SAMPLE Electrify Your Strings Planning Guide. By Month. This sample ... Start
pulling in t-shirt orders if you are doing EYS custom t-shirts (tour graphic on front,.
SAMPLE Electrify Your Strings Planning Guide By Month This sample EYS planning guide was graciously provided by River Valley MS & HS, Caledonia, OH.
6 months out: Prepare forms: permission slips, order forms for tickets, custom t-shirts, proposal for sponsors, and form for advertising in concert program. Deadline for Ads should be 4 weeks before the event but plan on needing to give an extra week for stragglers and getting the lists of students. Reserve the auditorium or other venue for the week of the event or a week before the concert so there is time to setup and prepare.
4 months out: Start taking the sponsor proposal and advertising forms around to local businesses. We started with the ones who have advertised in the past. Make sure you have separate forms for Advertising and Sponsorship so that businesses understand that these are two different things. Try and take a program from a previous school event with you to show them what it will look like. Book a hotel that meets EYS standards and also gives you the best rate. Some hotels will even comp the room because it is for a school event. The school can pay them so there is less tax and the boosters can write a check to the school for the cost of the hotel. Payment for the hotel must be made about a month in advance since it is not secured with a credit card (unless your school or booster organization has one).
3 months out: Once EYS sends you the logo for the current year’s tour, create your concert tickets and figure out who will be printing them for you. The concert program can be created using Publisher (or Pagemaker on a Mac). All ads should come in PDF, Word or as pictures. You may have to use a scanner for business cards and other ads to get them into the correct format. Page 1 of 2
Get permission slips and order forms to students. Get posters printed to advertise the concert (EYS posters are available for download on their website) and get ready for posting in the area. Print enough so you can put up in the community and the schools, and don’t forget to put them up at the elementary schools).
2 months out: Permission slips and order forms should be coming in. For permission slips, we made a copy so the teachers had the original but we had proof as well. We sent a receipt for all orders and sent tickets home with the students. Be sure to track the ticket number as well as the check number and the purchaser’s address when they are using the order forms so you can contact them in case of a bounced check. This also ensures that if the tickets didn’t make it home we have noted that they were to receive them. Start pulling in t-shirt orders if you are doing EYS custom t-shirts (tour graphic on front, your program-specific info on back). They need to be submitted to the EYS office at least for weeks in advance of your event. This way, they will be printed and shipped in time and not incur extra costs for expedited shipping.
1 month out: Cross check the list of students performing with the permission slips that have been turned in. Only students with permission slips can perform. Pull the program together with all the ads and information you want to include. Pictures and bio information for all visiting artists are available on the EYS website, too. Don’t forget: You can call the EYS office any time for help! J
