Event Planning Guidance

It is the responsibility of the event organiser to ensure that guests provides mobility requirements in advance so that the University can endeavour to cater for access requirement on request.

Further information on the University’s Health and Safety policies can be found on the portal but the following maybe of use:

Hearing loops – Some venues are fitted with infrared hearing support systems on T. Should you receive a request for a hearing loop, or if you need general advice on this matter, contact the IT Service Desk on 01522 886500 or via email IT Services Desk.

Wheelchair access and parking spaces – should you have any visitors coming to an event with disabilities/access requirements please email the Estates Support Desk to request parking from the Security Supervisor.

Outside of term time (July to early September), should you require accommodation on campus for guests then we have a range of en-suite accommodation available at B&B rate. Please contact the Accommodation Office to check availability and pricing. If you are organising a conference or large event then this booking needs to come through the Commercial Services Office to ensure that the University can host this in addition to other events planned on campus to ensure levels of service are high and that there are no clashes. Please email us on conferences@lincoln.ac.uk.

The University also has a list of local accommodation providers for when University accommodation is not available. We are able to get preferred rates with a number of local hotels due to good relations.

AV support is booked directly through the IT support desk. Please note that for dedicated AV support for your event including room checks and set up there is a fee to ensure that a technician is with you, otherwise your request will be placed with in a priority based system and responded to as a matter of course.

Official hours for AV staff are 8.30am-6.00pm, Monday-Thursday. Friday is 8.30am – 4.30pm. If you require AV support for your event outside these times there is usually an overtime charge.

To discuss support including lecture recording, please contact the IT Service Desk on 01522 886500 or via email IT Service Desk.

FoodLinc Hospitality provide catering for internal events. They offer catering for meetings, drinks receptions, lunches and bespoke menus for one off events. Their menu is available here, please be aware that all booking’s need a minimum of 24 hours’ notice and minimum order numbers are 6 people.

A catering proforma needs to be completed including a project code and submitted to FoodLinc.

• Alcohol – The sale of alcohol is strictly prohibited unless it has been booked through the University’s Catering team and is sold and distributed at the event through them. Please be aware that not all University buildings are licenced so contact FoodLinc for details. You must declare if you are intending to allow guests to bring alcohol onto campus, if so you will be advised of the licencing around this. Note, that glass may not be permitted in some locations and the event organiser is responsible for additional security and the clearing up any debris and mess. If your event plan falls outside of the University’s licencing policy then the University can, on occasion, apply for a Temporary Event Notice from the Licence Team at City of Lincoln Council (£21 – Minimum of 10 days notice).

Please note the University, LPAC and Students’ Union all have separate Licencing Policies and each Designated Premises Supervisor reserves the right to put in their own controls to ensure that their licence is not rebuked.   

• External Caterers Policy – The University does not readily permit external caterers on site unless the University’s hospitality team are unable to supply catering for your event. Permission must be sought and copies of the caterer’s documentation provided for approval by the University Catering Manager, Chris Whaley.
• Use of Food Vans – Again, this is not permitted on campus unless prior approval is given by Commercial Services and or the University Catering Manager.

Please be aware that as the Event Organiser, you are responsible for any third party being compliant with EHO, Licencing and Health and Safety legislation. Documentation must be provided by the third party and checked in advance and on the day checks must be made to ensure compliance. This includes the storage of fuel and waste disposal. Failure to do so, can result in death or injury and the University must comply with legislation at all times.

The Commercial Services Office provide on-campus conference/ event coordination with a dedicated Event Manager to assist you in organising your conference or event. This is a chargeable service and worked out an a bespoke basis as every event is different but the team are happy to advise in the first instance and take it from there. Please email us on conferences@lincoln.ac.uk or by calling 01522 886905.

For advice on cleaning services, including event preparation and event tidy up, contact the Estates Support Desk and the Facilities Manager to ensure that your event is appropriately resourced.

Please note the use of drones and/similar equipment is strictly controlled. Please contact the Press Office to ensure you have the correct permissions in place and that you adhere to the University’s Drone Policy. In addition, due to the University’s location, at times we may need to adhere to additional restrictions set by the Military of Defence.

Event Organisers must ensure that they have appropriate insurance cover for their event. Please contact the University’s Insurance Team via Finance in the first instance to check our Public Liability covers your event. If you are arranging an event for a third party, the event falls under their insurance not the University’s.

