This page is designed by the Office of Commencement and Academic Events to assist faculty and staff in bringing external speakers, conferences, and performers to campus. For immediate questions, contact Carrie Greene, Director of Commencement and Academic Events, 413-597-2347 (o); 413-884-5965 (C)
Students planning events should refer to the Office of Student Life event planning site.
In an effort to prioritize people’s health and safety, we ask that you limit your audience for public events to students, faculty, and staff or hold public events virtually at this time. (8/30/21) If you would like to invite virtual speakers to your class or host a virtual public event, please follow the same contract guidelines below. Virtual Event Contract Template 2022-2023. For location, write: Remote Zoom event hosted by Purchaser. Given how easy it is to record a Zoom Event, you might try requesting permission to post the event online for a period of time after the event. If permission is restricted archival viewing, you can try requesting one week limited access to the video on Panopto (Williams community authentication required). For permission to post a recording online and make available to the public, please use this Speaker Release Form.
When scheduling an in-person event, you are advised to include a clause on COVID-19 Protocols. [Performer/Speaker] agrees to comply at all times with the College's then-current COVID-19 protocols, which may require wearing a mask when inside buildings on the College's campus. [Performer/Speaker] may be asked to sign a document attesting to their vaccination status. If the College's protocols change such that visitors are no longer allowed on campus, [Performer/Speaker] and College agree to work together in good faith in an attempt to reschedule [Performer's/Speaker's] visit to campus or to hold the [performance/event] remotely. If the parties are unable to agree on rescheduling the visit or holding the [performance/event] remotely, either party may elect to terminate this agreement. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained elsewhere in this agreement, if either party terminates this agreement pursuant to this paragraph, any amounts paid by the College to [Performer/Speaker] shall be promptly refunded." Here is an Event Contract Template for 2022-23 that you can use. See Contracts section below for more information.
It is best to work with someone familiar with event production when planning the logistics for your event. Some events require staffing, work orders, special set-ups, AV support, and overall logistical coordination at the time of the event itself. If you do not have an office administrator who is familiar with contracts and event production, please contact Carrie Greene in the Office of Commencement and Academic Events. You can also submit this form to request assistance with your events.
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Before finalizing your event date, please consult the Public Events Calendar to avoid conflicts with events that may be of interest to the same audience. You can also subscribe to the Public Events Newsletter so you don't miss out on events you may want to attend!
Add the Campus Events Planning Calendar as a layer to your Google Calendar. This will help you to see what events are being planned but may not yet be up on the Public Calendar. And if you are planning an event, please post it here so others know!
You can also add a College Events Layer to your Google Calendar to see both public and campus-only events.
Once you have contacted your speaker/performer, do not settle on a date until you know the date works with other campus events and the desired venue is available. Most venues can be booked via the Room Scheduler (EMS). Your EMS login is the same as your Google Mail login.On this site, you will also find a list of venues with alternative booking contacts. In addition to this list, all ’62 Center venues must be booked through Nate Wiessner, Operations Manager of the ’62 Center. If you’re in EMS and not sure what to do or how to use it, you can contact Ivy Rodriguez or Mike Bodnarik in the Office of Student Life, and they will walk you through it. Some factors to consider when booking a venue: What venues are available? Do you expect to draw a broad audience or one that is more limited to a particular discipline? (It is usually better to be conservative in estimating audience size to avoid having a small group of people in a large venue.) Are there potential Campus Safety and Security issues? If you are unsure on this latter point, please consult with the office of Communications or Campus Safety prior to booking a venue in order to ensure a safe environment for speakers and guests. If you are still unsure of the venue size needed for your event, you might try consulting with department administrators and faculty colleagues with event experience. You can also contact the Commencement and Academic Events Office for guidance. Prior to booking your event, you must secure funding to cover the costs. Sources of funding include relevant department, program, committee, and center chairs. There are certain endowed funds managed by faculty holding special appointments as well. As appropriate, you may be able to apply to the Lecture Committee, the Davis Center, the Gaudino or Schumann fellows, and/or the Dively Committee for funding as well. Do not assume you have contributions without confirming with the