Maxwell School Event Planning

Owned by Stephanie Williams
Last updated: Dec 18, 2024 by Stephanie Williams

This event planning checklist is for Event Coordinators throughout the Maxwell School. Please use it to make sure you are covering all tasks related to organizing and hosting a successful event. Read this checklist thoroughly.

Step 1. Basic Event Information/First Steps

What is the purpose of your event? Who is your target audience? 

While your event is starting to come together, these are the first questions that you want to ask yourself. Once the main purpose of your event is laid out, you can start to ask yourself what the next steps look like. Where should the event take place? What time/day? Virtual or In Person? How am I going to market the event?

Once you figure out the date and time of your event, the first thing you want to do is input your event information onto the Maxwell Events Outlook Calendar. Uploading your event information to the to the Events Outlook calendar will let the rest of the Maxwell events community know when your event is to avoid potential overlap. To add the Maxwell Events Outlook Calendar to your Outlook account, please see below.

Maxwell Events Outlook Calendar - ALL Events 

Outlook calendar- for all  events - public, private, department meetings, department or institute speaker series, and named lectures. The main purpose of this calendar is for planning purposes and to avoid overlap between departments. If you do NOT have access to the Outlook Event Calendar. Please email Bethany Walawender, bdwalawe@syr.edu  as you need access to add the calendar. Then follow the steps below: 

i. The calendar is called maxevents@syr.edu

ii. To add to your calendar 

in outlook click on Add Calendar
Open shared calendar
Type in maxwevents@syr.edu
Click enter

iii. Add your event

In the notes section add your name, a brief description of the event, the intended audience, and a contact person for the event for example:

Maxwell Dean's Office Staff Meeting
All Dean's Office Staff including Dean's
BW,  9382

Step 2. Location and Time 

Non-academic vs. Academic Events and Programs

Please note that scheduling for academic events should be submitted to the Syracuse University Space Reservation System to reserve classroom space. Maxwell Captive Spaces are reserved for non-academic and special event use. If you have questions about whether your event is an academic or non-academic event, please get in touch with us at maxwellroomrequest@syr.edu.

Maxwell Non-academic Space 

To reserve space for your event within Maxwell or Eggers, contact Maxwell Room Reservation, maxwellroomrequest@syr.edu, at least three weeks before your event date. 

Please review the Room Reservation Guidelines and the Available Facilities Outline before submitting a request. Maxwell's captive space includes Maxwell Founders' Room (Maxwell 118), Maxwell Foyer and Patio, Strasser Legacy Room (Eggers 220), and the Strasser Commons. Rooms cannot be reserved more than 90 days before the scheduled Event. 

You can access the room's calendar via Outlook to check room availability. Click on the "Add Calendar" tab and select "From Room List."


*Keep in mind set-up and clean-up time. If your event is being recorded or live-streamed, you should reserve at least two hours of set-up time and one hour of clean-up time so your Event Support will have enough time to set up and tear down the equipment. 

For more information on reserving a space, please visit Reserving Space for an Event

Maintenance and/or Furniture Requests

You are solely responsible for cleaning up and resetting the room for your event. This means that if you would like to change the room's layout, you will have to reach out to Physical Plant and make a request.  You will also have to complete a Billed Services request form (required NetID and password). Remember to include Stephanie Williams, sdwillia@syr.edu, as the affected user for all captive space maintenance requests. For assistance with the form, please contact maxwellroomrequest@syr.edu. 

You can explore additional information about service requests on the BFAS website.

Step 3. Century/Catering Requests

Century Party Rentals:

While you are organizing and planning the details for your event, for example, where and when you want to have your event, keep in mind the room layout and location. Is your event occurring in the Maxwell Foyer, Strasser Commons, Strasser Legacy Room, or the Founders' Room? If so, you need to order tables and chairs directly from Century Party Rental, as SU Catering is no longer responsible for providing them.

Are you planning on hosting your event outside? If so, what if it rains? You may want to consider a tent for your event. For tent rental, you must contact Century as well. Please call Jackie or Glen at Century at 315-452-1240 to discuss your event needs.

Important Note: If you are hosting your event outside after business hours, please keep in mind that Century will most likely do a next-day pick-up for the tents, tables, and chairs. This means that you are required to reach out to DPS (Department of Public Safety) so that they can assign a DPS officer to patrol the event area overnight. This is required by Century! To reach out to DPS, please submit the Special Events Request Form.  

For questions or concerns with ordering tables and chairs, and/or tents from Century, please contact maxwellroomrequest@syr.edu.  

Catering Requests/Alcohol Permits:

To serve alcohol at a campus event, you must comply with the Syracuse University alcohol policy. Liquor licenses must be present and permits for serving alcohol must be submitted AT LEAST 30 days in advance. To submit a permit, please email SU catering at campuscatering@syr.edu. 

You can find catering menus and prices on the Syracuse University Food Services website.

All catering orders should be submitted to the Catering Event Order Form.

For more details or additional needs, please reach out to Catering:

It is important to note that SU Campus Catering will take care of the linens for your tables. The cost of the linens will be added to your catering contract. So make sure you communicate with Catering on how many tables are ordered through Century so they know how many linens to provide.

