Begin by determining the overall event duration, which will tell you how long you have to fit in speaker sessions, networking and breakout sessions. Break your event duration down into hours, or 30-minute slots, so that it is easier to allocate chunks of time to different activities.

Next, make a list of all of the activities you need to fit into your event. List your plenary and breakout sessions and consider your key stakeholders, such as exhibition partners and sponsors, to ensure their requirements are being adequately met. 

When putting together your Running Order, ensure you take into account the following:

• Allow enough time for guests to get to your event - if your event is in the evening, allow enough time for visitors to get from their workplace to the event venue.
• Ensure your timing fits with your audience, i.e. do not put an event for children late in the evening.
• Ensure there are regular breaks in the programme to keep your guests engaged. You could also consider getting guests to change locations at various points in the day.
• Provide regular and adequate refreshment breaks to allow for networking.
• You may want to include “free space” for activities such as networking, visiting an exhibition and spending time with sponsors.

Examples of Event Running Orders can be found below, or contact the Events and Conferencing Team for assistance and advice.

• One Day Conference Schedule
• Two Day Conference Schedule
• Exhibition Schedule
• Network Evening Schedules

All Centrally Bookable meeting, function and teaching venues are available for staff to book online. Log onto Queen’s Online and click on the Timetabling and Room Booking link to access a number of applications including:

• Location Bookings: allows you to view the bookings and available free slots in any centrally bookable room in a given week
• Book a Room: an online room booking service with automatic email confirmations
• My Current Online Bookings: returns details of all your current bookings submitted through Book a Room and enables you to cancel rooms online

Most centrally bookable rooms can be booked free of charge for University events.  Exceptions to this may include events where guests pay a fee to attend or events being organised on behalf of an external organisation.  The Timetabling and Room Booking Unit can advise further if required.

The availability of conference and meeting rooms in Riddel Hall can be checked by contacting the Riddel Hall Administration Team. Please note that room hire charges in Riddel Hall apply to all users.

Venue Setup

Imagine your chosen venue is a blank space with no furniture or equipment. Consider what you need in that room in order to make your event a success:

• What layout do you require?
• Do you need any AV equipment?
• What catering provisions will you need to make? Bear in mind when planning that not all rooms can accommodate catering (e.g. teaching spaces & Elmwood Hall)
• Will you need specialist equipment from an external supplier?
• Is it wheelchair accessible?

The following sections will help you to determine what you need to do in order to ensure all of the required arrangements are in place.

Room Layout and Portering

Function Rooms at Queen’s are often capable of accommodating a number of different layouts. The following Guide to Common Room Layouts will illustrate the usual layouts and their functions. Note that not all rooms on campus can accommodate all layouts. Capacities of Function and Meeting Rooms can be found on our venues page, accessed here. Remember that it takes time to change the layout of a room, and this needs to be built into the total duration of your room booking.

Once you have decided on the most appropriate setup for your event, you should request assistance from the Porters office. Your Building Liaison Officer can submit a request via the Estates Planon system. To check when a room is available for set up or for further information and advice, please contact the Porters office, ext. 3068 or email Porters.

Cleaning

The University rooms are cleaned daily before 9 am. Please be advised that your event may be the second event in your chosen room that day. If you feel you require a second service, then please request this via your Building Liaison Officer, who can request this through the Estates Planon system. For further information, please contact the Cleaning Helpline, ext. 5152 or email cleaning staff.

Out of Hours Access 

If your event is taking place outside of working hours, please contact Security for late access, ext. 5099, or email security staff. If you require heating outside of core hours, you will need to contact the Estates helpdesk at ext. 5152.  To reduce the University's carbon footprint, the only buildings accessible in the evenings are PFC, MBC and Lanyon.

