines on planning a marketing campaign.  See www.voluntaryarts.org for more information. 

Step Seven: Make sure everyone knows the plan!

Make sure that you have a programme for the running of the event, especially if there is more than one activity during the day.  Circulate the programme around all staff and volunteers with notes of who is responsible for each area.  If you have outside facilitators, introduce them to the other staff before you start – this way everyone is aware of who is who and what they are doing. 

Evaluate from Steps one through to seven

It is very important to build evaluation in from the very first planning stages of your event – in the long run it makes evaluating a lot easier.  A good framework to follow is Inspiring Learning for All.   It uses generic learning outcomes which help to create a common language to evaluate the learning experience of all participants from the planning stages through to the final completion of the project. 

Further information…

For a list of all events taking place throughout the year, look at www.countmeincalendar.com.  It has everything from National Stress Awareness Day to Red Squirrel Week!  

 

Museum and Galleries Month www.mgm.org.uk

 

24hr museum www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

 

Science Week www.the-ba.net

 

Big draw www.thebigdraw.org.uk

 

Doors Open Day www.doorsopendays.org.uk

 

For information on National Archaeology Week, see the British Archaeology website www.britarch.ac.uk. 

 

For funding for storytellers/writers/poets, try the Live Literature Scheme.  Information can be found on the Scottish book trust website www.scottishbooktrust.com. 

 

To find a storyteller/writer or similar, contact the Scottish Storytelling Association www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

 

The GEM website has details of a variety of different funding groups and advice on writing proposals.  It also has links to the GEM Freelance network.  www.gem.org

 

For advice on artists and details of freelancers see www.engage.org

 

The Scottish Arts Council website has details and links to craft, drama, dance, music and visual arts specialist and groups www.scottisharts.org.uk

 

For more information on costumed interpretation, see IMTAL Europe’s website on www.imtal-europe.org. 

 

Voluntary Arts Scotland offers guidelines and advice on a whole range of issues, including child protection, risk assessment and effective marketing.  www.voluntaryarts.org .

 

A good evaluation ‘toolkit’ is Inspiring Learning for All www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk  

 

Back to Grass Roots Resources menu

Back to Grass Roots menu