Beyond the basic event details, most events need some kind of operational support — meals, microphones, table layout, transport. PortalHQ tracks these as structured requirements per location, so the canteen, ICT team and maintenance team get a clear picture of what they need to do.
Where to add them
Open the event request and choose Canteen, ICT and Maintenance. This is the support coordination dashboard. From here you can add catering, ICT and maintenance entries for each location on the event.
Each requirement is tied to a location — the venue where the support is needed. If your event runs across two locations (e.g. assembly in the hall, then morning tea on the verandah), you can add separate requirements for each.
Catering
Add a catering entry for each meal needed:
- Meal type — breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner.
- Location — where the meal is being served.
- Time — when it should be ready.
- Number of people — staff, students and visitors.
- Dietary requirements — free text, e.g. 5 vegetarian, 2 gluten-free.
- Notes — anything else the canteen needs to know.
When the entry is saved, an email goes to the catering role email address configured for your school. See Configuring event locations and email routing.
ICT / AV
Add an ICT entry for each location that needs technical setup. The exact options come from the venue’s ICT template, so different rooms can offer different equipment.
Common items:
- Lectern microphone.
- Handheld, headset and lapel microphones (with quantities).
- Projectors and screens.
- LED wall.
- Audio playback.
- Live streaming and recording.
For each item you select, you can add notes (e.g. 2 handhelds for Q&A from 11 am). The ICT email address gets the request.
Maintenance / facilities
Maintenance covers the room setup itself — what needs to be moved, set up or laid out.
- Setup time — when the room needs to be ready by.
- Layout — theatre, classroom, banquet, U-shape, etc.
- Tables and chairs — counts.
- Trestles — counts.
- Additional notes — risers, pin boards, water stations, anything else.
Maintenance emails go to the facilities role email address.
Event support and admin requirements
Two extra free-text categories sit alongside the structured requirements:
- Event support — generic on-the-day support that doesn’t fit catering/ICT/maintenance.
- Admin requirements — visitor parking, transport bookings, sign-in arrangements, anything that needs the admin team’s attention.
After approval
When an event is approved, the catering, ICT and maintenance teams will have already received notifications during the workflow. You can keep adding or adjusting requirements after approval — small changes don’t normally re-trigger approval, but if you change something substantive you may want to flag the relevant team directly.
A note on locations
If the venue you need isn’t in the dropdown, ask your portal admin to add it. Adding it as a free-text location works for the event itself, but you can’t pull in ICT or maintenance templates from a venue that doesn’t exist as a known location. See Configuring event locations and email routing.