Event Proposal
Explain an event’s purpose, audience and experience, then make schedule, resources, budget and approval conditions reviewable.
Use an event proposal to discuss an experience, briefing or workshop before committing resources. Begin with purpose, audience, concept and outline, then expand the schedule, site, responsibilities, budget and contingency arrangements.
Audience evidence, purpose and proposed targets, date/site/capacity conditions, experience, staffing, cost assumptions, risks and decision authority.
A reviewable event concept with schedule, budget basis, responsibilities, acceptance measures and approval gaps.
How to use it
- Identify the reviewer, decision request and reason to hold the event.
- Check audience evidence and the value of the experience.
- Define targets and denominators, then expand the outline into schedule and handoffs.
- Estimate staffing, costs and reserve, checking capacity, parallel work and unknowns.
- Set change or stop conditions and identify the approver.
- Review before delivery; record actual attendance, costs and outcomes afterward.
Keep its limits in mind
Keep targets, signups, attendance and completed tasks separate. Capacity is not an attendance forecast, and interest is not a sale. Estimates and reserve are not actual spend or approval. Confirm site, people and participant conditions before delivery. The proposal proves neither demand, causal improvement nor return; it is not a product specification or a complete safety procedure.
A reviewable task-card workshop
Original fictional E6 teaching packet: Sailbridge Workshop. Task records, dialogue, estimates and arrangements are synthetic. No event approval, recruitment or delivery.
On a small screen, scroll across the diagram to read it.
Keep the event and learning measures distinct: Twenty synthetic baseline attempts include 12 complete and 8 incomplete. Twenty seats are only a proposed capacity. The target 18/20 applies if 20 people start; record actual starters and outcomes, with absences separate.
Reconcile the plan: Five main sessions sum to 90 minutes. Two tutors each cover a10-person group in parallel. Their 2.5-hour blocks include briefing, setup and cleanup; the coordinator has a separate 3-hour estimate.
Keep budget and authority separate: Base costs 600+800+300+200=1900. Add 300 reserve for 2200 against a2400 ceiling, leaving 200 unallocated, not saved. All costs are synthetic estimates, not quotes, spend or approval.
Main activity 90 minutes excludes setup/cleanup. Base 1900+reserve 300=2200; the 200 ceiling balance is not a saving. Seats and the 18/20 target are conditional.
Next step: Confirm site, staff and authority. If the reason for a trial still needs discussion, use TAPS with the same records and explicit alternatives.
Three reasons to postpone a polished event plan
First, pause when an event is being chosen before its purpose is clear. A workshop may help investigate how people use a task card, but missing fields alone do not prove that training is the cause or that an event is the best response. Identify the decision and compare a simpler way to gather the needed evidence.
Second, stop when the audience, venue, or staffing is being treated as confirmed because the schedule looks complete. Seats describe proposed capacity, not demand or attendance. Parallel groups require people who can actually cover them. Keep availability, access, and responsibility gaps visible before making commitments.
Third, separate a feasible-looking estimate from permission to spend. Check quantities, rate bases, reserve, and exclusions. An unallocated amount below a ceiling is not a saving. If essential conditions cannot be confirmed, revise the scope or postpone rather than allowing a finished document to stand in for approval.
Choose between the reason to act, the event, dependencies, and learning
An event proposal joins the intended experience to practical delivery conditions. Other methods answer related questions without replacing the proposal. Select the one that supplies the missing decision material.
| Question and available material | Method | Output and boundary |
|---|---|---|
| An audience experience needs schedule, people and budget | Event Proposal | A reviewable delivery plan; no automatic approval or attendance. |
| The reviewer first needs the reason for considering change | TAPS | Goal, evidence, problem and options; not proof the event works. |
| Tasks depend on other tasks and scarce capacity | Gantt chart | A conditional schedule; availability still requires confirmation. |
| An authorized trial needs an observation and review plan | PDCA | A learning cycle; doing the event does not establish improvement. |
Build Sailbridge’s workshop from the complete teaching packet
The complete fictional E6 packet records twenty synthetic handoff attempts on October 12: twelve contain owner, next action, and review time; eight lack at least one field. The number of unique people and the reasons for omissions are unknown. Sailbridge proposes a free workshop on October 24, 2026, in Asia/Shanghai, for up to twenty first-time handoff leads. Venue, two tutors, demand, and approval remain unconfirmed; no recruitment or delivery has occurred.
