Event Development (continued)

 Event Development (continued)

“The following is a continuation of my Event Development Series. Several months ago, I started the series with the first section, “Initial Development”. The second section is entitled “Research and Preliminary Planning”. Now that you and your team have decided to proceed with the event, it’s time to get serious! As suggested previously, any thoughts and idea are more then welcome!”

Research and Preliminary Planning

Research

Have you researched your event thoroughly? Just like the Boy Scout’s motto says, “Be Prepared”! Before you develop a working plan and budget, you need to know exactly what you are in for! To do this you should investigate all aspects of what is necessary to hold a successful event. This is the “Research Phase” of the “Event Development” process.
To begin the research process you need to ask yourselves a number of probing questions. Questions such as: (To be continued...)

Promoting Your Sponsors! (Part 2)

 Here are a few simple ideas:

• Find ways to use sponsor’s products. For example, if it’s a soft drink company, insist that all food vendors sell the sponsor’s products.
• If you are being interviewed by television or radio, make sure that you mention as many sponsors as possible.
• If you have a key sponsor, try to wear a shirt or cap with their logo. Especially when you are being interviewed.
• During the event ask sponsors to set up product displays. Make the space part of their sponsorship package.
• A comprehensive promotion plan should be put into place and all team members should be fully aware of the plan and should carry it out throughout the festival/event.

The better you promote your sponsors, the more likely they will return next year, even in a poor economy!

Promoting Your Sponsors! (Part 1)

 Some time ago, we visited the Fall Fair in Kingston. One of their sponsors was “Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)”.  Almost every farm participant we saw was eating a KFC box lunch! What a great promotion! When I saw it, it started me thinking about how festivals and events do or don’t promote their sponsors! If sponsors “make or break” events, why don’t festival/event organizers go all out to promote their sponsors? Some do, but many don’t! Perhaps the best example of an organization that takes full advantage of promoting their sponsors is NASCAR.  Every time you see a driver or crew chief (or for that matter any NASCAR employee), being interviewed, they are continually promoting their sponsors! They eat, drink, wear and talk about their sponsors! You might think that this is over kill, but you are wrong. When sponsors hand over buckets of money, they want to know that those they are sponsoring are doing everything possible to promote them. They want value (over value) for money spent! It’s no wonder, that in these economic times the good NASCAR promoters are able to keep their key sponsors! This brings me back to festivals and events. Festival and event organizers should take a serious look at how NASCAR promotes its sponsors and then look to see how they can promote their own sponsors.

(To be continued in Part 2)

Curb Appeal… (Part 2)

 3. Clean Up – Prior to the event taking place, the location committee should prevue the facility to make sure it is clean and tidy. If it is not, arrangements will need to be made to have it cleaned up. Any contracts with facility owners should have a clean-up clause. Make sure that everything that can be done to improve the facility is done prior to set-up!

4. Visitor Friendly – When you are making your improvement plans, you should make sure that you include ideas to beautify the facility and to make it “visitor friendly”. This could include flowers, plants, informative signs (professionally created) and other items that enhance the theme of the festival or event.

5. Site Plan – During the planning stages, a comprehensive site plan should be prepared. This would include the best use and layout of the venue for both participants and visitors.

6. Attractions – Make sure when you are planning where to place your attractions that their placement makes sense and that they are visually pleasing.

7. Visualize – The best suggestion I can make is that you and your committee walk the location and visualize what it is going to look like on event day(s). The more clearly you can see the final set-up in your mind, the better the “Curb Appeal” will be!