Wednesday March 11th, 2020

Algonquin College, Student Commons E-Building

Benefitting Candlelighters,
Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre,
and Ottawa Riverkeeper
 GOAL
Raise $3000 for three local charities (Candlelighters, Dave Smith
Youth Treatment Centre, and Ottawa Riverkeeper) and awareness
towards local charities, creators, performers, and vendors.

OBJECTIVES 
Raise money for three charities via ticket sales and programming
elements.
Market our events with the help of three local charities.
Bring awareness to local Ottawa businesses.

Total Revenue
$5351.45
Claire van Eeghen . Chair . 613-400-6891 . [email protected]
Cassandra Johnson . Assistant Chair . 613-218-2277 . [email protected]
Inga Vitols . Second Chair . 438-938-5343 . [email protected]
Simran Kaur . Assistant Second Chair . 647-913-1634 . [email protected]
Stephanie Wawrzynczak . Logistics Lead . 613-668-2101 . [email protected]
Savannah Martin-Collins . Logistics . 514-702-7915 . [email protected]
Gopal Krishan . Logistics . 343-996-8559 . [email protected]
Sonia Desrosiers . Programming Lead . 613-882-1190 . [email protected]
Jenn Bheemsingh . Programming . 613-400-9566 . [email protected]
Ishan Ishan . Programming . 343-987-2354 .  [email protected]
Ishran Jit Singh . Marketing Lead . 343-297-3605 . [email protected]
Rohini Sundaralingam . Marketing . 613-501-6620 . [email protected]
Event Details 

 
Event Site 
Make It POP was held in the Student Commons and Corner Lounge of 
Algonquin College. The “Market” portion of the event was held in the 
Student Commons, while the exclusive “Afterparty” took place in the Corner 
Lounge. A large capacity public washroom was easily accessible in the 
Student Commons. The Market vendors were set up in an “L” shape at the 
perimeter of the event, with The Pop-Up Thrift Shop contained within. The 
shop held six rolling racks filled with gently used clothing and accessories. 
Our Market did not have a capacity limit and we welcomed walk-throughs. 
The flow moving around the Market and Pop-up shop was easy, with three 
exits. The Corner Lounge had a capacity of 80 attendees for our 
Afterparty. The Student Commons was equipped with two change rooms 
to accomodate shoppers in the Pop-Up Thrift Shop. Coat check became 
available to attendees at a by-donation cost right by the entrance of the 
Afterparty and next to the silent auction tables. 
 
Food and Beverage 
The Afterparty was catered by The Observatory with a delicious comfort 
food loved by all — pizza! The hot, savoury, salty, pizza was paired by a 
crisp Local Lager beer to cut through the heaviness of the dough, making 
for the perfect duo. Caprese salad was presented as a bright, fresh side. A 
selection of lemon-infused water and flavoured sodas were made 
available as non-alcoholic alternatives. 

 
 

 
Set Up and Tear Down 
The event team was able to effectively work together to set up the event, 
which included transporting clothing and décor items to the venue the 
day before the event and setting everything up the morning and 
afternoon of the event. Tear down was completed by the event team and 
volunteers, which lasted for approximately two hours after the completion 
of Make It POP. 
 
Programming and Entertainment 
Pop-Up Shop:​ This Pop-Up Thrift Shop contained lightly-used second 
hand clothing donated by members of the community. Our selection 
included clothing for men, women, and children, as well as accessories.  

 
 

 
  
 
Vendor Market:​ Make It POP featured 13 artisan vendors from Ottawa. The 
selection from these vendors included flowers, chocolate, clothing, vintage 
video games, and more! Vendors paid $50 for a table at Make It POP. 

 
  
 
DJ:​ CKDJ 107.9 served as the DJ for our event, providing music during the 
daytime portion of our event. 

 
Emcee:​ Our emcee for the Afterparty was Alison Hunter, a professional 
emcee. 

 
 
Performers:​ Musicians Peter Voith, Miss McLeod, and Willy Nilly provided 
musical entertainment for our Afterparty guests. 
 
