The Events team is here to help, offering a range of services from advice and support, to full event planning and management.
If you’d like the Events team to plan and run your event:
Please fill out this form that will give us an idea about what you are planning and the level of support you need. If it is within our capacity, we will give advice and support as required or take the lead and plan / manage the event ourselves.
You can also contact us on events@unitec.ac.nz if you have any questions about anything event related.
If you’d like to plan and run your event yourself here’s what you need to consider:
This handy checklist gives you an idea of what needs to be thought about, booked and taken into account when planning, no matter the size or scope of your event. Here’s a bit more detail:
Brand reputation and recognition
This should be at the heart of all the decisions you make when putting on your event and we want to help make this process as streamlined and easy as possible to put on a slick, memorable event that showcases the best of Unitec. Ask us for guidance if you’re unsure.
Location
Think about what kind of space you’ll need. Is it just a single meeting room or a lecture theatre? Do you need breakout rooms as well or a space for social gathering, registration or eating?
There are a range of venues across our campuses, some of which are booked through Outlook, some through Timetabling’s Web Room Booking facility and some by contacting the space owner directly.
You can find out what’s available on here: Booking space – Events and meeting rooms
If you are thinking about using one of the communal areas in Te Puna, there is also a set of guidelines to help you decide whether or not the space is right for your event. If it meets all the criteria, then please submit an event booking form and someone from the Te Puna Events Committee will respond.
Health & safety and contingency planning
Life is full of the unexpected and so are events. Once you have an idea of your perfect event experience start to think about what could change. What will you do if it starts to rain? Do have a plan B if your guest speaker gets sick or stuck on a delayed flight? The more you ask yourself what-if and make contingency plans, the more stress-free you will be on event day.
Another consideration is the health and safety of your guests. Every event manager must complete an Event Safety Plan, and return it to Bill Dobson, Health & Safety Advisor, well before the event. You will need to have fire wardens, fire extinguishers, first aid officers and a first aid kit available at your event.
In each of the venues at Unitec there is a plan in case of an emergency. Please make sure you are familiar with the location of the plan and the steps to carry out in an emergency PRIOR to your event starting. If you have any security concerns, please call Security staff on 09 892 7116. For life-threatening emergencies (police, fire service or ambulance), call 111 from any Unitec telephone.
Communications
How will people find out about the event?
You’ll need to send invitations with a link to a Wufoo or Office 365 form to capture registrations. The copy centre can help you design an email banner.
Contact the marketing team if the event is relevant to students, and therefore should be promoted on our website and through our social channels.
If the event is open to staff, please list it in the Nest Calendar on the Nest by submitting the event details under the quick link ‘News and events’ on the left side of the Nest homepage.
If staff can’t attend, but it will have an impact on them (such as car parks closed, or buildings/spaces being used), please submit a staff notice under the quick link ‘News and events’ on the left side of the Nest homepage.
Catering
Do you need food and drink at your event? We have a number of preferred caterers who are used to working with us and can scale up or down depending on your requirements. Please contact us on events@unitec.ac.nz for a list of options. Remember a supplier must be registered as a ‘preferred supplier’ so you can pay them through our accounts team.
Alcohol
If you are serving alcohol at your event, please ensure that the caterer has someone there with an alcohol licence. The caterer can provide the alcohol, or will also be able to serve alcohol that we supply. For small amounts, it may be cheaper to source it yourself from the supermarket.
Sound, lighting & staging
For larger events, you might need a sound system, theatre style seating and even a stage. We regularly work with Exhibition Company, V3, to provide the equipment, set it up and run the sound desk for us on the day. Contact Regan Fairley on 0275812905 or regan@v3.co.nz.
V3 can also provide seating and other furniture, although Carlton Party Hire is another option for chairs, trestle tables etc.
You can also book Unitec-branded display equipment, including Unitec signage, banners, flags, plinths, directional signage etc.
IT Support
Do you need a laptop and internet access? While V3 will be able to provide most of the equipment, you should also book someone from IMS to check in with them during the set up to make sure that our systems are working.
Facilities & security
Please let the Facilities team know about your event. Book a job with FM Help if you need car parks allocated to attendees, rubbish bins for catering, and cleaning of the space before and after the event. Also think about things like mats at the entrance point and buckets for umbrellas if it’s raining.
You’ll need Security for any evening event or large gathering of external people, particularly if alcohol is being served. This should also be booked through FM Help.
Signage, invitations, name tags etc
If you need any printed material, book a job with the copy centre to create a design concept and print out all your signs and other material for the day.
If you have any questions about running your event that haven’t been covered here, please email events@unitec.ac.nz.