“Developing a Festival” Appendix “I” – Committee Structure Checklist

 To run a successful festival their needs to be a strong management/committee structure in place. Here are a few ideas to help create such a structure:

€    The Board of Directors is at the top of the structure. What they do and how they conduct themselves will set the tone for all committees and their members. This means that Board meeting should start on time and have a prepared agenda to follow. Detailed minutes should be taken and distributed, in writing, as soon after the meeting as possible. A schedule of meetings should be published in advance and all members should attend or send a committee representative. All members should come to the meeting prepared, with a written report. To save time, the report should have been pre-distributed by e-mail. Meeting discussions should be kept on track by the chair. Any major agreements or commitment should be made with a formal motion and second. It should then be discussed and voted on with the vote being recorded by the Secretary.

€    All section committees should have defined positions. These positions should a have written job descriptions. This way everyone knows exactly what is expected of them.

€    All section committee meetings should be held in the same manner as the Board of Directors meetings. The written minutes can form part of the Section Chair’s written Board report.

€    A schedule of all section committee meetings should be published so that cross communications can take place in a timely manner.