1. Student Groups: Key Information
Courtesy iStock.com
Guide (Physical Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 12, 2016)

2. Offices that Help Student Groups (slides for each Office follow)
COP – Professional Skills for Student Leaders
CSR – Applying for CSR funds, GAPSA funds, calendar
Bus. Affairs – handling admin funds and more
Alumni Relations – Seeking donations/external funds
Communications – Promoting your event
Facilities – Building policies
ITS – IT resources for your group
CLE – your event could offer CLE!
Admissions – bridge to prospective students
LLM Program – a quick hello
Int’l Programs – a quick hello
Director of Conferences and Events – our in-house counsel!
Student Affairs – calendaring, alcohol policy, & event protests – this is important, so please read the last few slides of this deck!

3. Center on Professionalism & CP&P
COP supports students in developing their professional skill set throughout law school
COP strives to help students master the following set of skills: Leadership, Management, Confident and Purposeful Communication, Relationship Building, Organizational Savvy, Mastery of Executive Technology Skills, Personal Productivity and Effectiveness, High-Level Strategic Thinking, & Team Dynamics
Contact CP&P EARLY when considering career receptions, and you must contact Chris Fritton when inviting judges to campus.
If you have qs on group dynamics, managing your group, etc., COP could provide counsel! Jen Leonard

4. The Nuts & Bolts: Types of Financing
Finances drive the event: plan conservatively
4 options for revenue:
Administrative Funds: there are 2 main sources of admin funding: 1.) Dean’s Speakers Fund for speaker travel/hotel reimbursement (not for food); and 2.) CP&P Student Program Funding ($500 max for career-related events, can go to food). Funds will be held in Law School Bus. Affairs Office, and Bus. Affairs can make purchases for the club. Apply for admin funding 2-3 weeks in advance.
CSR Funding – In September, CSR accepts budget requests from student groups. The deadline to submit requests to CSR is September 22. After CSR makes an allocation to a student group, students must pay for an event out-of-pocket, and then fill out a CSR reimbursement form to get a reimbursement check. Funds are NOT held in Bus. Affairs – they are held by CSR. CSR Questions? Contact CSR Treasurer Chris O’Brien (Info on club collaboration, and possible funds for this, is forthcoming.)
Donations from Firms/Orgs: always Nicole Ford in Dev’t & Alumni Relations. Nicole has a form the club can fill out to start the process. Donations should be made to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, and the donor’s checks should go to our Alumni Relations Office – NOT TO YOU. Funds will be held in Law School Bus. Affairs Office, and Bus. Affairs can make purchases for the club. Apply for donations 6-8 weeks in advance. (The U. charges a 20% tax on all donations received to cover admin costs, to increase the pool of money for faculty hires, and more. All donations made to the U. are tax deductible.)
Charging Admission for your event
Student Group Bank Accounts? No, unless your group’s had one for years, before we instituted this policy.

5. The Nuts & Bolts: Administrative (not CSR) Funding
Once you receive an ADMIN grant (from Student Affairs or CP&P) OR a donation is made for your group, all roads lead to the Business Affairs Office. Ian Semmler is the main contact.
Bus. Affairs creates a fund for the student group, and admin grants and firm/external gifts flow to this fund.
Bus. Affairs can then issue purchase orders (POs) to purchase catering services, office supplies, direct book hotel rooms, etc. Students do NOT pay out of pocket.
Bus. Affairs has access to Penn discounts (e.g. rebates at participating hotels, caterers, etc.)
There is NO honoraria (i.e. payment) for speakers (this would drain funds too quickly)
External funds are used first for expenses, followed by admin funds (if admin funds are left over, they can be released for use by other clubs)
Reminder: CSR reimbursement is DIFFERENT – it does NOT go thru Bus. Affairs, and students pay first out-of-pocket, and then get a reimbursement check FROM CSR. Only admin grants and donations go thru Bus. Affairs.

