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Consistency, not competition

The SPAB Approach

• All SPAB events have potential to generate income in support of our charitable objectives and give us the chance to reiterate our key messages and The SPAB Approach.
• Our Technical and Research team establish SPAB’s position on a great many outputs of our policy – underpinning our casework, advice line and taking our philosophy as far as it will go into the practical sphere.
• Consistency of messages across Regional Group events, events organised by the Education & Training team, and indeed across our Technical Research department and our casework activity is critical to ensure the strength of our efforts.

Collaboration

• SPAB’s Education and Training Team organise a full annual programme of income-generating events, so they always need to be in the lead for our technical offerings – so it’s best to consult them first about the scope for collaboration on a potential technical event.
• Collaboration in events planning for events with technical or training emphases is essential – not only to avoid internal competition, but also to understand where the gaps might be in our current programme and how RGs might fill them!

Event Organisers Forum

• The twice-yearly Event Organisers Forum was established as a venue for all those organising events at SPAB to compare notes on upcoming events and ideas, to make the most of any connections between events and mitigate the chances two similar events will emerge and pose a risk of a conflict.
• To support this work, the Membership and Education & Training Teams will compile and circulate a list of upcoming ideas for the next year’s programme each autumn, following the autumn Event Organisers Forum.
• In the event a conflict between two similar events does arise, the Senior Membership Manager will liaise with the event organiser in question to address the situation.

Minimum timeframes for planning

• SPAB staff work to a 2-3 months’ notice period for events organisation – but opportunities emerge all throughout the year, and sometimes a long notice period can’t be guaranteed.
• However, members also need a minimum notice period to make their arrangements to attend an event.  Sometimes, an event announced with too short notice can generate complaints from disappointed members who would otherwise have attended.
• Please work to ensure at least a months notice would be great to ensure we can garner the widest spread of organisational support, and meet the expectations of members and our wider audiences in providing sufficient notice for them to attend events.

Preparing an event brief

Considering purpose, objectives and target audience

• Firstly, consider what your event is for – and who will need to be involved to make the event a success.  Are you aiming to engage SPAB members at large, SPAB members who might also be heritage professionals or SPAB members who are also old house owners or renters?
• What’s influencing the timing of the event? For example, is the scaffolding up, or does it link in with a larger conference elsewhere coming up? Or have we simply been invited to come and visit?

Types of event - and where consultation can help

• Are you planning to visit a historic building in a region?  For this all you need to do is get your details organised and then liaise with the Membership Team to take this forward, and get marketing efforts underway.
• Are you planning stage a talk or lecture, perhaps connected to your AGM? To do this, please liaise with the Membership Team in the first instance – they’ll be able to ensure your speaker is in line with all of SPAB’s latest messaging and technical positions and caseworks positions, or suggest someone if you need a contact!
• Don’t forget the power of your influence as a regional SPAB rep! If there are local history fairs, festivals or other opportunities to fly the SPAB flag in your area, these are great opportunities to boost profile, win new members and engage new ones.  Speak to the membership team if you need some SPAB swag for a day out with like-minded audiences!!

Settting the event budget

It would be ideal if events could be budgeted for to at least break even, and ideally make a small surplus.  This will directly contribute to SPAB’s bottom line, and improve our ability to act in the service of our mission and vision.

At the planning stage, feed your costs into our events budget template to get an idea of what a pricing structure for your event might be.  Key details for this exercise include any speaker fees, the cost of any tour, visit or venue, catering fees – and the maximum number of members and non-members that can potentially attend the event.

When planning your ticket prices, please especially keep in mind the imperative to offer member benefit for SPAB members.  Where events are open to both members and non-members, SPAB members should benefit from a lower event fee, or other advantages such as advanced or early bird booking.

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