Planning and Choosing: Making a Time-Plan

MAKING A TIME-PLAN FOR AN EVENT

In this section you can practise:

organising your time to best effect

making the best use of time for yourself and the people around you

Objectives

Have you ever had to make a time-plan, or have you been involved in organising an
event when a time-plan would have been useful? Write about your experience
here:

What do
you think?

Why is a time-plan a useful stage of organisation?

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Planning and Choosing: Making a Time-Plan

What exactly is a time-plan?

It is a plan, or an overview of what is happening and when. The time-plan can
include space for who is responsible for each stage or task. Using a time-plan is one
way to ensure that:

targets are met things happen when they are supposed to

nothing is overlooked or forgotten no details are missed out

all the work is not left until the last moment

the event runs smoothly

A time-plan should mean more control and less stress for those involved.

How to make a time-plan

Below are two methods commonly used to make time-plans. Look at both
methods and decide if either would help you to organise an event.
Remember:

when deadlines have to be met it is important to have a

margin of time in place as insurance against error or mishap,
eg if something goes wrong at the last moment, you will have
time to respond and to implement your contingency plan.

Method 1
Key events diary for fundraising 60s concert for local hospice
The diary below is a record of all the tasks, and the order in which they
need to be done, to ensure that everything is ready for the event on time
and that it runs smoothly.

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Method 1 Key Events Diary

FUNDRAISING CONCERT FRIDAY DECEMBER 1st
MONTH
Sept

Oct

DATE

KEY EVENTS

Tues 5th

1ST Planning meeting

By 23rd
Tues 19TH

2ND Planning meeting

By 7th
Prepare programme
th

Rehearsals
Prepare contingency plan

From 13
By 14th
By 21st

Detailed costing
By 14th
By 14th
Tues 17th

Book the hall/theatre

Book the sound & lighting
engineers
3RD Planning meeting

By 4th
By 4th
By 25th
By 25th

Dec

Decide date, venue

Decide artists, compre
Plan the programme
Estimate the cost
Confirm date
Book performers/artists
and continuity announcer

By 13th

Nov

TASKS

Tues 7th

4TH Planning meeting

Thu 19th
Fri 30th

Dress rehersal
Concert

Tues 5 th
By 17th

Final meeting

Before
25TH

Presentation of funds
to hospice

Print the programme and

tickets
Arrange advertising
Sponsorship of raffle prizes
Distribute tickets to outlets
and sellers for sale
Compile final checklist
Allocate tasks for the
concert - Front of house
manager, etc

Evaluation of concert
Arrangements
for
presentation of cheque &
press coverage

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Planning and Choosing: Making a Time-Plan

Method 2
Flow chart
This chart has been drawn up in weekly segments and shows the flow of
work that needs to be done over a period of time. Depending on what you
are organising, flow charts can be drawn up, hourly, daily, weekly, whatever
best suits your circumstances.

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Planning and Choosing: Making a Time-Plan

FUNDRAISING CONCERT FRIDAY DECEMBER 1st

TASKS

SEPT

OCT

NOV

DEC

4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 4 11 18

1 st Planning meeting
Decide date, venue
Plan the programme
Decide artists, compre
Estimate the cost
2nd Planning meeting
Confirm date
Book performers/artists
and continuity announcer
Prepare programme
Prepare contingency plan
Detail the cost
Book the hall/theatre
Book the sound &
lighting engineers
3 rd Planning Meeting
Print the programme and
tickets
Arrange advertising
Sponsorship of raffle prizes
Rehearsals
Allocate tickets to outlets
and sellers for sale
4th Planning meeting
Compile final checklist
Distribute tasks for the concert
- Front of house manager, etc.
Dress rehearsal
Concert
Final meeting
Evaluation of concert
Arrangements for presentation
of cheque & press coverage
Presentation of cheque to
hospice

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Planning and Choosing: Making a Time-Plan

Activity 1

Activity

Make a Wall Time Planner

Now its your chance to make a time-plan. Either choose an event in your
own life or read the case study below and create a time plan using one of
the methods demonstrated above. For example, you could make a timeplan for redecorating your house, organising a sports tournament, putting
on a play, a treatment schedule for someone recovering from a serious
illness, a study schedule or introducing new equipment at work. Try to make your
time-plan for something that is of particular interest to you. Use coloured pens to
code different parts of your plan if you wish. Compare your results with others. If
other members of the group have used different methods you can discuss which
method you prefer and which is most effective for this example.
You will need:

large sheets of paper, A2 if possible

coloured markers

Case Study

Reading
Task

You are a member of staff at a local sports centre. The centre has
sports halls, racket courts, a steam room, changing rooms, meeting
and classrooms and a play group. When the play group could not meet
the demand for its services, and had no room to expand, the centre
decided to add an extension for a new, upgraded play group area. This
left the old play group area free and was turned into a gym.
The new play group facilities, and state of the art fitness suite, were
funded by grants, a bank loan and local fundraising. They are now
finished and ready for use and the manager of the centre would like to
organise an official opening and launch. A staff meeting has been called
to plan the opening.

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Activity 1 continued
Imagine that your study group is the work team that has to organise the opening.
Appoint a Centre Manager from your group to chair the meeting, and make a time
plan for the opening.

Activity
continued

The purpose of the planning meeting is to:

set a date for the opening

decide what will happen

decide who will be invited

Brainstorm all the tasks that need to be done, then start to prioritise them
in order of time.
You should now be ready to draw up your time-plan.

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Evaluation Questions
Would your time-plan have worked? Say why or why not.

What have
you learned?

Could someone else read and understand

your time-plan?

Yes

No

When could you use these methods again? Think of situations where you
could apply them.

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