When you’re organising a big event, for example a party, you need to plan it carefully. If it’s something you haven’t done before, it might be best to do a few smaller scaled events to begin with.

Your event – concept and theme
Themed parties are great, but you need to think about your audience – what will appeal to the people you know and your local area? Perhaps you could you base your event around a date in the calendar – such as a Halloween party or easter ball.

Your audience –
Who will the event appeal to? You should ask around and guage people’s interest. If needed, you should also think about how you will promote this to the general public, and whether you can you get yourself in the local press?

Initial costs –
Write a list of everything you need to make the event successful. Try to secure as much as you can for free, but make sure you are realistic the expected costs. How much will the venue cost, will you have food and drink expenses, band or DJ hire, decorations, marketing? You need to plan well to avoid spending large amounts of money just in case it goes wrong.

How many tickets do you need to sell to break even (be realistic)? –
You need to make sure the event is going to make money, and people will want to know that the majority of their ticket money is going to charity. You should make this transparent so that your guests know how much of the ticket sales is going to BARC.

Tickets should be sold in advance, not on the door.
Timings –
You should give yourself plenty of time to organise everything.

Event date –
Check there aren’t any similar events taking place locally on the same day, and make sure it doesn’t clash with any other big sporting events, for example a football match or the Grand National.

Secure your venue –
Make sure this is confirmed before you start selling tickets. Get something in writing.