Information on all the University’s Health & Safety policies can be found on the Portal.

As part of your Event Safety Plan you must put in place suitable and sufficient arrangements to ensure that risks posed to the health and safety of anyone working or attending the event(s) held at the University, are appropriately managed and controlled. As a University we have a duty of care and are legally required to adhere to the relevant legislation in respect to: health and safety, the sale and consumption of alcohol and food, the environment, nuisance and the maintenance of public order.

• RISK ASSESSMENT – Risk assessments are needed for all events. This is a requirement by law. When organising an event, the event organiser must ensure that all hazards associated with an event have been identified, as far as is reasonably practicable and minimised. This Risk Assessment should be signed off by the relevant responsible person, fully accessible and shared with anyone who may be affected, e.g. Security where the risk assessment requires personnel to respond.
• FIRE SAFETY PLAN – Please ensure that you have a Fire Evacuation Plan in place for your event, with clear responsibilities for those working the event. It should detail evacuation plans, how to raise an alarm, contact details for the Event Organiser, Health and Safety, Security. This should be covered in your pre-event briefing too.
• FIRST AID – Similarly, you must have plans to provide emergency first aid as part of your event, with these responsibilities know to those involved. It is not appropriate to rely on the pool of University First Aiders, particularly if the event is out of hours and/or attendance is high. Advise should be sought from Professional Service Leads as adherence to Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 requires adequate and appropriate access to first aid for those injured or taken ill.

Help with completing a Risk Assessment including templates can be found within the portal pages on the above link.

If you would like advice on risk assessments, fire evacuation or first aid requirements please speak to Health and Safety by calling 01522 886956 or the Commercial Services Office on 01522 886905 who can offer advice on this.

The University’s Incident Management Team will seek to detect, prevent, minimise and where necessary deal with the impact of incidents or disruptive events allowing the University to continue business as normal as quickly as possible. If at any time, your event causes concern or an incident occurs that risks safety or life you must raise this immediately to IMT.

You should have a set communications plan in which appropriate members of the University are notified quickly and efficiently so that incidents can be dealt with. If in doubt, please contact Security who will contact the duty IMT lead from SLT and they will advise accordingly.

Often with events, it’s the seating arrangement that can make all the difference, here are standard layout options for spaces which are often used:

Maps and directions for visitors to the University can be found at: www.lincoln.ac.uk/maps

Temporary event structures such as marquees, gazebos, inflatable equipment etc must be approved by Estates, Health and Safety and Commercial Services to ensure appropriate permission and safety precautions are put in place.

Without approval and appropriate planning erection is strictly prohibited. Failure to do so, could result in death or loss of vital University services.

• Any temporary structure must be compliant with MUTA and/or Construction Design Management Regs 2015 and must be signed off with the contractor and University Event Organiser prior to the event.
• Documentation must be sort and approved prior to build; this includes a Methods Statement.
• Building Strike Phase – There is an expectation that a competent member of University staff will be onsite with any contractor at all times to ensure adherence to local and national H & S regulations.
• In addition the Event Organiser must sign off the structure for safety prior to the event, complete checks during and following the event to ensure compliance is met.

If the Event Organiser is not confident in these regulations, it is advisable that the support of Health and Safety is sought in this sign-off.

In addition, ground scanning should be undertaken by the contractor as part of the contract hire with a view that the structure must be weighted or staked into the ground. If a contractor is not being used, it falls to the Event Organiser. A permit to dig and contractor inductions must be arranged (with more than 5 working days notice) via the Estates department. Consideration should also be given to wind direction, avoiding south westerly winds.

As part of the Event Safety Plan, Event Organisers should monitor the weather conditions before and during the event and are advised that they should have a Wind Management Plan in place. This should detail that if wind speeds are predicted above 25mph or gusts over 35mph that such equipment should not be erected or should be taken down.

It is advised that you allow ample time for set up and pack down of these structures, reputable contractors are used, and any damages to University property by the structure or from installation are rectified as soon as practically possible. Costs are the liability of the Event Organiser.

Communications, Development and Marketing can give you advice on marketing, communication and branding for your event.

The PR Team are responsible for the University’s media relations and will be able to advise you on communicating your event to the media in accordance with the University’s policies and vision.

