American Chemical Society
Planning Effective Events
Carol Libby
Lehigh Valley Local Section
Chair, LSAC Subcommittee on Grants and Awards
Wayne Jones
Binghamton Local Section
Immediate Past Chair, LSAC
American Chemical Society
EVENTS PROGRAMS MEETINGS
The primary focus for your Local Section
• Technical knowledge
• Enhancing career
• Sharing chemistry with community
Biggest budget item
What’s your dream project, a local section event that you feel passionate
about?
Record this in your New & Improved Events List
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To Ensure Effective Events
Plan
• Use a schedule or timeline
• Delegate
• Follow-up
Tools
• Yearly event schedule
• Event Planning worksheet
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Take an Overview
of Local Section Events
___________________ ACS Local Section
20__ Event Schedule
Title
Date
Time
Location
Contact/
Coordinator Info
Budget/ Cost
Fill in the Event Schedule for your local section for 2010.
• Add as many details as as you can
• Include your “dream project(s)” and mark with *
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Insights from Yearly Event Planning
Type(s) of events
• Technical
• Career development
• Social
• Outreach
• Education
• Advocacy
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How are we engaging the
participation of Chemists who
are….
•
Early, mid career and senior
chemists?
•
From industry, academic,
government, non traditional career •
fields?
•
From various educational
backgrounds?
•
Hispanic, African-American,
Native American Chemists or from
other cultures?
Students (grad, undergrad and
post docs)
•
Technicians?
•
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgendered)?
•
Under 35?
•
Women?
•
K-12 Educators?
•
Differently abled? (disabled)
•
•
Of non-US origin (nationality)?
Of various socio-economic
statuses?
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Insights from Yearly Event Planning
Calendar, time of day, place, style
• Leaders, members, and coordinators can get ACS business on
their calendars early
• Overscheduled times? Lulls that are opportunities?
• Time of day, day of week
• Geographic locales varied, analyze section roster by zip code
• Vary venues: college/university/school, industrial site, museum
• Dietary issues: Dinner/cocktails/snack
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Insights from Yearly Event Planning
Who is doing what?
• Is one person taking all the responsibility?
• Risk of volunteer burnout
• Do coordinator’s responsibilities match person’s interests and
management strengths?
• Planning meetings require officers’ time, too
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Insights from Yearly Event Planning
Financial aspects
• Coordinate with section’s budget planning
• Other sources of funding and partnership?
• Cost to member
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Some Ideas for Events…
Discuss opportunities for regional cooperation for events
• Joint meetings?
• Share a speaker to reduce expenses?
• Suggest an excellent speaker from your section
Add ideas for regional cooperation to New & Improved
Events List.
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Some Ideas for Events…
• Technical events
Social events, possibly family inclusive
• Advocacy - Interface with government
• Public Outreach
National Chemistry Week (NCW), October 17-23, 2010
– Chemists Celebrate Earth Day (CCED), April 22, 2010
– National Lab Day
– Museum demos/activities
Yearly focus
– 2010
Mentoring and Continuing Education
– 2011
International Year of Chemistry
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Some Ideas for Events…
Find partners in community groups/institutions
General interest speakers: forensics, beverage making,
history, environment, new therapies
Educational: co-host science fair or poster session
Electronic events: webinars, video feeds of meetings, a
PowerPoint skills class
Section anniversaries
Host a regional meeting!!!!
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Some Ideas for Events…
Add 4 good event ideas to your New and Improved
Events list.
Choose the event that you would most like to plan.
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Essentials of the
Event Planning Process
Please refer to blank Event Planning Worksheets.
Why?
The right person will have interest, experience, follow through.
What has to be done?
Verbs: identify, contact, develop, recruit
You’ll work on details later in the session, but we want you to have
this worksheet in mind during the next few slides.
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Don’t forget time of year, budget planning restraints.
Also consider how many people tasks require.
Detail $ amounts
Need to know number of participants
IPG (January 31 and June 30 deadlines, time, requirements and restrictions)
Cosponsors: technical or community organizations, corporations
In-kind: printing, event space, AV, advertising, supplies, PR
PR: How to appeal to and reach targeted groups?
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Be specific……
Rain, caterer no-show, extras show up, etc.
Objectives met? Define success ahead of time.
Not just numbers: reach new constituency, identify new volunteers or partners
Ask all participant types: planners, presenters, attendees
Feedback helps with saying “thank you” and requests for repeat funding
Build on momentum of event…….post event PR?
EVALUATE AND DEBRIEF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
memories fade, planners move away
What are possible improvements for next time?
Write it up: post event PR, Annual Report, ChemLuminary Award nomination
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Develop Your Event
Work on one of your ideas using blank Event Planning
Worksheet (10 minutes)
Share your plan with a partner at your table to get their
critique (5 minutes)
What are the biggest challenges to executing your event?
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Your Section Is Assured of
Effective Events
•You know the basics
•Plan ahead – Plan ahead
•Use a schedule – Create a timeline
•Delegate – Delegate
•Follow-up – Follow-up
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Your Section Is Assured of
Effective Events
You have the tools
•Yearly event schedule
•Event Planning worksheet
•ACS Resources
- Get Involved/Stay Involved
- Peers: LSAC members, local section leaders met here
- ACS Staff
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Your Section Is Assured of
Effective Events
You have a great start
•Schedule of section events for the year
•Possible opportunities for regional cooperation
•6 ideas for new or improved recurring events in your
local section
•A plan for a specific event, detailed and critiqued
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Applying Saturday Learning
–
Engaging and Motivating Volunteers
•
Setting the direction for your section
• How to encourage people to take on an
assignment
•
Helps you to align the goals of your
section with those of the ACS Board of
Directors
Collaborating Across Boundaries
•Gain members’ trust
•Work with members who are peers or more
seasoned volunteers
–
Strategic Planning
• How to recruit the right people
• How to give people a rewarding volunteer
experience
–
–
Developing Communication Strategies
–
Engaging Colleagues in Dialog
•
Deliver a clear message
•
Understanding the messages’ of others
RELEVANT ONLINE COURSES
Running Productive Meetings
•Communicate new ideas
Managing Projects Effectively
•Communicate with non-chemists
Understanding Members’ Interests
•Keep others informed
Scholarships are available. 50% off the 4-hour courses and more than
50% off the Extraordinary Leader course. Contact leaders@acs.org
to get your local section’s scholarships for 2010 courses. LSAC has
scholarships for you to take the Extraordinary Leader course—talk to
Lee Latimer if interested.
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For more information
Carol Libby: cblibby@cs.moravian.edu
Wayne Jones: wjones@binghamton.edu
ACS Staff: olsa@acs.org
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