LAST July 29, the Department of Education Regional Office III launched its Regional Educational Development Plan for 2022-2028 and its Learning Recovery and Continuity Plan. This event follows the launch of the Basic Education Development Plan (BEDP) 2030 of the Department of Education launched last June 3, 2022. DepEd Region III is the first region in the country to launch its REDP and LRCP under the dynamic leadership of its Regional Director, May B. Eclar.
As the head of the DepEd Region III Public Affairs Unit, I was tasked to mount and organize this launching event with the assistance of the Policy Planning Research Division which led the crafting of the two regional plans. With barely a month to prepare for the big event, I prayed hard and took action to ensure that this activity will be smooth-sailing and successful.
As an event organizer, the first important thing to do is to list down all requirements that need to be accomplished. After enlisting all requisites, it is a must to do tasking and coordination with the concerned personnel and solicit their cooperation. With the new technology such as messengers, group chats, and online collaborative document sharing tools, I found it easier to manage the tasks and timelines assigned to each group.
Coordination meetings were scheduled to orient all team members and provide updates concerning each task. What I found most effective is that assigning different tasks to a team or staff is the best thing to do rather than trying to do all the tasks alone. It is ideal that you choose the best people to do the task so that you will be saved from worries and problems. What worked best for this event is that teams were accomplishing their own tasks at the same time this is why we were able to manage our deadlines properly and make adjustments accordingly before the event.
As the lead organizer, I made little post-it notes and wrote the tasks needed for each aspect of the event namely the procurement of venue, production of videos, program, production of materials, and other important parts of the program. This made me track the progress of each requirement and tick off those that are already accomplished. Weekly progress monitoring was also conducted and given in the group chat. In this way, all players are also updated on the progress of the requirements of the program.
Lastly, it is important to commend all the team players who contributed to the success of the event and let them know that without their contribution, the success of the event will not have been possible.