 
  
 
Fundraising Initiatives 
Make It POP’s primary objective was to raise $3,000 for three local Ottawa 
charities: Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, Ottawa Riverkeeper, and 
Candlelighters. Along with ticket sales, Make It POP held several 
fundraising initiatives to reach that goal. 
Silent Auction:​ Make It POP had three silent auction tables that featured 
52 items at a value of almost $5000. Some of the items up for grabs were a 
signed Senators puck, admission to Escape Manor escape room, dinner 
for two at DreamLand Cafe, a $500 gift certificate for Dymon Storage, a set 
of cotton towels from La Maison Simons, a CHEO gift basket, and much 
more. 
  

 
 
Balloon Pop:​ Make It POP partnered with Giving Gertie, a local non-profit, 
for the balloon pop. This organization ​assembles “Giving Gertie bags,” 
reusable cloth bags containing a granola bar, a chocolate bar and a $2 
Tim Horton's gift card, meant to be donated to a person in need. These 
bags were sold at Make It POP for $10, for which attendees could win 
earrings, a toque, a yoga class pass, cooking spices, or a variety of other 
items. Make It POP made $5 off each sale, and $5 was returned to Giving 
Gertie. 

 
 
Theme and Décor 
The theme was local and rustic which led to the mission of remaining 
affordable, sustainable and helping the community. Wood, greenery and 
earthy colours were present throughout the event space and marketing 
collaterals. Make It POP also incorporated local Ottawa elements, with a 
Tulip Festival tulip and well-known street sign decor pieces. 
  

 
 
 
 
Marketing and Media 
Make It POP’s goal was to raise $3000 for 3 local charities by promoting 
local vendors and artisans and consequently giving back to the local 
community. The theme of the event was “local”, and as a result, the 
audience, vendors, and marketing collateral designs revolved around 
“Ottawa local”.  
A mix of traditional and contemporary marketing channels were used to 
reach the event’s audience, with posters designed and posted across the 
Algonquin College campus to mark the event’s offline presence. An official 
website and social media profiles on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook 
were created to establish an online presence. The event was also listed on 
Google Index (SEO). 
The design used on all event marketing materials expressed our theme of 
“local” and matched our programming elements by using wooden 
backgrounds, green leaves and infographics of beer mugs, clothing, and 
markets.   
Tickets:​ ​Assessing the current trends in buying event tickets, the team 
decided to employ RSVPify, an exclusively online ticket supplier. This 
eliminated the idea of having printed tickets, as it would have added to 
the additional cost of printing them.  
The total number of tickets sold were 64 (58 through RSVPify and 6 at the 
door).     
Posters:​ ​Two posters were created for Make It POP. One was for the 
“Clothing Donation Drive,” which was part of an on-ground activity to 
receive clothing donations on Algonquin campus. The poster was printed 
using the team’s student print money and was pinned throughout the 
campus to inform students and faculty of the donation drive. The second 
was the main event poster which was redesigned by the Algonquin 
Students’ Association, as they were the event’s official marketing partner. 
The poster was tweaked in design to match SA’s guidelines, but retained 
the original design essence and aesthetics.   
As part of the negotiations with the Algonquin SA’s marketing team, the 
posters were to be printed by the SA and pinned around the whole 
campus.  
Website:​ ​The official website was designed on Wix and has the domain of 
Makeitpop2020.com. The website covered all major information about 
Make It POP, namely about the event itself, the charities, partners, 
programming elements and where to buy tickets. Additionally, it had a live 
feed of the Instagram handle, contact information, and an FAQ section. 
The theme of “local” was carried out through the design on the website as 
well and had a strong brand recall.  
The website had:   
Total Visits: 193  
Unique Visitors: 138  
Bounce Rate: 38%   
(Percentage of people who visited the site and left after viewing just one 
page.)  
  
The traffic sources on the website is as follows:   

 
In numbers:   
Direct:  121   
Google: 37   
Referral: 18   
Facebook: 14   
Twitter: 02   
Instagram: 01  
 
