What are you calling your event? Will it be CITY DISTANCE (ie. The New York City Marathon) or something creatively inspired (ie. The Flying Pig Marathon). Some events choose a name that ties into the community of the event, its primary charity, or the title sponsor. Do what feels right to you. Yes, you surely can change it after you come up with your working title - but at least have this tentative name in mind as you move through this process.

Recruit coordinators for the following areas: Marketing, Registration, Sponsors, Refreshments, Volunteers, Giveaways (ie. shirts/awards, etc.), Course, and General Race Day Logistics. Depending upon the scope of your event, you may need additional coordinators and/or multiple individuals working together on the same task. It is vital that you pick (or are assigned) individuals who are objectively reliable and organized. Be careful working with friends or choosing this team loosely. Set yourself up for success.

You will need to know the date before you can move forward with any permitting, vendors, and many other aspects of the event. Do so carefully and well in advance (12-16 months is optimal). Spring and fall are prime race seasons, which means you’re battling race saturation, location and vendor availability as well as costs associated with these factors. Choosing a less busy time of year, or even a weeknight, should at least be considered. Either now or at some point in the process, decide on the starting time(s). If holding multiple races, you'll need to consider holding them concurrently, overlapping, or fully separately (ie. a 5K that ends, followed by a 10K).

Once you have some help and know when you want to hold it, decide where you want to hold it. You should also have a loose idea of the course at this time - but first make sure you have a viable starting/finishing location. What amenities does the location have? Are other events held there? As it is possible it may not be available, you may need change your date or find a new location.

Start by checking if any (USATF certified) courses exist at that location. If one exists that works for your needs, and you can verify it has been used for an event, it is much more likely that the permitting agency (ie. city/police) will approve its usage. If you need/desire to create a course that hasn't previously been used/approved by the municipality, we suggest you create at least 2 draft courses. Begin by mapping out the route using an online program. To whatever extent possible, run your route. You may notice things that reduce its viability, such as poor footing or it simply is not visually pleasing. Both the online mapping, and even usage of a GPS device, is an approximation of distance - after your course is approved, you should have it certified by USATF.

Course Design Considerations

• Point to point, out/back, loop, or a combination?
• If there are multiple races at your event, do you want the different distances to share parts of the route?
• Avoid creating a route that has overlap/intersecting runners - be especially cognizant of this if you have multiple distances.

As soon as you've done the 5 items above, file all necessary paperwork. Typically this is the permit for the staging location and also the government agency that has jurisdiction over the course. It is quite common to need permits from many entities. If your event uses city, county, and state roads, you may need permits from all three of those entities. And do not advertise your event until you have received back all of the permits with a status of approved.

Approved permits will require insurance. Securing it through USATF is an easy and cost-effective way to insure your event.

Note: Your submitted (course) permit application has a better chance of approval (and faster processing) if you include a volunteer plan that indicates the locations you will have course marshals. Once it is reviewed by the appropriate entity, they will tell you your mandated Police/Fire/EMS coverage, as applicable, along with the cost for these services. Be prepared for the costs, which can range from minimal to tens of thousands or more depending upon your event location, distance (and therefore extent of road closures and duration of them), and the associated required services the municipality will mandate.

Sponsors bring a lot to your event - and your event should bring a lot to them too. The benefit to your event is multi-faceted, including direct funds and in-kind donations. In addition, effective leveraging of sponsors can greatly increase awareness and registrations for your event via their social media channels and, if applicable, advertising at their physical locations.

There are many benefits to the sponsor as well, including the opportunity to have you promote them to your audience and for the sponsor to capitalize on the goodwill of being part of your event. This is especially valuable if you have charitable partners, for which the sponsor becomes a de facto contributor too.

There are many ways for you to help market and advertise your sponsors, including social media posts, inclusion on event collateral/signage/giveaways as well as having a physical setup at your packet pick-up. Some events offer sponsorships to cover particular costs, ie. a bib sponsor, shirt sponsor, photo sponsor, etc. Brainstorm with your team and put together a sponsorship matrix.

What is the experience you are creating? What are all participants receiving for signing up? What are some participants receiving for whatever reason, be it awards, a raffle, miscelleanous reasons, etc? Will your event feature a feast after or just a cup of water with a banana? Will your entry fee be commensurate with your market based on these offerings?

