ANNUAL DINNER Resources
BISMILLAH
Night of Unity & Reflection
CW2024 Annual Dinner
We need to we incorporate this years theme & also be cognisant of the atrocities around the globe.
Ultimately we need to bolster our vision & niche, whilst remaining thoughtful with the Annual Dinner.
Yes. This plan ensures we can achieve our mission & aims, delivering our vision, without causing offence.
No. We have a deeper vision & reason, and can ensure our events are appropriate, but also fun & enjoyable with this plan Insha’Allah.
With the right planning & teamwork, this will fall into place effortlessly Insha’Allah, and lay the foundation for years to come!
This event is to be the hub of unity for the community to empower change.
For this, it needs to be enticing, and engaging whilst also being thoughtful. Let’s not tone down, but tone right!
- Recognise & thank the hard work of participants in CW
- Allow a platform for unity to establish
- Motivate further unity & CW teams
PHASE 2
PHASE 1
PHASE 3
Itinerary guidance
CW2024 Updated Itinerary!
If you would like to invite external speakers, or any other entertainment (please feel free to. (Refer to external speaker policy)
Itinerary with CUSTOM SLOTS for all regions / countries:
Aside from fitting in Salah as needed, custom slots can be used for talks or attendee engagement /networking. Attendees should leave with value from this.
It is up to your country/ region.
Salah
Make sure you think about Salah times and how they need to fit into your schedule as your adjust the itinerary – there is no official Salah break scheduled as it is dependent on your country and your Salah timings. Account for additional time for people to pray Salah and come back to their seats and settle.
Buffer
Have buffer time just incase – things always run later than you expect it to [from 22 ADs experience]
Awards/Totals
You may need more time for Awards and Totals if you are accounting for both Regional + National sections (e.g. NY + USA)
Additional Notes
TALKS can should focus on highlighting social justice and the need for unity with any talks & speakers.
E.g. How have local communities united together and what is the benefit they have gained from this? Islamic principles of social justice, and impact of doing this in a united manner.
You can also think about: ambassadors/ Institutions talking about CW experience, auction highlights, speaker talks related to theme, spoken word, nasheeds Think about how you can get the wider team/ Institutions involved.
ATTENDEE ENGAGEMENT can also be facilitated during these slots, to allow institutions to network with one another, showcase exemplar ideas and build further unity.
E.g. Bingo cards, and for attendees to identify different people for each category. Categories such as ‘Attends an Inst which has engaged freshers well’ ‘Attends an Inst which needs more team members’ ‘Been involved in CW/Inst for more than 3 years’. All stimulating conversation, and potential collaboration.
Show & Tell, chance for Insts / members to come up onto stage and share 60 second inspirational stories / or questions from the hosts.
Slots should be no longer than 20 mins to ensure we can keep the attention of the crowd and they don’t get distracted
Buffet style – recommended 45-50 mins to schedule for the slot to account for waiting in the buffet line and getting seated again/ starting to eat food
Banquet style – each slot should be scheduled for around 45 mins to account for serving
Decor & Favour: Build in reflection, social justice history & Islamic Reminders.
E.g. Decorated Exhibition area in the foyer with printed boards highlighting social justice figures or Islamic quotes. Small Dua cards/ fridge magnets/ booklets as favours.
Intl Events can support with a bank of quotes / case studies / stories to utilise in designs.
Food: Ensure to maintain an overall professional look & appropriate food offerings
Please note although the decor, favours & food form a part of our events, our priority should remain in the event content & attendee experience.
Talks & HOSTS
Updated training for hosts coming soon.
Recorded training & top tips on:
- Being able to direct & manage the crowd effortlessly
- How to be able to reflect & create deep/ somber moments from joyous / celebration
The talks & audience engagement allow for attendees not only to understand our vision, but benefit from it, and begin building upon it.
Guidance notes for the speakers hosting:
Totals – should be your team’s Hype man/ woman as they need to bring the life to the room. It can be a pair and it can help for them to switch between who presents totals for Institutions.
Needs to be a charismatic and convincing speaker who speaks with passion.
This is your make or break! If you want everyone to walk out of that room feeling energised for CW2025, the vision speaker needs to deliver.
Choose your very speaker, and practice, practice & practice.
Awards – would be nice to give to National or Regional shuras to give out the Awards. If the National/ RGL shura don’t get involved in general award section, make sure they are involved in Best Display of Unity.
Islamic Relief talk – make sure they’re aware beforehand they’re delivering the talk and they have the relevant content for their IR office
Quran Reciter – could be someone from an Institution. Make sure you don’t leave this to the last minute.
