The best way to get started is to read the manual! Below is an excerpt that you might find helpful for getting started up.

 

HOW TO GET STARTED

There are many things to do and lots of details—seems very confusing when you first get started and even more so the closer you get to the event.  A useful tool is the fill in the blanks Event Manager’s Workbook.  This includes just about everything you need to do from now through the event itself and post-event reporting:  a weekly timeline up to the event, an hourly timeline for Thrill Day, and other worksheets for managing your volunteers, costs, post-event reporting and media contacts.  You won’t miss much if you use the Worksheets.  You will receive the Workbook when you Register and it will be posted on the website. Please go to www.thrilltheworld.com for information about event registration.

FIRST STEPS

  • Start looking for a location for the venue–event location (see Dance section for more info). This will probably be the most challenging part of organizing your event!
  • Learn the dance and teach it to others by playing the instructional videos and following along. See: www.thrilltheworld.com.
  • Get a website and/or set up a local TTW Facebook site. You can use the TTW website as a guide for graphics and wording (see marketing). Click to join our FACEBOOK group page AND click to join FACEBOOK fan page. You can also create events on Facebook for your classes.
  • Post a notice under events on Craigslist and other on-line networking vehicles (see appendix).
  • Create a mailing list from your friends, neighbors, enemies, everyone! You can use your Gmail account (click here for help) or email client services like mailchimp. Make sure to include your registered dancers!

YOUR TEAM/STAFF

For the love of the undead, do NOT attempt to do it all yourself!  TRY VERY HARD TO PUT TOGETHER A TEAM.  If it doesn’t happen right away, don’t give up. If you start early and get the word out (see Marketing), interest will build.  Ideally, you will end up with a handful of people who can coordinate others.  Then, the Event Manager makes sure everyone stays on-track (this is where the fill in the blanks Planning Workbook will help).  Depending on your skills and personality, you might want to do some of the tasks yourself.

FIND VOLUNTEERS 

Team Members may be found through your friends and family, co?workers or even through posting online.  Many Event Managers have good luck with CraigsList but there are others out there (see Appendix Possible Contacts and Internet Resources).  Think about the different interests people have that might be attracted to TTW such as  “dance,” “people meeting people,” “community activities”, and professions such as party planners, media, dance schools, etc. When you find someone, invite them to check out TTW websites, watch the dance video, talk about their interests and build enthusiasm. When someone wants to help, tell them what needs to be done to prepare for Thrill Day and ask them what sounds interesting to them.  If you are looking for specific skills, post some on-line listings under “volunteers” such “videographer,” “photographer” or “make?up artist.”  Make sure you DO NOT overwhelm new people with huge tasks.

DELEGATING

Both this Manual and the Workbook are structured by grouping similar activities into broad subjects, such as Marketing and Dance.  Several people can share the work in each group to make up a COMMITTEE but only ONE PERSON should be in charge and coordinates the others.

Here are some examples.

  • The Marketing Coordinator  might have ONE volunteer maintaining the Facebook page and ONE researching TV, newspaper and radio contacts.
  • The Dance Coordinator might have THREE people who are all equally competent at teaching the dance and can take turns.

The Event Manager makes sure everyone is working together in the right direction.  This is a collaborative effort with lots of interaction, but the structure helps the Event Manager keep track of everything and delegate to others.

WORKING WITH VOLUNTEERS

There are three types of volunteers:  Visionaries, Organizers and Action People.

  • Visionaries can see the big picture, are enthusiastic, and can get people excited.  Most likely, they are not good at organizing or carrying out tasks.  A good job for a visionary is to be the spokesperson with the news media.  If the Event Manager is a Visionary, they need an Organizer as a Co-Manager.
  • Organizers like to plan how to make a big project happen and delegate  They know how to make the vision happen but probably get bored with tasks.  Use organizers as Group Leaders.  Of course, an Organizer needs to be involved in the overall event management.
  • Action People are great at getting things done but can get overwhelmed planning big projects and bored with the visioning.  They don’t like to go to meetings but are happy to do specific tasks.  An Action Person will become very frustrated as the Event Manager.

INTERNAL PROBLEMS

People are attracted to strong, cohesive organizations.  If they hear there are internal problems–money, personalities, time management, anything–it makes the organization appear weak and people will walk away.  Problems are not fun and people come to us to have fun.

All healthy groups have cycles of conflict from time to time, often when there is a change in leadership.  Keep in mind, usually, people do not disagree about the major goal, like having a fantastic Thrill Day.  More often, people disagree about HOW to do it.  What do you do during these times?

Keep it Internal—Within your core group, all of you need to freely discuss issues, if not, tension will build and you won’t be able to operate efficiently.  During these times KEEP A UNITED FRONT!  Agree to disagree but NOT IN PUBLIC!  Arguing, gossip, etc. that’s bad, talking to others outside the group only works against your goal.  No talking about disputes to people not involved, not to dancers,  the media, friends, strangers, get the idea?  Bad publicity is the most powerful of all so don’t get started.  Fix the problem and move on.

Disruptive People—This is a tough one but we have to mention this.  Sometimes one or more people might get involved who are disruptive.  It might be a simple problem, like a task person trying to be a coordinator.  That’s not hard to fix–change their role.  Sometimes, there might be someone who has problems that you can’t fix.  Maybe they disagree with some fundamental principles of TTW, they get too territorial, refuse to report what they are doing, mistreat volunteers, disrupt meetings–it’s a long list.  You will recognize it.  FIX THE PROBLEM QUICKLY!  If you don’t, enthusiasm, morale, volunteers will be lost.  We don’t claim to be psychologists!  That said, sometimes just ignoring them works and they fade away from the group.  Asking people to leave is very messy so you might find a way to limit their involvement, such as giving them a project that does not involve interaction with others, be creative. One example, an event manager gave a disruptive person the job of making awards for their costume contest.

ACTIVITY GROUPS

The best way to keep track of all the things that need to be done is to divide the work into groups of similar activities. These are major projects that usually take planning and coordination well before Thrill Day. You might want to call them Activity Groups, Committees, Teams, but if you don’t have many volunteers, one person might be coordinating more than one activity group–with no helpers so it’s not really a committee.  Either way, the person in charge of that group of activities is the Coordinator.  Ideally, the Event Manager would supervise the Coordinators, and might even need to take on one of the activity groups.  One Thrill the World event who have managed to get a team together has identified these groups:  Graphics, Marketing, Dance, Costs, Charity, Registration, Thrill Day, Post Event Reporting.  The Planning Workbook and this Manual are both organized into these groups.