The typical race gives all participants an apparel item (usually a shirt), has age group awards, and then offers water with light refreshments after the race. Nearly all events over 10K now give out medals to all finishers. Some events offer (for free or for charge) a meal the night prior and/or an extensive feast after the race. Do you want your event to stand-out? Will you have music at the finish line? Will there be a step-and-repeat banner for photos? Some events offer amenities à la carte, either as different registration types, such as Regular/Premium/VIP, or simply as add-ons that can be purchased during the registration process.

Once you decide on all of these items, promote it! When people see your entry fee, they are going to do the calculation in their head, assessing if the value of the tangible items plus their anticipated experience is worth what they have to pay. Don't keep all the great things about your event a secret! Will there be kids activities? A popular guest speaker? Be sure to view the running race as just one part of the entire experience and atmosphere you desire to create.

As a starting point, research other events in your area and see what they are charging. Look at events offering the same distance(s) as yours, and look at the amenities of those events.

Unless you are a big budget event that has no fear about reaching your participant goal for your new event, be conservative your first year. Remember, this is the first time for your race. Even if you own other events, this one has no reputation. No returning participants to talk it up, nor any photos/footage from a previous year to use for marketing. Don't price yourself out of consideration, especially if there are other proximate and similar races that same day.

When determining your fee structure, be sure to consider two types of pricing (which can also be used in tandem):

• Date pricing
  Date deadlines for which the entry fee changes after each deadline
• Registration level pricing
  Participant count breakpoints at which the fee changes

• Family discounts and/or flat fees for families up to a certain size
• Cart discounts (ie. 4 people register at the same time, and a $5 discount applies to each one)
• A Referral promotion (ie. Refer 5 people via your personalized reg page link, and your entry is refunded)

Your first goal is to build awareness of the event. In fact, many events like to spread the word before opening registration, so as to build up excitement and an energy that hopefully will yield a strong opening. Build a website. Put the big items at the top (when/where/what). Make sure your website clearly provides all the information someone might want to know, including the prices, amenities, and awards. Create social media pages for the event, post about it on your personal pages, and encourage your friends to do the same. Share, share, share! Create meaningful content; don't just make posts that tell people to register - tell a story! Talk about the fun details of the event. And get it on as many calendars as you can. Are there 9 running/bike/tri clubs in your area? Make sure it's on their websites.

Additional Marketing Tips

Get your event in publications/magazines/newspapers. Do a spot on the radio and on your local newschannel. Create attractive flyers and posters and get them in the windows of local businesses. Distribute the flyer along the homes on the route and in the neighborhood of your event.

You've now reached the most exciting part of launching a new event: the opening of registration. When people register, ask them why - and share their stories. Promote your promotions. Show your appreciation for people trusting in your new event and also keep your website and social media channels active in the months and weeks leading up to race day.

You'll need an online registration company for this, and we'd love the chance to have you experience the power of our very own ZippyReg, which is an incredibly powerful platform for not just registration, but also event fundraising, an integrated online store, volunteer management, and course operational planning.

When choosing where to stage your event from, it's vital that you pick a place that has sufficient amenities and infrastructure. Per the list below, it is possible you may need contract for additional items to make the location work - or ultimately go with a different place.

• Create a schematic of the staging areas (start/finish)
  Where will registration be? Refreshments? General congregating areas? Based upon these decisions - is there enough space to allow for the free flow of participants to move about?
• Parking
  Are there enough spaces at the venue? Will you need to use satellite parking lots (ie. adjacent businesses/facilities)? Will you need parking volunteers to orderly and efficiently manage parking on a field that lacks clear dileanations/parking spots?
• Bathrooms
  Do you need to rent portable toilets? Have at least 2 toilets for every 100 registrants; increasing this to 3 or 4 per 100 is suggested. And do not forget to bring your own extra toilet paper to add to whatever your facilities are providing. If the facility has restrooms - explicitly confirm they will be open at your event. Have the contact number for whomever you can call in case you get to your event and they remain locked.
• Overhead Coverage
  At a minimum, placing registration and refreshments under a tent provide clearly delineated locations for those components of your event. (Use 12' or taller banners for wayfinding.) Even if the weather is gorgeous, the last thing you want is a gaggle of well-fed geese hovering 100' over your uncovered refreshments area. And if your event is on a day with precipitation, you'll want overhead coverage to provide places for people to gather pre/post run. (A plain, but very large tent is ideal for this.)
• Indoor Facilities
  If there's any chance that it could be considerably cold on your event day, having an inside staging area is ideal. Many events are held from school grounds specifically for this purpose - the ability to use a large gym for people to congregate within before and after the race. To that end, schools are a great option for staging an event because they typically also have ample parking and ample bathrooms. When considering your staging location, while a school permit may potentially be higher than a park at first, if you consider additional rental items an outdoor location would require, the school may end up being cheaper.

