{"id":549,"date":"2020-03-06T17:30:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T22:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/info\/?post_type=article&p=549"},"modified":"2022-04-28T09:11:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T13:11:42","slug":"planning-your-groups-event-calendar","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/info\/article\/planning-your-groups-event-calendar\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning your group’s event calendar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: Some ONA Local events are currently happening virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic for the health and safety of our community. We’ve rounded up a list of resources<\/a> to help you design engaging virtual events, for groups that choose to host them.<\/em><\/p>\n

We recommend that in the beginning of the year you sit down with your co-organizers, if you have them, and plan out your calendar for the year. You can use this template.<\/a><\/p>\n

Start by making a copy of the calendar planning template<\/a> and use it to map out your calendar.<\/strong> You can either copy it to your own Google Drive by clicking File –> Make a Copy or download it as a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

Here are the things you’ll want to consider:<\/p>\n

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  1. How often do you need to meet?<\/strong> Whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or twice a year, pick what works best for your goals and your region. You want to strike a balance of giving your members a chance to meet regularly and making the schedule doable for your team. You can also start by testing a cadence and then adjusting as necessary.<\/li>\n
  2. What is the mix of types of events?<\/strong> Studies show 80 percent of event attendees prefer an active, participatory experience, and 20 percent prefer a lean-back experience. Since you can\u2019t do everything in one event, take that approach to your event calendar. In other words, if you do five ONA Local events in a year, consider making four of them interactive session formats, like a Table Talk<\/a>, and one a passive experience, like a panel or a lecture.<\/li>\n
  3. What topics are important to cover?<\/strong> If you’re not sure where to start, survey your members, or use ONA’s five focus areas<\/a> as inspiration. Check out all the event types we\u2019ve done at our conference<\/a> for inspiration, and look at the Steal These Event Ideas<\/i><\/a> section in this toolkit for templates on how to pull some of them off yourself.<\/li>\n
  4. Who will be responsible for what?<\/strong> If you have a large leadership team, you may want to divide the events up so each person has the chance to be a lead organizer and others support. You can use columns C & D on the spreadsheet template to document this.<\/li>\n
  5. What are the potential venues, partners and speakers for each event?<\/strong> Fill in as much of the spreadsheet as you can with details for each event to guide you. Some resources that may be helpful as you answer these questions:\n