HOW TO: PUBLIC LECTURES

The ANU Public Lecture Series connects the local ACT and regional community with ANU, providing
access to some of the world’s top academics, scholars, public figures, artists and theorists. The series is a
powerful platform for launching new research and innovation into the public arena. The ANU Public
Lecture Series encapsulates lectures across campus.

We’ve prepared this checklist to help you work your way through organising a public lecture, but it doesn’t
replace getting in touch with us for help.

The checklist is a great way to keep track of your public lecture plans and guide you through the different
stages of planning your lecture (we even use it!). It has been designed to help you keep track of all the
details you have organised.

WHY HOST A PUBLIC LECTURE?

Public lectures can help you engage with the local community, alumni or students, share knowledge,
inspire donors or attract future students.

Public lectures are also an opportunity for ANU to engage with government, business and the public to
inform and educate the community through leading open discussion of issues that confront our nation, our
region and the world.

Before organising a public lecture you should think closely about what your goal/s and objectives are and
what needs to be done to achieve them. See some examples in the checklist.

HOW SCAPA CAN HELP

Before you start to plan your public lecture, it’s a good idea to think about when to involve Strategic
Communications and Public Affairs (SCAPA).

SCAPA can help you maximise the lecture’s potential, boost your outreach and make sure protocol is met.
If the event is on our horizon then we can identify media and promotional opportunities or potential
research collaborations to help you achieve your goals. If you think you need to invite VIPs it is very
important that you contact us.

Benefits of engaging with our team:

‐ VIP/ministerial protocol advice ‐ Venue advice and coordination

‐ Broader communications leverage of ‐ Targeted promotional support
event stories for news and recruitment ‐ Video/photography opportunities
purposes. This will help your event ‘live’ ‐ Invitation support
longer and reach more people ‐ Identification of specific audiences and how
‐ Media opportunities to approach them
‐ Security coordination ‐ Measurement of success post event

Contact our Events & Public Lectures Coordinator on x54144 or email events@[Link]

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 1

AT THE VERY BEGINNING
Lecture name:
Presenter:
Date and time:

OUTLINE YOUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

What is the reason for running this event? What do you want to achieve?
Keep in mind the differences between goals and objectives – goals are the achievement or
accomplishment toward which your endeavour is directed, and objectives are specific targets within the
general goal.

Goals Why is this a goal?

For example: Build stronger relationships with To increase awareness
alumni

Objectives Why is this an objective?

For example: Increase email subscriptions by 10% Shows stronger interest and engagement with
ANU Community

Target audience Why?

For example: High School students To engage with students for future recruitment

DECIDE WHO YOU SHOULD INVITE?

Having an idea of why you want to host a public lecture and what your goal/s are will help you pinpoint
who you should invite.

Some questions you should ask yourself:

‐ Who will be interested?

‐ Is the speaker a VIP? If so, you should get in touch with the VIP Visits and Protocol Coordinator,
[Link]@[Link]
‐ Should a member of ANU Executive be there? An Executive should be invited if the speaker is an
MLA, MP, Ambassador, Foreign Dignitary or a VIP. If this is the case you need to contact the VIP
Visits and Protocol Coordinator, [Link]@[Link]
‐ Are they from a topic area that is of interest to the broader community?
‐ Does the speaker’s talk have policy implications?
‐ Is the event targeted at a specific group of academics? (If so, a seminar is more appropriate than a
public lecture, contact SCAPA for guidance).
‐ Who needs to be there to achieve the goals of the lecture? For eg High School Students, Local
Members etc.

SCAPA can help you identify who should be invited once you have contemplated these questions.

Guests
For example: Alumni, students, general public etc.

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EIGHT WEEKS OUT
CONTACT SCAPA

Take a look at ‘How we can help’ for the benefits of engaging with our office. It is essential to engage with
us early so we can plan and deliver the best possible outcomes for your event.

BOOK VENUE

Different spaces on campus are suitable for different types of events, for different reasons. If you’re
unsure of the most suitable venue for your event then give us a call.

Things to consider when booking an event include:

‐ How many people are you expecting?

