Event Development – Direction (Part Four)

 “The following is a continuation of my Event Development Series. The last Blog started describing the “Commitment” section, now I want to move to the “Direction” section. This week’s Blog is the beginning of this section. As suggested previously, any thoughts and idea are more then welcome!”

Direction (Continued)

8.    Formalizing your committee structure

Many groups and chair believe in a very informal structure. They believe that volunteers are volunteers and can’t be “bossed” around. This is true to a point, but I feel most people want some structure. They want to know that their leaders have a plan and know how to achieve it. Running a committee by the “seat of your pants” just doesn’t cut if with most people. So some kind of formalized structure is a good thing. Many liken it to a “benevolent dictatorship”. That may be going a little too far, but you get the picture. So how do we accomplish this? As I mentioned previously, knowing where you are going to end up is a great start. Choosing the right committee members and assigning tasks that are suited to them also helps. The actual running of the committee needs organization. I can’t count the number of meetings that I have attended that were completely unorganized and unstructured. Frankly, for the most part, they were a total waste of time and accomplished little or nothing. Here is what I feel are the minimum requirements for a well run committee and its meetings.

·         Written Action Plan and Budget

·         Job Descriptions

·         Written agenda that is distributed to committee member a day or two prior to the meeting

·         Written committee reports that are distributed at least 2 or 3 days prior to the meeting

·         Complete and accurate minutes of each meeting that are sent out to committee members within 3 days after the meeting

·         Using “parliamentary procedure” when an important idea needs to be formally approved by the committee

These may seem extreme to some, but following these simple procedures will minimize wasted time and volunteer frustration and help make your event successful. (To be continued)