managers of specific funds. Please note that the Dean of the Faculty’s office typically does not contribute extra funding for events, as they have incorporated event funding into most department and program budgets already. The money remaining there is reserved primarily to support faculty scholarship. For information and guidance on honoraria, please follow this link. Williams login required. If you are paying a speaker honorarium $600 and above, please issue a contract. Some speaker agencies will provide their own contracts. These documents should be reviewed by legal counsel before they are signed to make sure they to do not include inappropriate terms of indemnification and that they don’t conflict with college rules. The better course of action is to use the Williams contract (template below). Faculty members are not generally authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the college. This includes contracts for speakers and performers. Such authorization is delegated to a limited number of administrators on campus by a senior staff member. If you are an administrator and you are charged with signing contracts by your department, please make sure you are authorized by the senior staff member to whom your unit reports. All such authorization must be in writing. If you sign contracts without such authorization, you may be personally liable for the costs and conditions of the contract. If you are not authorized, you can fill out this in-person Contract Template and send to Carrie Greene for review. Carrie will also assist in writing your contracts as needed.' For permission to post a recording online and make available to the public, please use this Speaker Release Form. If you are planning a concert (and are not working through the Music Department or the '62 Center), please consult with Mike Bodnarik on the contract and the Concert Rider. Honorarium/Speaker Fee - all speaker fees and expenses should be agreed to prior to the event. (See speaker contract section.) Speaker Performer withholding The Massachusetts Department of Revenue requires the college to withhold and submit speaker/performer tax for any honorarium amount above $10,000. More information. The Mass Income Tax rate for 2020 is 5.00%. For guidance on how to submit withholding, please contact Jaime Campbell in the Controller's Office. Charitable Contributions Occasionally, speakers prefer to donate their honorarium to a charitable organization in lieu of payment. Please submit this form, along with the speaker contract, when processing the request for payment to the preferred organization. There are multiple ways to publicize your event. You should use as many as possible and not rely on one option. In the early stages of booking your event (even if you only have the date), please list it on the Campus Events Planning Calendar so others know it is happening. (Contact Carrie Greene for access.) Once you set a date, time, venue, and description, post the event on the Public Events Calendar. You can submit a Daily Message at the same time you submit your event listing. For guidance on the process, please contact Noelle Lemoine in Communications. If your event is in a venue with a capacity of 100 or above, the Communications Office will run a News Release upon request. Use social media and invite constituents to attend. Use relevant student department list serves and invite people directly! For additional information about publicizing your events, see the Office of Communications website. The Office of Commencement and Academic Events is providing a campus event postering service for academic units. If you would like to use this service please fill out the poster service request form. There is no charge for this service. When you have posters in hand you should deliver fifty posters to Hopkins Hall, Room 108 at least 10 days prior to the date of your event. Posters can be vertical or horizontal but should be 8.5" x 11" (or smaller) in size. Large posters are difficult for students to carry and difficult to place on bulletin boards. We will do our best to have your posters hung at least 7 days prior to the date of your event. Posters will only be hung in specified locations. Additional postings should be managed by departments. Off-campus postering is not included with this service. Posters must clearly indicate the name and email for the person or group responsible for the posters. Please be sure to include this information on any posters you create before delivering them to us. If you have any questions please email Veronica Bosley at: [email protected] Carrie Greene, Director of Commencement and Academic Events, 413-597-2347 (o); 413-884-5965 (C) Carrie Racine, Commencement and Academic Events Assistant, 413-597-4342 For information on College Marshal's Office events organized by the staff in this office, see the links below. Best wishes for a successful event on campus! “Williams College is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community where members from all backgrounds can live, learn, and thrive in a context that robustly supports both inclusion and open inquiry. When planning events (speakers, artists, performers, exhibits) we ask that you think carefully about the goals, format, and framing of your event and its relationship to the Williams community and its educational mission and values.” ~Ad Hoc Committee on Inquiry and Inclusion Report
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