‐ Location for where catering will be served
‐ Where you will set up a registration desk?
‐ What sort of audio do you need? Most lecture theatres will have a lapel mic, but you may want to hire
some handheld mics to capture questions from the audience. avhire@[Link] can help you book
any additional audio equipment.
‐ Do you need to hire any additional furniture? Tables can be booked through [Link]@[Link]

Venues on campus have different avenues of booking:

‐ Most theatres in the JG Crawford Building [Link]@[Link]

‐ Most theatres in the Coombs Precinct [Link]@[Link]
‐ Theatres in The John Curtin School of Medical Research [Link]@[Link]
For most other theatres [Link]@[Link]
‐ A list of theatres and capacity can be found here [Link]

Venue details
For example: Address, details requested etc.

CATERING

If you plan on catering yourself or hiring external contractors you need to ensure you have appropriate
insurance and approval [Link]

We can provide advice on internal and external caterers.

Catering details
Who have you booked, what have you requested etc

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 3

 PREPARE YOUR INVITATION LIST

‐ Decide if your invite will be hardcopy or via email. Collect your data/list, if you’re looking to capture
alumni or donors then get in contact with [Link]@[Link] for help
‐ Inform the VIP Visits and Protocol Coordinator, [Link]@[Link] if you would like to invite any
ambassadors, politicians or VIPs
‐ How will you take RSVPs? If you are looking at capturing data to feed into Raisers Edge then contact
[Link]@[Link] otherwise [Link] is our preferred system, we would be
happy to show you how to use it.
‐ If you think your lecture needs a member of the ANU executive to be present then contact the VIP
Visits and Protocol Coordinator, [Link]@[Link] who will help you determine who should
represent ANU, request their attendance and prepare an executive briefing.

SIX WEEKS OUT

PROMOTE YOUR PUBLIC LECTURE (UNLESS IT IS BY INVITATION ONLY)

Important things to think about when promoting your event is who do you want to target and why? The list
below will help you come up with some ideas.

If you’re new to ANU, it’s worth getting in touch with the Marketing Office and booking yourself in for some
brand/template training. This will familiarise you with the ANU brand as well as some basic knowledge in
InDesign Software. This will help you to start creating your own flyers and posters.

For a targeted promotional strategy give SCAPA a call.

To help formulate your promotions you will need to obtain an abstract, bio and high-resolution photo (at
least 1MB) of speaker.

Possible ways to promote:

‐ Billboard – For general promotion among the ANU community. ANU staff, students or approved
affiliates can post events, notices and classifieds on the billboard website. Events and notices must
be related to an aspect of the University's research, teaching, outreach or administration.
‐ Flyer/posters – A flyer is only as good as the attention it grabs. Event flyers/posters especially have
to stand out, since they're usually competing with a sea of other flyers/posters. Think about where and
when you will use and distribute them. It is no good having a beautiful flyer that sits in a cupboard.
SCAPA can provide advice on who to post your flyers to.
‐ Social media – Social media is playing an increasingly vital role in promotions, especially when
targeting the 18-29 age bracket. We can help you target this audience. For access to ANU social
media accounts contact SCAPA.
‐ Newspapers/advertisements – The outlet we use will depend on your target audience.
‐ Media – is your event ‘newsworthy’? If so, SCAPA can help develop and implement a media strategy
to support your event.
‐ ANU newsletters – SCAPA sends out three regular newsletters: the public lectures email to over
5,000 people who have registered for the email and What’s On and On Campus to staff and students
‐ Daily Capital, an external website that sends a daily email to subscribers with events in Canberra
‐ Your School’s and/or College’s website
‐ Local street press magazines such as BMA

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 SEND OUT INVITATIONS

Things to consider before sending out your invitations:

‐ Will they be electronic or hardcopy? The ANU HTML template can be found here
[Link] For hardcopy invitations contact the
marketing office on 02 6125 0794 or advertising@[Link]
‐ Will they be sent out via Outlook or Net Community?
‐ Who will the invitation come from? If the VC or another member of the executive is hosting then the
invitation should be sent on behalf of them through SCAPA.
‐ Will you send a reminder to those who have not RSVPd?

