Events are a great way to showcase your Society, recruit new members, reward your members or even just to socialise - but they need to be organised in the right way to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
If you are planning a special event, such as a Ball, Trip/Tour, Conference etc. Or an event where you are looking to sell tickets or may be high risk such as a Skydive, then you will need to complete an event planning pack (click here or see links below) in advance of the event and send it to studentactivities@warwicksu.com (IF YOU ARE A SPORTS CLUB post it on your teams channel and tag #eventrequest or #tripstoursballs).
There are three elements to a planning pack:
- Event Planning Form
- Risk Assessment
- Financial Planner
Depending on the event type, we ask for planning packs according to the timelines below. The below are the minimum timelines. Please note, the more notice given the better:
- General Events: 2 weeks in advance
- Where facilities are involved, these should already be confirmed before this date.
- Domestic Trips: 4 weeks in advance
- Balls / International Tours / Conferences: The Term before
The Student Activities Team are on hand to help you navigate the event planning process, and to advise on any of the planning steps illustrated below.
Useful Links:
Additional Forms:
Events are a great way to showcase your Club, recruit new members, reward your members or even just to socialise - but they need to be organised in the right way to ensure everything is safe, financially feasible, and runs as smoothly as possible.
If you have any problems throughout the process, just get in contact with the Student Activities Team (Sports Coordinator).
Important Information
Deadlines (These are minimum guidelines, the more notice given the better):
- General Events: 2 weeks in advance
- Domestic Trips: 4 weeks before travel date
- International Tours: 1 Term before travel date
- Balls: 1 term before proposed date
Non-UK Trips/Tours
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Risk Assessments - All Clubs & Societies are strongly advised to create a comprehensive risk assessment for their Trip/Tour. The risk assessment should detail possible risks from the start of your booking to the end of your Trip/Tour. It is the responsibility of the Exec/trip Leader to share the risk assessment with all of the participants prior to the trip so that everyone is clear about expectations & responsibilities.
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Travel insurance – All Participants are responsible for purchasing their own travel insurance. The insurance provider that is used by most Students’ Unions is Endsleigh insurance as they are experienced in working with student groups.
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Non UK students – The Exec/Trip Leader are advised to provide sufficient notice and information for all Non UK students to allow time, should they be required to apply for a VISA.
Contracts
DO NOT SIGN ANY CONTRACTS or confirm details until the event has been approved by your Sports Coordinator. The SU will also be able to sign contracts on behalf of the Society/Club so that no individual members have to take on legal or financial responsibility – and therefore risk – for any of the elements involved in the event. On no account should you sign any legal document, contract or commitment yourself as this would leave you individually liable if anything were to go wrong.
Facilities
If you have a club session already booked on the day of your event then you won't be charged for the time where your event overlaps with your club session, but any additional time that day you will be charged for. Each club is allowed to host one charity event free of charge. Please allow more time for these facility requests as they have to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Warwick Sport Facilities
Events
Terms and Conditions - Cancellation Policy
Charity Events
Charity events are treated the same as normal events in terms of planning packs. The charitible aspect of your event should be organised directly between your club and the charity you're working with. Visit this page for some advice https://www.warwicksu.com/societies-sports/exec-resources/activities-and-planning/rag/ or contact your Sports Coordinator for further help.
For charity events using Warwick Sport Facilities, please click here for the guidelines.
EVENTS PROCESS
General:
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Who Will be attending?
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Where will it be?
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When will it be?
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How many people?
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Do you require transport, food, alcohol, bad weather contingencies, venue deposits?
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Will cost to members be reasonable while still covering the cost of the event/trip/tour/ball?
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Will you have external speakers?
IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
Step 2: Create the Event Planning Pack
When do you need an Event Planning Pack?
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Trips, Tours, and Balls will always need a planning pack.
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Basic gatherings do not need a planning pack.
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General events:
The planning pack has 3 initial elements:
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Event plan and facility request form
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Risk Assessment
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Financial Planner
And 3 additional elements depending on the event:
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Tickets (If tickets are required on the SU website)
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Trip Leader and Trip Registration Form (For EVERY trip/tour, submitted MINIMUM 48 hours before the event, can be submitted whenever you know all attendees)
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Until further notice, this should be EMAILED to your sports coordinator (not posted on teams)
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You can collect this information via online form. However, you have to make it clear that clicking submit is giving permisison for the information to be shared with the SU/University. If you do this you don't need to collect signatures in person.