PROJECTS TALK
PROJECT VIDEOS
VISION TALK
Who gets to decide who delivers the talks? NTL shurah in consultation with region or INTL. It MUST be someone good at powerful public speaking. This is because an inspiring talk can make the difference between lots of sign ups and none. Of course we can improvise – deliver the talk in your own words for the most powerful speech.
Please ensure that you are in the Speakers WhatsApp chat if you are due to speak at an AD.
AWARDS
Each region can decide on their list of awards!
You can be creative with the awards names based on the theme, however make sure to have clear criterias to enable a smooth selection process.
There should be no more than 4 awards + Best Display of Unity (Total 5 awards)
Examples of Awards from previous years: Against all odds, Most Innovative Idea/Event, Best CW-themed cake, Best media/promotion, Best Incorporation of the Theme etc
‘Best Display of Unity’ is a mandatory award category. All ‘Best Display of Unity’ award winners are used to identify the winner for the International Best Display of Unity award.
Awards can be theme-related to award the best representation of the theme or best theme-related event by an Institution
We would avoid awards that would be given to an individual contribution and instead focus on Institution/ Community focussed awards.
Award ideas: Rookie of the Year – given to the Institution that has overcame difficulties while taking part in Charity Week for the first time
Most Innovative – an Institution that has applied creativity to their Charity Week events and fundraising
TICKETS AND MARKETING
Tickets
Tickets will become available at: charityweek.com/annual-dinner
Tickets setup – Once all the details are ready, please email admin@charityweek.com with the following information:
- Country
- Region
- AD Date & Time
- Venue Details
- Format options – (In Person or Virtual or Both)
- Ticket Price
Marketing
- Sign up Yourself. You can’t ask others to register if you haven’t signed up yourself
- Send invitation to all volunteer group chats. Best to email the invitation as well
- Personal calls!!! work best inviting and inspiring volunteers to register and attend. Each team member should try and call at least 3-5 volunteers they know.
- Send official invitations to all advisors, sponsors, student affairs, IR officials, new institutions, new volunteers who have potential to spread the vision of Charity Week
- Each volunteer should try to share the poster and registration link on their personal social media handles.
Marketing & AV Practicalities
The overall tone of marketing materials & AV in the event, should embody the aims of the event
The AD poster will be centrally designed, to ensure it is in keeping with the theme of the event.
Audio used for award / total announcements will be provided by Intl on the AD resources page.
POSTERS AND DESIGN
To use Canva templates, please follow the steps below.
1. Open the link, press ‘File’ & ‘Make a Copy’
2. Edit your copy with the details
3. Once ready, email Marketing@charityweek.com with your canva sharing link, with Edit Access.
Too many steps?
Speak to your national marketing team member to support you.
Slides
Please watch the training video in full, to understand all aspects of the Annual Dinner AV
(for any queries please reach out to vicedirector.operations@charityweek.com)
This will be your guideline booklet for the annual dinner (AD). We will keep on adding information to this. If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to reach out to your department lead insha’Allah! Remember to start with Bismillah, and don’t forget to enjoy the event! The action points are:
- Book Venue
- Create your country/regions AD mastersheet based on the framework – AD Planning Mastersheet
- Finalize Live Stream Requirement (optional)
- Finalize Itinerary
- Finalize on Hosts and Speakers
- Finalize on Awards List. Submit via form to intl events
- Open Nomination for Awards on CW website (INTL EVENTS)
- Ticket Tailor & Registration
- Marketing & Invitation for AD
- Finalize on Food & Refreshments
- Finalize on Decor & set up
- Set up goody bags and pack favors
- Finalize Printing requirements / Purchase List within Budget
- Finalize Plan for the day & Roles
- Finalize Award Recipients (Shura)
- Finalize Review Video
- Finalize Presentation Slides (Shura & Finance)
- AV & Set up check 1 day before event
NASHEED AUDIO
LIVESTREAMING
Live streaming has been made optional this year for all regions except IAD. Please inform INTL Events regarding your decision, so we can arrange for technical training in case you decide to livestream your AD.
