Mohammad Arfeen

It's been about 8 hours since the end of the inaugural run to fun 5k that I helped to organize. The other volunteer coordinator and I have been working since November to organize this event, at the least I can say I've learned a few lessons for future events. I'm going to try and outline mistakes how the event went, and possible improvements for next year. 

We had a little over 50 runners, and managed to raise over a thousand dollars for the charity. I honestly think we could have had over 100 runners, if we had begun marketing earlier. There were issues that arose that prevented us from being able to market effectively until very late in the game. Overall we were fairly proud of the out come give our circumstances.

1. Begin working with the administration earlier- We actually didn't start working with the administration until fairly late in the game, and as a result we we were met with quite a large amount of resistance, from within the administration. We were able to eventually make concessions and work out a compromise, but it cost us valuable time, and required multiple date changes. This also prevented us from being able to market earlier.
2. Get to sponsors early- This was one aspect of organizing the plan that we were really good at, we were able to line up sponsors really early in the game for prizes, and cash donations.
3. Shut of online registration early- I wish that we had closed our online registration system earlier, that way we would have had a complete list of names before race day.
4. Order extra shirts, we didn't find ourselves short on shirts, but I wish we had either ordered shirts a little later, and ordered a few extra, so people wouldn't have to give up shirts.
5. Approach the media, I really wish that we had talked with the media and gotten the word out for the race on radio and in print.