Event Organizers HQ - Updated for 2007

Welcome to the Event Organizers headquarters for the RPA. Here organizers can download helpful information on setting up an event from the site survey to breakdown. Events are not hard to put on, with the average fly-in bringing in just around 15 aircraft and 20 guests. However, even this manageable sized event can really create frustration for staff and attendees if some prior planning isn't accomplished. Here then is the information you need to have it run like clock-work.

This photograph was taken from the first RedStar Pilots Association Fly-In, the organizer is the guy in the center with the fur cap on - they're admiring the first mass formation review...He wasn't impressed, and later sent the entire attendee list to the gulag!

STEP ONE: STAFFING

With a standard formation training event, the opportune minimum number of dedicated volunteers is five (5); the Event Director, the Flight Scheduler, the Ground Boss and Directors designated Clinic IP and CP

• EVENT ORGANIZER
  Performs all macro preplanning, conducts site surveys, sets up airspace, establishes airfield relations, collects and orders RPA supplies or financial support and sets up the itinerary. Final pointy-Head on all pre-event decisions. During the event the ED puts out fires, enforces safety and local area flight procedures and rides herd on the cows to meet the itinerary. Drinks a lot of beer at the bar after the planes are parked. For formation clinics, the event director must "Designate" at least One Formation Clinic IP from those that have registered to help manage the delivery of ground school presentations, training/safety briefs and student scheduling; this program will help lower the stress of running a training clinic!
  
• AIR BOSS
  He/she assigns briefing rooms, airspace operating areas and time slots to aircrews; they are your master flight schedulers. Organizers can and should "designate" one Formation Clinic IP from those registered to attend to conduct student scheduling at the formation clinic, in return, the RPA will cover the Designated IPs hotel an rental vehicle if need.
  
• GROUND BOSS
  The administrative chief - sets up registration and welcome packets, collects completed forms & event fees, manages merchandise sales, interfaces with the media or government reps on behalf of the ED, and insures catering or restaurant reservations are ready for the cattle charge. The Ground Boss is an excellent position for our spouses that enjoy the party.
  
• DESIGNATED CLINIC IP
  The organizer of a formation training clinic will need several back seat instructors (Clinic IPs) to meet pre-solo training. The organizer should review their attendance lists (downloaded from the event page) and select one IP as their "designated" to manage/conduct required presentations and assist in student flight scheduling. If the IP accepts this role, the RPA will pay for his/her hotel and in-clinic transportation.
  
• DESINGATED CLINIC CP
  It's the goal of the RPA to have a regional CP on hand at all training clinics in formation, mass formation and tactical, regardless of planned evaluations. Although considered IPs, the check pilot should not be relied upon to carry the main weight of backseat instructional or other IP duties. They are there to observe and assist where able. The RPA will cover the cost (hotel and in-clinic transportation) of one CP at each posted training clinic.

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STEP TWO: SET UP YOUR ONLINE EVENT TO ALLOW OPEN REGISTRATION

• GO TO THE EVENTS SECTION'S MAIN PAGE
  Click on "Create your Event" and fill out this easy online form, make sure your remarks section lists any restrictions to registration, such as FAST qualified only, or other important info. When you submit this form, your event is created and posted online for all to see and register...
  
  
• TO SEE WHO REGISTERED OR TO DOWNLOAD YOUR ATTENDEE LIST
  Go the events main page again, and click on "Manage my Event", there you can see who registered, and download a complete excell list of all attendees and the information collected, excellent for planning.
  
  

STEP THREE: EVENT ADVERTISING

You need to get the word out about your event to generate the "buzz" that results in a good showing. We have a special electronic communication product called an RPA ECOM - "EVENT BULLETIN" that can easily be published and sent to the entire RPA membership in seconds, or we can send it only to a regional membership. You should prepare all the event info exactly as you would like it and provide it to the RPA or Qtrly Newsletter Publisher. We can send out an update to the event bulletin news after it is sent out if needed.