Below is a list of the many items that you should cover in the different mediums you use to advertise your event. You don't need to cover all of them everywhere - but your website certainly should address all pertinent items in an organized fashion.

• Event Date
• Distance(s)
• Start time(s)
• Packet Pick-up (PPU) date(s), time(s), location(s)
• Event Contact name, phone number and email address
• Exact Location of start and finish
• Course description (terrain and elevation) and course map
• Awards categories
• Team competition information explicitly indicating how many score, how many can be on a team, what timing method for scoring (GUN or NET)
• Entry fee schedule (include clear deadlines)
• Race limit (entry cap)
• Amenities (ie. T-shirts sizes/gender-based shirts, etc.)
• Refreshments and other race-day activities
• Race beneficiary
• Sponsors
• Prohibitions (strollers, dogs, headphones, etc.)
• Event website and online registration address (get an easy to remember vanity URL if putting the link on flyers)

Whether you want to bring in a consultant at the outset or later in the process, it's recommended that you work with a company that specializes in event production. They can guide you through the entire process. As a full-time, full-scale event timing, technology, and management company, ARE Event Productions can be contracted to be your partner to help you with all of these items, serving as a single vendor that covers the 3 major production components below:

• Event Production/Consulting
• Online Registration Provider - AREEP's ZippyReg
• Race Results/Timing

• Bibs/safety pins
  Get creative with your design - make it commemorative. Bibs can be leveraged to sponsors as a place for their logo to appear - they'll appear in just about every photo from your event. Another consideration of the bibs is how you will use them: will your event have corrals at the start? If so, it's recommended that each corral have its own color that is matched between the bib and signage in that corral. In addition, your bib may need to have tear-off tags for tickets towards a post-race meal, free beer, gear check, and other amenities you might choose to provide.
• Event signage
  From the start and finish banners on a truss, to flagpole banners, fencing, wayfinding and more, don't skimp on the utility and attraction of ample signage and branding.
• The Primary Giveaway
  Shirts (or some kind of wearable apparel) are the most common giveaway. A disadvantage of these items is the sizing aspect - and typically the need to place the order before registration closes. When you place the order, extrapolate upon current size proportions with a slight increase towards the larger sizes. It's also best to use a registration platform like ZippyReg which offers inventory management to ensure no one orders a size that is no longer available.
• Finisher Medals and Awards
  If you plan to give out finisher medals - order enough. The strain on your budget if you significantly overestimate finishers is far less important than the chaos you cause by skimping on this. When you run out of medals, it affects your back of the runners, who at other events may have the unfortunate experience of reaching depleted water stops, post-race feasts with no items remaining, and lackluster course and finish crowd support. The medal commemorates an accomplishment for all of your participants - and is also the first touch-point/expected recognition a participant expects at the moment of finishing.
• Food/Beverage
  Whether you plan to do this within your committee or have it externally catered, start planning this at least 2 months prior to the event. If your race has thousands of runners, you should start several months in advance. Also note, that for very large events, you may need to have a food permit with the local municipality.
• General Infrastructure
  You may need to rent portable toilets, tents, tables, chairs, and more. Finding a single vendor for all of this is optimal.
• Photography and Videograpy
  Have a professional on-site. Offer race photos. Have candids taken for your own use to market the event in future years. Have a professional videographer on hand capturing ample footage of the event, including from above.
• Medical Services
  Your permits will probably require this, and even if they don't, have EMTs on-site. At least one ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance is strongly recommend to address the most dire of emergencies. For larger events, the governing munipality or your event medical director will inform you of your exact needs.

At a minimum, your registration form should ask for:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Street Address
• City
• State
• Zip
• Phone
• Email
• Date of Birth
• Age on Race Day (yes, ask for this and DOB)
• Gender
• Race distance choice
• Emergency Contact Name
• Emergency Contact Phone
• Agreement to your stated, explicit event waiver
• Participant Signature (or guardian if under 18)

• Team
• Giveaway (ie. shirt) size (if gender-specific items, indicate as such)
• If you offer a mail-in registration form, include the mailing address and to whom the checks are payable to
• Donation to event beneficiary
• Meal tickets, bus tickets (ie. point-to-point event providing busing), extra give-away sizes, etc.

