Event Development (continued)

 “The following is a continuation of my Event Development Series. Several years 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

You’ve determined that you “financially” want to proceed with your festival or event and you and your committee have completed plenty of “research”. Now it’s time to start your “Preliminary Planning”.

Preliminary Planning – Considerations (Continued)

1. TYPE OF EVENT (Continued) – Unique themes or event niches could be another way to choose the type of event you want to hold. However, committees should consider how their community and its residents will receive the event. Here is what I mean by this.
Canadian Redneck Games – The Canadian Redneck Games, held in the Town of Minto (Harriston) are wildly successful. They are successful here because the residents of the town have embraced them. Another community’s residents might not be as enthusiastic about the theme and the event would likely not get off the ground.

Beaches Jazz Festival – The Beaches area in Toronto is a very trendy area with a lot of younger middleclass residents. Most love good music and don’t mind crowds. Most weekends in the Beaches the streets and parks are jammed with both residents and visitors. It’s all very exciting. That’s one of the reasons that the Beaches Jazz Festival is so successful! The Festival has become a giant party with great music and the area is perfect for this type of event.
Collingwood Elvis Festival – The original festival committee must have realized popularity of Elvis Presley when they decided to hold the Elvis Festival in Collingwood. Elvis has bridged the generation gap and so has the Elvis Festival. With Collingwood being a tourist destination, mainly in the winter months for skiing, it has plenty of bars, restaurants and accommodations. The town needed a great summer event. The Elvis tribute artists were a perfect way to attract people to the area and to compliment local businesses. The Festival attracts thousands of Elvis enthusiasts all wanting to be entertained, feed and in some cases, housed.

(To be continued)