Save the Date Cards:​ ​A Save the Date flyer was designed by the Make It 
POP marketing team and printed by our Beer partner, Local Lager. 
Members of the event team handed out these flyers around campus in 
order to increase awareness of the event. 
Social Media:​ ​The Make It POP social media accounts were created at the 
beginning of October. In 2019, Make It POP had the most presence on 
Instagram from the months of October to December. The posts during this 
time were mostly teasers of the planning of Make It POP. These included 
pictures of the Make It POP team working to plan the event every week. 
Starting in 2020, once contracts were finalized, content about Make It POP 
was posted regularly. The content, which was posted to Instagram, Twitter, 
and Facebook, ranged from vendor highlights, what you can expect at 
Make It POP, how to purchase tickets through RSVPify, performer 
highlights, sponsor highlights, and clothing highlights from the Pop-Up 
Thrift Shop. Each Instagram post would be reposted on Instagram story to 
increase interaction. Posts were made on social media either from 10am to 
2pm or 4pm to 7pm. Based on the team’s research, this is when people are 
most active on social media. Make It POP’s Facebook page received the 
most interactions and the Twitter page received the least. Starting in 
January, all post captions included the RSVPify link to buy tickets. The 
RSVPify link was also included in the bio section on Instagram, Twitter and 
Facebook. A countdown timer on Instagram was started one month before 
Make It POP. During the week leading up to Make It POP, the RSVPify link 
was consistently posted to the Instagram story in order to encourage 
followers to buy tickets for the Afterparty. One day before the event, 
performers from the Afterparty were featured.  
 
Volunteers 
The recruitment process for volunteers began at the beginning of 
February. A post was put up on the Algonquin College Work Placement 
Database, and we received 18 applicants. Ten volunteers were chosen from 
the Event Management program, and one volunteer joined us from 
Montreal as part of her employer’s corporate social responsibility 
initiative.   
Prior to the event, volunteers received three emails from the volunteer 
manager informing them of the various job positions they will be working 
and other relevant information such as what to wear, what time to show 
up, what to bring, and what to expect.  
The job positions were as follows:  
Pop-Up Shop Sale Clerk:​ Work point-of sale with Square to sell clothing  
items. Duties: Gather and bag purchased clothing, enter purchased  
clothing items in the Square software, process payments.  
Silent Auction Table Assistant:​ Monitor the silent auction table and explain 
items to anyone with questions. Duties: Answer and help guests with 
questions and bidding sheets,  
watch over items.  
Clothing Runner:​ Clothing attendant returning unwanted clothing. Duties: 
Gather and sort unwanted clothing from changing rooms, place clothes 
back on hangers in pop-up shop, keep clothes organized within pop-up 
shop, help guests with any questions  
Changing Room Assistant:​ ​To help shoppers in and out of change rooms.  
Duties: Manage lineup crowds, manage the flow of shoppers in and out of 
the change rooms, assist shoppers with any help needed or questions, 
gather all unwanted clothing.  
Greeter:​ Providing a warm welcome to attendees and give  
directions when needed. Duties: Greet attendees with a smile, direct guests 
to coat check, answer any questions from guests, assist guests with 
directions.  
Coat Check:​ Take coats and give a corresponding ticket number. 
Encourage donation for payment. Duties: Take guests’ coats and hang 
them, give guests corresponding ticket number, encourage donations for 
payment  
Survey: ​Take surveys from attendees using iPads. Duties: Approach guests 
to encourage them to take the survey, providing guests with tablets to 
take surveys, answering any questions, thanking guests for their time.  
Floater:​ Help out where the management team needs an extra hand, and 
make sure the event is a hit! Duties: Assist management team with any help 
needed, ensure any and all concerns or problems are brought to the 
management team’s attention, walk around and ensure good flow of the 
event and crowds, assist other volunteers with any questions or help 
needed, monitor Pop-up Shop and Vendor Market.  
 
Post event, the volunteers received a personalized thank you email from 
the volunteer manager on behalf of the team. They were asked to fill out a 
volunteer feedback survey, and they also received a certificate of 
appreciation as a thank you for all their hard work.  
 
Partnerships 
Algonquin College Student Association:​ Venue partner who provided the 
Student Commons, the Corner Lounge, two meeting rooms to be used as 
change rooms, and a secure locked room as a green room and storage 
space. They also printed two banners, ID cards for the staff, and posters 
for the school. 
Local Lager:​ The beer garden partner who provided the event with cold 
brews and donated 50% from every beer purchase (totaling $3 per beer) 
back to the charities.   
Sage Designs:​ This décor partner provided the majority of décor items 
including artificial vine foliage and flowers, pipe and drape, curtain, a 
large photobooth moon frame and a barrel.  
Pure Kitchen:​ Donated 15 delicious locally made meals for the volunteers 
and also provided the event with four rustic, modern design picnic tables 
for the beer garden.  
 
