Event Planning

Texas A&M University takes a holistic approach to risk management. We think of risks in five categories: physical, reputational, emotional, financial, and facilities (PREFF). This is helpful for event planning but can also be used to proactively plan for the organization’s overall well-being. Let’s define them:

• Physical risks – Involve any minor or major injuries to the physical body of anyone at your event or initiative. This also includes how things like food, alcohol, dangerous environmental conditions, etc. can cause harm or injury. So keep it safe, Ags!
• Reputational risks – Apply to the reputation of the participants or attendees, individual advisors and members present, the reputation of the student organization, or the reputation of Texas A&M University as a whole.
• Emotional risks – Involve the potential for your event to produce strong emotions or psychological impact in those interacting with your event, such as feelings of fear, humiliation, offense, exclusivity, etc.
• Financial risks – Involves both the budgets for your organization’s specific events and the overall financial health of your student organization.
• Facilities risks – Includes the safety and maintenance of the facilities used by organization members and participants.

The Get Involved Event Form is a tool for organizations to use for planning out their events. It will ask you basic questions and information about your organization’s event to ensure you are thinking about all the necessary details. For all our student leaders and advisors, we have developed training materials to help you through this process. You can check out here for the Get Involved Event Form Guide or you can find this training module in the Get Involved Training Center: visit getinvolved.tamu.edu, log in with your Net ID and password, select “Dashboard” in the upper-right corner, and navigate to the Training Center. Select the Utilizing the Get Involved Event Planning Form module from the list of all available modules.

Nearly all of our student organizations travel at some point in their existence. Some do it all the time, others only occasionally. No matter how often you travel, the procedures are going to be the same IF you are traveling on behalf of your organization and you are going 25 miles or more away from campus. Don’t worry, Student Rules have you covered:

• Complete and submit a Travel Information Form at least 48 hours before your group departs. You’ll need the names, UIN’s, and emergency contact information of all participants traveling with your organization. The university will use this information to assist in an emergency situation, so it’s really important that we have a correct and up-to-date list of your participants and your travel plans.
• For international travel, you will be required to complete additional steps with Education Abroad by their deadlines, which are outlined here.
• Have each traveling participant sign a waiver form that says they understand and accept the risks associated with the travel activity. We recommend you use the standard waiver form but be sure to modify the form by adding information about your specific activities in the Indemnity Clause section.

It’s a pretty safe bet that students like food, especially the free kind. Food can make an event awesome, so by all means, serve it up. But remember, there are some requirements that Texas A&M has put in place to make sure you serve it correctly. For starters, you can serve food internally (to members of your organization) with no forms or permits. However, if people from outside the organization will be chowing down, then make sure to follow these steps:

• Submit a Food Distribution Form to the TAMU Office of Environmental Health & Safety if you will be preparing and serving meat products, dairy products, or fruits and veggies, and make sure you turn it in at least 7 business days prior to your event.
  • If you’re using a caterer, submit the Food Distribution Using Caterers Form, and of course, make sure you use a caterer who has all of their health permits and food handling procedures in place.
• Submit a Concessions Permit to Student Activities if you will be selling food on campus.
• Be prepared to obtain a Temporary Food Service Permit from the Brazos County Health Department if Environmental Health & Safety determines that one is needed.

Food is fun, but will require some advanced planning on your part.

Texas A&M University contracts with Levy Restaurants for the operation of concession stands in its athletic venues. Levy frequently recruits Texas A&M recognized student organizations and other community organizations to work in these concession stands in exchange for a monetary donation.

If interested in this fundraising opportunity, contact Levy Concessions directly. Pay special attention to the contractual agreement with Levy, as it will detail potential risks to the organization, the formula for the monetary donation, and penalties for missing inventory/uniforms/etc.

As part of the contractual agreement with Levy, student organizations will agree to secure special event insurance coverage for all individuals working. To secure special event insurance coverage for concession stands, submit a Get Involved Event Form and include your completed Levy contract. Next, complete the Special Event Insurance Request eForm (link provided after Event Form submission).

Legal language can be hard to interpret which is why it’s important to let your advisor and the Student Activities staff review any contracts before you agree to them. Most speakers, performers, facility rentals, and catering services will probably ask you to put your agreement in writing, and voila, you have a contract. Remember that these are legally binding once you’ve signed the dotted line.

Regardless of the format, most contracts are going to have standard components that are meant to protect each of the parties involved. Here’s what you’ll usually find:

• A description of the parties in the contract, the date of the contract and of the event, and a general overview of the goods or service being contracted.
• A statement of the contract duration, clarifying how long the document will be valid.
• A specific description of each party’s obligations and responsibilities as a result of the contract.
• Any relevant operative provisions, such as applicable warranties or exclusions. Often, this section will appear as a disclaimer or other limiting language that may give one party advantage over the other.
• A list of enforcement provisions to cover any “what if” situations, such as a party failing to fulfill its obligations, dispute resolution plans, unforeseen circumstances affecting the terms of the contract, etc.
• A closing section that indicates the agreement of both parties to the terms of the contract.
• You may see an indemnification clause that says one party will be compensated for any damaged caused by another party. There may also be a hold harmless clause that says one party cannot sue the other party or hold it liable for losses.

PLEASE NOTE: It is not recommended that student organizations agree to indemnify or hold harmless another party. To do so would not be in your best interest. If the other party does not agree to remove this language from their contract, then include the following preface to the original language: “To the extent permitted by the laws and constitution of the State of Texas…”

One of the most important things to remember is that student organizations are NOT employees or designated representatives of the university, meaning, you can’t commit the university to a contractual agreement. Some third parties have a hard time understanding this, so we ask that you make it clear for them by including this statement somewhere in your contract: “(Name of Organization) is a recognized student organization at Texas A&M and cannot represent the university or contractually obligate the university to any agreement.”

Per Student Rule 42, all contracts for recognized student organizations must be reviewed by their advisor.

Student Activities has developed training materials to help advisors know what to look for when reviewing contracts! Advisors can find this training module in the Get Involved Training Center: visit getinvolved.tamu.edu, log in with your Net ID and password, select “Dashboard” in the upper-right corner, and navigate to the Training Center. Select the Reviewing Contacts for Advisors module from the list of all available modules.

The Department of Student Activities does also offer courtesy contract reviews as a resource. Contract reviews can take up to 4-6 weeks for a proper review, so be sure to plan ahead if you’d like to utilize this resource.