To organize a college fest, start 8 weeks before the date: fix the date, the core team, the budget and the events list first, then sponsors and venues, then registrations, then volunteers and event day. This checklist breaks the 8 weeks into one list per week, with what done looks like for each week.
It is written for student organisers in India running a cultural, technical or management fest of 300 to 5,000 people. Smaller club events can use the same order and squeeze it into 3 or 4 weeks.
The 8 weeks at a glance
| Week | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Date, core team, approvals | Date approved by the college, 6 to 8 leads named |
| 7 | Budget and event list | Budget sheet signed off, events list fixed |
| 6 | Sponsors and venues | Pitch deck sent, venues booked |
| 5 | Tickets and registration | Ticket types and prices decided, registration page ready |
| 4 | Launch | Registrations open, first announcement out |
| 3 | Marketing push | Posters, reels and college visits running |
| 2 | Volunteers and logistics | Volunteer roster, vendors confirmed |
| 1 | Event day prep | Check-in plan tested, run sheet printed |
Week 8: date, core team and approvals
Pick the date before anything else. Check it against the academic calendar, internal exams and the fests at nearby colleges.
- Get written approval from the principal or dean of student affairs.
- Name a core team of 6 to 8 leads: overall lead, finance, sponsorship, events, marketing, logistics, hospitality, tech.
- Give every area exactly one owner. Two people owning the same thing means nobody does.
- Set one place where the team works. A shared drive plus a Unifesto Space works. Ten WhatsApp groups do not.
- Write down who can see the money and the attendee list. Most volunteers need neither.
Week 7: budget and the events list
A fest budget has three parts: fixed costs, per-event costs and money coming in.
| Line | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed costs | Stage, sound, lights, security, printing | Get 3 quotes for anything over ₹20,000 |
| Per-event costs | Prizes, judges, materials, food for participants | Price each event separately |
| Money in | Sponsors, ticket sales, college funds | Plan for sponsors bringing 30 to 50% less than hoped |
- Fix the events list: flagship events, competitions, workshops, pro-show.
- Give each event a lead and a budget line.
- Decide which events are free RSVP and which are paid. Free events bring footfall; paid events and passes bring money.
Week 6: sponsors and venues
Sponsors decide in weeks, not days, so pitch now.
- Make a 6 to 8 slide deck: expected footfall, colleges reached, past photos, sponsor tiers.
- Offer 3 tiers with clear deliverables (logo on stage, stall, social posts, named event).
- Send it to local businesses, ed-tech brands, banks and food chains near campus.
- Book venues inside the college in writing. Halls get double-booked when the request is verbal.
- Confirm power, Wi-Fi and seating for each venue.
Week 5: tickets and registration
Decide how people will register and pay before you design a single poster.
| Decision | Options |
|---|---|
| Ticket types | Free RSVP, early bird, regular, day pass, all-access pass |
| Groups | Solo, or team tickets for events with 2 to 5 members |
| Questions | Name, phone, college, year, team name; only what you will use |
| Payment | Online at registration, so nobody is chasing UPI screenshots |
| Pass | QR pass per person, sent by email and in an app |
- Keep the form short. Every extra question loses some registrations.
- Set an early bird price with an end date. It pulls registrations forward.
- Give team events a group ticket, so the team lead pays once and invites the rest.
- Test the whole flow yourself on a phone: register, pay, get the pass.
On Unifesto, each event gets a public page on unifesto.app, and attendees register and pay through Razorpay in the free Unifesto app on iOS and Android. Ticket types, group tickets and custom questions are set up by the organiser in the Space. Free RSVP events have no fee, as of 20 Oct 2026.
Week 4: open registrations
- Publish the event page and point every channel to it.
- Give each channel its own tracked link (Instagram, WhatsApp, college notice board) so you know which one brings registrations.
- Post the first announcement with the date, the 3 biggest events and the early bird deadline.
- Check the numbers every day. If one event is empty after a week, fix its description or price.
Week 3: marketing push
- Post every day: event reveals, judges, prizes, behind the scenes.
- Visit nearby colleges with a short pitch and a QR code to the registration page.
- Ask each club in the college to share the fest with its members.
- Send a reminder to everyone who registered for one event about the others.
Week 2: volunteers and logistics
| Team | Count for 1,000 people | Job on the day |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in | 6 to 8 | Scan passes at each entry |
| Help desk | 2 to 3 | Answer questions, fix registrations |
| Event floor | 2 per event | Run the event, keep time |
| Hospitality | 4 to 6 | Judges, guests, sponsors |
| Logistics | 4 to 6 | Stage, sound, food, power |
- Build a volunteer roster with names, shifts and one lead per team.