Ticket Sales and Admissions 
Make It POP sold 64 tickets in total; 58 on RSVPify and 6 at the door. On the 
day of the event, 43 people attended the Afterparty and there were 15 
no-shows. 
 
Event Participant Demographics  
A survey was conducted at Make It POP and was completed by 80 
attendees. See Survey Results and Analysis section of report for full 
demographic information. 
 
Special Considerations 
There were no competing events on March 11th within the vicinity and the 
weather was excellent. Some issues with facilities arose with parking 
meters not functioning for half of the day and coat check becoming 
unavailable for the Afterparty guests. The global COVID-19 pandemic 
arrived in Ottawa on the day of Make It POP, but luckily, it did not actively 
affect the event with the exception of a few guest cancellations and one 
vendor cancellation. 
 
Security 
Make It POP’s security consisted of the event team, volunteers, and a 
security guard provided by the Algonquin College Students’ Association. 
 
Budget and Finances 
Make It POP was a $0 budget fundraising event. The event revenue came 
from ticket sales, half of balloon pop sales, silent auction, clothing sales, 
donations, as well as half of the beer sales. Our expenses were from 
banking fees and half of balloon pop sales. In the end, Make It POP raised 
$5351.45 for Candlelighters, Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, and 
Ottawa Riverkeeper! 
 
Correspondence 
Thank you emails were sent to our partners, vendors, performers, emcee, 
volunteers, and people who donated clothing.  
 

Survey Results and Analysis 

 
The Make It POP survey was created using SurveyMonkey and was filled 
out by guests throughout the event. During the Market portion of the 
event, attendees were approached in the Pop-Up Shop and asked to 
complete the survey. More than half the people approached agreed to 
complete the survey, while some did not due to lack of time. Several 
attendees wondered about the number of questions in the survey 
beforehand as they were reluctant to fill out big surveys.  
During the Afterparty portion, attendees who were sitting in the Corner 
Lounge or looking over the silent auction tables were approached to fill 
out the survey, and the vast majority gladly did. 
The Make It POP survey was answered by 80 people. The majority (62.5%) of 
these guests solely attended the Market, while 10% solely attended the 
Afterparty, and 27.5% attended both.  
 

 
As Make It POP was held in Algonquin College it is no surprise that 62.5% 
of attendees were either students or employees of the college. The 
remaining 37.5% of attendees were friends, family, and invited guests. 
Having the Market in a central location of the school for people to see 
when coming through was a great way for Make It POP to have high 
attendance and heavy foot traffic. 
 

 
The majority of Make It POP’s attendees were female at 57.5%, and 41.25% 
of attendees were male. This was expected, as shopping and markets tend 
to pique the interest of females more than males. 
 

 
50% of attendees were 18-24 years old and 30% was 25-34, and this is likely 
due to the event being held in a college. One can also take into 
consideration the ages of the event team members and who they would 
invite to the event. 
The Make It POP survey included an open-ended question at the end 
which asked the attendees what their favourite part of Make It POP was. 
The responses varied, with answers such as the food, beer, entertainment, 
and vendor selection. Make It POP received an overall 4.8/5-star rating 
from the attendees surveyed.  
 

Event Evaluation and Analysis 

Event Site 
Algonquin College was the perfect venue to host Make It POP. The college 
is completely accessible with fully equipped washrooms, entryways, ramps, 
elevators, signage and multiple exit points. A plethora of parking is 
available at Algonquin College for the attendees at a cost of $10.00 for the 
entire day and $5.00 for the evening. Make It POP had a well-planned 
layout with the vendors positioned in an “L” formation with the Pop-Up 
Shop located in the middle and the cash-out/Giving Gerties at a separate 
table located at the side of the Shop, which allowed for an easy flow of 
traffic.   
In the evening, the market remained open but also included the 
coat-check, two silent auction silent auction tables, and the registration 
table to enter the Afterparty. Inside the Corner Lounge, the catering table 
was located to the left-hand side with the bar alongside it. Directly to the 
right-hand side of the entryway was an additional silent auction table and 
in the centre were picnic tables spaced out appropriately to the center of 
the stage. By creating a layout like this, it allowed Make It POP to 
strategically direct attendees to where we wanted them to go.  
A negative aspect to the Afterparty was the 80-maximum capacity, which 
restricted ticket sales. The Make It POP team discovered on the day of the 
event, the dimming of the lights in the Afterparty was needing to be 
approved 48 hours in advance which the team was unaware of; this had 
compromised the Afterparty's atmosphere. ​A recommendation would be to 
choose a location for the Afterparty with a larger capacity, or further 
negotiate with the venue to increase the capacity. 
 
