- [ ] The venue:
- [ ] Ensure the venue’s values align with our own, i.e. pro-social venues, charities, social enterprises, co-ops, etc.
- [ ] Get a virtual tour of the venue before booking to ensure suitability (e.g. some venues may advertise as wheelchair accessible and still have steps and stairs)
- [ ] The venue needs a separate space/waiting area for folks arriving to stay in if they come early
- [ ] Check concrete checklist of AV/tech requirements with the venue:
- [ ] Long HDMI cable
- [ ] Projector
- [ ] Laptop dedicated to any presentations/Zoom meetings that will be happening during the event
- [ ] Speakers
- [ ] Microphone
- [ ] Camera - the aim is that in-person folks can see Zoom participants, and Zoom participants can also see all the in-person folks
- [ ] Do they have a dedicated specialist tech support person to help set everything up and test things to make sure they work ahead of any meetings? → If not, source a person like this from elsewhere or reconsider the booking
- [ ] Catering:
- [ ] Look for entirely vegetarian or vegan catering as standard
- [ ] Ensure additional dietary requirements can be met (gluten-free and FODMAP have been most common in the past)
- [ ] General things:
- [ ] A steward to do meet and greet to smooth the transition between sessions as people arrive and leave
- [ ] If there are remote joiners, a dedicated person is required to look after the Zoom participants and make sure they can fully contribute too
- [ ] Have nametags for in-person participants with names and initiatives on them (could give out nametag cases and paper to go in them with some pens so people can customise their own nametags and make them more personal)
- [ ] Communications:
- [ ] If any food or drinks are served, survey participants well ahead of time to know about any allergies or dietary requirements
- [ ] Comms to all participants ahead of the event
- [ ] Agenda, schedules, event lists, etc
- [ ] Detailed food menu
- [ ] Details about any reimbursements they can claim for attending
- [ ] Directions to where the venue is + any info on where they can wait if they come too early
- [ ] Any recommendations for things to do nearby as a group once the event finishes
- [ ] Ensure that if any regular meetings had to be cancelled or moved in favour of the in-person event, then all participants of that event were notified of the cancellation ahead of time
- [ ] Comms to all participants on the day of the event
- [ ] Agenda, schedules, event lists, etc
- [ ] Detailed food menu
- [ ] Details about any reimbursements they can claim for attending
- [ ] Directions to where the venue is + any info on where they can wait if they come too early
- [ ] Any recommendations for things to do nearby as a group once the event finishes
- [ ] Monitor Slack and emails during the event to see if anyone had any questions or updates about their attendance
- [ ] Presentations:
- [ ] Give clear guidance and expectations to any third party speakers about how long they have, any structure they should follow for their presentation, etc
- [ ] A dedicated person has to do timekeeping to ensure things don’t run over time
- [ ] Have a dedicated facilitator for all events
- [ ] Timings:
- [ ] Dedicated timeslot needed in the schedule for tech setup
- [ ] The room’s acoustics should be tested before the meeting to ensure the microphone will be able to pick things up well for remote joiners
- [ ] Need scheduled breaks between events so the day doesn’t feel rushed
- [ ] Ensure there is time at the beginning of each event for introductions and connecting between attendees