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Accident Report Form/Near Miss Form
Step 3: Process for submitting the Event Planning Pack
With Warwick Sport Facilities
| Submit on Teams: |
Event plan and facility request form |
| Tag: |
@eventrequest |
| First point of contact: |
Warwick Sport |
| Once facilities are confirmed |
| Submit on Teams: |
- Financial Planner
- Risk Assessment
- Any additional documents (quotes, contracts, etc.)
|
| Second point of contact: |
Sports Coordinator |
| Once planning pack is approved: |
| Submit: |
Ticket Request Form |
| Run the event |
| Submit via email to Sports Coordinator: |
Accident/Near miss form |
Without Warwick Sport Facilities
| To organise the facilities you require: |
| Piazza: |
External Venue: |
- Go to the university website for piazza bookings
- Complete the piazza booking form and attach risk assessment
|
- Contact external venue directly
- Agree on date, time, price, etc.
|
| Once venue is confirmed/approved: |
| Submit on Teams: |
- Event plan and facility request form (do not fill in the facility section)
- Financial Planner
- Risk Assessment
- Any additional documents (quotes, contracts, etc.)
|
| Tag: |
@tripstoursballs |
| First point of contact: |
Sports Coordinator |
| Once planning pack is confirmed/approved: |
| Submit: |
- Ticket Request Form
- Trip Registration & Trip Leader Form (For trips, not balls - EMAIL it to your Sports Coordinator)
|
| Run the event |
| Submit via email to Sports Coordinator: |
Accident/Near miss form |
Step 4: Publicity and Marketing
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All society and sports club promotional material (flyers, posters, digital screen artwork, etc.) must have the Students’ Union logo displayed on it.
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SU’s Outdoor Screens (located between the Chaplaincy and Warwick Arts Centre)
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SU Website
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You can set up your own internal article to display to your members when they log in by following these steps:
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Log into the SU website (www.warwicksu.com) and click the ‘Admin’ (cogs) tab;
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Select your society under ‘Organisations’ (you must be an exec member to do this);
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Click on ‘News Admin’ and select ‘Add News Article’.
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Upload all relevant content (images, event description etc) and save.
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Note: please make sure the box marked ‘Allow Non-Members to Read’ has been unticked before you save your news article.
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SU Digital Screens
Piazza Big Screen
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To advertise your event on the digital screens in the SU Atrium, email chris.carter@warwicksu.com with your artwork in jpeg format and information on how long you would like the event to be advertised for. It is completely free.
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Artwork should be:
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Please note that these are different sizes to the other University screens.
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Student Media
Event-type specific information:
Trips/Tours
- Always check the travel advice
- Be clear if you're using a tour company
- When filling in the financial planner
- With a tour company - the tour ticket price can be the only expenditure
- Make sure that airport transfers, visas, insurance etc. are included. If not, those need to be planned and included separately.
- Without a tour company - all expenditure must be included.
- YOU MUST EMAIL A COMPLETED TRIP REGISTRATION FORM to your sports coordinator a minimum of 2 days before you leave.
Balls
- MINIMUM NUMBERS!
- This is the minimum number of people that you will be liable to pay for, regardless of how many tickets you sell.
- The lower the better. This is only a minimum, most venues ask for a final number 1-2 weeks before the final date, at which point you can confirm capacity.
- You can add extras as you go along. If you are on track to make a surpluss you can add things like photobooths later on.
- SECURITY
- Is mandatory for all balls.
- You can enquire if the venue will provide security, if not, then give us the time of your ball and we can organise it for you.
- We get sent an invoice after the ball, and we can charge it straight to your club.
Outreach/Volunteering
If your Society/Club is participating in outreach or volunteer work, please ensure all participants have completed the University Moodle on safeguarding. Please see below advice and contact studentactivities@warwicksu.com before you undertake any outreach/volunteer work to inform us of your plans.
Atrium Use
Student groups are not allowed to bring or provide food for their activities or events that are being held inside the Warwick SU Atrium. Should you wish to provide refreshments as part of your event the only catering suppliers that will be accepted will be Warwick Food & drink.