Watch the livestream training videos here
ON THE DAY
Itinerary
| Registration / Doors Open | Can start as early as 30 min before the event. This will be the advertised start time | |
|---|---|---|
| Quran recitation | 5 min | FIXED ORDER |
| Host Introduction & Welcome | 5 min | FIXED ORDER |
| Charity Week Highlights | 5 min | |
| Talk 1 - Volunteer Experience ** | 3 min | |
| Talk 2 - Institution Experience (A representative from the institution) ** | 3 min | |
| Awards | 20 min (for 5 awards) | For Awards Distribution, teams can either buy trophies or get printed certificates in frames or folders. These are to be presented during the AD ‘Awards’ segment. These can be given on the side of the stage so the show goes on with the next award. Templates available in ‘Design Element’ Section The Creative team will create the final output of certificates inclusive of the inst names, total, recipients, etc. |
| Projects Talk & Video | 10 min | |
| IRR/EAA Talk | 3 min | |
| Review Video | 3 min | |
| Totals (SA, US, CA, UK not to announce country total) | 30 min (varies depending on number of institutions) | During Totals, teams should have printed certificates for each institution with totals in frames (depending on budget). These should be presented either by IR/INTL/EAA officials to the representative of the institution. Templates available in ‘Design Element’ Section The Creative team will create the final output of certificates inclusive of the inst names, total, recipients, etc. |
| Best Display of Unity | 3 min | Best to include details/stories about the institutions/isocs/schools on their activities which made them eligible for the award |
| Vision Talk | 7 min | The vision talk should be the final talk and not to be succeeded by any other talks to ensure a lasting impact on the audience. |
| Thank you & Invitation to International AD | 1 min | Best to keep this maximum 1-2 minutes so as to not overshadow the vision talk. This can be before the vision talk as well |
| Dinner & Socialize | max 30 min to allow clean up | |
| Hosting: | As hosts remember people have waited a long time for this day and they need to have their moment so this should be navigated alongside timing pressures/awards. With talks it is considered good manners that as a host you listen to their speeches and can pick out key phrases or points after their speech and link it to the next bit. This shows you’ve really listened and allows seamless transition. Be there at the start to welcome everyone and make sure you show your face. This really helps to identify with your audience. All of the hosting requires adaptability and pragmatism, you may need to fill in if there are delays so it’s essential that there are personal stories, anecdotes and knowledge of the Institutions. Total Countdown For each total, ensure the hosts are ready to build some hype! Build suspense with a drum roll for announcing each total/institution followed by applause/takbeer. For the highest total raised, the institution can be presented with a frame of the 99 Names of Allah. A reminder will be provided that will accompany the presentation of this. |
|
| Quran Reciter | ||
| Decor Team | For setting up any balloons, photobooth, banners etc | |
| Safety & Covid Precaution Team | Depending on the current situation in your region/ country, it is best to have this team ensure safety regulations are adhered to in terms of mask requirement, social distancing etc | |
| Food & Refreshments Team | Have 3-4 members allocated towards this role ensuring everything is set up smoothly |
Please see above for itinerary guidance
Identifying award honorees
- All award nominations will be shared by INTL Events to your country/ region following the deadline on November 8th.
- Your team should arrange to have a meeting with a representative from the Institutions team and NTL/ RGL Shura to go through the nominations and identify the finalists and the Awards winners.
- If you did not receive nominations for a particular award (or if the team are aware of an Institution that was not nominated), you should identify the relevant Institutions with support from the InsSupp team as they have been working directly with the Institutions.
- Ensure your Awards presenters are prepared with the reasons for why the Institution was nominated and why the winners won that specific award as it helps to add to the Awards segment on the day of the event.
- Check your emails for any Social Media related awards as Institutions have been informed to email with additional information.
Identifying award honorees
- Your team should assign this task to one person to create the video – this can be anyone that has video editing skills. If there is no one in the Events team, it is likely that someone in your wider NTL/ RGL team will be able to help so definitely ask!
- All Institutions will be shared a dropbox link created by Marketing via their ambassadors. Insha’allah you will be able to take pictures/ videos from here to create the video.
- In the absence of any content, check out Institutions social media accounts and ask the Ambassadors for support to send content across.
- Our recommendation is videos shouldn’t be longer than 5 minutes.
- Any background music should ideally be acapella/ nasheed.
Printing needs
The following will need to be printed prior to the day of your annual dinner
- Awards Certificates
- Totals Certificates – Finance will add the totals
- Event Day Plan – you could choose not to print these and instead send these round the team via Whatsapp PDF.
Equipment
| Equipment | Organiser |
|---|---|
| CW Banner / Signage | If you have any CW/ IR banners or signage in your region/ country these could be placed throughout the venue. |
| Clipboards if required | You may find clipboards useful if you decide to print the Day of Event plans for your CW team volunteers on the day. These are completely optional. |
| Napkins / Cutlery | You may need these for your guests if you are serving any snacks. |
| Favours | Refer to the guidance on the Decor + Favours page! |
| Pens | It may be useful to have some pens on hand - you never know what you may need them for! |
| Food tubs | You may need these if you are packing extra food up at the end of the event - this is much better than the food going to waste!
|
| Bin bags | You’ll need these to clear up the venue at the end of the event. Please ensure you are leaving the venue the same or better than it was when you got there.
