The newly consolidated Event Operations office was announced in late June of 2022. Now, the office is well suited to help bring additional assistance and support to event planners and event goers at Chapman University. Event Operations now includes the areas that formerly were Event Scheduling, Conference Services, Ticketing Services, and Chapman Auditorium Theater Operations.
In the 11 months since its formation, our team has been busy working on ways to streamline processes and reduce the steps required to plan and coordinate events at Chapman. You may have noticed some increased involvement from our team with events you are planning or coordinating. Event Operations team members are now helping more closely with event planning, creating to-scale diagrams for all events to be used by facilities set-up teams, checking on set-ups, anticipating additional event needs, helping execute agreements as required, arranging event insurance when it is needed, ensuring accessibility, advising on increasing equity at all events, and often providing day-of, on-site support.
Events Involving External Entities
One of the areas our team is assisting with is helping with events that involve outside groups. Because all events have an element of risk involved, it has always been university policy that these events require involvement from Legal Affairs and Risk Management. But prior to last year, departments were on their own to handle all these logistics. Now, this is a service that Event Operations can assist with. To request this assistance, you can either email eventoperations@chapman.edu, or when you submit your space reservation request through 25Live, check the box indicating that an external group is involved and someone from the Event Operations team will reach out to help make sure the required process is executed. The team is learning that without close management of this item, many events involving external groups have been taking place on campus without following proper protocol, so don’t be surprised if you are asked to make some slight changes to events going forward—it is in the best interest of the university, and Event Operations will be there to help every step of the way.
Complete Event Records through 25Live
Another area that our team is focusing on is creating complete space reservation records through the campus scheduling platform 25Live. By having complete records, the university can respond to safety issues better by knowing what is happening on campus at any given time. Additionally, should an event space become unavailable, the Event Operations team will immediately assist with rescheduling. Furthermore, with a comprehensive understanding of campus events, Event Operations is better able to adjust resources and help with event conflicts before problems arise.
For some, these improvements will bring some process changes. Event Operations is positioned to work with partners to ease this transition. When events are planned in bulk, there is an option to import these into 25Live, reducing the need for manual entry. When outside scheduling tools are being used (such as spreadsheets or other software), the team can refer to these documents to update our central repository. If you are not currently scheduling your events through 25Live, please be in touch with Event Operations to discuss how to best collaborate on this effort.
Campus Events Network
If you are interested in being more involved or learning more about event processes at Chapman, Event Operations hosts quarterly “Campus Events Network” meetings, which allow event planners and schedulers on campus to stay up to date on any news related to events or event spaces on campus. Participation in this group is open to anyone. These meetings are hosted in a hybrid format so individuals may participate in-person or remotely. To join this group and be included in future meetings and announcements, please email eventoperations@chapman.edu.
A special edition of Working@Chapman will provide more detailed information and training on the above policies and procedures early in the fall semester.
Learn more about the Event Operations department and services offered.
