Prom Advice, Prom Special Tips, Prom Planning

P r o m Tips, Prom Court, Prom Souvenirs

PROM 2012

"Make Prom Special"

PROM C O U R T


The Court is a relatively easy element of the Prom, but it is one that the students care about a lot. All of the elections for court should have taken place at school so that the necessary photographs, tiaras, flowers, and souvenirs can be purchased for them. Be sure that you hold elections early enough that if someone is elected to court who wasn't planning on going, there will be sufficient time for him/her to still get a date.

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Prom
Tickets and Sales

Your final banquet count will have to be in to the caterer/facility by at least 10 days prior to the event. That means that you will need to have a solid number of tickets sold by that time. All tickets should be pre-sale, as you need to be able to plan, and you might want to do a cursory security check at the time tickets are sold. Your Dean's office should have some knowledge regarding students that are under suspension or have been sent to other schools for disciplinary reasons. Have them check your Prom list, and eliminate any students who would be inappropriate attendees. You may also want to tier your prices to favor those students who have ASB cards. A computer list of Prom guests with names and home phone numbers is a necessity in case of an emergency, and parents need to be contacted. During ticket sales is the perfect time to generate this list.

PROM S O U V E N I R S

Most Proms have some kind of a small memento for students to take home. Some have glasses printed with the date and theme, candles have become popular, as well as a photo memory book that includes all the photographs taken that evening by the photographers as well as a few candids. It is important that the students like the souvenir. Your student committee should choose what they want as they probably know better than you would, what the rest of the class would like to take home. Remember to order early--six months out will allow for personalization and correcting possible errors.

PROM SECURITY

There are many horror stories out there when it comes to security at Proms. This is a crucial element to a successful event. There are many approaches, but if you err, err on the side of caution, and have too much security rather than not enough.

There should be three parts to your security. You should hire security, such as a security company or off-duty police officers. These should be your most aggressive agents. You may want them to frisk all your students, or use a metal detector. (Your school should have some kind of a policy regarding this.) They should also circulate throughout the dance, and patrol the bathrooms as well as the perimeter of the ballroom. They should constantly be checking the parking lots to see that no students are staying in cars instead of coming into the dance. (Once the students are in the dance, they should be required to stay until they want to leave the event.)

The facility in which you are holding the event should also have security, which will be the second part of your security. They should be patrolling the perimeter of the ballroom and the parking lot as well. It should be their job to keep others out of your dance as well as your students in. And the third element of your security would be teachers and administrators. These people should stay inside the dance and mingle with the students to be sure that all is well. They should also check bathrooms occasionally, as well as watch doors. Most students will cooperate with instructions regarding security, and if they don't, just call their parents and send them home.