How to Run Your Own Powwow

Have you ever wanted to run your very own Powwow?

In this blog, I’m going to share with you how to run your very own Powwow from start to finish. We have been able to run 3 successful Powwows now with our Company Powwow Times and I will share with you everything we learned when running your own Powwow.

Now running a Powwow is a lot of work and you are going to need a strong reason why you want to run your own Powwow. Is it to bring attention to a cause, is it because you want to give back, is it because you want to bring people to your community and show them your hospitality?

Figure out first your reason why you want to run a Powwow because it will help you through the hard parts of running a Powwow.

There is a great book that we followed that I think is an amazing framework for doing events. This book is called, Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.

Here are the chapters in Think & Grow Rich.

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION
2. DESIRE
3. FAITH
4. AUTO-SUGGESTION
5. SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
6. IMAGINATION
7. ORGANIZED PLANNING
8. DECISION
9. PERSISTENCE
10. POWER OF THE MASTER MIND
11. THE MYSTERY OF SEX TRANSMUTATION
12. THE SUB-CONSCIOUS MIND
13. THE BRAIN
14. THE SIXTH SENSE
15. HOW TO OUTWIT THE SIX GHOSTS OF FEAR

Each chapter legit helps out in getting your event or Powwow from start to finish.

The first 4 chapters will help you cultivate the desire to do your event, the belief that you can do it and how to build up your confidence to follow through with your event.

Now Let’s Get into Specialized Knowledge – How to Run Your Own Powwow

You will need some specialized knowledge to run your own Powwow. First if you are leading the way with this project, you should have a great deal of knowledge about Powwow.

If you don’t, then you need to get someone part of your team who does have the knowledge of running a Powwow.

Here are some areas you have to think about that need specialized knowledge:

• Someone who can run Volunteers
• Someone who can run Vendors
• Someone to Write a Sponsorship Proposal
• Someone to take care of Security
• Someone to Do Your Marketing
• Someone to Hire Head Staff
• Someone to Create Schedules
• Someone to take care of Raffles
• Someone to Take Care of Finances
• Someone to write Grants
• Someone to do Live Streams
• Someone to take care of FAQ
• Someone to take care Venue
• Someone to take care of Giveaway
• a Runner
• Someone to run Princess Pageant
• Someone to run accommodations
• Someone to run Elders Lounge

Here are positions you need filled from your Head Staff:

• Master of Ceremonies
• Arena Director(s)
• Run of Show
• Vendor Boss
• Drum Boss
• Head Dance Judge(s)
• Head Drum Judge(s)
• Live Stream
• Tabulations
• Head of Security
• Pipe Ceremony Elder
• Eagle Staff & Flags
• Head Dancers

Imagination – How Do You Envision Your Powwow

Imagination is where you start dreaming about your Powwow? When you use your imagination, you picture in your mind how to schedule is going to go, the people you want to attend, and the vibe you want for your event.

For us, we go check out our Venues and start dreaming about the layout, where we are going to put our Tipis, Where grand entry will be and more.

We start thinking about the specials we are going to have and who we are going to hire for our Headstaff.

If you are on a Reservation, then you might be looking at your Powwow grounds or maybe dreaming about a space that it can be run.

Imagine where your porta potties will be, garbage cans, recycle area, water supply, etc.

Start imagining what your Powwow Poster would look like and what kind of prize money you will give out.

This is literally where you start grabbing a piece of paper and start writing down as much as you can about how you want your event to run.

Next Step is Organized Planning – How to Run Your Own Powwow or Event

Now that you have dreamed up your powwow, your dream head staff, and a place to run your powwow. Next is to start getting a plan on paper.

Writing your plan is also part of writing out your Sponsorship Package.

Your Sponsorship package should give a reader a great idea of what it is you are trying to do, why you are doing it, how much it cost to do, and levels of support you are asking for from your reader.

I like to start out with dates. What date do you want to run your Powwow? Give yourself some time for fundraising and grant writing.

After we know our date we are going to run our Powwow, then I start with budgets.

I like to know how much the event will cost from hiring head staff, venue costs, sound costs, carpet and drapes, insurance, food, clothing, giveaway, etc.

You want to have a very precise idea of what the whole event will cost you and so you will know exactly what you need to get to make this event run successfully.

