Facilitating and Streamlining Event Planning:  I created this "Event Planner" to provide Resident Assistants with a consistent way to organize, budget, propose, and carry out campus events for their residents.  The document, actually a Microsoft Excel file, would sum the estimated costs for them, expediting the budgeting process.  As the overseer of these events, receiving a large number of these files via email allowed me to keep them organized in a folder on my computer, rather than juggle many loose receipts and proposals.  Additionally, the document was legible and attractive when printed, making it a great candidate to bring to department meetings when discussing events and budgeting.  

Features of the Document: Using a grid helps keep the items, purchase locations, and estimated costs clear and easy to reference.  Including clear spaces at the top of the page for the event name and the 2 RA planners make it clear that this information is wanted - while it makes sense to the overseer that these pieces of information are important to write down, it might not occur to the event planner that this information is not as obvious to everyone else as it is to him or her ("Wasn't it obvious that this budget was for my Spelling Bee event?").  Bold headings make the form easy for the RAs to fill out and simple for anyone to understand.  Making the budget column another shade (though nothing overpowering) draws attention to the funds being utilized, as does setting the total apart from the rest of the table.  Providing a space for "Additional Notes" encourages the event planners to take notes during or about the event planning process to fill the space!