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 Organising your formalRegardless of the size of your school, one thing that every event has in common is the need for a hardworking, motivated organising committee. By volunteering for the organising committee you need to be prepared for hard work, but the rewards are endless and you will have a lot of fun and make some lifelong friends.
Your school may have a protocol in place regarding who is involved in organising your formal. It may be the responsibility of the prefects, your may elect a committee or the school may appoint the committee.
Your committee will need to comprise
Depending upon the size of your committee you can then appoint sub-committees to handle various aspects. These can include:
The secretary should compile a list of all committee members with their
This list should be distributed to all committee members and should be updated as decisions are made regarding venue, band and so on.
The secretary should also start a filing system for the Formal. The secretary will be responsible for keeping minutes of meetings, sending out correspondence, filing, etc. It is also a good idea to start a folder of relevant information that can be handed over to next year’s committee.
At your first meeting, create a draft time line of events. Work backwards from the date of your event, think of everything that will need to be organised and the dates at which those things should be finalised. This can be easily handled in an excel spreadsheet, with one person, probably the chairperson or secretary, being responsible for keeping it up to date and distributing it to committee members. First things First
At your first meeting, the most important issues have to be decided – the date and venue for your formal.
Your school may already have a protocol in place for selecting a date and venue, for example, the first Friday in a particular month at a particular hotel and this is a block booking made every year. The school representative on your committee will be able to advise you regarding the school protocol with regard to date and venue.
We will view organising a formal from the point of view of a brand new event. Date & Venue
The date and venue will run pretty much hand in hand because you can’t have one without the other.
At your initial meeting, appoint your sub-committees and then work with the sub-committee in charge of finding a suitable venue.
Most cities will have large hotels and convention centres that are used to handling such events, but you may wish to go for something completely different like a river cruise, a hall or a marquee.
Take all suggestions from your committee on board and then throw the ideas open to discussion. A marquee might be nice, but do you have a suitable place to erect it? Would a river cruise be practical?
Come up with a short list of possible venues and then approach them to find out
The five star city hotel may be everybody’s first choice, but you may find the local RSL Club can offer the same facilities at a fraction of the cost.
Venues you can consider approaching include:
And don’t rule out your own school hall. With professional theming, your school hall can be turned into a venue that will match any city ballroom.
You can make your initial enquiry to a venue by phone/email and request a copy of their function brochure, menu and pricing.
The sub-committee handling venues can collate these and make a short-list of the most suitable. These can be tabled at your next committee meeting and a list of the most suitable selected.
The next step will be to visit the venues, meet with the functions manager and decide which venues will be suitable. Narrow your list down to three venues. You may find your favourite venue, but it may not be available on the dates you have selected.
If you are lucky enough to find an unusual venue, such as an aquarium, this can set the theme for your event.
You may be lucky enough to come up with a venue that everybody wants, but you may need to put the choice to a vote. The school liaison member may have the final say on what is suitable. Your school will be on show and your choice of venues can be a reflection upon your school.
When you have made the final decision, the Functions Manager will be the person with whom you are dealing. It will be their responsibility to take care of all aspects of the event, they will be the person your decorators, DJ/band, etc. deal with. Make sure you add the Functions Manager’s contact details to your master list.
Your venue and date have been selected. A very important issue that will need to be considered is budget.
Running a large event will encounter a lot more expenses than the cost of the venue hire and food/beverages. You have to cover items such as:
Each sub-committee should be able to submit estimated costs for discussion. A rough estimate of your budget will be the total cost of all these items. For a large school, this can run into many thousands of dollars and it is very important that accurate records are kept of all expenditure.
Your anticipated cost per ticket will be the total cost divided by the number of anticipated attendees. At this point you will be able to estimate whether what you are planning is going to be too expensive for guests. You may decide to do some fundraising or seek sponsorship to help reduce the costs of tickets. Refer to fundraising/sponsorship section. A good fundraising drive can raise a lot of money and dramatically reduce the overall cost of your formal.
The business department in your school may be able to help with suitable accounting software.
In most schools it is normal practice for all money to be handled by the school administration.
