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Articles, tools and Academy lessons for galas and award nights in Toronto and the GTA, in the order planners use them.

Galas & Award Nights

Galas & Award Nights

Everything on EventPlans.ca that goes deeper on galas and award nights: articles on the problems planners run into most, the tools to use next, the lessons in the free Academy, and the hubs that overlap with this one.

Narrated walkthrough · 1-minute video
Read the transcript

Related articles and tools.

Everything on the site tagged for galas and award nights, in one place.

How to use this page.

Read the ones closest to your guest count and venue type first: a 200-guest hotel ballroom dinner like the Harbour Gala has more in common with a 250-guest award night than with a 600-guest black-tie ball.

Look at where each one placed the ask, what entertainment it booked before it, and how it handled the gap before first plate.

A reading order for first-time committees.

Start with the budget guide and one example of a similar size, then the entertainment page and an article on running the ask.

Read the raffle and auction rules before the committee commits to a raffle.

Award nights and employer events.

Award nights for staff, for an industry association or for a business community are tagged here too.

Read them with two differences in mind.

Share your gala.

If your committee ran a gala or award night in the GTA, we would like to publish it.

The most useful submissions include the guest count, the venue type, the cost side and the net, the program with times, the entertainment and where it sat, what sponsors received, and one thing you would change.

Articles.

Tools.

The full guide, with tables and checklists, continues below this video.

How to use this page

The articles go deeper on single topics: whether a magician or a mentalist suits a gala audience, how much ceiling height an aerial act really needs, how to write a sponsorship deck that sells tables, and how to run a paddle raise. The tools are the ones committees use most: the budget sheet, the sponsorship deck template, the run of show and the ROI calculator. Honest numbers help the next committee more than any advice page.

A reading order for first-time committees

New committee volunteers reading together in an office lounge

Award nights and employer events

Award nights for staff, for an industry association or for a business community are tagged here too. Read them with two differences in mind. First, there is no ask, so the program problem is length rather than giving: look at how many categories each event presented on stage and how long the awards block ran. Second, an award night an employer pays for may fall under the CRA rules on employee social events, so look for the per-person cost including taxes and check it against the $150 threshold explained on the budget page.

Share your gala

If your committee ran a gala or award night in the GTA, we would like to publish it. The most useful submissions include the guest count, the venue type, the cost side and the net, the program with times, the entertainment and where it sat, what sponsors received, and one thing you would change. We remove donor names and any personal information before publishing, and you approve the final text. A plain, honest account of a mid-sized gala is more useful to the next committee than a polished story about a record-breaking one.

Committee member at a kitchen table beside a gala centrepiece at night

Articles

Tools

Planner using a laser measure in an empty event hall

Related hubs

Galas overlap with conferences when an awards dinner closes the programme and with holiday parties when an employer award night lands in December. Start with the Academy for the full course, including the fundraising track.

Related guides, venues and vendors

Related guides, venues and vendors