Opportunity for NSA North Sheep Event Assistant

8^th February 2024

NSA Northern Region is looking for a self-employed contractor to offer support services for NSA North Sheep 2025. The contract will begin in spring 2024 and last until the end of June 2025, to deliver the services detailed below for a set fee.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about the sheep industry and agricultural events to provide valuable services to NSA Northern Region. It would suit someone with experience and enthusiasm for agricultural events and some knowledge of the sheep/farming sector.

The services required are to assist the NSA North Sheep Event Organiser and NSA North Sheep Organising Committee in delivering the hugely popular biennial NSA North Sheep event.

These are to:-

• Promote the event:-
  • Market the event and all elements within it to encourage the maximum number of attendees and ensure a high profile of NSA Northern Region / NSA North Sheep. This will include social media activity, press releases, press enquiries and all other suitable promotion from mid-2024 through to the day of the event.
  • Design event promotional materials and arrange printing where needed.
  • Manage the press office on the day of the event and press attendees/enquiries, and brief NSA officeholders and the event hosts before any press interviews.
  • Deliver social media content from the event, prioritising pre-agreed highlights.
  • Ensure the event photographer delivers to the brief provided and photographs are made available to press contacts in a timely manner.
  • In the week after the event, maximise exposure of the event through press work, social media and online content. To include producing an event report and adapting this to different outlets where requested.
• Ensure commitments to event sponsors are delivered, either directly or by the Event Organiser.
• Once the number of seminars, demonstrations and attractions have been agreed, organise the participants and contents.
• Add relevant content to the event website.
• Liaise with the NSA Communications Manager and NSA Digital Communications Officer at NSA Head Office.
• Attend NSA North Sheep Organising Committee Meetings (up to four meetings)
• Be at the event site for at least one day before the event, on the day and the day after, to deliver areas of work listed above and provide general assistance.
• Ensure spending (e.g. on printing) is within set budgets.
• Maximise opportunities for the event to retain existing NSA members in the North of England and recruit new ones. 
• Ensure opportunities for the event are maximised via regular and effective communication with the Event Organiser.

To deliver these services, NSA Northern Region anticipates the following skills to be needed:

• Excellent IT skills, including experience of basic Microsoft packages and Teams/Zoom.
• Excellent writing skills and, preferably, experience writing press releases and press briefing documents.
• Experience of generating appealing social media content (Facebook and Instagram).
• Design experience (access to Canva will be provided if needed). 
• Experience with online content management systems (training can be provided if needed).
• Self-motivation and the ability to effectively communicate with the Event Organiser and Event Organising Committee.

A contract will be awarded for the services to be provided and will detail payment intervals and additional claimable expenses. The contract will state a set monetary value. NSA Northern Region has in mind for this to be £8,000 but is open to discussion on this depending on what added value can be offered. Applicants’ proximity to the event will be considered.

At the end of the contract in 2025 a discussion will be initiated to explore longer-term options (such as a rolling contract or longer fixed-term contract) for future NSA North Sheep events. There may also be opportunities to provide other event organisation support elsewhere within NSA.

To express an interest:-

To be considered as a self-employed contractor to provide services as the NSA North Sheep Event Assistant, please send a covering letter and relevant information to Chris Adamson, NSA Northern Region Manager and NSA North Sheep Event Organiser, at chris@nationalsheep.org.uk. Please also contact Chris for any additional information on 07930 225150. Please provide this information to Chris, before 5pm on Thursday 29th February 2024.