Step 4. Marketing

Once your event is put together and you have a set time and location, you can start thinking about how to advertise your event. Whether it is sending out an email through the email generator or creating a poster/flyer to post around the building and campus, you can find all the information you need here!  After you have uploaded your event information to the Maxwell Events Outlook Calendar, you can now input your event information on Sitefinity.  Uploading your event information to Sitefinity will ensure that your event will show up on the Maxwell Events Calendar as well as the SU Calendar.

Sitefinity - Departmental/Dean's Office events

Sitefinity is used to transfer event information to various calendars on our website including the SU Calendar, the Maxwell Events Calendar, and each individual department/institute calendars.

To log into Sitefinity click here.

For specific instructions on how to add your event to the Sitefinity Calendar please visit our, Adding Maxwell Calendar Events answers page. 

Calendar Submission Deadline

To appear in this week's Event Digest, submit by Monday COB.

Email Generator

This is the marking system used to create event emails – they have logo’s already loaded in the system and you can select from different templates. It is also easier to read than sending a picture/pdf of a poster. If you have yet to use the email generator feel free to reach out to Morgan for training, as it can be a little confusing at first. 

Log onto the email generator system - https://emailgen.syr.edu/

Sample email from the Email Generator

Posters vs. Flyers

If you are planning on creating a poster and/or flyer for your event, please take the format from one of the templates listed below. There are three different theme's to choose from. Each of the templates are offered in PowerPoint and these templates abide by the Syracuse University Branding Guidelines.  The difference between a poster and a flyer is the size. Posters are 11x17 in size where as flyers are 8 1/2x11 in size. Feel free to download the templates listed below and edit based on your event.

There is also a "Save the Date" template below as well. Feel free to download that template and use it to spread the word in the early stages of your event. 

Posters (11x17)

Design 1 - Poster Template

Design 2 - Poster Template

Design 3 - Poster Template


Flyers (8 1/2 x 11)

Design 1 - Flyer Template

Design 2 - Flyer Template 

Design 3 - Flyer Template


Save the Date Template 

Accessibility Statement

At the bottom right of each poster, there should be an accessibility statement. 

Large Events (>100): "American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be available. Please contact (enter contact and email address) for additional accommodations."

Small Events (<100): "Please contact (enter contact and email address) for accommodations."

For more questions on marketing your event, please contact Bethany Walawender directly. 

Step 5: Technology Needs

Captive vs. Registrar’s Room Support 

Maxwell Information and Computing Technology (ICT) only supports the technology installed in “Captive” spaces (non-registrar’s rooms), while SU’s Learning Environments and Media Production (LEMP) supports the technology installed in the registrar’s classrooms.   

If you are unfamiliar with the technology in a specific location, you should begin by connecting with the room’s named contact to verify what the specific capabilities are for that space. 

Captive Space Training and Assistance 

Please email MaxwellAV@syr.edu with specific questions about technology in captive spaces. ICT may be able to provide additional equipment (i.e., extra microphones or a small PA audio system) and guidance in managing the technology needs of more complex events such as panels or symposiums.   

Please note that ICT’s ability to provide in-room support right before (or during) events is very limited. Scheduling pre-event training and testing is the key to your audio and video running smoothly and successfully. Please email MaxwellAV@syr.edu to schedule a consultation.   

 Live Web Streaming and Multi-Camera Recording 

If you are planning a large or complex event that requires live streaming and recording through YouTube, you will need to contact Brian Simons at Sensational Events, info@sensational.events, very early in the planning process. 

Please note that Brian is an external vendor, and there will be a cost associated with the event assistance. For recorded events with live streaming and CART, we recommend reserving the space 2 hours prior to and past your event’s advertised start and end times. This will allow ample time for set-up and take-down.

Step 6. Inclusive Events

Use Syracuse University's inclusive events website to make sure that your event is inclusive.

On that resource page you will find resources like:

  • Guide to Planning an Inclusive Event
  • ASL Interpreting Services (the iSchool has used Aurora of CNY in the past)
  • CART providers (we have used campus AV support / LEMP in the past)
    • If you are expecting more than 100 guests at your event then you MUST include CART. 
    • Please contact maxwellav@syr.edu to secure your CART needs.
      • They will need a chart string and name of the person to notify for the $125/per hour fee. (Minimum charge is 1 hour, then 1/4 hour increments.)

Step 7. VIP Invites

If you are planning to invite the Maxwell Dean to your event, please notify Katlyn Anderson, kander35@syr.edu. 

If you are planning to invite campus VIPs such as the Provost or Chancellor, you must notify Stephanie Williams, sdwillia@syr.edu  and she will complete the Meeting and Event Request Form (MERF) to request the Chancellor's attendance. You must also contact DPS to make sure that a DPS officer will be present at the event. To reach out to DPS, please submit the Special Events Request Form.  

Other Important Event Information

Student Events

Students must have a faculty or Staff sponsor for any event in the Maxwell Eggers Complex.

Off-hour building access

If your event will require off-hour building access, please coordinate with Morgan Hipkens, mahipken@syr.edu to get access to the building after business hours. 

Swag

Submit requests for swag and other giveaway items to Morgan Hipkens, mahipken@syr.edu.

Parking

Any of the below-authorized users can complete the Parking Request Form.