Sport event management/Event planning checklist

This is offered as a checklist from which you, the event organiser, can select points that should be raised in staff planning meetings and used for ‘ticking off’ as part of your thorough preparation. Not all items listed will be part of all events of course! A number of items may appear more than once or may be noted in one section but you may wish to consider them for another section of the event plan. Items are not necessarily in the order they would be considered or in order of importance. You will select the relevant checkpoints as this is an organic collection of checkpoints and will change as others are added or some are modified!

Planning Stage

 * 1) Preliminary research and feasibility study, including SWOT  analysis
 * 2) Event goals
 * 3) Setting up the project management group (e.g. the event, define event project & scope, feasibility study, planning needs, staffing, site, monitoring, quality control, planning schedules)
 * 4) Economic impact
 * 5) Budget: economic analysis; pricing; contingencies; break-even point; sources of funding; account codes & prefixes; cash-flow analysis; money needed onsite;
 * 6) Site selection: facilities; location; access to accommodation; shops and transport
 * 7) Event theme & branding
 * 8) Analyse venue in terms of consumer needs
 * 9) Flow charts of planning decisions and actions
 * 10) Operational policies and procedures manual
 * 11) Logistics
 * 12) Employment law relevant to workers on the event day
 * 13) Staffing and recruitment of staff, training, job descriptions, accreditation
 * 14) Employee contracts
 * 15) Volunteers: their roles and training
 * 16) Uniforms, caps or shirts for staff
 * 17) Consideration of any outsourcing
 * 18) Guest list and invitations
 * 19) Publicity and media
 * 20) Action Plans for individuals or groups
 * 21) Legal compliance, including permits and licences and compliance from toilets to health rules to power cables
 * 22) Projections of attendance & participation
 * 23) Community consultation e.g. traffic, on possible noise
 * 24) Prizes, awards and lucky tickets or lucky seats
 * 25) Sponsorship
 * 26) Seating capacities and for whom and location
 * 27) Fences & perimeters
 * 28) Signage & advertising
 * 29) Ticketing
 * 30) Concessions, passes
 * 31) Naming rights
 * 32) Services: power; water, gas; emergency generator; lighting; refrigeration
 * 33) Decorations, posters and signs
 * 34) Photography
 * 35) Maps and plans
 * 36) Sale points and merchandising
 * 37) Stalls with their operation and location
 * 38) Media: contacts; pre-event articles; features to publicise; use of social media; media persons at the event (space, facilities, location, food and drink, interim updates, power; interviews; event follow-up)
 * 39) Special needs: wheelchair access; ramps; location of wheelchair viewing sites; toilets for disabled; parking for disabled)
 * 40) Exhibition space
 * 41) ATM machines
 * 42) Hospitality – for whom and location of hospitality sites
 * 43) Noise levels
 * 44) Ground announcer and the provision of key scripts for the announcer (e.g. sponsors, event happenings; schedule, lost children, lost & found)
 * 45) Opening ceremony

Marketing

 * 1) Marketing strategy and marketing plan
 * 2) Forming a marketing team
 * 3) IMC approach may be appropriate (the definitions vary somewhat but IMC or Integrated Marketing Communications may be a plan that links all promotion modes and has contacts and communications consistent in their relation to your brand with consistent meanings expressed and reinforced)
 * 4) Sponsorship: determining likely sponsors; obtaining sponsorship; providing for sponsor publicity before/at/after the event
 * 5) Promotional materials
 * 6) Utilise the organisation’s branches or sport club affiliates
 * 7) Signage
 * 8) Clothing with sponsor or event organisation name or insignia
 * 9) Ambush marketing prevention
 * 10) Use of a celebrity for event endorsement or opening the event
 * 11) Media launch of the event
 * 12) Trademarks, copyright materials and logos checked
 * 13) Direct mail
 * 14) Local media, national media
 * 15) Merchandising
 * 16) Onsite photocopying & printing
 * 17) Marketing to enhance participant, spectator, visitor, reader/viewer experiences
 * 18) Marketing to place (or establish) the event in the annual programme

The Event Day and Event Environment

 * 1) Site maps including site-flow maps
 * 2) Clear delineation of duties
 * 3) Operations manual
 * 4) Rehearsals
 * 5) Published programme
 * 6) Stage and/or designated areas
 * 7) Cultural protocols to be observed
 * 8) Insurance
 * 9) Functional areas
 * 10) Temperature control, provision for rain and adverse weather
 * 11) Admission, queue prevention & access for wheelchairs and baby prams
 * 12) Pass-out system
 * 13) Risk Management policy and processes in place and checked on the event day: risk assessment; hazard analysis; security plans; police; emergency services contacts; locations of emergency facilities; first aid services; child safety; crisis response preparedness; smoking and/or drugs ban; access for emergency vehicles; duty of care; occupational health and safety; playing surfaces; crowd control; marshals; training in health and safety for staff; childcare
 * 14) Food and Catering: food storage onsite; alcohol provision, access and regulation; caterers; food stalls; waste and recycling; food handling; cleaning; food preparation & service.
 * 15) Lost property site and information about found objects
 * 16) Lost children & meeting points
 * 17) Sanitation and toilets: location; coping with emergencies; toilets for the disabled; signs showing toilet locations; portable toilet removal
 * 18) Waste and recycling: bins; contracts; disposal.
 * 19) Storage
 * 20) Spectator comfort and visibility of event
 * 21) Clearly designated seating
 * 22) Entrances & exits
 * 23) Parking and transport, including disabled persons parking and access to site
 * 24) Public address system
 * 25) Lighting
 * 26) Special provision for participants checked: changing rooms; hot water; showers; support staff facilities; space; food & drink; after-match function; school-age participants could be congratulated by a known sport or media personality; awards; first-aid; stewards
 * 27) Data collection to assist post-event analysis

Post -Event Action

 * 1) Evaluation in terms of plans, event goals, budget
 * 2) Venue evaluation in terms of suitability and ease of functions
 * 3) Clearing, cleaning and dismantling – was this smoothly done?
 * 4) Cleaning and clearance of waste
 * 5) Employee satisfaction
 * 6) Participant/spectator satisfaction
 * 7) De-briefing meetings of staff
 * 8) Sponsorship evaluation
 * 9) Thanks to volunteers or a function for them
 * 10) What improvements will be made for next time?