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

Preliminary research and feasibility study, including SWOT analysis
Event goals
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)
Economic impact
Budget: economic analysis; pricing; contingencies; break-even point; sources of funding; account codes & prefixes; cash-flow analysis; money needed onsite;
Site selection: facilities; location; access to accommodation; shops and transport
Event theme & branding
Analyse venue in terms of consumer needs
Flow charts of planning decisions and actions
Operational policies and procedures manual
Logistics
Employment law relevant to workers on the event day
Staffing and recruitment of staff, training, job descriptions, accreditation
Employee contracts
Volunteers: their roles and training
Uniforms, caps or shirts for staff
Consideration of any outsourcing
Guest list and invitations
Publicity and media
Action Plans for individuals or groups
Legal compliance, including permits and licences and compliance from toilets to health rules to power cables
Projections of attendance & participation
Community consultation e.g. traffic, on possible noise
Prizes, awards and lucky tickets or lucky seats
Sponsorship
Seating capacities and for whom and location
Fences & perimeters
Signage & advertising
Ticketing
Concessions, passes
Naming rights
Services: power; water, gas; emergency generator; lighting; refrigeration
Decorations, posters and signs
Photography
Maps and plans
Sale points and merchandising
Stalls with their operation and location
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)
Special needs: wheelchair access; ramps; location of wheelchair viewing sites; toilets for disabled; parking for disabled)
Exhibition space
ATM machines
Hospitality – for whom and location of hospitality sites
Noise levels
Ground announcer and the provision of key scripts for the announcer (e.g. sponsors, event happenings; schedule, lost children, lost & found)
Opening ceremony

Marketing

Marketing strategy and marketing plan
Forming a marketing team
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)
Sponsorship: determining likely sponsors; obtaining sponsorship; providing for sponsor publicity before/at/after the event
Promotional materials
Utilise the organisation’s branches or sport club affiliates
Signage
Clothing with sponsor or event organisation name or insignia
Ambush marketing prevention
Use of a celebrity for event endorsement or opening the event
Media launch of the event
Trademarks, copyright materials and logos checked
Direct mail
Local media, national media
Merchandising
Onsite photocopying & printing
Marketing to enhance participant, spectator, visitor, reader/viewer experiences
Marketing to place (or establish) the event in the annual programme

The Event Day and Event Environment

Site maps including site-flow maps
Clear delineation of duties
Operations manual
Rehearsals
Published programme
Stage and/or designated areas
Cultural protocols to be observed
Insurance
Functional areas
Temperature control, provision for rain and adverse weather
Admission, queue prevention & access for wheelchairs and baby prams
Pass-out system
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
Food and Catering: food storage onsite; alcohol provision, access and regulation; caterers; food stalls; waste and recycling; food handling; cleaning; food preparation & service.
Lost property site and information about found objects
Lost children & meeting points
Sanitation and toilets: location; coping with emergencies; toilets for the disabled; signs showing toilet locations; portable toilet removal
Waste and recycling: bins; contracts; disposal.
Storage
Spectator comfort and visibility of event
Clearly designated seating
Entrances & exits
Parking and transport, including disabled persons parking and access to site
Public address system
Lighting
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
Data collection to assist post-event analysis

Post -Event Action

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