There is a difference between planning a party and planning an event. When you’re planning a party for friends and family, you are focused on creating a moment for people you care about. Planning an event works a bit differently; you are balancing the purpose of the event and the entertainment of your audience.
School leaders plan hundreds of events a year, both big and small. Each event is an opportunity to engage students and families with your school brand and values.
The most common way to start planning a school event is to create a to-do list, which can quickly become a list of decisions that need to be made. When event planning is approached in this way, it can become a slow, overwhelming process of making hundreds of small decisions—from picking balloon colors to debating how to spend your small budget to recruiting and wrangling volunteers.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. When you define the event's purpose and engage in the visioning process, you can make decisions quickly and delegate once cumbersome tasks to peers and volunteers.
In order to do this, you must approach school event planning in a different way. By following these five steps, you can ensure that your event will not only create a lasting impression on your K-12 community, but also be an enjoyable and smooth process along the way.