You should also publish this information to the YAK LIST. Make sure you tell them to register online at www.flyredstar.org, otherwise your attendee masater list will be incomplete, or require you to do the manual add.

Advertising is an important part of the process. Those who have given it some attention have found their events quickly grow in to annual operations to be expected each year by the local, regional and national membership.

STEP FOUR: SETTING UP ARRIVAL REGISTRATION and the PROP TAG FUELING SYSTEM

The next phase of registration is the day-of the event in-processing when the aircraft roll in. Your goal is to:

1. Hotel keys assigned (maybe, if you pre-blocked at a hotel, but generally not)

2. Fuel credit card registered with FBO (prevents them from accidentally leaving without paying)

3. Sign your combined hold harmless, PIC and Pilot Information form - all now ONE FORM HERE.

4. Give them enough information so they dont get lost, show up on time and don't piss off the airport authority
Things like a street map, event itinerary, list of bars and restraunts, and local airfield rules and operating policys. Dude, if you do nothing else, do this step!!

5. Payment of your event fee to cover costs.
I never know why guys wait to ask for checks when folks are leaving; peoples minds are on scooting out. We recommend this function always be tied to arrival (see suggestion next)

PUT ALL FORMS IN ONE VANILLA FOLDER - THE MEMBERS "WELCOME PACKET"

If arrival is well run, you've just collected the event fees so your bottom line is covered and the rest of the event will go like clock work. One combined welcome and registration packet works best we've found. The following trick is a great idea to minimize your work and cover the critical details of arrival:

THE CRITICAL TRICK TO COVERING YOUR A___ AS THE EVENT DIRECTOR:

Give the welcome packets to the FBO attendee who is almost always there; tell pilots that on arrival they should grab an arrival packet from FBO attendee to fill out the arrival registration form and then must put in the event fee check, and return the packet, less street maps and other useful stuff, to FBO attendee. The attendee will probably register their fuel credit card at that time, and...

...the pilot will be given a Fuel Prop Tag by the FBO attendee to use in signaling their aircraft is in need of refueling - registration complete; the FBO is covered and your covered!

The fuel prop tags are a common system used at RPA events, the system works by the pilot being issued a prop tag with his N number and name on it, attached is a rubber band, when he lands, he places the prop tag on the prop, when the refueler has filled up the warbird, he places the prop tag on the pitot tube to signal a full aircraft. Prop tags and rubber bands can be purchased at any office depot or other stationary store

NOTE: DOWNLOAD AND HAVE NEW MEMBERS APPLICATIONS ON HAND; EVENTS WILL GET NON MEMBERS ATTENDING, NO REASON NOT TO JOIN THEM UP. WORKS EVEN BETTER IF YOU HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION AT THE FBO; HAVE THEM JOIN ONLINE RIGHT FROM EVENT.

STUFF NO ONE WANTS TO DEAL WITH - MADE SIMPLE BY THE RPA!

Event Fees and Financial Accounting:

This is a crucial aspect of setting up an RPA fly-in or clinic. Financial modeling should always be a part of your event planning efforts and event fee collection should be the FIRST, not the LAST request of your attendees. The EVENT ORGANIZER sets the event fee, to be paid by attendees upon arrival. If the organizer does not address this issue, they will experience un-needed frustration and possible financial loss - totally unacceptable to a volunteer! Always demand attendees pre-register online 100% of the time, even if they communicate to you via personal email of their attendance. Online pre-event registration is a critical step that serves several purposes, and one of those is financial planning for you and the RPA.

And remember, on the registration page the event fee "Pay On Arrival" policy is clearly displayed next to the submit button, so if they registered online, you can remind them of the fact that they agreed to this policy when they registered. We have had some instances where arrivals did not believe they were to be charged such fees. Always have them register online every time.