Food and Beverage 
The food and beverages served at the Make It POP Afterparty included a 
variety of pizzas, accompanied by Mediterranean caprese salads and 
served with cold and crisp beer from Local Lager. Additionally, attendees 
had the option of lemon-infused water and a selection of sodas. These 
items were the perfect pairing for this laidback, relaxed atmosphere — as 
noted by our attendees as one of the best parts of the event. The timing of 
the serving of the food was right on schedule and was visually pleasing. By 
partnering with Local Lager, Make It POP was able to secure 50% of the 
beer sales to donate back to the 3 local Ottawa charities.  
When the food was brought out, it became apparent that, unfortunately, 
the caprese salads were not presented on skewers as promised and the 
pizzas were not cut properly. Additionally, we were told by the venue that 
there would be servers to hand out food as well as clear plates, which was 
not the case. Lastly, the venue made a last-minute decision that the bar 
was only going to accept cash payments, which may have affected Make It 
POP’s overall profit. ​It is important to have aspects like this noted in the 
event contract because otherwise, these details may fall through the 
cracks. 
 
Set Up and Tear Down 
The team worked well together and divided all tasks in order to 
accomplish set-up and take-down quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, 
some items arrived later than expected to the event site, causing the 
Afterparty to start belatedly. In addition, having been left with many 
clothes and other items once the event concluded, the team did not 
consider car space to transport everything out of the event site and had 
to improvise onsite. ​A recommendation going forward would be to have a 
clear agenda with tasks pertaining to the take-down, person in charge of 
said tasks, and amount of time to complete in order to remain organized.   
 
Programming, Entertainment, Fundraising Initiatives 
Pop-Up Shop:​ The Pop-Up Shop received great feedback from guests, had 
a great variety of clothes and accessories for both men and women, and 
helped achieve the fundraising goal. It also tied in to the theme and 
supported the mission. Unfortunately, items were priced too high and 
would have most likely sold more had they been priced lower from the 
beginning. Although the prices were lowered throughout the event in an 
attempt to entice more sales, the event ended with a lot of remaining 
items. ​Recommendations to suggest would have been to stop collecting 
clothes earlier, had the team known how much was going to sell.​ Make it 
POP also lacked signage for the pop-up shop; it would have been nice to 
have one or more large signs with all prices, instead of smaller paper signs 
taped throughout. There was also the issue of the Square card readers 
not being able to take debit. Fortunately, one of the supervisors had a 
debit reader and was able to loan it for the event.   
Vendor Market:​ The vendor market really helped bring our event to life. 
There were a great variety of vendors such as florists, jewelers, graphic 
and print designers, chocolate makers, and vintage video gamers. They 
were able to decorate their own tables which highlighted the theme of 
local. The L-shaped set up for vendor tables really helped with crowd flow 
and the venue was great to attract a variety of demographics. If the event 
site had more space or had the team changed the layout, it would have 
been good to separate the tables so they were not all touching. Also, not 
all vendors received many visitors; therefore, having known better prior to 
the event, the team would have placed them differently. In addition, the 
Market became very quiet by 8pm and for that reason the event should 
have ended earlier. A post-event survey was sent out to the vendors and 
although only receiving 5 of 13 replies, 100% of them said the event was of 
value to them and they would return for a future event. They rated the 
event a 4.8 out of 5 stars. The only suggestion would have been to allow for 
more set up time.   
DJ and Photobooth:​ The DJ provided an upbeat atmosphere and was a 
great transition from the day event to the afterparty. He did, however, 
experience some technical complications and did not accept any song 
requests. The team was not able to place him where initially intended due 
to sound issues; however, a different placement would have been 
beneficial in order to work well with the event space and photobooth. The 
photo booth looked amazing and fit appropriately with our theme, but the 
placement and lack of signage resulted in very low usage.  
A recommendation would have been to place the photo booth closer or 
inside the afterparty where there was more foot traffic. 
Performers/Emcee:​ Make It POP was lucky to have had three superb 
performances for the Afterparty. They were all quite different and brought 
a variety of talent, receiving great feedback from our guests that they 
were entertaining and fun. On the other hand, the event also received 
feedback that Miss McLeod did not fit within our theme. In addition, many 
of the guests left early and Willy Nilly had to perform for a quiet room. 
Because of that, as mentioned earlier, Make It POP should have ended 
earlier or only have booked 2 performers. ​ The emcee was very 
professional, brought a great sense of humour and was easy to work with. 
Unfortunately, she had to leave early and was not heard by guests 
browsing the Pop-Up Shop and market missing some important 
information.   
Silent Auction:​ The silent auction tables were well placed to attract guests 
and allow for good traffic flow. There were a great variety of items for all 
age demographics. Unfortunately, the team experienced some issues with 
the information on the bid sheets which led to some confusion. They also 
lacked pictures as a visual for each item and did not have a pen for each 
sheet which could have led to more bids. In addition, most bidding guests 
left before the closure of the silent auction tables leaving the event with 
quite a few unclaimed prizes. ​As recommendations, Make It POP should 
have had an individual monitoring the tables throughout the event and 
changed the timing to better fit our event.   
Balloon Pop Raffle:​ Giving Gertie was a great idea and fit in well with the 
theme, as they are a local organization that helps the community. Having 
the balloon pop right next to the pop-up shop cash helped with sales and 
awareness. ​There could have been more signage explaining to the guests 
the purpose and impact and enticing more sales. 
 
