The title of this post is the one statement you do not want to be making as an organizer for an event. One of the pitfalls I have seen at workshops/events or at the first few weeks at newer venues is when responsibilities are ambiguously or poorly delegated.

A personal anecdote of mine is, when I was one of the organizers for a workshop at my college. We delegated a volunteer to be the “Volunteer Coordinator”. However until the end of the Friday night welcome dance, we did not know that we did not have any volunteers to take down the equipment. It was a faux pas on us, the organizers behalf because we clearly did not outline what the responsibilities of the “Volunteer Coordinator” were. Luckily one of the organizers and her friends she was hosting was willing to do take down, but it was one additional responsibility for someone who was already in charge of running things that weekend. Below I will list some tips I have, to ensure something like this is less likely to happen for yourself.

Guide to Properly Delegating Responsibilities

• 1. In writing, clearly outline responsibilities: When writing this, you want to make it reasonably detailed as possible and leave no room for ambiguity. Also ensure that this person and yourself both have a copy of this. That way they do not need to bother you if they forget what to do and you know who is in charge of what tasks. I know some people prefer to do this vocally, however putting it down on paper prevents potential arguments afterwards (especially if someone is volunteering for a comp) and unnecessary distractions to both the organizers and volunteers/workers. [1]
• 2. The day before the event remind those who have the potential to forget responsibilities: As an organizer this has the benefit of giving yourself a peace of mind that you have double checked every person helping to run the event knows what they are responsible for and act as a reminder for those who may have lost track of what they are in charge of. This is especially in the case of volunteers who often are dealing with travel, finding their host for housing, and other issues besides knowing where they are supposed to stand, and what type of wristbands to check for.

If you have any tips or ideas as an organizer or an attendee of events, please comment below!

Footnotes:

[1]: As an organizer, when you have four different things running in your head while you are trying to set up for a dance or classes that morning for a workshop, last thing you do is have a person come up and derail your train of thought with a question of something they should already know about.

The title of this post is the one statement you do not want to be making as an organizer for an event. One of the biggest pitfalls I have seen at workshops/events or at the first few weeks at newer venues is when responsibilities are ambigously delegated.

A personal