Your committee will need to establish a procedure for receiving and spending money. At least two committee members will be required to authorise a payment. Your school representative will advise you on the protocol the school will want you to follow regarding expenditure. CommitteesWe will now look at the responsibilities of your committees.
The committee you have appointed is responsible for the overall organisation of your formal. The three vital members of the committee are the Chairperson, the Secretary and the Treasurer, and, depending upon how your school wants to run things, the School Representative.
The roles of these people are as follows: Chairperson – has overall responsibility to make final decisions and responsible to ensure that the sub-committees understand what is expected of them and following the guidelines set at meetings. The Chairperson needs to be a mature, responsible person who is willing to take on a lot of work.
Secretary – the secretary will be responsible for handling all correspondence, taking minutes of meetings, filing and preparing a folder to hand over to next year’s committee.
Treasurer – responsible for preparing and overseeing a budget for the event as well as recording monies received and spent (usually in conjunction with the school)
School Representative – a member of the school teaching or admin staff who will ensure that the school’s principles and ethics are complied with.
Venue Committee - The Venue Committee is responsible for locating a number of suitable venues, liaising with the Functions Managers and presenting to the Formal Committee a short list of suitable venues for inspection.
Music - The Music Committee is responsible for sourcing a suitable DJ, Band or Jukebox for the night, as well as ensuring that the music selection is appropriate for the evening.
Food - The Food Committee will work with the chosen venue to ensure a suitable menu is selected. They will also have to pay particular attention to dietary needs of guests.
Theme - More and more schools are now selecting to theme their formal. There are hundreds of theme ideas and we cover this topic further on. Your Theming Committee will be responsible for selecting a suitable theme for the evening and then sourcing the decorations or hiring a professional theming company
Invitations - The Invitations Committee will be responsible for designing the invitation to be sent to all guests. They will also be responsible for obtaining quotes from printers and selecting a final printer to produce the invitations.
Menu and Place Cards - This Committee will be responsible for designing and producing the menu and place cards for the evening. They will work closely with the Food Committee and the Guest List Committee
Seating Plan - This committee will have responsibility for deciding at which table guest will sit. It can be a very big job to ensure that everybody is sitting with friends or at the table they requested.
Entertainment - You may decide to have additional entertainment, apart from your DJ/band. If so, you will need to appoint a committee to be responsible for sourcing and organising this entertainment. It could be that you want to have some roving entertainers during pre-dinner drinks or fun side shows, fairy floss or popcorn available.
Sponsorship & Fundraising - To offset the overall cost of the formal you may wish to seek some sponsorship from local business or undertake a fundraising drive. Appoint a committee to handle this. If seeking sponsorship, you will need to work closely with your school for approval regarding which businesses you approach. If you decide to run a fundraising drive, visit the web site www.fundraisingdirectory.com.au for a huge range of ideas.
Security - Security is a big issue at any event. The venue you have selected will provide security staff but you may wish to have additional security in the form of parents or staff attending. This committee will be responsible for sourcing the additional security required. Another issue they may take responsibility for is a Cloakroom where all guests can leave coats, handbags and cameras during the evening.
Permission Forms - Your school will probably require all students to provide a permission form from their parent stating they have permission to attend the event.
Guest List - After the invitations have been sent out you will start to receive RSVP’s. It is a big job to ensure that accurate records are kept of who is or is not attending. This committee will take on responsibility for recording RSVP’s for who is attending the formal, which parents are attending pre-dinner drinks and which invited guests will be attending.
They will need to be provided with a complete list from the Invitations Committee. They will also work closely with the Treasurer to record who has paid for their tickets.
Official Guests - Your school will have a number of official guests who will be invited to the formal, this will include people such as the Principal and other school officials. It is essential that this committee work closely with the School Representative to ensure that nobody is forgotten.
Photography - You will want to have official photographs taken of the big event. The Photography Committee will be responsible for hiring a suitable photographer for the evening, arranging a back drop where photographs can be taken and organising the official photographs for the school.
Thank you - When it is all over, you will need to write thank you letters to all who participated in making your event a success. This Committee will work closely with the Secretary to ensure this is done.