Theme and Décor 
With the help of crafty team members and Sage designs, Make It POP was 
able to represent the theme of local and rustic throughout the event, from 
the photoshoot to the wooden pallets, to the centrepieces and stage 
backdrop in the Afterparty. ​Make It POP could have strengthened the 
brand and had it be more present throughout our event. 
 
Marketing and Media 
All of Make It POP’s marketing collaterals maintained the theme of local 
and rustic, and they perpetuated a professional look and feel. Having a 
concrete social media plan for the months of January, February and 
March was helpful to stay on track. Vendor Highlights were very well 
received, and followers engaged with them regularly. These posts drove 
people to the Market as they wanted to see the vendors. Additionally, 
interacting with vendors and performers regularly through social media 
platforms helped to keep them in the loop during the planning process. 
Finally, on the day of the event, the marketing team took a picture of the 
bird’s eye view of Make It POP, and this photo sparked a lot of interaction. 
There were some issues with marketing Make It POP. The Algonquin 
College Students’ Association, the event’s partner, was not able to feature 
Make It POP’s content on their social media platforms to the degree that 
the team had hoped. As well, the Students’ Association was meant to post 
the Make It POP posters around campus, but only a few were put up. 
Additionally, ​the social media marketing plan had been finalized late, 
which meant the team lost out on time to more effectively market the 
event. Furthermore, more media outlets could have been reached out to 
which could have gotten the word out about Make It POP. 
  
