Home / Non-Accredited / Administration & Office Support / Events Management Expertise: Meetings, Functions and Travel (2 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Events Management Expertise: Meetings, Functions and Travel (2 days)
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 10,326 EX VAT 3 Person R 7,594 EX VAT 10 Person R 5,537 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Events Management Expertise: Meetings, Functions and Travel (2 days)
Your administrators plan and run workshops, conferences, client functions and offsites that start on time, stay on budget and leave nothing to chance.
Team-building days, workshops, conferences, client functions, golf days and training sessions are usually organised by a PA or administrator on top of a full-time job. When the venue is wrong, the vegetarian meals never arrive, a delegate's flight is booked for the wrong day or nobody checked the venue's backup power before load-shedding, it reflects on the whole organisation. This events management course gives the people who coordinate your meetings, minor events and business travel a reliable system for getting it right.
Day one covers event planning: agreeing the brief and budget, finding a date that suits the people who matter, choosing and booking the venue, arranging catering for every dietary and religious need, and managing invitations and replies. Day two covers travel, accommodation and car hire and the paperwork behind them, delegate documentation, final confirmations, and a run sheet for the day itself.
Delegates practise on a realistic two-day offsite and leave with templates for a planning checklist, budget, attendee tracker and run sheet. The course is about coordinating the corporate events most offices run; it is an event organiser course for in-house staff, not a course in staging concerts, exhibitions or large public events.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Events and offsites that run to plan and reflect well on the organisation
- Better control of event and travel spend, with paperwork that reconciles
- Fewer last-minute crises with venues, caterers and travel bookings
- One standard way of organising events across departments
For your delegates
- A step-by-step planning checklist from brief to follow-up
- Ready-to-use templates: budget, attendee tracker and run sheet
- Confidence when negotiating with venues, caterers and travel suppliers
- A practice event planned from start to finish
What delegates will be able to do
- Agree an event brief covering purpose, audience, budget and measures of success
- Set a date, time and venue based on attendees' availability and the needs of the event
- Compare and book venues and caterers, allowing for dietary, religious and accessibility requirements
- Issue invitations, track replies and confirm arrangements with attendees in writing
- Make travel, accommodation and car hire arrangements within the organisation's travel policy
- Process travel invoices and advances and reconcile event spend against the budget
- Assemble and distribute agendas, delegate packs and joining instructions on time
- Prepare a run sheet and contingency plan and confirm final arrangements with suppliers
- Review the event afterwards and capture lessons for next time
Who should attend
Personal assistants, secretaries, administrators, office managers, in-house event planners, marketing and HR coordinators, and anyone who organises workshops, conferences, team-building days, client functions or business travel as part of their role. No previous events experience is needed.
Course outline
Day 1 – Planning the event
The coordinator's role and the event brief
- Typical office events: workshops, conferences, team-building days, client functions, golf days and training sessions
- The coordinator's role and who signs off what
- Agreeing the brief: purpose, audience, numbers, budget and success measures
- Building the planning timeline backwards from the event date
- The master planning checklist
Date, time and venue
- Offering a range of dates and collecting availability
- Choosing the date and time from the replies
- Venue criteria: location, capacity, layout, parking, access and accessibility
- Backup power, Wi-Fi and audio-visual facilities
- Site visits, provisional holds and confirming the booking
Budget, quotes and supplier contracts
- Building an event budget
- Getting comparable quotes and following your purchasing rules
- Negotiating rates, packages and inclusions
- Deposits, cancellation terms and minimum numbers
- Keeping a supplier contact sheet
Catering and hospitality
- Confirming numbers and meal times
- Dietary and religious requirements: halaal, kosher, vegetarian, vegan and allergies
- Sending the agenda to the venue and caterer so meals and breaks fit the programme
- Refreshments, water and room comfort
- Looking after VIPs and guest speakers
Invitations and attendee management
- Writing a clear invitation and joining instructions
- Tracking replies and keeping the attendee list current
- Confirming bookings to attendees in writing
- Collecting special needs and travel requirements
- Handling attendees' personal information responsibly under POPIA
Day 2 – Travel, documentation and the day itself
Travel, accommodation and car hire
- Working within the organisation's travel policy
- Booking flights, shuttles and car hire
- Choosing and booking accommodation
- Using a travel agent versus booking direct
- Itineraries and travel confirmations for each traveller
Invoices, advances and reconciliation
- Processing travel, accommodation and car hire invoices
- Arranging advances and subsistence payments for travellers
- Matching invoices to bookings and purchase orders
- Reconciling actual spend against the event budget
- Filing the paperwork for audit
Event documentation
- Agendas, programmes and speaker briefs
- Delegate packs, name tags and attendance registers
- Directions, maps and parking information
- Sending documents to attendees, the venue and caterers in good time
Final arrangements and the run sheet
- Final confirmations with the venue, caterers, transport and attendees
- Meeting room set-up: layout, equipment, stationery and signage
- Writing a run sheet with times, owners and contact numbers
- Contingency plans: no-shows, late speakers, power cuts and bad weather
On the day and after the event
- Registration and the welcome desk
- Solving problems calmly on the day
- Feedback from attendees and the event owner
- Supplier evaluation and final invoices
- Lessons learned and updating your templates
Practical exercise: plan a two-day offsite
- Working from a realistic brief in small groups
- Producing the checklist, budget, attendee tracker and run sheet
- Presenting the plan and receiving feedback
- Personal action plan and close
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20; examples can be based on the events your organisation actually runs. Workbook and planning templates included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“BOTI demonstrated professionalism, sound subject knowledge, and effective facilitation throughout the training. The programme was well organised, relevant and beneficial to our delegates.”
“All training programmes were delivered in a highly professional manner, with effective coordination and strict adherence to our scheduling requirements. The facilitators demonstrated a commendable level of expertise, and the quality of delivery consistently met our expectations.”
“The facilitator effectively encouraged participation and used practical examples, discussions and interactive activities to ensure that the concepts were understood and could be applied in the workplace.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa; we can also host it at a BOTI venue or deliver it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of about 20. Training everyone who organises events together means they leave using the same checklist and templates.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Does it cover large events such as public conferences or exhibitions?
It teaches planning principles that apply to any event, with examples up to a mid-sized conference. It is designed for administrators who organise events alongside their main job, not for professional event producers.
Can the practical exercise use one of our events?
Yes. Tell us which events you organise – strategy sessions, roadshows, year-end functions – and the facilitator builds the practical exercise around one of them.
Does it cover meetings and minute taking?
It covers booking, setting up and documenting meetings. Chairing support and minute taking are covered in depth in the three-day Executive Assistant Personal Assistant and Administrator Training Development Course.
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