The proposed experience lets each participant fill and explain one fictional task card, keeping real work material out of the exercise. If twenty people start, the proposed target is at least eighteen complete cards. The baseline attempts and future workshop starters are different groups; their figures cannot become a measured improvement merely by appearing in the same proposal.
The five main sessions below total ninety minutes. The two ten-person groups practise in parallel, not as two consecutive forty-minute sessions. Tutor briefing starts at 12:50, setup at 13:00, and clearing ends by 15:20, outside the main 13:30–15:00 schedule. Each tutor has a 2.5-hour block, totaling five staff-hours; the coordinator has a separate three-hour estimate.
| Time and duration | Activity | Owner and dependency |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30–13:40;10 minutes | Arrival | Coordinator; check actual arrivals separately from signups. |
| 13:40–13:55;15 minutes | Demonstration | Tutors; use the same fictional card and field definitions. |
| 13:55–14:35;40 minutes | Two parallel practice groups | One tutor per group; up to ten people each, staff unconfirmed. |
| 14:35–14:50;15 minutes | Card check | Tutors; retain complete, incomplete and unresolved records. |
| 14:50–15:00;10 minutes | Feedback | Coordinator; feedback is distinct from task performance. |
Reconcile the cash estimate without changing the rate basis
All amounts are synthetic CNY estimates, not supplier quotes or expenditure. Each tutor’s CNY400 covers the whole event including preparation; it is not an hourly rate. Twenty material sets are a quantity assumption. Confirm whether the venue and staffing conditions actually support this scope before requesting execution.
The base is CNY1900. Adding the separate CNY300 reserve gives CNY2200 against a CNY2400 ceiling, leaving CNY200 unallocated. Neither reserve nor the remaining ceiling creates spending authority. Changed quantities or scope require a revised estimate and an explicit decision.
| Line and quantity | Calculation, CNY | Status and boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Venue; one | 1 × 600 = 600 | Estimated; site and conditions pending. |
| Tutors; two | 2 × 400 = 800 | Per tutor for whole event including prep; not 5 hours × 400. |
| Materials; twenty | 20 × 15 = 300 | Capacity-based estimate; not a signup count. |
| Coordination; one | 1 × 200 = 200 | Cash estimate; three staff-hours recorded separately. |
| Reserve; separate | 300 | Base 1900 + reserve 300 = 2200; no spend or approval. |
Review permission, delivery, and learning as separate records
The fictional proposal requests a decision by October 20. Missing site or staffing conditions mean postponement; fewer than eight signups on October 22 triggers the proposed cancellation rule. These are teaching dates and rules, not evidence a decision or cancellation occurred. Confirm who can decide and how changed conditions would be communicated.
If authorized, record signups, arrivals, starters, checked cards, unresolved results, and feedback separately. Report actual complete cards as x out of n starters; keep absences outside that task denominator. If fewer than twenty start, agree the target interpretation rather than silently importing eighteen completed cards or claiming that the original condition was met.
After delivery, reconcile actual costs and staff effort against estimates, including any reserve used and additional work. Separate completing the event from understanding the card and from later workplace use. The packet supplies no spending, attendance, successful learning, or causal improvement result.
Check your work
- Audience, purpose, concept, targets and experience agree.
- Time, capacity and money can be recalculated.
- Approval, delivery and results have distinct records.
Framework references
References explain the framework and its scope; they do not validate the fictional example's results.
Put the framework to work
Copy the outline and add your question, evidence, and open questions.