Volunteers 
There were a total of 11 volunteers at Make It POP. Ten volunteers started 
at 1:00pm, and one volunteer joined at 4:30 to help with the registration 
table. The volunteers helped in a variety of positions, including greeting 
and info at the door, coat check, raffle item selling, Pop-Up Shop cash, 
dressing rooms, silent auction table monitoring, clothes sorting, and 
cleaning up/replenishing the Pop-Up Shop.   
Prior to the event, three emails were sent to the volunteers with relevant 
information and the opportunity to ask questions. All volunteers showed 
up on time and participated in an orientation. 100% of the volunteers who 
answered the post-event survey said that they were greeted upon arrival 
and made to feel comfortable, and that the orientation prepared them for 
the upcoming event. The volunteers then had their lunch which was 
provided by Pure Kitchen and included a variety of vegetarian wraps and 
a kale salad. 67% of the volunteers said the food was good, while 33% said 
it was excellent.  
Throughout the event, the volunteer manager went around checking in on 
the volunteers and rotating their positions and offering breaks. 100% of 
the volunteers said they felt like they had enough supervision and breaks. 
Because the event slowed down, one volunteer asked to leave at 6:00pm, 5 
volunteers left at 7:30pm, and the remainder stayed until 10:00pm to help 
with cleaning up.   
In general, the volunteers rated their experience at 4.8 stars out of 5. They 
felt valued and appreciated, the event was well thought out and well 
executed, and that it was a really cool event to volunteer at.   
There ended up being too many volunteers for the event. The volunteer 
manager over-planned because of the possibility of some not showing up, 
and because it was unknown how busy the event would get. One of the 
comments from the volunteers also stated that the day was very long, and 
that it would have been better to have the volunteers come in shifts, 
instead of working 10 hours. ​In the future, especially with a first-time event, 
it would be beneficial to schedule in two shifts because it would shorten 
the day, and it is easier to balance in case there are too many volunteers.   
One comment from the volunteers was that they would have appreciated 
receiving an emergency plan, or at least a summary of the plan. The team 
had prepared emergency plans, but they were stored in the event “Bible” 
sitting by the cash, and the volunteers were not given a copy or informed 
about it during orientation. ​In the future, volunteers must always be told 
and given instruction on how to act in case of emergency.  
 
Partnerships 
Algonquin College Students’ Association:​ Partnering with the Students’ 
Association allowed for Make It POP to have the perfect venue at the 
Algonquin College Student Commons and Corner lounge. This partnership 
was highly successful because of the built-in audience that comes with the 
college during a school day. The Students’ Association also generously 
donated the cost of the food which resulted in a higher profit for our 
charities. Unfortunately, the lack of a contract made this partnership 
challenging. Repeated efforts were made to obtain a signed contract, but 
the venue coordinators continued to work around it, which was frustrating. 
Communication was an issue and the last-minute changes that were 
implemented made it even harder because there was nothing in writing to 
show how it was meant to be. ​In the future, contracts must be signed to 
avoid these sorts of situations.  
Local Lager:​ Make It POP received great feedback that the beer was 
delicious, although could have been colder. The event had hoped to have 
the representatives from Local Lager be present at the event to distribute 
and connect with the guests. However, some issues arose with the venue 
where they had to purchase the beer and be the ones selling it. It also 
ended up being a cash only bar which, though there was an ATM onsite, 
was less convenient for the attendees. Unfortunately, many of the 
problems were out of our control, but the team was able to bounce back 
and make it work.   
Sage Designs:​ Sage Designs donated the majority of the décor pieces for 
the event. They were able to help the team envision the theme and really 
bring it to life. One aspect that was not ideal was the size of the backdrop 
for the stage. It unfortunately was too small and resulted in distractions 
from reflections in the window behind it. Sage Designs was extremely easy 
to work with and very accommodating, and they even ended up offering 
more décor pieces than promised! 
Pure Kitchen:​ ​Volunteer meals were prepared and donated by Pure 
Kitchen, an amazing local restaurant, as well as the picnic tables inside 
the Afterparty. The picnic tables provided by Pure Kitchen fit the rustic 
theme very well and allowed for a family-style atmosphere. Make It POP did 
encounter some issues when the delivery of the tables arrived later than 
expected and was missing benches. Having the driver leave and return 
with the benches and extra tables, as the team had realized that 3 would 
not be enough, resulted in a delay of the start of the Afterparty. Make It 
POP could have recommended an earlier delivery time to account for any 
issues to arise; however, the team had to accommodate Pure Kitchen’s 
availability and all problems were solved quickly and efficiently.  
 
Ticket Sales and Admissions 
RSVPify allowed for smooth ticket sales and collection of donations. Make 
It POP was able to link it to the website and social media pages for easy 
transition. Most ticket sales were from friends and family, however, ​the 
team could have done more marketing and selling to Algonquin students 
and faculty as well as members of the community.​ The event experienced a 
few no-shows the day of the event and, though were able to sell tickets at 
the door, the team could have increased the attendee number. 
Unfortunately, the corner lounge had a max capacity of 80 people, 
therefore, having to have a cap on ticket sales.   
A recommendation is that Make It POP could have had more signage to 
welcome guests and entice visitors to come to the afterparty at the event 
itself.   
 
