Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Slowly, step-by-step the many pieces of the show come together. By applying the same basic framework to any event, I feel comfortable coordinating, organizing, and directing any program.

The more I practice, the more efficient I become. In using time wisely to prepare for an event, I get the framework in place and then add the details.

In this short series on how I coordinated our school’s live history fair, I broke down my 6-step plan into three separate posts. In Part 1, I outlined the learning and gathering stages. Next in Part 2, I detailed the organizing and delegating phases. Today, I will complete this series with the last two steps: presenting and executing.

STEP FIVE: PRESENTING

After delegating the tasks, I did not sit back and wait for problems to arise. Heading off problems with a plan saves energy and time.

As the separate parts started coming together, I focused my attention on the program. With the sequence complete, I needed to create a fluid presentation that flowed from act to act without awkward pauses or confusion.

Timing the Event

I began evaluating the time needed for this event. If everyone’s performance took the maximum allotted time, then our program would last 2-3 hours. Yikes!

During the time I was working on fitting all the acts in the shortest amount of time, I saw the music teacher at school. She expressed concern that the music would clash with the class presentations and suggested moving her music selections to our end-of-the-year awards assembly.

Considering her option, I took the idea to our administrator and my good friend, who never crushes my ideas – no matter how outlandish they are. 🙂 After a few rounds of pros and cons, we removed the music selections from this program bringing the time frame back to a reasonable 1-2 hours.

Selecting Music

Without the music presentations, I went back to my original plan and readjusted the program. Now, I could add in music and visual elements to create a fluid presentation.

Going to my CD stand, I chose the soundtrack from Gettysburg. This music is instrumental, calm, and historical. The purpose of the music was two-fold:

1. To signal the change between acts, and

2. To unify the program without the audience sitting in silence during the transitions.

In keeping the music simple, the audio/visual volunteer only needed to fade the music up and down. No selection changes made this option the best for our performance.

Choosing Visual Elements

The second element was the visual connection. To do this, I chose two forms:

1. The Program: This two-page pamphlet indicated the order of events, the names of the students, and recognition for those who gave of their time. This program provided a visual element for each audience member before, during, and after the presentation.

2. Slides: Designating a slide per act allowed the audience to follow along in the program. The teachers and students chose one picture or collage to introduce their presentation. (When I presented this idea to my friend, she willingly offered to create the slide show for me. She did a fantastic job!)

With the timing reasonable, the music selected, and the visual elements chosen, the program pieces fit together. Whew!

STEP SIX: EXECUTING

The 2-month long planning came down to executing the program. For this event, I blocked out a couple of mornings to come watch the classes practice.

Rehearsals

During these practices, I made notes of their props and assigned them a home. As I watched other classes, I could let them know that a Trojan Horse would rest on the corner, a castle stayed on the stage left side, or the screen for the slides covered the back wall.

The rehearsals went well, and I stepped in to aid with castles and crowd control for a couple of the acts. Nailing down the details during the rehearsals and staying flexible resulted in a wonderful performance.

Performance

On the evening of the performance, two upper school students did not arrive. Upon hearing this news, I asked the audio/visual operator to remove or skip those slides. However, I forgot to tell our third grade teacher, whose act followed one of the absent students. Oops!

My mistake caused a slight delay, but the program went beautifully with a reception and art display available before and after the 1 hour and 15 minute presentation.

Through the ups and downs, this program was my favorite of the year. Of course, I am a little biased since I invested my time and energy into the presentation, but the feedback received confirmed my assessment.

As you plan events (small and large), concentrate on the planning. With a framework in place, you can focus on creating a tightly unified event. With simple elements, like one score of music and one slide show, an event can emit unity in light of its differences. Happy planning while using time wisely!

Question: For what event are you planning?

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

When planning any event, organizing is the key which is the part I love. Working through the learning and gathering phases fuels my energy to the organization step. 🙂

Last week in Part 1, I started explaining my process in planning our school’s live history fair. With an understanding of the type of event and then knowing the information to present at the performance, my mind began formulating a plan.

STEP THREE: ORGANIZING

Besides my favorite part of the process, the organizing step is the core of the event. If I emerge from this step with a general idea, then I will waste time and energy re-organizing, re-delegating, and backtracking.

My goal in this step is to reach the end with a clear itinerary, program, or sketch. With this plan, I can funnel all suggestions, recommendations, and changes to fit within the framework. Having this step nailed down tightly removes confusion from the big picture.

Knowing this step’s importance, I spent the bulk of my time organizing our live history fair. I sat with a stack of blank copy paper at my dining room table, which is a large 60’ x 60’ area with lots of space. I began to jot down all the components:

• Page 1: The list of players by group (e.g., K4 and K5 presentation, K4 and K5 music, Grade 1 presentation, Grade 2 presentation, Grade 1 and 2 music, etc.)

• Page 2: A list of all the geography students and the area chosen for their presentations (e.g., John Doe – Bermuda, Plain Jane – Philippines, etc.)

• Page 3: Compiled another list of the American history students with their chosen topics.

With the basic lists written, I went back to page 1 and added in the details. I included the dates of each presentation, the material used (stories, play, poem, etc.), and the titles provided by the teachers.

With all the information in front of me, I started organizing the program on separate sheets:

• Sheet 1: Grade order beginning with kindergarten working up to the upper school students

• Sheet 2: Alphabetical listing of titles and locations

• Sheet 3: Date sequence beginning with the earliest date and working toward modern times

With each option, I hit a snag. The program seemed disjointed working in grade order and alphabetical order. The date sequence worked best, but I lacked true dates for the origin of countries for the geography students.

Since I was not sold on any one idea but I liked parts of each order, I chose to combine them. I used the date sequence for the presentations, the alphabetical order for the geography students, and grouped the music selections by when the students were on stage.

For variety, I interspersed the geography classes’ individual presentations and the group music selections among the group class presentations.

Once I had the program outlined, I took a break. I came back later and reviewed my options. Satisfied with this plan, I asked Paul (my sounding board) and a close friend to look it over. After getting their reaction which resulted in no changes, I forwarded the information to the teachers, staff, and volunteers and waited for the questions to come.

STEP FOUR: DELEGATING

While answering and responding to questions, concerns, and suggestions, I chose to delegate some of the tasks. This program involved more than the time spent inside the auditorium, so I needed some help. Having a list of volunteers and good friends who help, I assigned the following tasks:

• The class presentations: lower school teachers

• Costumes and props: parents (The teachers communicated with the parents.)

• The music presentations: music instructor

• Art displays: a teacher and group of parent volunteers

• Reception: our Student Life Committee

Sneak Peak: When I got to the next step, I hit a hiccup and added transition items which I later delegated to others.

In using time wisely to execute our live history fair, I prepared by organizing alone and then delegating to others. Throughout this process, I moved forward with my planning while fielding phone calls, e-mails, and car-line chats. 🙂 With the plan in place, I stayed focused in the midst of distractions.

My plan for organizing an event may not work for you because we are different. The key to any successful event is knowing where you are going, planning how to get there, and making your path as straight as possible. Happy planning!

Question: Do you organize your ideas with pen and paper or use another method?