There is already an excellent ‘How To’ guide on putting on a CSTS event, but I wanted to share my own experiences with both those who have been there and those who are beginners to this. This is just
my experience running a (UK) CSTS event for the first time, and I'm always open to feedback and suggestions.
While it has been a good experience, it has also been a huge learning curve and eye opener on a lot of things.
In retrospect I think I entered the venture in a very naïve manner – I certainly hadn’t considered just how much work would be involved, or how big a budget I needed to have.
My first mistake was not finding a proper team; sure, I had my husband on hand to help me with a lot of things, and I had contact with a lot of people on the CSTS forums (both global and UK) but in the end it was me who did 95% of the planning and preparation – which was a lot of (wo)man-hours. Ultimately, I enjoyed it. I had so much fun designing the website, and putting together an introduction/information DVD to show before the film was a brilliant experience for me, as I had never done anything like that before. I found I had some real skills in video production, which has inspired me to do a lot more in that kind of area. On the night of the event I had four people helping me, which made things a lot easier. If only I had had them helping me in the run-up!
When I contacted the local cinema who agreed to show the movie, I really should have paid more attention to the alarm bells ringing in my head, simply due to how vague the guy was, and how terrible he was at replying to my questions and emails. It took a lot of contacting by email and visiting in person to get even simple things sorted out, and even now after the event, things are still up in the air with regards to ticket sales monies. If I were to do this kind of event again I would make sure I had some form of ‘contract’ or written agreement drawn up which both parties could agree on. I’ve had a lot of conflicting emails from the main point of contact from the cinema, but even bringing these up and quoting past communication doesn’t help. Some people are just really, really good at evading direct questions! It will get sorted, one way or another, it’s simply frustrating, and I do think I could have avoided some of the frustration had I been a little less trusting and more business minded from the start.
I’ve lost money on this event. I don’t really see it as a loss, more like that was my donation towards making it happen. I’ve reclaimed some of the money as some things were too expensive not to, but for the most part I’ve just written it off. As an estimate, I’ve probably spent around £90 just making this event happen, which for a non-working Mum is a lot to spend. I have to estimate because I stupidly didn’t keep as detailed a financial record on my personal spending as I should have done. All monies for the cause were accounted for in detail, but I hadn’t really thought about printing costs and simple leg-work costs. I’ve learnt my lesson there. I don’t mind though, it was worth it, and we raised three times that much again for Equality Now, which in my eyes, for a first-time event, is spectacular.
It is very frustrating to be putting a lot of effort into something, believing that you are being supported, but come crunch time have people drop out on you. This happened a lot and I lost a lot of faith in myself and in the venture many times. Luckily, I’m tough, and I have an excellent husband who always gives me the mental kick up the bum I need, and I had to learn to move on and just ignore any negativity. Sometimes it wasn’t even intended from people; it was just that people didn’t think before they acted. Unfortunately, that’s life for you! In the end, I knew that if we had forty people turn up on the night, we were going to be lucky. It turns out we were doubly lucky as we sold 81 tickets in total, beyond even my wildest hopes. I can only surmise that even if all the feedback you get is static, the message is still getting out there, and people are listening.
I had some marvelous help from a couple of guys who helped to ‘pimp’ the event on the forums, and, I can say with some smugness in a way, used their reputations to get others on said forums to listen. It helps a lot of you can get the back-up from someone who has a good reputation and knowledge in the field. Coming into all this as a relative newbie was very hard – I can see now there was a lot of skepticism and people not really believing I could do it. Again, this isn’t always intended, it can be more to do with how past events have played out, and if you’re not known to anyone, why should they put their faith in you? All you can do is keep plodding away and believe in what you’re doing – if you don’t, no-one else definitely will!
And so, some lessons learned from it all, and ideas to take away:
• Keep positive and keep pimping – the only way you will get the people to come is if you get the word out. Advertise wherever you can – for example: I contacted my local media and newspapers, put posters up in shops and libraries, handed out flyers, posted bulletins on social networking sites and created a website, Facebook page and LiveJournal community specifically for the event. Try and persuade your cinema to advertise for you as well.
• Be active on forums and online groups – it’s the best way to find out what’s happening and can be useful places to put updates and bulletins. You might also find some great people to be friends with – I know I did.
• Be very clear with your chosen cinema on what will happen both on the day and afterwards. Who will get what money, what kind of overheads need to be paid, in what kind of time-frame will you know for sure you will get your cash ?etc. If in doubt, form some sort of written agreement and ensure you are dealing with the right person! Always speak to the manager if you can, and at the very least get the manager’s confirmation. Never rely simply on an oral agreement, and if payment up-front is needed, ensure you get a very clear receipt.
• Have a team and delegate the necessary jobs. Have more people than you think you’ll need, not only will it help take the stress off you, it’s fun to have a bunch of people working together. Make sure you choose people you can depend and rely on, and keep everyone informed on what’s going on.
• As well as a team, having a ‘Buddy’ who is well versed in these kinds of events can really be a bonus. I had a lovely lady from Australia help me out via emails and forum posts who gave me some excellent ideas and just helped keep me positive and enthusiastic.
• Have a realistic time-frame to do everything in. I pulled the Leicester event together in 8 weeks, and everything did get done, but in the few days running up to the event I was pretty stressed. I would say this is when the support network comes in handy once again. While it is perfectly possible to put an event together in very little time, planning well ahead never hurts.
• Be aware of health and safety issues, copyright laws and advertising guidelines, among other things. If you’re the one responsible for the event, you are likely to be the one responsible if anything goes wrong. Check and double check that every little thing is covered. For example; we gave away ‘Fruity Oaty Bars’ to everyone who attended the event, but we made sure to clearly mark any allergy advice etc. If sounds silly, but it’s often the silly things that people will make the biggest deal over. Ensuring your event is run safely and legally is simple common sense but should be taken very seriously.
• Keep receipts and financial reports on everything. If you have a budget, stick to it. It is very easy to spend more than you should on simple things like getting posters printed; even car-parking costs money and should be factored in. My loss is Equality Now’s gain this time, but if I had been more sensible, and known then what I know now I could have minimized the sting on my wallet a lot better.
• Find other things to sell or auction off to add to your funds. I was amazed at how eager people were to buy silly things like badges, but I made £64 just on these! Quirky, little things that only cost a pound / dollar or two will sell much better than more expensive things in a lot of cases – almost everyone will part with a tiny amount of cash, and it all adds up.
• Employ the attitude of if you don’t ask you won’t get. It never hurts to fire off an email, make a ‘phone call, or go see someone and ask if they will sponsor you or support you in some way. You might be surprised at what you can get. The kindness of strangers is a wonderful thing.
• Enjoy it! It is very stressful, and it does require a lot of work, but it is a great experience too. The biggest boost for me was being in the cinema, surrounded by like-minded people, all having a brilliant time and helping to support an important charity, and knowing that
I was responsible for them being there. Regardless of how much cash we did or didn’t make, people had fun and we raised their awareness. To me, that’s what makes an event successful.
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