This informal CPD article ‘Organising Education Events’ was provided by UES Education, specialists in international university and school admissions, working with top schools across the UK and Europe to provide a bespoke service for those who want the best possible application support in the UK.
Having exciting, informational events in the calendar is one way that schools, counsellors, and careers departments can strengthen their college counselling programmes. Events put your school on the radar, boost its profile when marketing to potential students and their families, provide students with excellent knowledge, and are fun for everyone! By following a few guidelines, schools can ensure that their education events run smoothly and are successful.
Planning the event
Counsellors and careers departments may have a particular event in mind from the outset, but if not, they may need to do a bit of brainstorming to work out the right type of event to hold, or the best topic to cover at the event. Try discussing the topic with colleagues or sending out a poll with different ideas to students, parents, and/or colleagues, to see what they’d have the most interest in attending. Consider the types of events that schools similar to yours are holding and think about whether an event along those lines might be a good fit for your students. Also, think about the goal of the event. Is it to inform students about a particular topic, to bring people together, to dispel myths? With a clear goal in mind, it should be easier to brainstorm events.
One key way to ensure a smooth-running event is to start planning and organising it early! There will be many small things that will come up just before the big day that will occupy the last-minute time, so try to get as much work done as possible well in advance. Sitting down a few months before the event and making a comprehensive to-do list is a great way to kickstart planning. Then, organise the event further by giving each task a due date and assigning it to personnel. Next, make a timeline of the tasks, and check in with personnel weekly to make sure things are getting done and to offer support.
Questioning the Status Quo
Question whether the obvious events are the best. For example, fairs that combine universities, gap-year providers, and companies might seem great on paper, but for students and families they can be confusing and overwhelming, and for exhibitors they can attract lower-quality visitors. Consider running panel events, talks and interactive shows on the side – these are often much more useful for exhibitors!
Leveraging connections
One way to create a great event is to think about your connections and who to invite to your event—not only as guests, but also as participants! Planning a careers talk? Reach out to school alumni, current students’ families, and professionals in the industry. A universities event? Invite university representatives, and experienced counsellors from other schools if appropriate. To build new connections, attend a professional development event or join a professional organisation: both great ways to meet colleagues and experts.
Preparing Students
Whatever the event, it’s a good idea to get your students prepared by encouraging them to think of questions in advance, decide who they’ll speak to, and consider their futures. If they go in cold, they risk getting little out of the event and frustrating the exhibitors. Consider asking providers to submit profiles and send a survey round to your students in advance.
You may also want to require your students to attend – e.g. a round-robin fair where everyone rotates, or speed-networking, or rotational talks on topics. Don’t assume students aren’t interested – they might just not know!
Running the event
Running the event on the day often feels like the ‘easy’ part after the planning period, but there are some things to do to make sure all goes smoothly. Get everything organised a few days in advance and have a plan for transporting and setting up necessary materials. A day or two before the event, it’s also a good idea to have a quick meeting with those involved, to make sure everyone knows their role on the day and to go through any questions. Creating a group chat in advance for personnel to use on the day for anything urgent that may come up is a great way to fight fires before they’ve started.
Considering the Providers
Providers/exhibitors are giving their time for free. If you can’t cover travel expenses, think of ways to make things easier for them: can you pick them up and drop them at the station? Can you make sure the room is cool? Can you give them a tour of the school, or a trip to a local sight? And most importantly: FEED THEM WELL!
Promoting the Event
Promotion is one of the most important aspects of event planning! Using social media channels, ‘tagging’ those involved or who would be interested so they can share your posts and widen your audience, is a great strategy. If you belong to any professional organisations, promote your event through any email lists and online presence they might have. If your organisation has an email newsletter, this is a great place to promote it, and a simple, concise, targeted batch email to invitees is a great idea as well.
With a bit of forward planning, organisation, and collaboration, schools can hold great education events that promote their profile to a wide audience, and help their students succeed.
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from UES Education, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
