The Efficient Event - California Savings Summit 2013
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The Efficient Event Find Savings with Excellent Event Management Jamie Givigliano Senior Account Manager, CA Join the Conversation www.twitter/schooldude #SavingsSummit
Approximately 98% of schools lose money on community use of their facilities. Learn how you can identify and reduce the hidden costs of campus events, while lessening the burden on your maintenance and operations team.
TRANSCRIPT
The Efficient EventFind Savings with Excellent Event Management
Jamie Givigliano
Senior Account Manager, CA
Join the Conversationwww.twitter/schooldude#SavingsSummit
Who is using your facilities?
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Pretty much everyone, right? Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Adult Leagues, Athletics, Cheerleading Clinics, Church’s, Fundraising Groups…
Event Scheduling is Complicated!
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Because you’re involved in your school’s event scheduling process, you are probably already well aware of how complicated and time consuming it can be. There are activities going on at your organization both during the school day as well as afterhours, and your facilities are being used for school-related activities, as well as community events and programs for outside groups. The public is smart and boy do they know where to find a good deal! So, requests to use your facilities are on the rise because renting from you is a heck of a lot cheaper than renting a city rec hall, hotel space, a stadium, etc. But as a result, the politics involved are overwhelming, right? Who gets first dibs? How often can one group rent? How far ahead of time can a group reserve? Do they have insurance? Have they respected the facilities in the past? Ultimately there are a million factors to think about… Call it what you want – A Catch 22, The Perfect Storm, a double-edged-sword…the challenge is that most school officials share the desire to serve the community and they do really want to allow outside users access to the facilities. In fact, in California we have something called the Civic Center Act that basically mandates school facilities be available to the public as long as they are not in use by the students themselves. So here in California we don’t even have the luxury of turning away community groups who maybe we’d prefer not to have access to the facilities because the law says we must allow them to use the space!
Who’s involved in the scheduling process?• Community Users• Custodial Staff• Maintenance Staff• Technology Staff• Food Services• Athletics• Multiple Site Contacts• District Office• Accounting
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Another part of the challenge is that the scheduling process is complicated because it involves such a large group of people – principals and site secretaries, the business office, department heads and teachers, as well as the food services, custodial, technology / AV, energy management team possibly if you’ll need to adjust your BAS system to accommodate a request, and obviously your maintenance departments. At the end of the day, the hard fact is that you have limited resources (less than ever before) to support those events.
Event Management Challenges
Recovering district costs incurred by usersRisk ManagementPoliticsWorking with outside organizationsCoordinating w/ multiple departmentsPoliticsDistributing event management responsibilitiesPolitics, Politics, Politics
Cost Recovery Study
Analysis of 1,000+ school districts, colleges and private schools, including interviewsFocused on how educational professionals are coping with
Demand for community use of school facilitiesFinancial burdens on budgets and operating staffs due to the growing use of school facilities by the communitySentiment that school facilities should be used more frequently because taxpayers and other stakeholders have invested billions in these assets
RECOVERING COSTS FOR THE COMMUNITY USE OF OUR SCHOOLS:
A White Paper Examining the Successful Implementation of Cost Recovery
Programs in our Schools.
Cost Study: Number of Events
• The sampling revealed that the average district holds 1.24 events per student per year
• Districts less than 5,000 students average .93 events per student
Cost Study: Recovering Funds
What are Your Administrative Costs?
– 10 minutes for Event Administration – receiving requests, answering questions, checking calendars for availability, getting approvals
– 10 minutes for Event Coordination – coordinating with staff to support event (custodial, energy, grounds, food service, Tech/AV, etc.), getting approvals
– 10 minutes for Invoicing – create and manage invoices / contracts– 5 minutes for BAS Overrides – coordinate energy management and
facility schedules– 5 minutes for Miscellaneous
40 minutes per event or .66 hours per event# students x average # events = total annual events 4000 x 1.24 = 4,960
events# events x hours per event = total hours spent 4,960 x .66 = 3,273 hours# hours x hourly labor rate = total cost of event hours
3,273 x $25.00 = $81,825 cost
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Now, I’m preaching to the choir, right? I mean, if you’re online with us today – you’re the ones who already get it and a lot of you are probably thinking, geez Jamie, tell me something I don’t know. Well listen closely, because I truly believe that if you can master this slide you will be speaking your boss’ language and you’ll be one step closer to getting some help with the daily challenges you face tackling your organization’s facility use nightmare. If you take a look here, we’ve made a conservative estimate that it takes 40 minutes per event to schedule a facility use request from start to finish. So 40 minutes is 2/3 or .66 of an hour. I think most of you would agree with us that 40 minutes is being extremely generous. I mean, that first one there…receiving the request, answering questions, checking for availability…that could take 40 minutes (or longer) all by itself. Also, the 1.24 events you’re seeing used here is the average number of events per student in any educational organization (regardless of size) according to SchoolDude’s community use research report where we surveyed more than 1100 organizations nationwide. Don’t forget, it’s important that you count every single event, whether it is one that was requested by your internal staff, your Athletic Dept., a teacher – you know, all of your internal requests that come in – in addition to of course the events that are being requested by your community members – girl scouts, boy scouts, pop warner, church groups, adult sports leagues, etc. So if you take a look here, if you are an organization with a student enrollment of 4,000 and you are hosting 1.24 events per student (remember, that’s the national average according to our survey) then you’re hosting 4,960 events each year. Now, if you take the number of events you are scheduling/supporting annually and you multiply it by 40 minutes (that’s our conservative estimate of how long the scheduling process takes) then what that works out to is that you’re spending 3,273 hours annually just scheduling use of facilities. Now here’s the kicker, here’s where you really grab your bosses attention and see his/her ears perk up. If you take the number of hours you’re spending doing nothing more than just scheduling the requests that are coming in and you multiply that by whatever your hourly labor rate is…here we’ve used $25/hour then that will give you an accurate picture of the administrative costs that go into scheduling your use of facilities. In this case, a 4000 student organization is spending 3,273 hours scheduling their facilities – and they have an hourly labor rate of $25/hr - which is the equivalent of $81,825 annually – just the admin. costs!!!!!