|
| Money box for ticket income | If you are doing on the day ticket sales you need to collect ticket income somewhere secure. |
| Float money for ticket table | Have some loose notes/ change if required for ticket sales. |
| Laptops | You may need some laptops on the day to update the Presentation slides and to run the Presentation on the day. |
| Laptop adaptor | For any laptops that are being used for the presentation if the laptop is not compatible with the source required for projectors and there isn’t an adapter available at the venue (e.g. HDMI, VGA, USB-C) |
| Laptops for registration | Based on number of registration desks. You could also have print outs of the list but laptops can sometimes be more efficient. Ask your team to bring these with them. |
| Scissors / Tape / Paper | These are always useful in emergency situations!
|
Roles & Plan for the day
| Roles | Description | Number of volunteers |
|---|---|---|
| Set up team | . The whole team should arrive 3 hours before the start to help set up and leave once everything is packed up. registration desk, signage, goody bags, seating, decor, laptop set up, stage set up, screen & microphone set up etc |
|
| Registration desk team | As people arrive, it’s super important 2-3 members are there to greet everyone and register them based on RSVP received. Have a shared sheet ready for the team to mark attendance and payment status (if cash was the selected payment method). Make sure to have change with you to handle any ticket fee, | 4 per 100 sign ups |
| Brothers Floor manager | These roles are to ensure everything is running to plan on each side, if there are any issues with seating/food etc, they can try resolve it or escalate to the Events Team | 2 |
| Brothers & SIsters Prayer room Coordinator | It's best to have signages for directions to the prayer areas / rooms. And also someone assigned from each side to lead the attendees during prayer break | 2 each |
| Sisters Floor manager | These roles are to ensure everything is running to plan on each side, if there are any issues with seating/food etc, they can try resolve it or escalate to the events team | 2 |
| Time Keeper | This person’s role is solely time keeping, so you can pray on time and end on time too! Ensure they have a way of communicating with the speakers/host to update on how much time they have left (e.g. they can write X minutes remaining on a small paper/whiteboard and hold it up for the speakers to see or a bell to ring). |
1 |
| AV Whizzes (In venue) | if organizing AV independently, it may require one person to control the laptop/presentationone person to deal with any AV issues) one person as back up |
3 |
| Live Streaming Coordinator (optional) | This person will be solely responsible for ensuring the AD is live streamed properly | 1-2 |
| Awards organizer / Awards Greeters | These individuals will ensure all the certificates are in order and set up backstage | 3-4 |
| Meet & Greet | This team will collect individuals once they have registered and help them to their seats as well keep them company as needed. Have dedicated members greeting special guests from institutions/ corporates/ IR/EAA |
3-4 |
| Speaker Hosts | The role for these individual/s is to receive the speakers as they arrive, ensure they’re looked after and ready to go onto stage at their dedicated time. Make sure you have gifts ready in advance to give to the speakers. | |
| Clean Up – All Team | Make sure to have the team ready to ensure the space has been cleared off once the event ends | All |
| Photographers | Make sure they are identifiable with a name badge/ lanyard stating they are our photographers.CONTENT FOR IAD -Each country should record something at their AD for IAD We just need the host to say “and then total is” and then pan around to the audience to do a drumroll |
1 volunteer for the brothers side 1 volunteer for the sisters side |
| Hosting: | As hosts remember people have waited a long time for this day and they need to have their moment so this should be navigated alongside timing pressures/awards. With talks it is considered good manners that as a host you listen to their speeches and can pick out key phrases or points after their speech and link it to the next bit. This shows you’ve really listened and allows seamless transition. Be there at the start to welcome everyone and make sure you show your face. This really helps to identify with your audience. All of the hosting requires adaptability and pragmatism, you may need to fill in if there are delays so it’s essential that there are personal stories, anecdotes and knowledge of the Institutions. Total Countdown For each total, ensure the hosts are ready to build some hype! Build suspense with a drum roll for announcing each total/institution followed by applause/takbeer. For the highest total raised, the institution can be presented with a frame of the 99 Names of Allah. A reminder will be provided that will accompany the presentation of this. |
|
| Quran Reciter | ||
| Decor Team | For setting up any balloons, photobooth, banners etc | |
| Safety & Covid Precaution Team | Depending on the current situation in your region/ country, it is best to have this team ensure safety regulations are adhered to in terms of mask requirement, social distancing etc | |
| Food & Refreshments Team | Have 3-4 members allocated towards this role ensuring everything is set up smoothly |
FOOD
- Order for quantity based on estimated guests and within budget
- Have an efficient system for food distribution to avoid long queues
- Make sure it is set up in a presentable manner
- Have Napkins. Pay attention to Hygiene
- Have Food labels so it’s easy to identify different options
- Have serving spoons, tongs etc