|
Planning Tips
How many portable restrooms
will we need?
Special event organizers should refer to provided for use in determining the number of portable restrooms
needed at a special event. Factors that may skew this chart:
| a. |
Does not
allow for excessive consumption of beer that will cause the quantity
of portables to be insufficient. |
| b. |
Any available on-site
or permanently built restrooms on the event property should be considered
based upon the number of people these facilities are designed to
accommodate. |
| c. |
If event space is a
problem for a large quantity of portables, then perhaps an alternative
to reducing the number of portables is an increase in the service/cleaning
of the portables during the day of the event. If the units are serviced
twice during each day of the event, you can cut the number required
in half. |
• Get Help and Delegate!
You opened your mouth and volunteered. Or worse, someone nominated you
to head the committee and there was no way to graciously get out of it.
You have to run a fund raiser along with trying to run your own busy life.
Sit down, take a deep breath, and start making a list of all the things
that have to be done. Try to group some of this stuff and then …GET
HELP! Call everyone in the organization and don’t ask them if they
can help. Just tell them that you have all these things to be done and
then ask them which item they can take care of. Do it nicely and don’t
whine. You’ll be surprised how effective this technique can be.
Better yet, get someone who is a natural sales person to make the calls
for you! If each person only has to handle 1-2 things on the list, it
makes it much easier for everyone. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW UP. Verify everything
has been ordered, all the details have been seen to and check it off your
list. People forget and when the big day comes, it’s you they hunt
down to find out what happened!
• Serving Food or Beverages
State regulations require that portable restrooms and be setup in areas around but not immediately adjacent
to food service areas. The quantity for the portable restrooms and hand
washing facilities may be based on state, county or local regulations.
() Hand washing facilities for
these areas can not be simple hand sanitizers due to the food handling
requirements. Contact your local health department for additional information
on these requirements.
• Corporate Sponsorship
Check with local companies about providing corporate sponsorship to help
cover expenses. You can give them free advertising at your event by posting
a sign or banner such as “Portable Toilets provided by the generosity
of XYZ Company” or just post their signs around the area with “Corporate
Sponsorship provided by XYZ Company”. The larger the donation to
your event, the more signs or the larger the sign should be.
• Raffles and Auctions
When you beg for money from those corporate sponsors, you’ll often
get the reply that money is just too tight and they really can’t
afford to help out right now. Suggest they donate a product or service
that can be raffled or auctioned off. This helps you on the fund raising
efforts and still gives them an opportunity to help out and advertise
their business. Even if they just give you a gift certificate for discount
on a purchase, every little bit helps when you’re trying to raise
money. Maybe next year you can get them to donate more if they see there
was a benefit to helping out. Auctions and raffles are a great way to
get people to part with more money to benefit your cause. People who would
only donate $5 may pay $25 or $50 more to your cause if they have the
chance to get something for their money.
• Advertise
You can get free advertising for non-profit groups and fund raisers through
your local TV and radio stations, newspapers and cable providers. You
will need to contact their Public Affairs department to find out about
the options available. Suggest that your event might be a good human interest
story for them.
Check with local grocery stores, local colleges, health clubs, etc. Anywhere
that may have a public bulletin board may allow you to put up notices
about your event. Make sure you check with someone in authority before
posting your notice though.
• Adult Only or Family
Affair?
If your event is designed for families, make sure you have lots of activities
for children of all ages. A “moon jump” is great for younger
kids and don’t be surprised to see “older” kids join
in the fun. If your event is being held outdoors and in the summer heat,
consider having contests where the kids can get wet! Water balloon fights
are cheap and teams can win prizes. Or have a relay race involving a parent
and child. Music keeps everyone happy and local bands may play for free
just to have the opportunity to be seen and heard. Just try to make sure
the music will appeal to as broad a group as possible. Seniors don’t
usually care for the hard core rock and kids get bored with a polka band!
If are having an event that is “adult only”, see if you can
arrange for group child care. Request that anyone who wants to use the
service reserve a space for the child so you don’t end up with 50
kids and only 1 adult to watch them. It may also be much easier to require
that they be potty trained and/or walking age. A nominal fee is not out
of order but make sure you have a location that is child friendly, snacks
and drinks for the kids, and that the child to adult ratio is reasonable
to insure that the children will be properly looked after. Having a babysitting
service available instead of trying to locate a sitter will help to boost
the attendance for your event and give the parents a great night out.
• Permits
Any public event will usually require permits. It can seem endless and
often frustrating, but there is no way around it. If your event is held
inside city limits, you’ll have to contact your city government.
If it’s outside city limits, you have to contact the county. Have
all your information, if possible, before you start calling. You’ll
need to let them know details about the event, where it will be held,
what day(s), etc. Be patient, courteous and friendly. Ask questions. The
people you are dealing with may have some excellent suggestions and steer
you in the right direction if you have the right attitude. Start with
the Zoning department, then on to the Health department. If you want to
have the event at a public park, contact the Parks & Rec. department
for details. Make sure you know what facilities are available where ever
you have the event. (Public parks rarely have enough facilities to handle
large crowds so give us a call if we are in your area!)
• Not Enough Room?
If space is a premium at the location for your event and you need large
number of portable restrooms, consider these alternatives.
| a. |
Our air
conditioned restroom trailers can substitute for up to 30 portable
restrooms. Consider a combination of the two. A few portables placed
near the trailers allow for shorter lines, especially for those
who may have an urgent need! A few portables placed strategically
near parking areas are always appreciated as well. |
| b. |
Remember that portable
restrooms are required to be serviced once a day during a special
event. However, if you double your service you can usually cut the
number of portable restrooms in half. Get them serviced three times
in a day and you can cut it to a third. You may have to pay a premium
for the additional services but when the choice is more parking
for paying patrons or more portable toilets the additional business
could be worth the expense. |
• Thank You Notes
Make sure everyone gets a thank you note after the event acknowledging
the help on the success of your fundraiser. It’s always a nice touch
to include a Certificate of Appreciation that can be inexpensively made
on a certificate using your computer. They’ll appreciate it and
may be willing to help out again in the future.
…For private and/or
large events or for additional tips go to the next page!
|