Student Liaison - Appoint a committee to keep students informed of how planning for the formal is progressing. Your guests will be curious to know what is planned for the evening. You won’t want to let them into all the surprises but you do need a central point where they can have their questions answered.
After Party Activities - Appoint a committee to work closely with your school to ensure that all guests are aware of your school’s policy regarding after parties. Themes
The days of putting a bowl of flowers in the centre of the table are long gone and themed events are now becoming the norm.
Theming your event will add excitement and colour to your evening. There are a myriad of themes you can follow and we will list many below.
Theming can be as over the top or as conservative as you wish. You can hire professional theming companies who will take care of everything for you or you can do it yourself.
The professional theming companies are experts is setting the scene for the evening. They can advise you on what will work in the venue you have chosen. There are many wonderful décor options that will turn any event into a one to remember without actually creating a “theme” and there are endless variations to every theme. The professional theming company will custom tailor themes to suit both the chosen venue and your specific needs. ThemesHot themes this year include:
Winter Wonderland
Linen and Chair CoversYou only have to look at a photograph of a table set without chair covers or overlays to see the huge difference this makes to your event. The addition of chair covers will add $ to the ticket price but will create a wow factor when people enter the room. To save money you can hire the chair covers and sashes and fit them yourselves. This will save you a substantial amount of money but you will need many helpers to undertake the task. This may not be possible if you have to attend hairdressers, etc., so you will need to approach parents. You will need to allow at least 20 minutes per table of ten for fitting the chair covers and tying sashes. So for an event with 40 tables, allow for around 14 hours of work – 7 people each donating two hours of their time. A new product recently on the market is disposable chair covers. These are very well priced at around $3 each and are not time consuming to fit. BalloonsBalloons are a great way to fill a large space economically. The possibilities for decorating with balloons are endless. You can have a simple bunch of balloons on each table, a scatter of loose balloons over the dance floor is always stunning and you can finish the night with a net drop.
More dramatic effects you can use are giant three foot balloons, exploding balloons and exploding balloon walls.
Foil balloons provide an exciting way of theming your event. Foil stars are a great compliment to any Hollywood theme. FlowersFlower are a classic way of decorating your tables. A floral centrepiece is simple and clean and will look timeless. You can also choose some more exciting flower arrangements using exotic flowers and cane. PropsWhatever theme you decide on you can make or hire props to as a compliment. Most large theming companies will have a selection of props available for hire. We give you some simple ideas further on in this booklet on how to create great props yourselves. Let us know what you have done so we can include your ideas in this book for others to use. Lighting? You may have chosen an absolutely drop dead gorgeous theme, but if nobody can see it, the effect will be lost. Lighting is essential to set the mood and ambience of the night. If you are using a theming company they will be able to advise you on what is required. If you are doing the theming yourselves, contact a professional lighting company for advice. Sound? Your sound requirements will depend upon your choice of entertainment for the evening. Professional DJ’s will provide their own sound sytems, as will bands. You will, however, need at least a microphone for the official part of the evening. If you have created powerpoint or AV productions to show throughout the evening you will need equipment for this. As your ideas for the evening develop, so will your understanding of the AV needs. Favours? Giving each guest a favour is becoming very popular. This may be as simple as a heart or star shaped chocolate, or as beautiful as a hand crafted glass ornament with your school name and year had painted on them. Signature bears are a popular item for everyone to remember on their special night. Menus & Place Cards? In keeping with your theme for the evening, create matching menu and place cards. Appoint a sub-committee to look after this aspect. YOu may have several hundred guests and this can be a undertaking. Creating hand made cards and scrapbooking are very popular pastimes and you may be able to find a student or parent who is prepared to oversee the creation of some really memorable items. Beautifully created items will be kept as souvenirs for years to come. Allow room on your menus for signatures and well wishes. If you are creating a specific theme, you may wish to include some background information on the theme. Remember to include a thank you to local businesses who have donated products or serviceds to help make your formal a success. All that is left is to enjoy your big night! Don\'t forget to write thank-you notes afterwards to all who have helped to make it a big success. |
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