Types of Sponsorship

There are three basic types of sponsorship:

• Financial support: where a cash contribution is made in return for some kind of association with the event or an activity
• Provision of goods or services in-kind: where goods or services are provided either without charge or at a significantly discounted price in return for some kind of association with the event
• Working in Partnership: where the parties agree to fund or arrange a joint event, usually on a cost sharing basis

Types of Benefit

It is reasonable for sponsors to expect some return for their support and such returns should be confined to the event itself. Benefits usually fall into one of four categories:

• Branding: The association of a company name and/or logo on promotional material. The prominence and extent of a sponsor’s logo should reflect the value of sponsorship funding, especially when working in partnership with a sponsor
• Accreditation: The direct association of the sponsor's name with an activity. Sponsors should not be offered accreditation within the title of the activity, as this might imply ownership
• Showcasing: The association of a company’s products or services through exhibition or use. Examples would include allowing a company to set up a display stand at an event, or using a company's products to support an event (e.g. motor vehicles for transport)
• Representation: The allocation of places/tickets to sponsors for attendance at activities

Sponsorship of less than £5,000

Where the amount of Sponsorship is likely to be less than £5,000, no formal University approval is required.  However, careful consideration should always be given to the following:

• Sponsorship must be of the event, not of the University or of staff
• Sponsorship should not imply endorsement by Queen’s University of a product or company
• Sponsorship should not place staff under undue obligation
• Sponsorship arrangements must not compromise the dignity or public standing of the University
• Any sponsorship should add to, and not detract from, the value of the event

When considering potential sponsors, you should take care to avoid unethical associations (i.e. companies that may have had their image tarnished and, therefore, have low credibility in the eyes of the public and media) or conflicts of interest and you should consider how the various target audiences may react to the commercial involvement.  Be aware that sponsorship by companies in some product industry areas could impact negatively, for example:

• Alcohol and tobacco Industry
• Defence Industry
• Environmentally unsound companies
• Companies with political connections, and those giving substantial political donations
• Companies likely to try to use the activity as a market to sell products
• Companies undergoing Government or financial investigation
• Companies in contractual negotiations or arrangements to provide particular University goods or services

In any sponsorship arrangement there is a requirement for a formal agreement so that the responsibilities of both parties are clearly defined.  Use the following Corporate Sponsorship Agreement Template.  In some cases, sponsors' motives or the benefits that the sponsor anticipates may not be immediately apparent so it is important to document what a sponsor might gain from the agreement.  The agreement should set out the benefits on offer to each party, any renewal rights, exclusivity, financial arrangements, facilities for dispute resolution and a termination clause. 

Sponsorship of more than £5,000

Where the value of Sponsorship is likely to exceed £5,000, Alumni Engagement And Philanthropy should be notified in advance of entering into any agreement. Alumni Engagement and Philanthropy can be contacted on Ext. 3114 or via email. They will need to know the following details:

• Details of the event
• The amount and type of sponsorship sought or offered and the benefits expected to accrue to the sponsor
• The reasons for seeking sponsorship
• Which organisations you consider might offer sponsorship and their likely rationale for doing so
• Details of any known previous dealings with those organisations

It is important to ensure that adequate waste and recycling bins are available within your event venues and to ensure that arrangements have been made for the waste to be removed post-event.  It is a School/Directorate responsibility to ensure that all areas are left clear and safe.  Please click to view the Guide to Waste Management at Events and contact the Environmental Team on 028 9097 5005 with any enquiries’.

Move your data into a secure database

Stop using unsecured spreadsheets and move to an encrypted system. Be aware who has access to the data (e.g. temporary staff) and update the password regularly. If you print event data treat it as sensitive and be careful who has access to it outside of your organisation.

Contact your technology providers

Get in touch with any event registration or event management platforms you use or the providers of any other apps or tech that use personal data and ask them to prove GDPR compliance.

Cleanse your data

Make sure all your existing data is squeaky clean by getting people to re-opt-in and destroying any data you can no longer use or that you don’t need. Don’t forget to obtain permission for all the ways you will use their data by unbundling consent e.g. provide separate tickboxes for phone contact, contact by email and sharing with third parties like venues, sponsors and speakers. Third parties must be named.

Contact third parties

Contact anyone you have shared data with such as event sponsors, partners or stakeholders and ensure anyone who has requested removal is removed. Make sure they are aware of their obligations under GDPR. 

