Episode 42: The Best Production Timeline

There's a school of thought that says that you can never have enough event production timelines. Each aspect of an event will have its own production timeline in place. In my opinion, it isn't necessary. In my experience, keeping it simple while having every one informed in the way to go. So let me share my advice to help you create the best possible event production you can for your fundraising events! But Who Am I? Hi! I'm Lisa Clark and I help nonprofits and fundraisers like YOU raise money through events so you can meet your annual revenue goals! I'm also the host of a free Facebook Group, Raising with Lisa Clark, a free group for fundraisers, NPOs, development team members, volunteers, and supporters. I included a link below so you can request to join right away! Link to Join Facebook Group: Committee Timelines Each team should have their own event production timeline made in order to map out their responsibilities. Especially if they have tasks that have nothing to do with anyone else. Everyone needs to do what's right for them if you have many sub-committees. Even when you are just a one to two person team running this event, having each group of tasks broken down can be helpful. A Two Timeline System This type of system has worked really well for events I've been involved in that are for auctions. They will split it up into the tasks that need to be done before the event and then the day of the event. This can be helpful so that you stay focused on task and with auctions, you know if you have hosted one, that there are a lot of moving parts that need to work together the day of the event. It really just depends on what system would work for you. Snapshot Calendar These are just calendars set up with the basics. It helps to have a visual and it's easy to send out to everyone on your team. You could even have this set up in Google Calendar and share it with everyone! Then they'll all have the dates in place to know what days that all the different aspects of the event are taking place. Personally, I like this method as it's an easy visual and keeps everyone informed. Here's the way I like it… Personally, I prefer an all encompassing document that is easiest to format within Excel or Google sheets. There will be two tabs at the bottom. The first has a master timeline with everything in it. Catering, decor, solicitation, etc. up to 6 to 9 months before the event happens. Then the day of tasks will also be included. The second tab will be that same thing broken up by each committee. This tab will just have it broken down with the tasks assigned with each specific committee. Keep this simple. There doesn't need to be a lot of details in this. This is supposed to be a document that is quick and easy for everyone to view so that they are informed! Why I find this helpful is because if you're just getting a question answered and you want to know when a certain thing is happening in regards to your event, you're able to look at the document and know! It streamlines communication so that other people can coordinate. Everything is mapped out for you so you can see it month by month for everyone. Project Management Tools There are tons of project management platforms that can help you with organizing your events. Here are just a few: Trello Asana Monday If there are things that aren't able to fit into your master timelines, then you can use one of these project management tools to help you organize each committee. It helps to make checklists and assign people specific tasks with more details. They can also be used to have documents all in one place. I hope that you can take away some advice from this episode to help your events be as easy as possible to coordinate. Don't be afraid to play around with different tools and timelines to create a system that works best for you and your fundraising events! See you guys next week and be sure to let me know if there are any tools I didn't cover in this week's episode that you find helpful! Want even more details on how to grow your following? Then sign up for my training! This is a three-part video series that will go over how to help you make your website, optimize your Facebook, and so much more. Let's walk through together and help you feel confident marketing your organization now! --- Want to learn more? Be sure to check out my blog! There's also access to the free downloadable there too! Also, here's my FREE Checklist on How to Create A Pipeline of New Donors for Your Next Big Fundraiser? Click the link to get the instantly downloadable checklist that's easily implementable (is that a word?)! Don't forget to connect with me on other social media platforms as well! Blog: Facebook: YouTube: Pinterest:

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Episode 42: The Best Production Timeline is an episode from Raising with Lisa Clark's Podcast by Lisa Clark.

This episode is 20:48 long.

This episode was published on May 9, 2019.

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