ORGANISE CO-OP BOOKSHOP

Has your speaker published any books? If so, you could consider selling copies at your event. Contact
dskinner@[Link] if you are interested in having the ANU Co-op Bookshop sell copies on the night.

ORGANISE WELCOME TO/ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY

At the beginning of every event a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgment of Country needs to be

performed.

Information on how to organise a Welcome to Country:

[Link]

Information on performing an Acknowledgment of Country: [Link]

TWO WEEKS OUT

PREPARE A RUNNING ORDER AND SHARE WITH TEAM AND SPEAKER

Things to consider when preparing your running order include:

‐ Who will do Welcome to/Acknowledgment of Country

‐ Who will introduce your speaker
‐ Who will moderate questions
‐ Who will give the vote of thanks

ORGANISE EXTRA STAFF (IF NEEDED)

If you decide to check names off at the door because the event is at capacity or the speaker is high-profile

You will need to ensure you have enough staff to do this without creating a backlog on the night. If you
don’t have enough staff to help you, then you may want to look at hiring some casual staff.

SEND OUT A REMINDER (IF NEEDED)

How are your RSVPs looking? Do you need to send out a reminder email? You should keep in mind that
there is usually a 20-30 per cent drop off rate from RSVPs to attendees.

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ONE WEEK OUT
CONFIRM DETAILS

At this point you should confirm all the arrangements of your event, including venue hire, your speaker and
catering.

Things to confirm with your venue:

‐ Additional tables: For Co-op Bookshop, registration desk, print publications etc. (Remember to bring
some tablecloths with you so the tables look nice and tidy)
‐ Security – that the doors remain open until your event is finished, car parks will be cordoned off etc.
‐ Air conditioning/heating remain on during your event

CONTACT SCAPA FOR PUBLIC LECTURES POWERPOINT

Contact SCAPA for a PowerPoint to display at your event, highlighting upcoming events and ways of
staying in touch with ANU.

ON THE DAY
Collect water glasses/bottles/jug for speaker

Ensure you have a copy of speaker’s PowerPoint (if necessary) on thumb drive

Other things you may have to bring with you include:

‐ Banners, generic ANU banners can be borrowed from SCAPA

‐ Camera
‐ Signs, if it is a hard to find location or venue has moved
‐ Flowers
‐ Name cards, if you’re having a panel discussion
‐ Publications/printed material for display (Contact Reporter@[Link] to get some copies of ANU
Reporter to hand out at your event)
‐ Doorstops, to keep lecture theatre doors open
‐ Tablecloths
‐ Permission to record forms
‐ Clicker, to count attendees
‐ Slide changer/laser pointer
‐ Staff name badge
‐ Pens
‐ Run sheet
‐ Wording for Acknowledgment of Country

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AT THE LECTURE
(Be there at least 45 minutes before hand)

Meet with the speaker and host before the lecture

Set up banners
Make sure venue is clean and tidy
Set up any equipment such as PowerPoint for the speaker
Check to ensure sound and lighting equipment is working
Make sure nothing is blocking the emergency exits
Put down reserved seating cards if required
Reserve an area for media if you have been told they are attending
Count attendees
Set up jug and glass of water for the speaker
Help with radio mics for Q&A
Thank speaker
Wait until venue is empty
Pack up and head home

AFTER THE EVENT

The biggest indicator of whether your event was a success or not is whether you met the goals you
outlined at the very beginning of the process. Did you meet your goals? If not, why not? What would you
do differently next time? Do you think the event achieved the expected goal/s and objectives?

Goals How was this achived?

For example: Build stronger relationships with
alumni

Objectives How was this achieved?

People who RSVP’d were invited to sign up to
For example: Increase email subscriptions by 10%
newsletter

Did this target audience attend? How did you

Target audience
measure this?
People who RSVP’d were invited to answer how
For example: High School students
they found out about the lecture/age bracket

Other measures
People who RSVP’d where invited to answer how
How many people attended the event?
they found out about the lecture/age bracket
What other things did you achieve?
If you were to run this lecture again, how might you
change it?

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 7

Do you have any general comments and were you satisfied with the service provided by SCAPA? You
should let us know.

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 8