For further assistance please contact the Information Compliance Unit info@compliance.qub.ac.uk 

Audio Visual

All of the University’s centrally bookable teaching rooms are equipped with:

• Networked PC (Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 2013)
• Data projector or plasma screen
• Sound playback capabilities
• Laptop connection (all rooms have VGA, most rooms have HDMI)

Standard equipment in Function rooms differs depending on the venue. A full list of the equipment in each room can be found on Queen's Online in the Timetabling and Room booking section.

Audio Visual Services (AVS) look after all centrally booked teaching rooms and provide free of charge support in these rooms to staff for teaching and other core University business.  AVS may provide conference support as a costed service.  However, this is subject to staff availability and University teaching support commitments. University staff who are organising conferences should get in touch with AVS at the earliest opportunity to discuss both technical support and equipment needs. For more information on costings and support options, click 

Wi-Fi Access

Wi-Fi Service is provided by BT and is called “QUB Guest Wifi”
It is available across campus.  It is FOC and only requires the user to refresh the connection daily, there are no time restrictions on its use. It requires no involvement from Events or IT to use.  3rd parties logging onto a Queen’s PC should complete the following form

Parking Permits

Parking is available on the main site at evenings and weekends, and on weekdays for event organisers by prior arrangement. Free parking is available to conference and event guests at Riddel Hall at all times on a first come, first served basis.

On weekdays, you may wish to consider booking parking spaces for your key speakers or presenters.  Spaces can be booked on Queen's Online through the Parking Permits application.  Other guests should be encouraged to use public transport – full details are available on the Sustainability website.

Breastfeeding

Queen’s University has signed up to the Public Health Agency’s (PHA) "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" scheme, and has committed to all public areas of the Campus being open to breastfeeding and that staff will be supportive of breastfeeding parents who are working at, studying at or visiting the University.

To facilitate attendance at your event by nursing parents, please signpost attendees to the nearest Nursing Mothers and Parents Room of your chosen room/venue and inform them of how to access it on the day. Please see a the list of all available Nursing Mothers and Parents Rooms and their access arrangements here.

Accessibility

It's important to consider accessibility from entrance to exit of the event, with respect to a range of disabilities. Also remember to consider accessibility if attendees are required to move locations at any point, for example to avail of refreshments.

Printed Materials

You are likely to require a range of printed materials for your event, which will range from delegate badges, signage and table place cards, to more complex event programmes and conference manuals.  A range of printable templates are available in the Useful Contacts and Resources.

Catering

When planning your event, think carefully about what food and/or drink you would like to give to your guests and where this will be served. It is important to set expectations before the guests arrive; in the additional information that you send out, let guests know if and when they will be given food or drink so that they know what to expect when they arrive. You can also advise them of the facilities available on campus if you are not going to be providing refreshments - more information can be found here. Where food is being provided, you should ensure that you give guests the opportunity to advise of any special dietary or allergy requirements.

All food and drink at events on Campus must be supplied by Queen’s Campus Food and Drink.  It is not permitted to bring in food or drink from an external source unless agreed in advance with the Food and Drink Operational Manager.  Remember that any food you serve must be consumed at the specified time in order to comply with catering regulations, so ensure you build catering timings into your Running Order.

Campus Food and Drink offer an extensive range of food and beverage solutions in locations across the campus for a variety of events. They aim to provide the best value catering options with no hidden charges or delivery fees and are committed to delivering on time to your chosen location on campus. It is important to communicate dietary requirements and expected numbers to Campus Food and Drink at least 48 hours in advance of your event for main site, and 72 hours for Riddel Hall. 

Standard catering items can be ordered via the Delivered Hospitality website, which can be accessed here. If you have more specific requirements, or you wish to discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact Odhran O'Neill, Campus Food and Drink Operational Manager on ext. 3898 or by email to o.oneill@qub.ac.uk.

Alcohol

The University holds a number of Liquor and Entertainment licenses for rooms and areas across the Campus. The Event Organiser must ensure at all times that relevant Northern Ireland legislation is followed. The Head of Campus Food and Drink can provide advice to Event Organisers if required.