Saving Time = Saving Money
– Automate event scheduling requests and approval routing
– A single, real‐time calendar online, showing approved events and facility availability
– Automatically generate invoices to recover costs– Coordinate all departments and resources needed to support events
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So we always lead with the bad news don’t we? The number of requests by outside groups who want to utilize your buildings and fields is rising… It takes almost an hour (give or take) to schedule even just one event because of the number of people/departments involved Your staff levels are falling… You are having to wear more and more hats… And ultimately the budget that supports all these events is being cut further and further each and every day… Geez, what’s the good news??? The good news is that by embracing technology you will save a substantial amount of time booking/scheduling your events, and saving time equals saving money! Ultimately what you have to do is automate the process! What if you could manage all of your requests and approvals online? What if you had one centralized calendar where you could easily find out what is going on throughout your organization at any given time? What if there was a system that would automatically create invoices for you (based on your unique fee schedules) that you could send to your outside user groups? And what if that same system could automatically notify the other departments of what is needed from them to help support the event as well – table and chairs setup, custodial cleanup, Audio/visual requests, food services, etc. How much easier would your day be if you could streamline the entire process???
Best Practices: A Good, Better, and Best Approach
Steps to Success
1. Distribute Event Management2. Automate the Process3. Start Small and Gain Buy‐in 4. Recognize that Leadership is Key5. Build Support w/ Principals and Asst.6. Recover Your Costs7. Develop Tiered Fee Structures8. Improve Invoice Management9. Establish a Presence at the Event10. Form a Team
• Find a balance between what can be centralized and what can be distributed
• School personnel control and decide:– What areas and times are available for usage– What groups can use the facility– Schedule conflicts
• A central office controls and decides:– Rates– Billing and collections– Risk management policies
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Districts with the most successful facility scheduling programs have determined that billing and policies must be centralized. However, a method must also be created to allow decentralized decision-making regarding groups, event conflicts and ownership of the schools. The ability to empower school-level administrators, while at the same time maintaining centralized invoicing and policies, makes having both centralized and decentralized processes a necessity. This holds true for Tamalpais Union High School District. The district’s principals ultimately have control over who can use the buildings, but assistant principals and administrators in the athletic program are also involved. While decision-making is distributed to accommodate multiple layers of event management, only one person at the district serves as the go-to for invoicing and scheduling. This structure helps harness the collection of money to recover costs associated with community use. For that reason, as far as we can tell Tamalpais is probably the most successful school in the state when it comes to recovering costs for facility use. They recover almost $80 annually for their use of facilities.
Automate Processes
• Paper, spreadsheets, calendars and email are not efficient in 90+% of educational facilities
• Too many parties and processes are involved for communication, task assignments and cost recovery
• You need to avoid duplication of efforts as well as events and seal gaps in the processes
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When we asked Val Verde USD in Riverside County, what the main drivers were when they decided to move to an automated system they said: The whole process was too time consuming in general Way too many calendars / no central calendar No one knew who the "go-to" people were when they had questions or concerns about the facilities Community felt they could use facilities w/out permission Not knowing what was happening in/on/at their facilities meant that there was no support or district representation at the events Invoicing was a separate manual process in Excel
Start Small and Gain Buy‐in
• Begin with only certain types of rooms and/or certain schools
• Gain support and buy‐in from school administrators and assistants
• Let those positively affected by the changes help sell the idea to the rest of the district
• If negativity arises, address the issue to determine if there is an issue or a simple resistance to change
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As with any change, push back is inevitable because people cling to what they know. When implementing a facility use program, know that you can begin with only certain types of rooms or certain schools. This allows you to gain support and buy-in from administrators and assistants, and then let those positively affected by the changes help sell the idea to the rest of the district. Let the departments who will be involved in scheduling and supporting the events be part of the decision-making process when you evaluate options. Change is hard and you’re going to want them in your corner once you start implementing a new tool.