The question comes up, who pays for pre-event set-up costs. We have two processes suggested:

1. For average size events of about 10-15 aircraft, you can request an RPA Debit Card be made in your name and shipped to you, or, you can use your personal credit card such as an American Express to keep all expenditures on one account. Make most purchases close to the event date incase weather is a factor and reduce the accumulation of interest charges. Your charges will be recovered through the event fees collected. Please note, checks are made out to the RPA and the RPA treasurer will send all funds to recover pre-event charges reported by the event organizer.
   
   
2. For larger events, you can request the RPA to cover expenditures in the pre-event phase. Such charges might be to kinkos for photocopying, hotel reservations for staff, bottled water, etc. The key is to communicate with the treasurer early in the process and insure costs are in line with the number of attendees based on online pre-registration numbers.

download a clinic organizer invoice here

1. Publish the event online at least two months prior to the date, longer if able. The RPA will publish an Event Notice to advertise to members.
2. Based on pre-event online registrations, determine the event fee based on your cost model divided by members attending plus a margin for error. The goal is never to end the event in the red.
3. Set up a system for attendee arrival that insures the event fee is paid at the time of indoc/arrival. This is crucial!
4. Send all funds to the Treasurer immediately after the event.
5. Send the treasurer your event costs along with #4. These should have primarily been placed on one account/charge card, perhaps an RPA card if you requested one. If you paid for the event costs, the treasurer will immediately send you the funds electronically, or by RPA check as applicable.

Why can't you just pay for everything and have the attendees pay you personally? Well, we're a Federal Non Profit, everyone should take advantage of the tax implications, including the organizer!

Who is compted and what is compted?

1. One designated Clinic Instructor Pilot (IP) and Check Pilot (CP)
(FAST Clinics for Wing and Leads)

The RPA will cover the organizer's "designated" IP and CP for FAST clinics for hotel room and shared car. The IP must agree to, and execute, on managing a well run training clinic to include presentations, safety/training briefs and student scheduling.

This is up to you. Obviously if you comp several such folks, your revenue heads down and the cost of the event rises. The RPA members expect to contribute to the cause. You can provide for your back seat instructors in other ways, such as a staff vehicle, etc. If a vendor is profiting from the event, and benefiting from your services (food, drink, etc.), we suggest you charge them to share in the cost, which is otherwise carried by our members. Our relationship with the media is important and the RPA attempts to assist them in any way possible.

1. White Board & Dry Erase Markers. To post the flight schedules (crew, operating area, times)
2. File Folders to hold registration packets and/or training forms
3. PC Projector - RPA has several
4. Laptop
5. Chalks (if FBO can not support tie downs, etc.)
6. Scuba Air (somebody will be buying you a beer)
7. Nitrogen (jets)
8. Rental Van(s)
9. Photocopied Forms for registration packets
   

EVENT PLANNING FORMS:

HOT: Clinic arrival registration and hold harmless form

1. The RPA Event Planners Guide:
   
2. The Airspace Plan
   
3. Sample Itinerary
   
4. Event Airport Site Survey
   
5. Suggested Event Fees
   
6. Airshow Kit: What folks should bring.
   
7. RPA Event Minimum Safety Equipment Policy
   
8. FAA Ruling on "Inoperative Equipment"
   
9. Suggestions for Effective Flight Scheduling
   
10. CRUD Rules

NOTE: NEED AN INVOICE TO GET PAID BY THE TREASURER FOR EVENT RELATED COSTS? SEE DIRECTLY BELOW.

FIRST: IMPORTANT FORMS, PROGRAMS & INVOICES:

Clinic Airboss/Flight Scheduling Excell Program
Use this excell program on PC with a projector to run flight ops!

Clinic Arrival Registration, Hold Harmless & PIC Agreement Form
This form replaces three previouse forms. Easy to fill out!

Clinic Organizer Invoice Page One
This form should be sent in with your event fees to insure your costs are covered

Clinic Organizers Invoice Page Two
Continuation of invoice if needed

Clinic IP/CP Hotel Invoice Form
Use this form to recover designated IP/CP costs for hotel and car