Changing the Menu. For Good

Changing the Menu. For Good is a pioneering project by Visit Belfast and industry partners that we are supporting to raise funds and supplies for those experiencing food poverty in our city.

For more information click here.

Help and assistance will be provided through every stage of the ordering process from requesting quotes, providing artwork to handling delivery and invoice payment. The Welcome Centre works alongside the University’s contracted supplier to ensure that the best costs are obtained and that all branding is compliant and correct in line with Queen’s branding guidelines. 

All goods sourced are eco-friendly and comply with the sustainability goals of the University.  Assurance can be given that all products are ethically sourced and supplied in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. 

Turnaround time for all orders is 3 to 4 weeks from approval of final artwork. Payment is made via project code.

A catalogue is available with a huge range of ideas suitable for all conferences including lanyards (with or without individualised printed inserts), bags, signage and all manner of ideas perfect for any conference goodie bag.

Speaker Gifts and Delegate Offers

The Welcome Centre and the SU Shop are both able to assist with the purchase of thank you gifts for speakers or branded merchandise for your delegates. Both retail units are also able to offer discounts to conference delegates in the form of vouchers or proof of conference attendance, eg conference badge or registration details. Contact Queen's Welcome Centre or The Union Shop for more information.

External Suppliers

For some events, it may be necessary to enlist the help of external suppliers.  Examples include the provision of marquees, assistance with room decorations or additional Audio Visual support please contact the Events Office in the first instance for guidance.  When this is necessary, the University has a range of contracted suppliers who should be used.  The University has already ensured that contracted suppliers will provide competitive prices and have ensured they meet relevant Health and Safety standards, and have in place appropriate insurance and liability.  Details of current contracts can be found on the Procurement website. For more information, please contact Procurement, Ext. 3026.

Charitable Events

The Queen's Charities Committee administers charitable fundraising requests from students, staff and external sources, and ensures that University guidelines and procedures are upheld. Anyone wishing to hold a fundraising event on campus should download the Fundraising Request Form in advance of publicising the event and return it to the Committee Secretary, who will submit it for the consideration of the Committee.

TV/Filming requests

Queen’s University is a historic, iconic location in Northern Ireland and regularly attracts requests from film or television producers who wish to use the interior and exterior of the campus in their recordings. In order to protect the University from both an estate and reputation point of view and to ensure no detrimental impact on core business, all TV and Filming requests must be forwarded to The Events and Conferencing Team, who will follow the agreed procedures and where appropriate, make the necessary arrangements for the filming to take place.

Special Guests, VIPs/Dignitaries

If you anticipate attendance by any VIPs or dignitaries at your event, it is important to ensure that relevant University stakeholders (e.g. the Vice Chancellor’s Office, Security, Communications, etc) are aware. 

At the point of booking your Function Room, it is possible to advise the Timetabling and Room Booking Unit of the likely attendance of VIP guests by ticking the appropriate checkbox on the online form.  The Unit will then forward notification of the visit to all of the relevant departments to ensure that no further action is required.

If you are made aware at a later stage in the planning process of the likely attendance of VIP guests or dignitaries at your event, please notify the Timetabling and Room Booking Unit by email to roombookings@qub.ac.uk for the necessary arrangements to be made.

Inviting Speakers and Facilitators 

Give consideration to the diversity of any speakers, facilitators, panellists and similar positions that are being invited to your event. Questions to ask yourself can include:

• Are they representative in terms of gender?
• Are they representative in terms of race/ethnicity?
• Are they representative in terms of age and/or career stage?
• Are they representative in terms of disability?

For further advice and queries, please contact Queen's Gender Initiative on qgi@qub.ac.uk.  

Certain types of events can work just as well virtually, in the form of an online event using Microsoft Teams (max 300 participants) or Teams Live Events (max 10,000 participants).

For more information on using these platforms, or for help to move your event online, please talk to a member of the Events and Conferencing Team who will be happy to guide you.

Email the Team

Have you considered that you may need accommodation for your delegates or guest speakers.  Queen’s accommodation can offer over 1,000 ensuite rooms that can be booked between June and August.  You can find more information at Accommodation or email allocations for further information.