Feasibility Stage (FS)

The Feasibility Stage (FS) comes after the Idea Exploration Stage (IES) stage is signed off by all necessary stakeholders. Now, the event idea is being explored more thoroughly. The FS is akin to a pre-planning or early-planning stage. At this stage, various things are needed before a formal sign-off and progression to the Event Project Stage (EPS) (i.e. before the Institute/the main stakeholder agrees to take on the staff effort, financial risk and opportunities afforded by running the event).

This is a list of information from the FS which is needed for evaluation by stakeholders. Successful evaluation will move us into the EPS stage:

  • Goals & objectives
    • What we hope to achieve by running the event (goals) and a set of measurable steps towards achieving our goals (objectives).
  • The audience
    • Which groups of people you are planning the event for helps set the goals and objectives in context.
    • Consider your target audience’s career stage, geographic location, gender, ethnicity, job roles, organisation types (e.g. funders, publishers, researchers, administrators).
    • Prioritising the audience might also help with refining goals and keeping planning on target. If the priority changes then this should be reflected in the goals/objectives.
      • Although if this does happen, the Lead Stakeholder should probably be consulted to make sure it’s OK to carry on if you are in the EPS stage.
  • A date
    • The date needs to fit into the calendar of other events that are likely to affect the target audience.
    • The event should be at a time when accommodation is available. Things to consider here may include:
      • Being outside of University term time,
      • No other conflicting local events (e.g. football matches) as they tend to raise accommodation prices,
      • Preferably not clashing with primary/high school holidays.
  • A venue (see an example venue specification)
    • A specification of venue requirements should be put together.
    • Visits should be carried out before hiring a venue.
      • Having an agent local to the event at hand can help a lot when the event is remote to your location.
    • The venue should be checked for availability for the preferred dates.
    • A possible venue should be chosen (or a few choices shortlisted).
  • A budget (see a budget example)
    • These should show estimated income lines, and estimated outgoing costs lines.
    • Best case, middle case and worst case cost projections should also be prepared.
  • Outputs and outcomes (what’s the difference)
    • These should be linked to the event goals.
    • Some of these will be the same as the objectives of the workshop.
    • They should include the type of resources that will be available after the event. That is, whether a report will be written, videos of the sessions or any other resources will be made available.

Assessment

Once collected, the above set of information will need to be assessed by the stakeholders (or the Lead Stakeholder). The assessment should have one of the following outcomes:

  • Proceed - the EL can now arrange the event.
  • More work needed - More detail might be needed for some aspects of the event before getting final approval (e.g. re-visit the budget).
  • Reject - it might be decided that it is not worth running the event (this should be rare at this stage as most things should be caught at the less expensive IES stage discussions).