- Give volunteers only the access they need. A gate volunteer needs the scanner, not the revenue.
- Confirm every vendor in writing with times and amounts.
- Make a WhatsApp group per team, not one group of 200 people.
Week 1: event day prep
- Write the run sheet: every event with start time, venue, lead and backup.
- Test check-in at every entry point with real phones and real passes.
- Plan for bad signal: passes that work offline, or a manual lookup by name.
- Brief volunteers the day before. Walk the venue with team leads.
- Prepare certificates for participants and winners so they go out within a week, not a month.
After the fest
- Pay every vendor and settle every sponsor deliverable.
- Send certificates and a thank-you to participants.
- Write down attendance, revenue and what went wrong while it is fresh.
- Hand all of it to next year's team in one place, not in one person's laptop.
Where Unifesto fits
You can run this checklist with spreadsheets and forms. Unifesto puts the parts that touch attendees in one Space:
| Checklist task | In Unifesto |
|---|---|
| Core team and access (week 8) | Space members with Curator, Co-Curator and Crew roles |
| Tickets and team registration (week 5) | Ticket types, group tickets, custom questions; attendees register and pay in the Unifesto app |
| Tracked links (week 4) | A tracking link per channel, with registrations and revenue per source |
| Volunteer access (week 2) | Crew role per event, check-in points per crew member |
| Check-in (week 1) | QR passes, multi-point scanning from a phone, offline scanning when the signal drops |
| After the fest | Financials and payouts on every plan; certificates with public verification and PDF reports on Pro |
The Starter plan costs ₹0 a month and suits a first event. Fests with many events and ticket tiers usually need Pro. Fees:
| Fee (as of 20 Oct 2026) | Who pays | Starter | Pro | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processing fee, not refundable | Buyer, added at checkout | 5%, max ₹99 per ticket | 5%, max ₹99 per ticket | 5%, max ₹99 per ticket |
| Platform fee, until 2 Nov 2026 | Organiser | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Platform fee, from 2 Nov 2026 | Organiser, on paid tickets sold from that date | Your plan's rate on the pricing page | Your plan's rate on the pricing page | Your plan's rate on the pricing page |
| Free RSVP events | Nobody | No fees | No fees | No fees |
On a ₹500 ticket, the buyer pays ₹525 and the organiser gets ₹500 for tickets sold before 2 Nov 2026. Tickets already sold keep the fee they were sold at. Platform fees are launch pricing for Spaces that join before 31 March 2027.
Unifesto does not run your sponsor deck, your vendors or your stage. Those stay in your team's hands.
Request a free Space for your club or fest, or compare plans on the pricing page. Comparing tools first? Read Google Forms for event registration vs Unifesto.
FAQ
How early should we start planning a college fest?
Start 8 weeks before the date for a fest of 300 people or more. Approvals and the budget take the first two weeks. Starting at 4 weeks usually means a rushed launch and fewer sponsors.
How many people do we need in the core team?
Most fests need 6 to 8 leads: overall, finance, sponsorship, events, marketing, logistics, hospitality and tech. Each lead then runs a small team of volunteers.
How do we collect registrations and payments for a college fest?
Use one place where people pick a ticket, answer a few questions and pay online in the same step. This avoids matching UPI screenshots to form responses by hand. On Unifesto, attendees do all three in the free Unifesto app, with payment through Razorpay.
How do we handle team events at a fest?
Sell a group ticket for the team size. The team lead pays once and invites the members, and each member gets their own pass.
How many volunteers do we need for check-in?
Plan for 6 to 8 check-in volunteers per 1,000 attendees, spread across the entry points. Test scanning at every entry the day before.
Is Unifesto free for college fests?
The Starter plan costs ₹0 a month and suits a first event. Fests with many events and ticket tiers usually need Pro. Free RSVP events have no fees. On paid tickets, the buyer pays a 5% processing fee at checkout, up to ₹99 per ticket, on every plan, and it is not refundable. The organiser pays a 0% platform fee until 2 Nov 2026. From 2 Nov 2026, paid tickets sold from that date carry the platform fee for the Space's plan, as listed on the pricing page. Tickets already sold keep the fee they were sold at. On a ₹500 ticket, the buyer pays ₹525 and the organiser gets ₹500 for tickets sold before 2 Nov 2026.