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Program Committee

The Village can support two types of programs: events and activities. Events are discrete and generally one-time occurrences, open to a larger audience, e.g., a lecture. Activities are ongoing, more restrictive and of specialized interest, and usually with a smaller and repeating attendance, e.g., a quilting group.

Event Administration

This section addresses the administration of events.

The Village can use events to introduce itself to people who have not yet joined or volunteered, and to give members and volunteers opportunities to discover, learn and socialize.

The Program Committee has overall responsibility for programs and designs and implements events. Each event is assigned to an event planner/coordinator who becomes responsible for that event.

Unless the program venue charges a fee, programs are free to members and volunteers and a $5 donation is requested from other guests. Other guests may attend three Village programs before joining and/or volunteering. When the venue charges a fee, this fee must be paid in advance.

Programs are promoted in emails, the newsletter and via the Village website. The Village may optionally offer paper versions mailed to members who do not use email. Some events may be shared with other civic associations so that they may include the information in their blast emails. The Outreach Committee may promote specific programs to the press or in their public outreach meetings.

Developing a Program

Each proposed event is assigned to an event coordinator who is supported by an administrative coordinator and a publicity coordinator. The coordinators may be either paid staff or volunteers and may, in fact, be the same person in two or more roles.

The event coordinator designs the program. He or she makes arrangements with the speaker, including the date, time, and location. He or she determines the audiovisual needs of the presenter and whether the venue has the proper equipment. The planner/coordinator determines whether there is a charge for the venue and/or presenter and sets the cost for registrants.

The event coordinator prepares bullet points as the basis for the program announcement.

The administrative coordinator uses the bullet points to prepare the email announcement, and where appropriate, an article for the Village newsletter and a custom page in website with a link from the Welcome Page.

The administrative coordinator determines whether a unique paper mailing is required or whether there I enough time to include the event in the newsletter (which could be mailed to members without email). If required, a print out of the custom page is mailed to members without email addresses.

The initial email program announcement is mailed to members and non-member volunteers. A second announcement is sent to others in the database excluding press. Subsequent announcements are sent to the entire database only if the program has not reached capacity. A reminder email is sent to registrants requesting that they notify us if they are unable to attend. Waiting lists are maintained if programs reach capacity.

The administrative coordinator enters the program as an event on the Village calendar.

Members can register themselves for the event. Call Managers (office staff) register people who call or email the Village to attend the event. Registrants who call the office and leave a voice mail message are called to confirm their registration. The software system also sends an email confirmation to anyone who registers. If an event has been designed to allow members to request a ride to the event, online registrants who request a ride will automatically have a service request generated for a ride to the event.