Recognize that leadership is KEY• All must agree to support a policy for:
– Process changes– Fee structures– Invoicing philosophy – it is cost recovery, not profit– Goal setting
• You should typically involve:– School Board– Superintendent– Facilities Department– Athletic Directors
As with any change, leadership is key and keeps any project on track. Getting everyone on the same page will ensure that you’ll have structure instead of chaos. Again, because there are so many departments involved in the scheduling and supporting of these events, it’s best to have them all involved from square one.
Build Support with Site Contacts
• Principals, Assistants, Athletic Directors
• Present and discuss with individual sites at first to have a better chance to “sell” your ideas to remaining campuses
• Give earnest consideration and heartfelt acknowledgement to complaints
• Deal with objections before they become roadblocks
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Taking the time to build support with school-level administrators is important. Their understanding of what they will gain from this change is key in garnering support for a district-wide approach to community use. Like everyone, they want to know what’s in it for them. Why should I change, I like the way things are now!? Positives include better visibility of who is in a building and when, lowered risk, improved security and less work in general. Because of the hugely increased communication you’ll have – events will be better supported overall. No last minute melt downs because the doors are locked and the AC isn’t on in the gym!!!
Recover Your Costs!
1. Administrative CostsShould you be charging an application fee?
2. Custodial ServicesAre your custodians working overtime supporting events?
3. Utility UsageEnergy Costs, Water Usage, Even Paper Products
4. Wear and tear on the facilityUse of school property after hours by outside groups accelerates the depreciation of assets.
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Ask anyone of your peers – even those who are recovering $25, $30, even $50/student annually for the use of their facilities… There are so many costs associated with facility use, you’ll never be making money off of charging your users. At the end of the day, you won’t even be breaking even…which is why you HAVE GOT TO RECOVER AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!
Develop Tiered Fee StructuresEstablish a simple fee structure:
–What type of group? (Non‐profit vs. For‐profit?)
–What type of area? (Gym vs. softball field?)
–What type of facility? (Elementary school vs. arts center?)
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Obviously this is the part of the process that will be most unique to your district. We’ve seen everything from “no charge” to “fair rental value” to “profit vs. non-profit groups.” It’s entirely up to you and your school Board what to charge for the use of your district’s facilities. If you’d like to see what others in CA are charging for the use of their facilities, I do have quite an extensive spreadsheet of districts and their fee tables. If you’d like a copy of that, please come up and see me after the presentation and I’d be happy to email you a copy of it.
Improve Invoice Management
BE CONSISTENT!
1. Provide a quote to set proper expectations
2. Follow up with an invoice that is consistent with the quote
3. Be pleasantly persistent with past‐due notices
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Some districts even have a policy that says the user has to pay for their use of the facility BEFORE they actually use it. Some have a mandatory deposit before use. And of course others are billing after the fact. Be pleasantly persistent when trying to collect fees and remember, an invoice that has not been collected is ultimately money that is taken away from the classroom.
Establish a Presence at the Event
• Custodial labor can be a huge amount of cost for overtime and weekends
• Having a custodian on‐site during events‐ Reduces damage to property and equipment‐ Protects the district‐ Ensures a smooth event‐ Provides a nice “customer service” touch
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The largest and most quantifiable costs from community event use stem from custodial labor charges. This part of the process seems to be becoming more and more difficult as districts continue to see budget cuts and reduction in staff. However, this presence is hugely important. I used to meet with a group of neighboring districts in southern CA who were trying to standardize their fee schedules so that they would be consistent in what they were charging. But, another reason they were getting together was to share information about their renters because several of them had had an adult soccer league terrorizing their fields. Each season, this group would have to find a new district to torment after they’d essentially destroyed their relationship with the last. Having a custodian onsite during hours when outside users are in your buildings or on your fields works the same way as a security camera in a store. Essentially they are there to deter you from making a bad choice. At the end of the day, having a custodian on-site during events reduces damage to property and equipment and ultimately protects the district.
Event Scheduling Listserv
Free, nationwide email listserv created by Facility Masters (www.facilitymastersonline.com)
Promotes best practices for managing educational facility use Provides a network for educational facility and event scheduling
professionals Ask questions, get answers, exchange documents and share best practices
Facility Masters has started a new listserv for anyone involved in the event scheduling process. This listserv is dedicated exclusively to sharing best practices for Event Scheduling, Community Facility Use, and Cost Recovery. All you have to do to be added to the listserv is send an email to the address at the bottom of this screen.
