Organizer Guide

Currently a work in progress :)

Similar works in this space for inspiration:

Rough Outline

this is a massive brain dump. will organize thoughts later

Figure out your basic event details
- Name, date, time, potential locations, total attendance
  - For total attendance, think about competitors (which weight classes?), spectators, and volunteers needed to make the event successful, and round up to the nearest multiple of 25 or 50 to be safe as far as venue occupancy limits go
  - When picking a date/time...
    Use robot combat events to try to avoid conflicts with other events in the same region
    Consider midterms/final exams for local schools if expecting student competitors
    This is probably obvious but make sure everyone on your organizing team is also available on that date
    You'll never find a perfect date where everyone is available so just pick one that works with a decent number of people
Lock in a venue + gain authorization to run the event
- This is probably the biggest lift as an event organizer and will likely take the longest especially if it's your first time running a large event. This will take longer and be less straight forward than you expect. Get this started early. From start to finish, this probably took about a month of emails, paperwork and red tape to lock in.
- For us at UTD, this took
  - Filling out a SERA (Special Events Risk Assessment) form for the event once date, time, participant count, and location is decided.
    This gets the ball rolling on everything, and pretty much every next step you'll want to complete needs this form to be done first.
    This has to be completed by the faculty advisor, so we have a PDF print out of what the form should look like in SharePoint - fill this out in a Word doc and send it over to the faculty advisor to complete. Examples are in SharePoint.
  - Going back and forth with the Academic Risk & Safety department as well as the Fire department to ensure that the intended space can safely run the event.
    They will probably reach out to you after submitting the SERA form. We reached out to them first but they told us to complete the SERA form before much could really happen.
  - Speaking with the Programs for Minors office to take care of waivers for minors
    Their email is pace@utdallas.edu, but they should reach out to you automatically once you indicate that there will be minors at your event on the SERA form
    Requiring adult supervision for minors and not accepting custodial responsibility is the easiest option.
    It is technically possible to accept custodial responsibility if you really want to, but to me this seems like more hassle than it's worth. From my limited memory and understanding, there may be fees for this, need for additional insurance policies, paperwork, etc.
    They provided a disclaimer that needs to be displayed on any communications about the event.
    Their template: The University of Texas at Dallas (insert name of college/school/unit/department) will not take custodial responsibility of minors while participating in (insert name of program). Custodial responsibility will remain with teachers K-12, parents, legal guardians, and chaperones.
    What we ended up using with their approval: Comet Robotics at UT Dallas, a registered student organization at The University of Texas at Dallas, will not take custodial responsibility of minors while participating in Comet Clash 2024. Custodial responsibility will remain with teachers K-12, parents, legal guardians, and chaperones.
  - Getting ECSW reserved through the Dean's office
    Initially I went in-person to figure out who to reach out to to make this happen, and later got this taken care of via email.
  - Getting final approval for the event from ECS Events Manager, Melissa Maxey (also in the Dean's office)
    I think we could gotten the approval and the reservation step done all in one if we just went straight to the ECS Events Manager but not too sure. probably would be best to do this before trying to going through other avenues to reserve the space in the future
  - TODO: generalize this for other people. but also want to document these reqs for ourselves
Market your event
- WIP.
Figure out your event logistics / day of experience
- Things I'm thinking about rn
  - Live stream / PA system / other potential audiovisual needs?
  - How many battle box(es) will be needed? Who owns the boxes, how will they be transported to the competition space.
  - How will you handle tables and chairs for pits?
    Easy option is to get participants need to bring their own, just communicate this early
    UTD Facilities dept may be able to bring in tables/chairs. not sure on costs yet if applicable
  - Is soldering/battery charging allowed in your space / are there any limitations around this?
  - Attendee parking arrangements?
  - If expecting/hoping for a decent number of spectators, how do we create a great experience for people that aren't competing?
    Commentators?
  - probably more stuff that im not thinking of rn and will add later

marketing

posters
social post
utd digital signage
utd calendar
discord postings
email reach outs
branding
remember to include PACE message

risk and safety

box enhancements

day-of experience

scoring
signage/decorations
schedule/run of show
live stream/media/photog
prizes
ruleset (SPARC)
logistics of moving the box from SPN to ECSW/AC

