Volunteer Toolkit - Internet Society

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3 Room/space location and confirmation3 Speaker identification and confirmation3 Promotion3 RSVP/registration3 Refreshments3 Lucky dip draw (or something at the end of the session to keeppeople around)3 Post-meeting activities, such as evaluations4. Speaker: Once you have a topic and a plan, you will need to identifya speaker or speakers. Look for people in your region who areexperts in the topic you would like to cover. You can start with yourChapter’s board members or ask them and Chapter members forrecommendations from their networks. Contact Chapter-Support@isoc.org for suggestions and contacts from within the organization.Solicit a volunteer to be in charge of finding a speaker and makingthe appropriate arrangements.5. Date: Give yourself enough time to get organized. Set a date thatis convenient for your speaker and that is far enough in advance togive you enough time to plan and promote the event (usually severalweeks). Consult a calendar to make sure that the date isn’t on aholiday when people are likely to be away or otherwise occupied oron the same day as a competing event.6. Time: Decide whether it will be a morning (perhaps breakfast),afternoon (perhaps lunch), or evening (after work) event. Pickingthe time depends on the local culture and “norms”. For example, itmight be difficult to organize a very early breakfast event in Delhi.Similarly, it could be difficult to organize a midafternoon eventin Spain. Most Chapters plan events in their regions, so they arelikely to be aware of the customs and norms. However, it helps toconsider all factors in advance.7. Length: Decide how long the event should be (assume betweenone and two hours for a meeting or presentation). If this is yourfirst event, we recommend starting small. For example, you mightdecide to start with a series of short meetings, each focused on asingle, interesting topic, rather than attempting a large meeting witha complex agenda and several speakers. The Chapter can build upto larger meetings as it gains more success and experience withsmaller events.18 • Internet Society International Chapter Toolkit | Event Checklist for VolunteersInternetSociety.org/Chapters
8. Location: Identify a location that is convenient for your audience,appropriately sized (it should not be too big or too small for theexpected number of people), and has the right atmosphere. Be sureto find out well in advance if there will be equipment needs and,if so, look for a room that can accommodate those needs. Solicita volunteer to help secure a location and make the appropriatearrangements. Remember: It is better to have a small, crowded roomrather than a large empty room.—just make sure you can get hold ofextra chairs!9. Size of event: Decide how many attendees you are interested inattracting, both the minimum number and the maximum. Be sure toinform the location volunteer what size room you might need. Alwaysfactor in a “drop out” rate. This can be anywhere from 30-50 percent.10. Sponsorship: Events are great opportunities to solicit sponsorshipsfrom organizations, educational institutions, and business enterprisesto help cover some or all of the costs (both cash and in-kind) oforganizing an event. For example, a nearby college or university isusually a great resource for meeting rooms. Look to your employeror the employers of the people on your planning committee for helpwith promotion (company mailing lists, newsletters, and websites) orto cover the cost of refreshments. Solicit a volunteer to help identifyand/or assist with securing sponsors. For more information aboutsponsorships, see the ISOC Chapter Handbook.11. Promotion: Determine who the audience is for the event and solicita volunteer to take care of promotion. If that person has experiencewith marketing and promotion, they will likely be able to workindependently. If that person does not have experience in this area,the planning committee may need to assist. Promotion can rangefrom a simple email to your member database to a more elaborateplan that involves getting your message out through a variety ofoutlets, including press releases, partner organizations, and flyers.12. Refreshments: Decide whether food and beverages should beavailable and, if so, what should be offered. If you are going tobe offering refreshments, how will the cost of the refreshmentsbe covered? Member dues? Registration fees? Board donation?Sponsorships? In 2010, ISOC launched an Event Fundingprogramme (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/funding/) to helpChapters cover expenses for events as a way to help reinvigorateChapters. However you pay for refreshments, solicit a volunteerto take care of making the arrangements to have the refreshmentsordered and either picked up or delivered. Let the volunteer knowthey will also need to arrange to have cups, plates, napkins, andutensils on hand.Internet Society International Chapter Toolkit | Event Checklist for Volunteers InternetSociety.org/Chapters • 19
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Volunteer Toolkit - Internet Society

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