• FREE PROMOTIONAL TOOLS – Local events listings such as Eventbrite and Visit Lincoln are great ways to promote your event and are free. You can also request that we publicise your event on the University’s main social media channels. Please email socialmedia@lincoln.ac.uk with details. The Social Media Team will be able to advise you on communicating your event using social media in accordance with the University’s policies and vision.
• INTERNAL COMMS – Using StaffNews /StudentNews / Blackboard are great ways to promote your events. You can submit events and news articles at any time as long as you are logged into a University account on the network. You can also submit email messages to go out the whole University, or selected groups of staff/students. The PR are responsible for this communication method and will be able to advise you on communicating your event appropriately internally.
• PHOTOGRAPHY – The University’s Content Team have an Image Bank which has free, downloadable images for use on your event publicity and website.  As well as an approved list of photographers to book for your event.
• PRINT AND DESIGN (brochures, posters, flyers etc) – If you would like any printed content creating for your event please contact CDM in the first instance or your College Marketing Team.
• Ruddocks are the preferred external design agency for the University of Lincoln where resourcing is not available internally. They offer a full design and print production.
• PUBLICISING YOUR EVENT – If your event is open to the public it can be included on the University Events Listing page. Please email both events@lincoln.ac.uk and publications@lincoln.ac.uk for approval, once your event has been approved you will need to supply web copy and images for your event as well as details about how to book.
• SOCIAL MEDIA – You can request that we publicise your event on the University’s main social media channels. Please email socialmedia@lincoln.ac.uk with details. The Social Media Team will be able to advise you on communicating your event using social media in accordance with the University’s policies and vision.

Twitter University’s Twitter

Facebook University’s Facebook page.

Instagram University’s Instagram page.

CDM have a number of ways that they can promote your event to audiences including the University Events Mailing List/ Schools and Colleges/ Alumni / Governors if you would like to discuss additional promotion to specific groups please contact the Events Office in the first instance. The Events Office will be able to advise you in accordance with the University’s policies and vision regarding the promotion of events.

If your event is being held at a third party venue, as an event organiser it is your responsibility to ensure that the venue is reputable and provides a safe and responsible environment for your event. Seek appropriate documentation such as Risk Assessments, Public Liability but also supply your own Risk Assessment for the event. As a University employee you must still adopt the University’s guidance on event management whilst using other venues to ensure adherence to relevant legislation, the University’s reputation is not damaged and activities support the strategic aims of the University.

The University of Lincoln offers permit parking to all staff and a limited amount of pre-bookable visitor parking offered on a first come, first served basis. If you require parking for visitors on campus, please use the Estates Website for more information and to book. Please be aware of the following:

• Staff can book up to 5 spaces for visitors per ad-hoc occasion, dependant on availability (min 48hr notice).
• You will be required to supply a car registration number, name of visitor, length of stay and who they are seeing.
• As of Autumn 2023, the University has introduced the parking app “RingGo” as well as an external parking enforcement company who deploy operators to campus who will issue parking penalty notices including fines to anyone found in breach of the University’s parking policy.
• For larger and/or strategic events endorsement from your PVC/ Director will be needed in addition to endorsement from the Director of Estates / nominated delegate if you require more than 5 spaces or wish to offer free parking.
• During evenings and weekends, visitors to campus will be able to use the parking app, “RingGo” for pay and display parking. They will need a smartphone for the add and the parking location code found on the parking signage on campus to complete the parking purchase.
• If you wish to offer parking and the University cannot provide this, some city providers may negotiate a parking rate and/set number of spaces for you to pass on the benefit to your guests. St Marks, for example have previously offered a £6 day rate for event attendees and the NCP High Street sometimes offer a discounted rate too.

submitted via Planon within the Estates Service Desk with a minimum of 7 days’ notice. Please ensure that you provide the following details:

• A full layout plan (Please speak to Space Management if you are planning large scale room/furniture moves)
• Identified set up and re-set times (Please allow time for this within your room bookings and event plan)
• Identify and book rooms for additional furniture/ storage where needed. Please keep them as close as possible to your event

Services are allocated based on prioritisation basis, therefore it is vital that you ensure that your request is given a minimum of 7 days in advance where practically possible. Where core University business requires porterage such as Enrolment/ Exams/ Graduation/ Recruitment Events porterage services may be limited.

The University has no general store of poster or display boards, some academic schools have their own supplies but due to cost and damage loans are on a case by case basis. We recommend that you hire poster boards from a local furniture supplies company BE Event Hire who are a trusted supplier of Commercial Services.