Last updated 2 months ago

Rough Outline

this is a massive brain dump. will organize thoughts later

Figure out your basic event details

Name, date, time, potential locations, total attendance
- For total attendance, think about competitors (which weight classes?), spectators, and volunteers needed to make the event successful, and round up to the nearest multiple of 25 or 50 to be safe as far as venue occupancy limits go
- When picking a date/time...
  - Use robot combat events to try to avoid conflicts with other events in the same region
  - Consider midterms/final exams for local schools if expecting student competitors
  - This is probably obvious but make sure everyone on your organizing team is also available on that date
  - You'll never find a perfect date where everyone is available so just pick one that works with a decent number of people

Lock in a venue + gain authorization to run the event

This is probably the biggest lift as an event organizer and will likely take the longest especially if it's your first time running a large event. This will take longer and be less straight forward than you expect. Get this started early. From start to finish, this probably took about a month of emails, paperwork and red tape to lock in.
For us at UTD, this took
- Filling out a SERA (Special Events Risk Assessment) form for the event once date, time, participant count, and location is decided.
  - This gets the ball rolling on everything, and pretty much every next step you'll want to complete needs this form to be done first.
  - This has to be completed by the faculty advisor, so we have a PDF print out of what the form should look like in SharePoint - fill this out in a Word doc and send it over to the faculty advisor to complete. Examples are in SharePoint.
- Going back and forth with the Academic Risk & Safety department as well as the Fire department to ensure that the intended space can safely run the event.
  - They will probably reach out to you after submitting the SERA form. We reached out to them first but they told us to complete the SERA form before much could really happen.
- Speaking with the Programs for Minors office to take care of waivers for minors
  - Their email is pace@utdallas.edu, but they should reach out to you automatically once you indicate that there will be minors at your event on the SERA form
  - Requiring adult supervision for minors and not accepting custodial responsibility is the easiest option.
  - It is technically possible to accept custodial responsibility if you really want to, but to me this seems like more hassle than it's worth. From my limited memory and understanding, there may be fees for this, need for additional insurance policies, paperwork, etc.
  - They provided a disclaimer that needs to be displayed on any communications about the event.
    Their template: The University of Texas at Dallas (insert name of college/school/unit/department) will not take custodial responsibility of minors while participating in (insert name of program). Custodial responsibility will remain with teachers K-12, parents, legal guardians, and chaperones.
    What we ended up using with their approval: Comet Robotics at UT Dallas, a registered student organization at The University of Texas at Dallas, will not take custodial responsibility of minors while participating in Comet Clash 2024. Custodial responsibility will remain with teachers K-12, parents, legal guardians, and chaperones.
- Getting ECSW reserved through the Dean's office
  - Initially I went in-person to figure out who to reach out to to make this happen, and later got this taken care of via email.
- Getting final approval for the event from ECS Events Manager, Melissa Maxey (also in the Dean's office)
  - I think we could gotten the approval and the reservation step done all in one if we just went straight to the ECS Events Manager but not too sure. probably would be best to do this before trying to going through other avenues to reserve the space in the future
- TODO: generalize this for other people. but also want to document these reqs for ourselves

Market your event

WIP.

Figure out your event logistics / day of experience

Things I'm thinking about rn
- Live stream / PA system / other potential audiovisual needs?
- How many battle box(es) will be needed? Who owns the boxes, how will they be transported to the competition space.
- How will you handle tables and chairs for pits?
  - Easy option is to get participants need to bring their own, just communicate this early
  - UTD Facilities dept may be able to bring in tables/chairs. not sure on costs yet if applicable
- Is soldering/battery charging allowed in your space / are there any limitations around this?
- Attendee parking arrangements?
- If expecting/hoping for a decent number of spectators, how do we create a great experience for people that aren't competing?
  - Commentators?
- probably more stuff that im not thinking of rn and will add later

marketing

posters

social post

utd digital signage

utd calendar

discord postings

email reach outs

branding

remember to include PACE message

risk and safety

box enhancements

day-of experience

scoring

signage/decorations

schedule/run of show

live stream/media/photog

prizes

ruleset (SPARC)

logistics of moving the box from SPN to ECSW/AC