Planning Student Events

In order to plan and execute a successful event, you will need to enlist a team.  While it is possible to tackle the planning process by yourself, you will likely need some help on the day of the event.  It might be useful to consider assembling both a planning team and a “day of” team.

As there are so many events happening each day, it is important to be proactive when selecting your date. To begin, reference the law school calendar and the room reservation database (accessible when on campus wifi) to view other scheduled events, and also check with the Dean's office receptionist (either by emailing lawfrontdesk@colorado.edu or stopping by in person on the third floor in the Dean's Suite).

If there are speakers or faculty who are important to the event, it often is best to consider their schedules before selecting a date. If you are trying to juggle many different schedules, consider using a service like Doodle to coordinate availability.     

      Note:  If you are hosting a ThAC or FAC, you must also sign up on the SBA’s TWEN site.

In order to reserve a room, please contact the front desk in the Dean's Suite.  You may send your request to lawfrontdesk@colorado.edu.  Or, you can go in person to the front desk, which is located on the third floor in the Dean's Suite. Before you contact the front desk, make sure you know what type of room you will need, which is dependent on your expected attendance, the format of the event, etc.  You can view the availability of rooms here.  

      Note: If you are hosting a ThAC or FAC, reserve either the Courtyard OR the Café and rooms 202 and 204.

Once you have reserved your room, submit your event to the law school calendar. You must do this by the Friday before to ensure that it gets included in weekly events email. To submit your event, please use this form. Your event will be reviewed, and if it is approved, it will appear on the law school calendar.

In order to successfully publicize your event, it is important first to consider your desired audience. Then, make a plan for inviting people and publicizing your event. You can get the word out in many different ways:

• Send personal emails to key invitees two weeks before the event  
• The events calendar
• Daily events emails (event must include Student in audience to go out in daily email)
• In addition to the daily events emails, you can contact the SBA Communications Officer at Quentin.Klein@colorado.edu to request a school wide email that highlights your event
• Each class has a Facebook group where you can post events
• You can post flyers on bulletin boards
• If you are interested in getting alumni to attend, you must contact Keri Ungemah (Keri.Ungemah@colorado.edu) by the 20th of the month before your event, and she may be able to include your event in the alumni newsletter and/or publicize it by various social media
• Consider advertising at the other graduate schools
• Send invites through community listservs

If you plan to serve alcohol at your event, you must start the approval process at least 15 days before your event.  This is a time consuming and complicated process, so you want to ensure that you allow plenty of time to complete it.

1. Please review “General Requirements for an Event Where Alcohol is Served,” the “Alcohol Service on Campus” policy, and the "Law School Alcohol Policy.” All of these documents are on the SBA TWEN Page:  SBA TWEN Page > SBA Documents > ThAC/FAC Forms.
2. Enlist one faculty or staff member to supervise the event
3. Fill out the authorization form (also on the SBA TWEN site) and submit it electronically to kari.robinson@colorado.edu.   Do not use the “Submit to Alcohol Agent” button. In the body of the email, include the name of your supervising Faculty/Staff person and the following statement: “I have read the General Requirements for an Event Where Alcohol is Served, and reviewed the University’s Alcohol Service on Campus policy and the Law School’s Alcohol policy and will abide by all alcohol policies and procedures in compliance with state liquor codes for hosting a private event in a public facility.” Once your event has been approved, Kari will forward you a copy of the approval email.  This may take up to ten business days.
4. Enlist at least two TIPS Servers to serve alcohol at the event.  You can find a list of TIPS trained servers on the SBA TWEN page.
5. Make sure to plan to have food and non-alcoholic beverages available.

ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT:

1. Get a current list of law students (all three classes) from the Dean’s Office front desk.  NOTE: Security will now be checking DRIVER’S LICENSES (or other state-issued ID), instead of just BuffOne student cards.
2. Get wristbands from the Dean’s Office front desk.
3. Get trash cart from the Dean’s Office front desk.
4. Print a copy of your approval email, and have it available at your event.
5. Set up stanchions, stored in Room 211.  If Room 211 is locked, ask for the key at the Library Circulation Desk.
6. Café only: Set up the alcohol service area on the south end, near the fireplace.
7. Alcohol may not be taken out of the approved serving and consumption area – this area is to be clearly delineated and marked with proper signage, also stored in Room 2.
8. Get a trash cart from Room 211.  After the event, take the trash and recycling out to loading dock.

Here are some helpful tips for filling out the authorization form: 

• Name of CU Department: “student organization – Law School”
• Name of CU Event Coordinator: “Kari Robinson”
• Responsible Person Event Contact: Must be an officer of your student org
• “Last call” by security will be 30 minutes before your end time.
• Number Attending: Max capacity for the Café is 150 people.
• Food provider/caterer: If you don’t have a “formal caterer,” and you are purchasing food from e.g. Half-Fast Subs or King Soopers, write “Prepared food will be purchased from King Soopers, etc.”
• Alcohol servers means your TIPS Servers.
• How is your event being promoted: ALWAYS and ONLY “Personalized Invitation”
• How will Attendees pay for alcohol: ALWAYS and ONLY “Free Event”
• For the description of the security measures, you can write “Security will be hired by the Law School, a list of attendees will be provided to security, and stanchions will be set up to control the flow of people entering and exiting the event.”

 If you have any questions, please contact Bette Sellers-Anderson, Campus Alcohol Agent, 303-492-3269, bette.sellers-anderson@colorado.edu.

Should you need A/V support for your event, please indicate this on your event request form, and email lawit@colorado.edu at least 2 business day in advance. Coverage cannot be guaranteed without 48 hours notice.

If you plan to serve food at your event, be sure to order it in advance and confirm the delivery time.  

Double check that you have all of your equipment and supplies.  Expectations for holding event include cleaning up afterward and leaving the venue as you found it. Take trash and recycling to the loading dock. To get to the loading dock, take the elevator to basement. Turn left. Exterior doors lock from the outside. Bring a friend with you to hold them open.