6. The Nuts & Bolts: Facilities (Golkin 102)
Joe Policarpo, Jake Mattera, and Gia Wilkins of facilities can assist with furniture arrangement, room setup, etc.
We have an online room reservation system to book space.
Please keep the classroom/hallways as tidy as you found it.  So, after your lunch event, please move trash to the bins, clean up, etc.
Expecting large crowds or large lunch orders?  Don’t keep it a surprise!  A couple days before your event, please let Facilities know your caterer, if you need extra trash bins near your classroom, and meet with Facilities if you anticipate having food that could spill, might need extra cleanup, etc.  
Leftovers to Common Areas: excess can be brought out for general consumption, but, as a courtesy, please try not to keep the excess out for longer than minutes.  (Always better to avoid potential food poisoning issues!)
Please Bring Tablecloths: put down napkins or plastic tablecloths – we don’t have any tablecloths for this use, but they really can keep spaces cleaner.
For major (3.5+ hr) events, there’s a separate protocol – consult the major event guidelines for that. For large lunch events, events late at night, etc. please let Joe Campbell know a few days in advance, so it’s on his radar.

7. The Nuts & Bolts: ITS
ITS has lots of great tools for you, like 50 GB of dropbox space, and a Qualtrics Survey system to keep RSVPs for an event. Find out about these tools here. Also note the ITS event planning page.
You can receive training on in-classroom technology. For any media questions,
If you have specific IT requests for a classroom (e.g. extra mics, speakers for music, etc.), you can and include your needs
IT techs are available for on-site service, but please only use this for large events (or if speakers are bringing their own tech to a classroom)

8. The Nuts & Bolts: Communications
What can Comms do for you?
Posters and Flyers
Conference Programs
HTML graphical invites
Social Media outreach
Assistance with press/press contacts
Photographer for the event
Posting on hallway TV screens
Make requests EARLY (3-4 weeks in advance) through Comms’ online “request new project” system
Comms does NOT have an in-house printing shop!

9. The Nuts & Bolts: CLE (Continuing Legal Ed)
CLE is available for your events – and lawyers love to get CLE credit!
Carefully Review the CLE Guidelines for Penn Events. Hagana Kim is your main contact
Submit your CLE request for approval, with your agenda attached, and do this EARLY (5-6 weeks out for major events, 3 weeks out for smaller events.)
Once program is approved, you must add CLE language to any and all publicity BEFORE you advertise your event!
Upload your publicity to the CLE calendar (Julie Colleluori can help with this)
You MUST drop off all hard copies of publicity, the agenda, and any other written materials to Hagana Kim.

10. Substantive Planning for a Group Event Don’t Forget to Consult:
Legal Scholarship/News
Faculty Advisors
International Programs (Lauren Owens is your contact –
TPIC & CP&P
LLM Program (the LLMs are a great resource!) Contact Elise Kraemer with any questions.
Admissions – prospective students could be interested in your event! (Contact Steph Thistle at
Dori Pavel Director of Conferences and Events is amazing! She can connect you with caterers, review catering quotes, provide suggestions on decorations, etc. Feel free to set up a meeting with her.

11. Student Affairs – Your Gateway
For questions, big or small, feel free to Dimitri
Alcohol at Law Events: must start in the afternoon (4pm onwards), and the group must fill out an Alcohol at Law Events Form.
Event Protests/Controversies? If you expect this, please contact Dimitri ASAP (2 weeks notice is preferred), and he can seek the presence of U.’s Open Expression Monitors AND (if needed) Penn Police, to make sure we adhere to the U.’s Open Expression Policy.
s to All Students: If your event truly is for the broad law school community, CSR can send out 1-2 all student s on your behalf. For our massive events (Law Review Symposium, Fight Night, etc.), CSR can send out 2-3 messages. Get in touch with Dimitri, and he can coordinate with CSR.
Use your Good Judgment: Want a big name speaker? Go through proper channels – we advise against ing directly or sending them a tweet. Is your classroom a mess after your event? Clean up and let Facilities/Student Affairs know. Don’t lose the judgment that got you here in the first place!

12. Student Affairs: The Three Fundamentals to Planning a Student Event
Find a TIME for your event by consulting the class schedule , Public Events Calendar , and On the Docket (and know your budget – either CSR, Admin, donations, etc. for the event)
Remember, COP has a Monday lunch hold (so, students cannot use the Monday noon time), and LPS has classes at lunch on Tues and Thurs.
Reserve a ROOM for your event, and, if you’ll be having lots of food at your event, prepare a clean-up plan with Facilities
Add your event to the Public Events Calendar

13. Here’s to a great year, and thank you for all your help!