Fern Ling Chettle

organising an A/Artist public event

a step-by-step plan

Below are all the steps to organising a successful A/artist public event! There is a timeline for preparations, as well as a check-list for everything you will need to remember to do for each event. 

Timeline of preparations 

1 month before:

  • Finalise the program and speakers (usually 2 artists) and theme of the evening. this information will be needed for the Mediamatic monthly booklet. (make sure to send the communications team the details by their deadline!) 
  • Make an event page on the A/artist blog. You can read about how to do that here! 
  • Double check on stager to make sure that there are no conflicting events or events in the program (you will see that all of the events are already scheduled on Stager for the third Monday of each month).
  • On Stager, set the event to 'confirmed' and make sure that the tickets are live. this is how you can add the ticket link to the website and newsletters. 

3 weeks before:

  • Send an email to the speakers with information about the event, what they will receive, and requesting materials for communications. here is the A/artist template for this. 
  • Set-up a time and date to conduct a short 30-minute interview with them, which will be posted to the A/artist blog. 
  • Schedule people to help with the event. For A/artist you will need:  
    • Eventmanager
    • 2x production assistants 
    • Ticket service and AV assistant 
    • Communication person to do the livestream on Instagram 
    • Photographer 
  • Coordinate with the restaurant manager (Carlos), about the event. Inform how many people are expected (we usually estimate 40-60). Make sure that the kitchen is able to provide food and drinks, and have the manager schedule 2x bar staff and 1x kitchen staff. 

2 weeks before:  

  • Coordinate with the communications team (Marcel is the manager) to prepare a poster and newsletters for the event, as well as materials for instagram/social media. Give them a clear brief and make sure to follow-up. 

10 days before:

  • Send out emails to the 'A/artist roundtable' and 'A/artist mailing list' on Stager to save the date.  
    • 'A/artist roundtable' contacts have participated in previous events and receive a free ticket to every event. here is how to generate their free guest tickets.
    • here is a template for the usual email that we send to roundtable participants.
    • 'A/artist mailing list' contacts are participants who have bought tickets to previous events. they will still need to purchase a ticket.
    • here is a template for the usual email that we send to them. 

1 week before:

  • Begin distributing flyers for the event and post the event on the necessary channels. You can find the locations for where these flyers should be distributed and posted here.
  • Schedule a briefing with the shifted event assistants and livestream assistant about the event and what will be expected of them. 

the Friday before: 

  • Send a reminder email to the 'A/artist roundtable' and 'A/artist mailing list' contacts on stager using the same template as earlier. 

on the day: 

5 hours before:

  • Begin setting up the Haekelroom space: 
    • Setup chairs
    • Setup lecture space (high table and water for speakers) 
    • Setup Ticketservice area by the stairs (high table, printed guest list, coloured stickers and labels, drink tokens) 
    • Coat-rack for guests during winter 
    • Ensure the spotlight is on the speakers position. 
  • Make sure that there are enough chairs in the room for 80% of the expected attendees. Then stack the remaining chairs (about 15 extra) at the back of the room.
  • Set up a back table with water jugs and glasses for guests as they arrive. 
  • Test the AV and make sure that the presentations can use the sound system.  
    • Is there a charger for the laptop there?
    • The TV remote? 
    • HDMI cable? 
    • For events in the Haekelroom, we don't use microphones so don't worry about that. 

3 hours before:

  • Print out the discussion questions. Here is the document for those. 
  • Draw two blackboards with information about the event to place on either side of the building (if you don't know where to find these, you can ask the restaurant staff). 

1 hour before:

  • Welcome speakers for soundcheck. 
    • Assist them in plugging in their laptops and testing their voice in the space. 
    • Ensure their slides are working smoothly 
  • All speakers/organisers/event assistants receive 3 drink tokens they can use throughout the event. 

30 minutes before: 

  • Guests begin to arrive. Each guest receives 1 drink token. 

event and program starts! 

 during the event: 

  • Keep an eye on the program schedule. Once the first presentation reaches the Q&A, inform the kitchen and bar staff that dinner should be served in 10 minutes.  
  • Oversee dinner service, ensure that guests are comfortable and help direct them to settle down in the restaurant. 
  • Make sure that the second speakers laptop is plugged in and ready to begin after dinner. 
  • After 40 minutes, inform Willem that the program is ready to start again, make an announcement and guide guests back to the Haekelroom

after the event: 

  • Once the event is over, clean the space:
    • Turn television off and unplug cables. 
    • Put all the chairs back (spaghetti chairs are stored in the beer storage, the rest in the restaurant.) 
    • High tables should be returned to where you took them. 
    • Switch off the lights 
    • Ensure all glasses and plates have been returned to the kitchen. 
    • Clean up space. 

the next day: 

  • Send a thank you email to the speakers. Ask them to send an invoice to a.artist@mediamatic.nl. The speakers are responsible for their own VAT/(BTW) administration. They can include the VAT/(BTW) percentage on top of the agreed upon fee (usually 150 euros). 
  • If the invoice looks correct, forward it to administratie@mediamatic.nl 
  • Thank the staff that helped you for their hard work!