Event Participants 
Make It POP’s guests loved the thrifty Pop-Up Shop and the variety of 
great vendors at the Market. They also really enjoyed the performances by 
the Afterparty musicians. Having the Market be free of charge and 
running throughout the daytime was a success, as many students and 
faculty were able to experience Make It POP. The Afterparty guests did, 
however, tend to leave the event early and did not remain for the full 4 
hours. ​The event could have had more programming elements to entertain 
guests throughout the entire afterparty. Additionally, the event team 
could have engaged more with attendees browsing the Pop-Up shop and 
market to entice more sales and encourage them to experience the 
photobooth and all aspects of the event. 
 
Special Considerations 
Make It POP was quite a unique event due to its two-part nature. With this 
in mind, there were not any competing events on the same date of March 
11th that the team was aware of. The weather was cold, but bright and 
sunny, and posed no problem. As with every event, there are always minor 
issues that arise. The facility had issues with parking as the meters were 
not working for vendors to make a payment during the day. The issue was 
solved later in the evening for our Afterparty attendees to purchase 
parking. The coat check was made unavailable to the team last minute. 
Through improvisation, two of the Pop-up Shop clothing racks were 
converted into coat check racks and were situated closer to the Corner 
Lounge where the Afterparty was held, which worked in the attendees’ 
favour.   
In larger news, Ottawa received its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 
March 11th, 2020, resulting in heightened awareness by the public. This did 
not seem to have an effect on the event as a whole, since it was so new to 
the area; however, more stringent precautionary measures towards the 
safety of attendees should have been included in the Risk Management 
Plan. ​Hand sanitizers on the catering table would have been a smart 
move to keep people safe and were suggested by an attendee after the 
event concluded. 
 
Security 
During the daytime, the security was the staff of Make It POP and 
volunteers. Everyone was responsible for keeping a watchful eye on stolen 
goods from the pop-up shop. During the Afterparty, Make It POP planned 
for two security guards, one at the front entrance of the Afterparty 
checking IDs and one supervising the silent auction tables outside the 
Corner Lounge. Unfortunately, only one security guard was on floor during 
the event and he was utilized at the front entrance, therefore, there was a 
lack of eyes on the auction table items that were displayed. ​Going forward, 
Make It POP would schedule one or two volunteers to be positioned at the 
auction tables to monitor the items.  
 
Budget 
Make It POP was executed on a $0 budget and raised close to double the 
original goal of $3000. Revenue was generated from ticket sales, vendor 
fees, pop-up shop, Giving Gertie (balloon-pop), silent auction, donations, 
and half the price of beer sales ($3 per beer). The only expenses were bank 
fees ($2.50 per month), and half of the Giving Gertie sales ($5 each sale), 
which go directly to separate Ottawa charities. In total, Make It POP raised 
$5351.45, well exceeding the goal! 
It should be noted that, originally, Make It POP was expecting to pay for 
the food and beverage costs of $847.50, but the Students Association 
decided to donate this cost back to the charity in exchange for the 
income earned from beer sales which totaled $135. This deal kept $712.50 in 
the pockets of the three charities. 
 
 
 
 

Income     Expenses   

Giving Gertie Sales  $420  Giving Gertie  -$210 

         
Vendor booth fees  $810  Bank Fees  -$5 
          
Ticket Sales (RSVPify)  $1285.28     
    
Pop-up Shop  $1193.17 
   
Silent Auction   $1672 
    
Direct Donation   $186 

   $5566.45     -$215 

Total Revenue:​ ​$5351.45 

 
The biggest contributor to Make It Pop’s financial success was the silent 
auction. Second were the Afterparty ticket sales, followed closely by the 
Pop-up Shop. The vendor fees still amounted to a good portion and the 
direct donations and Giving Gertie’s were good added bonuses. 

 
 
Risk Management Plan 
The risk management plan was prepared by Make It POP’s logistics team. It 
was a well-thought out plan that was organized, easy to follow and 
touched on all factors that could potentially impose risks to the Make It 
POP event. ​One area that was not mentioned in the plan that would need 
to be considered in the future is risk to reputation. 
 
 
Make It POP is proud to have raised $5351.45 for Candlelighters, Dave 
Smith Youth Treatment Centre, and Ottawa Riverkeeper, as well as raise 
awareness of the local Ottawa community!