We would recommend that prior to your event that you check the TECH requirements of your speaker(s) and work with AV to make sure that the University can support what is needed. Video content and sound should be checked in advance. In order to give a presentation using a University PC a guest account will need to be made by IT, please contact the Helpdesk in the first instance on IT@lincoln.ac.uk

We would recommend that prior to your event that you check the TECH requirements of your speaker(s) and work with AV to make sure that the University can support what is needed. Video content and sound should be checked in advance. In order to give a presentation using a University PC a guest account will need to be made by IT, please contact the Helpdesk in the first instance on IT@lincoln.ac.uk

Please see Health and Safety

When planning a large event on campus, please consider other events in the city and on campus that may have a wider impact on congestion within the city. Where possible, please provide your guests with public transport options and advise that parking on campus is limited and not guaranteed.

On campus road closures are at the discretion of Estates and will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances.

In addition, you should notify Lincolnshire County Council Highways Department to ensure the roads to your event, or on which your event takes place, are not already booked for other events or essential maintenance:

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/traffic-management/registerevent-affecting-highway

Responsible for 24/7 Security assistance on campus including building access. Further information visit Security Services, please note most buildings are accessed by swipe cards out of hours so access outside of normal University hours will need to be approved via the Estates Support Desk.

When setting up for any event you must ensure that you have booked out the venue to allow sufficient time for set up. Never book a room from the time the event starts! Set up time allows for things like, room layout, catering, audio visual checks, risk assessment checks, exhibitions etc. This will ensure that everything is ready in good time before your guests arrive.

In line with English law, all University premises, property and vehicles are no smoking. If you must smoke, do so well outside the building – not next to the front or side doors, please ensure that during your event that anyone wearing branded university clothing covers this whilst smoking.

In the event that you require space on campus to be changed for your event, you must submit a request to the Space Planning Team within Estates for approval to ensure you meet accessibility and comfort requirements for space. The team will be able to identify the best use of space and alternative spaces if your requirements do not fit with your first choice. To help, floorplans are available on the Estates portal of all spaces on campus.

An example of this is using an atrium space for an exhibition or if you wish to convert a seminar room into a long term event storage space. Some requests will need to go to the Space Change Request Group if there is an impact on University teaching space or resourcing.

Should you require any help or guidance from the Commercial Services Office we would be more than happy to do so. We are also happy to meet 1-1 if you need to go through your event. Please contact us via conferences@lincoln.ac.uk, explaining the basics of your event and we will come back to you to discuss your event.

Tablecloths are useful to brand event exhibitions or if you are using tables for registration, book signings, or displays for example. The Events Office can assist you should you wish to purchase any for your events through a preferred supplier or borrow a University branded one. They also have event equipment such as flags, grey bases, lecterns and other items that can help make your event look professional. To find out more, they can be contacted at events@lincoln.ac.uk

Maps and travel advice can be found at: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/maps

Branded umbrellas are useful at events particularly if your guests/VIPs are having to walk between venues on campus during inclement weather. Should you wish to make an enquiry as to how to purchase umbrellas, the Sports Centre who can assist you and can be contacted via extn. 5275.

They also have a great range of University branded merchandise including stationery and clothing which can be bought for guests or key speakers.

The Room Booking System gives detailed information on the facilities available in each bookable room. Please be aware that all space on campus is chargeable if your activity falls outside of teaching or core University business. The is core to the University’s strategic aim of income diversification and generation. The rates are minimal and competitive with local rates.

For further advice on what sort of venue to book for your event, contact the Commercial Services Office.

For specific enquiries regarding a particular venue/room email roombookings@lincoln.ac.uk or call 01522 886959.

Contact a member of the Events Team for help and advice on hosting VIPs

Event Organisers are responsible for ensuring any waste produced by their event is cleared away and disposed of appropriately and that, wherever possible, recycling facilities are used. The Event Organiser must check the area has been fully closed down post-event, leaving the area as it was found. For extra bins and advise on sustainability matters, please contact Tracey Turton in Estates.

The University provides free wireless access across the University for both staff and students via Edu-roam. For visitors, there is a Visitor WIFI Network which is accessible by creating an account whilst on campus, however if you have visitors who are staying overnight, need confirmed access to WIFI or have an Apple device we would recommend that you set up a personal WIFI account for the duration of their time on campus.

https://ict.lincoln.ac.uk/2017/09/12/how-to-wifi-access/