A guide to organising a T3V event
Thank you for considering organising an event for the group. Our events are our greatest asset as they attract members and it is the support and purchasing power of us veggies that persuades restaurants and pubs to improve their vegetarian and vegan options.
If you've not organised an event before it may surprise you what goes into it. The effort we put into organising events is what makes them so popular and effective, both for the group and the venues. Once you have organised one event, the second is much easier.
What follow are the tasks required in creating a successful T3V event.
Defining the event
- Ideally, allow yourself a 2 month lead-in to get every thing organised and leave enough time to create sufficient publicity.
- Decide on a venue. You may which to look at past T3V events for ideas or try something we have not done before.
- We have T3V business cards. Feel free to ask for a few as it will make you look so professional.
- If the event before yours is a curry make sure yours is not.
- Try to choose a different day of the week from that prior to your event, though this is not essential.
- We are especially happy to try somewhere new.
- Make contact with the restaurant, ideally not during their busy times. If at all possible approach the manager in person. Look smart.
- If it's a new place for the group, say something like:
Hello, I'm Joe Green from Thames Valley Veggies.
We are a large local vegetarian and vegan group and I think your restaurant would be a great place for one of our evenings out. Would you be interested in that?
It is hard to predict this early on how many of our members will be coming but our events usually draw from 15 to 30 people, depending on the date, location, price and the food on offer.
What day of the week would be good for you?
We find buffet style food works the best, in terms of what attracts our members and what has worked best for other restaurants we have used.
We always ensure that all the food is suitable for vegans, that is, no eggs, dairy or honey as well as being vegetarian.
The best thing to do now is for you (the chef) to suggest what might be a good menu and a suitable price. We can advise you on how to veganise any dish.
- Read this for some veganising recipes ideas: http://www.veggiesnow.org/articles/18.html
- A meal price greater than £15 per head will reduce numbers wishing to come. Price can be a big factor for people choosing to come, or not.
- If they cook in wine ensure they understand that some wines are not vegan or even vegetarian.
- If the restaurant insists on a minimum number of guests, go elsewhere. Don't lumber yourself with a financial risk. Remember, it is the restaurant that will make the profit, not you.
- If the restaurant insists on a deposit for each guest, go elsewhere. Don't lumber yourself with the extra work.
- If possible, arrange for your guests to buy their drinks on the night separately, from the bar etc., as this will make paying at the end so much simpler.
- If possible arrange for the restaurant staff to collect the money, not you.
- Give the restaurant a few days to work on the menu. Don't let them forget you. Chefs are very busy people so don't be put off with them not returning your calls, it does not mean they do not want your trade.
- Greet any menu they offer with enthusiasm, but be prepared to suggest improvements. An important reason for organising events is to educate caterers. If the menu is rubbish or over-familiar, no one will come and you'll feel bad about it.
- The menu must include a dessert that is not fruit salad.
- A menu of steamed Mediterranean vegetable will guarantee few people come.
- Ensure the food is substantial by including beans, grains, tofu, nuts, etc.
- Some places may need you to come up with ideas up front so be prepared.
- You may need to tell them about the existence of tofu, vegan cream, ice-cream and cheeze.
- Suggest soya cappuccino are popular.
Publicising the event
- It's never too early to tell the group about your event. It's easy through our website. You will need a log-in to the T3V website - it is much easier than you suspect. Go to the website and register as a user if you haven't already.
- Then contact us to upgrade your login so that you can create events on line. No technical knowledge is necessary. It is based on the ActiVeg system where you update the site by filling in on line forms from wherever you happen to be logged in.
- ActiVeg works by defining the key parts of an event first., the venue and booking contact (you). If the venue is already listed on the website, you will just be able to link to it and won't have to enter its details.
- Check if your venue is already on the system at http://www.t3v.veggroup.org/configure/location/index.html.
Creating a Location
- To create a new location hit the Create a new locationbutton.
- Set Name to the venue name, e.g. Joe's cafe
- Set Type of place to something like "Thai Restaurant".