Packet Pick-up (PPU) is a colloquial industry term that refers to when participants receive their bib (/pins) and giveaway(s). Some events literally package these items as a single 'packet', but that is not required. PPU is typically configured as a set of tables with either letters (of the last name) or bib ranges (ie. 1-100, 101-200) hanging above where each line should form. A person gets in the appropriate line, walks up to the table, tells the individual her/his name (or bib # - known from a pre-race email or webpage), possibly shows identification (if you require it), and is handed her/his materials.

It's also possible to assign bib numbers dynamically, such that no one is assigned a bib number until physically at PPU or someone in their stead. Note: Some events require the participant, her/his self, to be physically present at PPU, while others allow for one person to pick up for others, provided that person has their identication and/or a forward of their confirmation email. We highly recommend that when you allow designees to pick up for others, that you record the name of who is picking up for that person. It's not uncommon, especially when not requiring verification of permission, for someone at PPU to decide that they'll pick up for someone else without telling that person - only for the other person to arrive and their bib is gone (or assigned dynamically already). Best to know if it truly was picked up or a mistake was made. The next section goes into detail about bib assignment methods.

• Cash
  Come with a cashbox(es) that have sufficient/appropriate money for making change. (A $40 or $100 race day fee is a lot easier on your staff than $28, $89, etc.)
• Credit Card
  Do you have credit card swipers? Able to rent them if you don't own them?
• Check
  Be clear in your communications indicating to WHOM the check is to be made out to and in what amount.

• Registration Entrant Administration Page (ie. ZippyReg Entrant Maintenance Screen)
• A spreadsheet with a complete export of all registrant data

• Is your event sold out?
• Are you otherwise accepting registrations today?
• How much to charge if they claim they registered when it was cheaper.
• Their disposition/attitude during this interaction.
  Are they respectful/belligerent/somewhere in the middle?
• Do you have a line of people in front of you waiting?
  Can you afford to spend more time trying to figure this out?
• Is there an audience watching this scene evolve?
• Do they seem tech-savvy enough to be able to pull up their credit card history on their phone? (And not take 30 minutes to do so.)
  Rarely will the charge explicitly make it clear that it is for that exact event (it may either shown the merchant's name or an abbreviation for the event) - so while it is helpful to be shown a charge, your SM might not be able to fully determine if it was for this exact event.

Before talking about bib assignment, be aware of the term attrition, which refers to the percentage of participants not coming to your event, AKA the 'no show' rate. At the least, generally 8%-10% of your pre-registrants will not come to your event. For a marathon that sells out 6 months in advance, this could be as high as 25%-30%! Other factors affecting attrition include the race day forecast, the actual weather on race day, and also your transfer/deferral policy. Keep this concept in mind as you keep reading.

• In advance of packet pick-up (known as pre-assignment)
• At packet pick-up (known as dynamic assignment)

1. Look at the ICE on the back of the bib
2. Call into your event's command center (or your RD/timer, etc.) and ask for the ICE that was provided during registration

On race day, and in the final days and weeks leading up to it, you're going to need extra help serving in a variety of capacities, including:

• Packet prep/item organization/inventory verification
• PPU/Registration (Pre-race day and on race day)
• Parking
• Information
• Course Marshals
• Course Support (ie. lead vehicles/cyclists on course/walking sweep [last place designee])
• Water Stop
• Start
• Finish
• Equipment/Collateral Setup
• Refreshments Management
• Awards Management
• Event clean-up

In addition to maintaining a marketing presence, it's important to communicate with your registrants - especially in the final weeks leading up to the event. You might also want to email your existing registrants (potentially a few times) during the few months before the event, encouraging them (tactfully on your part - and theirs) to recruit their friends and family to participate as well. This is especially effective if you offer a referral program.

