Event Planning- The Basics

The Golden Ticket Event

I am ten months into a year-long training placement at the museum and last month I had the opportunity to co-organise a community engagement event, the Golden Ticket. This not only allowed me to engage with communities on behalf of the museum but also gave me the chance to learn more about the processes involved in the planning and undertaking of events.

The Golden Ticket event on July 28th was aimed primarily at 12-year-olds in Mid Suffolk and offered the young people who attended free membership for a year to encourage them to revisit. I recognised the opportunity for the museum to co-ordinate their workshop alongside the activities offered by local groups and organisations as part of this event.  I thought that an outdoor cooking workshop would compliment what else was on offer and was in fitting with the Museum’s vision to one day become a National Food Museum. To make this workshop a reality I had to create a project plan and a budget, which I did in March! Once approved I had to risk assess the activity, mitigate identified risks and then purchase the resources needed to make it possible.

Unfortunately when the day of the event arrived the weather was not on our side, but we were not deterred. We helped external organisations onto the site and then assembled our outdoor cooking equipment, pictured on the right. Despite the rain, the outdoor cooking proved popular and we had multiple conversations about food.

Working on this event taught me to always plan as far in advance as you can- there may be things out of your control on the day but planning early means you are more prepared for the issues you can foresee. Having a supportive team for setting up and taking down is a great help as it saves time and helps ensure things run more smoothly. If I was to plan a community engagement event again I would target my marketing at specific groups that young people attend. I would invite them to along, allowing them to try new things and visit us at the same time. Overall this was a great opportunity for me and I gained valuable experience in planning an event in a heritage environment. The only thing left me to say is thank you to those who came along and to those who supported through the process.