Now the organized plan is to:

1. Know Your Dates
2. Know Your Costs
3. Create a Team
4. Create a Schedule
5. Get Your Money (Grants, Sponsorships, Ticket Sales, Vendor Revenue, 50/50s, Raffles, Donations, Etc)
6. Hire Headstaff
7. Market Your Powwow
8. Deliver Your Powwow
9. Do Your Reporting
10. Start Planning for Next Event

Decision – Time to Follow Through

Now that you know your dates, costs, team, head staff, venue, etc.

It’s time to make a decision.

Once you announce that you’re going to have a Powwow and you know the date, it’s time to start the work.

Get your team together and start meeting regularly. Have someone run the areas mentioned above. Someone on your team to run volunteers, security, vendors, treasurer, etc.

Have your Sponsorship package done up and start sharing it with as many potential partners as possible. Our recent Powwow Times Powwow cost $300,000 and so we knew our goal that we needed to make happen.

Another person or people should be hitting up all the grants that fit within the area of your event.

If your event has a theme, that will help the Powwow get funding as well.

For example if your Powwows theme is Promoting Language. You can partner with organizations that work around language to get funding like a University.

Persistence – Don’t Stop Going Until You Get All The Resources You Need to Run the Powwow

Now that you have your team and know all the details needed for your event, it’s time to stay persistant.

You will get a lot of organizations that you thought for sure would support your Powwow Financially but they will say they can’t do it at this time.

It’s okay.

Keep going and keep working, because eventually you will find partners that will give you the support you need.

Keep looking at grants that are available through your province or state, and also at a federal level.

Apply at all the grants and foundations that you can find because a lot of these grants can pay for the food, security, head staff, venue, sound, and basically everything that is not prize money.

The prize money will have to come from sponsorship and revenue gained from the Powwow itself.

It’s good to have a few full time people who are focusing on grant writing and foundations year round and also someone who can build and foster relationships with potential partners.

The Power of a Mastermind – Running Your Powwow From Start to Finish

Your mastermind team is basically your Powwow Committee.

Your team needs to be on the same vision and everyone know the end goal.

Each person in your mastermind team will play a pivotal role in getting the event accomplished from start to finish.

When we are planning our events, we meet up with our whole team at least once per week. Our team gives updates on each area of the Powwow and we all tell each other the progress of where we are all at and the concerns that need to be addressed.

The Last Few Chapters of Think and Grow Rich

The rest of the chapters of Think and Grow Rich are the invisible stuff that help you. Your belief, your brain and subsconcious and all the fears we go through when we think we can’t do something.

These will help in the journey from getting your Powwow going from start to finish.

Okay Your Date is Here and It’s Time to Powwow

When you have a great team.

Delivering the Powwow will become the easy part. Your hired staff will have extensive knowledge in Powwow and their job within the Powwow.

That is why it’s so crucial in hiring good people in your powwow and get them aligned with your vision when you went through your Imagination part.

You should at this point have this in place:

• You have your head staff hired
• Everyone has their accommodations
• You have all the money you need for your event
• Everyone on your team knows their part and what they need to do
• You have your schedule and the people who need the schedule know it and can deliver it
• You have your Elders ready and pipe ceremony protocols are done
• Your Registration is ready for dancers and singers
• You have already done promoting (posters, website, ads, word of mouth, social media)
• You have your dignitaries ready and invited
• Let your head staff do what they do best without backseat driving
• Be flexible
• Be ready for obstacles to arise and be ready to deal with them on the fly
• Deliver the Powwow
• Have Treasurer have payouts in envelopes ready to go and if you did get grants, make sure you get signatures for all the money going out for reporting

Celebrate With Your Team for Running a Successful Event

Now that you delivered a successful event, this will give you so much learning on areas you can improve and how to make things easier for the next year.

Have a meeting or two with your Mastermind Team and talk about the event what each person has learned.

Next you want to celebrate all the hard work that was done from start to finish.

It is a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of emails and phone calls, and many sleepless nights.

It’s time to celebrate.

If you made a small profit which sometimes you might from ticket sales, raffles, excess of sponsorship.

Use some of that to take your team out for dinner and give the some gifts for a job well done.

Anything left over you can use for the next celebration.

Hire Powwow Times

If you are thinking about starting your own Powwow or need help with this whole process, then we can help.

So far we have delivered three successful Powwow events and have raised over half a million dollars in funding for these events.