At a minimum, absolutely prepare a pre-race email. Send it a few days before packet pick-up starts. Ensure that it clearly communicates the following:

• Event Date/start time(s)/exact address (with a clickable link for directions) to where the event is staged from (and where they should park, if different)
• PPU hours/location(s) (with a clickable link for directions)
• A schematic (image) of the general staging area for the event (indicating the locations of parking, the bathrooms, PPU, the start/finish lines, refreshments, etc.)
• Their bib number (if pre-assigned)

Per your schematic that should have already been shared with your participants, ensure that your parking area(s) are ready. Check in the few days prior to ensure there are no blockages (sometimes a venue may have construction occurring, etc. and the equipment blocks part of a parking lot). You may need to have parking volunteers direct cars.

This has been covered above in the PPU section. Be sure you have sufficient coverage here. If allowing for on-site registration, make sure you have the capacity to accept payments, be it cash (with ample change) or swipers to process credit cards. In addition, on-site registration requires either paper forms (have ample pens/forms) and/or kiosks (ie. laptops/iPads). If you have any technical integration, be sure to have someone proficient with the equipment on-site to troubleshoot any issues.

At a minimum, have music playing at your start and your finish. Have a dedicated emcee with your type of event experience (ie. running races, triathlons). If you have a radio station sponsor who is going to be present playing music/announcing, do not rely on them for this purpose. Chances are that they have no experience at this type of event, will be ineffective in communicating with your participants, have no wherewithal to provide vital and pertinent extemporaneous information/direction, and probably also not have a sufficient enough setup to be heard as extensively as is needed.

The value of this aspect of an event cannot be understated. Having upbeat music and a fun and energetic announcer will elevate your event and effect its atmosphere more than any giveaway or perk. When an event is called fun, it's typically because this was well provided by the event.

Ideally, provide your announcer with a list of sponsors. A full 'Run of Show' is welcome, which is a schedule providing the exact timeline of when to speak, and what to say. Your announcer should also be provided with a live feed of finish data (or from the announcer line, if available) - this is coordinated with your timing company. If you can work with a company that provides this all-in-one, that is best as it will ensure they have experience with one another and expectations/responsibilities are well understood.

The planning for the course happens months in advance, namely the design of the route and the confirmation of where course marshals are needed. In the months that follow, you recruit volunteers/personnel to work at the designated locations. These are called Course Marshals.

Course Marshals
Being a course marshal is perhaps the most stressful position in that, depending upon their assigned location, your course helpers may be subject to an endless supply of angry drivers who have no care about your event, and may potentially be belligerent. It sounds harsh, but it happens - a lot. Your best course marshals will be:

• Those with previous experience at this same event, in that same location
• Those with previous experience at this same event, in any other location
• Those with previous experience at any event serving in this same capacity
• Adults
• Able to follow exact instructions
• Have confidence, good stage presence, and a take charge personality
• Able to be calm under pressure
• Have a cell phone with a long lasting battery, and not afraid to dial 911 if the situation requires it
• Not need frequent bathroom breaks
• Can withstand being outside for a long duration, potentially in unpleasant conditions

• An out/back reduces the footprint of your event by 50% over a point-to-point course
  The advantage of this cannot be overstated. Compared to a point-to-point course, it reduces the amount of volunteers, extent of road closures, number of locations requiring volunteers, unique aid station locations, centralizes your staging area, and a host of other cost-reducing and logistic-reducing advantages. With that said, there are three primary disadvantages:
  1. The physical path/road may not be wide enough for this
  2. Your permit might not allow the starting miles of your event to be closed for that long (many big city races shut down the most vital streets for the shortest amount of time, using lesser used roads for the last half of the race)
  3. It simply is not as attractive as a point-to-point or loop course

1. Have cones continuously visible along the whole route (or ground flags + ribbons hanging from trees for XC/trail)
2. Have signage at each intersection (indicating LT, RT, or ST via their corresponding arrows and text)
3. Place a course marshal at each intersection

1. Safety
   Review emergency procedures, who to call, how to use a flag, how to position yourself on the course to keep the participants - and yourself - safe.
2. Direction
   How to effectively indicate direction to the runners.
3. Encouragement
   With a consciousness on the items above, smile, have fun, and cheer!

Water Stop Frequency
In short, race distance and race day temperature affect how often you should - and are expected - to provide water/aid on the course. The simplest, most reliable formula is to have 1 water stop for every 2 miles of your race. With that said, typically it is OK every 5K (or more in a trail race), although in a major marathon on a hot day, you may see them as frequently as each mile. Ultimately it comes down to balancing expectations and safety of your participants. Most long trail races have them much less frequently, anywhere from every 3 to 10 miles, depending upon the race. Be clear up on your website/event promotional materials so that participants know what to expect. If they should carry their own water, make direct recommendations of the minimum quantity they should have.

