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EVENT PLANNING
If your Center-funded project includes events, conferences or invited guests, our team is happy to assist you.
To put an event on our calendar and request a room, use the online form below. One of our team members will be in touch to confirm and share the next steps in the planning process.
Designate a host or project lead
Establish one or two people who will take the lead on your project, either for all events in a series or for each individual event. Leads should have authority to make planning and financial decisions for the group and be available by email for questions as they arise. The lead also serves as the main host of the event and the primary contact/handler for the incoming guest.
Budget
For each event, forecast what you are likely to need and how much travel support you hope to provide. Will you want refreshments? Will you host the guest at lunch and/or dinner? Do you plan to cover airfare, hotel, ground transportation, honorarium, etc? Once we know what type of service you want to offer, we can help you estimate the costs for the event.
If you will host multiple events throughout the year, you may want to establish event baselines for us to follow. For example, “Always (or never) order catering.”; “We prefer to use a particular room/time.”; or “Pay each guest a $250 honorarium.” Baselines can help streamline the event planning and keep your project on budget. You can also request periodic budget updates or other information, as much or as little as you need.
Timeline
Planning ahead helps ensure that rooms and staffing are available and that travel expenses are as low as possible. The ideal lead time for small events is 12 weeks; Conferences and symposia planning begins at least 6 months prior to the event.
View our event planning timeline
Advertising
A full audience is the perfect ‘Thank you!’ for your guest. Your group is best situated to know who the likely audience will be—and your target audience will respond best to invitations from someone they know. To help support your advertising efforts, we will post events on our website, promote them on social media, circulate events to the college and campus, and send out weekly digital newsletters to our email list. In addition to this, we encourage you to invite your graduate seminars and undergraduate classes. (Let us know ahead of time if you will require your students to attend so that we can set up extra seating as space allows.)
Invitations
Invitations to guests should outline the event details and clarify the travel expenses and/or honorarium you hope to provide in exchange for their participation.
After your guests accept the invitation, please provide an email introduction to Jessica so that she can help them start arranging their trip.
Travel planning
Our Visitors page is designed as a self-service resource for invited guests. Jessica DiFilippo, our travel coordinator, will help guide your guests through booking and planning their trip, according to your budget and their preferences.
After you have invited your guests and introduced them to Jessica, she will will share the visitors page and help the guest get started. Let her know if you would like be kept up to date on the planning progress.
Honoraria
Honoraria can be paid to invited guests and visiting UC faculty. Honoraria are not required. Some groups choose not to pay honoraria, while others always offer payment. Where payments are preferred, the Center suggests modest amounts in the range of $200-$500, depending on seniority and expertise. The campus policy limit is $1500; exceptional approval is required for amounts up to $3000. Jessica will collect tax forms or campus payroll information from guests who will receive payment.
Depending on visa status, foreign guests or visiting international scholars may be paid according to tax treaty of their country of citizenship. Additional forms and documentation are required. Some visas restrict or prohibit payment altogether.
With certain exceptions (conferences and panels), UCR faculty cannot be paid for lectures and talks on their own campus.
Ready to begin organizing your event?
Once your calendar request to reserve the date has been approved, please fill out our event support form to give us further event details.
The Event Support Form covers:
Catering
If you would like to provide refreshments or meals at your event, there are several options:
- You can purchase food & beverages yourself and request reimbursement.
Renee can order catering from a campus vendor like CRATE (informal presentation, smaller menu, budget friendly) or Citrus Grove (full presentation, wider variety, higher costs). - Renee can order catering from an off-campus vendor or restaurant. Payment methods vary for off-campus vendors. If the supplier does not accept UCT purchase orders, you will be asked to cover the expense up front and be reimbursed after the event.
- If you take your guest speaker to dinner, we can reimburse you for the expense (excluding alcohol and up to the campus per-person meal limits.)
Alcohol
There are special policy considerations when you plan to serve alcohol at an event. Except for invitation-only events, alcohol permits are required from the office of Risk Management. Certified & licensed servers are required at public events and incur additional fees. In most cases, CIS project funds cannot cover alcohol expenses.
Guests, Travel and Advertising
See the tabs above for more information on these categories.
UCR faculty, students and staff use this form to submit claims for locally hosted meals or event refreshments and supplies for Center-funded projects.
Expense claims are reimbursed according to project budget and prior approval.
Names of guests and their business/university affiliation are required for all meal and entertainment claims.
Note: The claim form can also be used for repayment of certain pre-approved research expenses.
Receipts
- Receipts for expenses under $75 are generally not required.
If required receipts are missing, please explain the circumstances. We may ask for additional documentation, such as screen shots of bank charges. - Original, itemized receipts for expenses over $75 should include method of payment and gratuity.
- If original receipts will be sent through campus mail, we advise that you make a copy for your records in case the mail is misdirected or lost. Otherwise, you may deliver receipts in person to Center offices.
- To speed up processing, scans of receipts can be attached directly to the online form.
- NOTE: We request documentation/receipts for expenses that include alcohol, even if the alcohol expense will be deducted from the total.
Payment
Payment is delivered via your established UCR payment method (direct deposit, paper check, etc.).
Not finding what you need?
Contact our Events Manager, Renee DeGuire, for more information.