- Set Tag line to something to encourage the punters, like, "The best noodles in Newbury"
- Set Description to explain a little about the venue, why it is good and maybe what its weak on. Just type in simple text and leave a blank line to create paragraphs. Use HTML if your happy with that. You are describing the venue, not your event.
- If you have a image of the venue, or can find one on the net, load it into Image. An image width of about 200 pixels is ideal.
- Fill in the Address and Contact details. Postcode is very important, as ActiVeg will automatically create a map for you from the postcode. If this doesn't turn out right you can drag the location to the appropriate point in the map window.
- Give Directions if it proves useful.
- Add Telephone numbers and Web address etc.
- Set the Exclusively Vegan/vegetarian flags if appropriate.
- If you know the prices on the normal menu then do mention them.
- Set the Services switches where appropriate then Save your work (you can also do this as you go along).
- Your venue is now live on the Internet! If it is not a regualrly suitable venue (like a park or a place that doesn't normally do much food for us, then you can be skimpier on the description and set it to unpublished in the Publishing tab, so it won't be listed in Thames Valley Veggies places listings, but will still show up with your event)
Creating the Event
- You now have a venue and you are the event organiser, you just need to define the event now.
- Select Events in the configuration menu or link to http://www.t3v.veggroup.org/configure/event/index.html and click on the Create a New Event button.
- Fill in the relevant parts, linking to the relevant Location. You can come back and change anything later. Select yourself as the contact, or the relevant person from the users list (use the relevant link given). If this is not possible, then add the contact details.
- Find your event in the T3V web site http://www.t3v.makessense.co.uk/events/ and check that it reads well.
Telling the group about your event
- Now to send the message. Go to your In Box on the website, and email all users.
- Give a Subject like "T3V - November event at the Thai King"
- Paste in the text from the event details. Just pasting in a link to the event is not adequate as some people have access to email but not to the web so those people would not be able to gain access to the event details.
- Ask them to book by going to the event page and booking there.
- Click Send Message if you are happy.
- An email will now be sent to all those who have registered on the website, without them needing to know your email address or you theirs.
- Until most people have registered on the site, also contact Sophie to ask her to forward your message on to the whole group.
Other places to mention your event
- Add an entry to the local BBC events list: www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/going_out/events.shtml
- If you find any other good places then please let us know.
Monitoring the event
- It is advisable to keep in touch with the restaurant, especially if they are new to this vegan thing.
- With two weeks to go send a reminder message to the group.
- Within two weeks of the event you should have some idea of numbers and you should give the restaurant an estimate.
- A week before the event send a final reminder to group, you need not copy all the details again.
- Ensure you mention that guests should leave a tip of about 10% with their payment how to buy drinks and who they should give their money too.
- Give the restaurant final numbers the day before.
Arrive early at the venue.
- Take a list of guest names with you.
- Remind guests to buy their drinks separately.
- Get a good seat for yourself.
- If a guest starts quizzing you about the menu, tell them to ask the waiter. You want to enjoy the evening too.
- If people leave early beware that often these people forget to leave a tip!
- At the end of the meal it can be nice to publicly thank the restaurant for organising the meal.
- Thank the chef or restaurant manager for the evening when you leave.
- Congratulate yourself on doing your part for vegetarianism.
% 
Comments
Add your comment
Audit
Story posted by on 2006-08-26 20:44:59.
Story last updated by on 2011-04-20 10:02:49.
Featured Articles
Help For Schools
Petition for Reading to go veggie one day a week
Assistance for Restaurants and Businesses
Thames Valley Veggies are able to offer vegetarian option menu design and marketing assistance as well as chefs' workshops for restaurants, hotels, B&B's and catering companies.
Initial assistance from Thames Valley Veggies is given on a voluntary basis, but we welcome donations to national vegetarian organisations in return, particularly for workshops and more in-depth help.
We freely list businesses we consider particularly welcoming to vegetarians and vegans.
Read more.