*For races 10M or longer, you may need to consider shortening your course, forcing participants to run a shorter option at your event, and/or canceling the event.

• Water (in jugs, giant containers, from the running water of the venue at the water stop, etc.)
• Cups
• Tables
• Electrolyte Drinks/tabs, etc. (ie. Nuun, Gatorade, etc.)
• Snacks/fruit
• Vasoline (with tongue depressors for application)
• First Aid Kit
• Garbage cans and bags
• Rakes (for collecting the cups)
• Portable toilets - for runners & volunteers who will be there for potentially many hours!

1. Use 7 ounce paper cups
2. Have water stop volunteers fill them just past halfway (minimize spillage)
3. Water stop volunteers to hold cups on top of their palm, runner can grab from top (and immediately collapse the opening to avoid spillage / drink from a 'funnel')
4. Refer to the chart above for how much water to have per participant.

Nearly all running events are timed. From first to last, knowing one's time immediately creates a goal to try to do better the next time out. With timing, you have three options:

1. Self-Reported
   When people finish, they submit their time in some form (be it on an index card, into a computer program, etc.) and you tabulate results based upon your trust of them. This is not a recommended method, and inevitably will lead to some incorrect times submitted and a host of other issues based upon the inaccuracy (intended or not) of some participants.
2. Hand-timing (not using transponders)
   When people finish, a member of the timing team has to do something, be it press a button on a timing device/computer to record the time. The bib number then must be entered into the timing program, either manually (ie. typed) or via a barcode scan of the bib.
3. Transponder (RFID) timing
   This is the most common method today, by which participants are given an RFID device (ie. a 'chip' or 'timing tag') that is read/sends data when the participant crosses a mat/runs past a receiving device. On a basic level, the receiving device records the bib number associated with that RFID device, the timestamp at which it was read, and sends it to the timing software.

• Timing
  The collection of raw timing data, namely BIB|TIME, at each timing location.
• Scoring
  The technical act of doing calculations and generating rankings that both determine all relevant split times (/paces) for that person, as well as that person's applicable placements (ie. overall/gender/age group place). During the scoring phase, a strong timer will also utilize validity checks to ensure the data makes sense. The best timing companies not only have the most robust timing software, but ideally are programmers themselves who can customize and write reports 'on the fly' (ie. modify the software, on-site if need be) to adapt to whatever may arise even on race day. (For an example, ask us about the 2014 San Francisco and DC Nike Women's Half Marathons.)
• Results
  This refers to the actual report generation, be it a dynamically generated live report, accessible publicly on the Internet, as well as any reports printed on-site. A common mistake made by some timing companies that offer live results is that they don't have built-in validity checks to prevent incorrect results from being posted to the Internet during live tracking. A simple example is when an event offers a 13.1M and a 26.2M, and someone in the 26.2M decides to run the 13.1M instead, crossing the finish line in 1:45, and appearing live as the winner. This simply should not happen. More insidious, but equally detrimental, is if someone runs a time that appears more globally acceptable (ie. a 2:45) - but still only did the half marathon, and wins her/his age group in the marathon. Additionally, with the unfortunate existence of some people who cheat to earn a BQ (Boston Qualifier) or simply win an age group award, it is important to ensure that your timer's software is configured to also live validate intermediary splits, red-flagging any omissions or clear inconsistencies/impracticalities.

1. A true 'timing' problem
   Either caused directly by the timing company or fully under their domain due to an equipment issue.
2. A participant data problem (ie. faulty data)
   These are problems caused wholly either by PPU staff or a participant, such as the incorrect bib being given to someone (or recorded incorrectly via dynamic assignment) or the registrant data simply being wrong due to a typo during the registration process.

The "Decide on the Amenities" section above goes into more detail on this. It is best that the food items are under a tent (or indoors) and that you utilize some type of restriction for access - be it the presentation of a ticket, a visible bib, etc.

Visit here to learn more about what age groups to offer and what to base times on.
Operationally speaking, most 5Ks have their awards ceremony 45 minutes after the start, regardless of if everyone is done or not. Many longer events (15K+) are moving towards not having age group ceremonies, but rather allowing them to pick-up at the results kiosk (or simply an awards table) and only having a ceremony for the top overall finishers.