“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)
- WILL IT MEET THE NEEDS OF…? – When planning a festival
or event you have to consider whether or not your event “meets the needs” in several areas.
Here are some of the areas that need “consideration”.
Volunteers – Most volunteers work on a project
for a specific reason. It could be that they are a member of a service
organization that is either organizing the event or helping run the event. Or,
it could be that the volunteer is interested in the theme or content of the
event. Whatever their reason, the event must meet their needs to keep them
interested and involved. Having a well defined plan, that is followed closely,
should resolve this challenge.
Community – Each community has its own
set of needs. This includes community residents, businesses and the town and
its council. You have to satisfy the needs of each of these “stakeholders”. For example, if you want
to hold a “rock concert” in the town
park and you haven’t satisfied the needs of the local residents, you will
probably get a lot of opposition. If this happens, the event will likely not
get off the ground. The type of considerations for residents could include
sound levels, crowd control, traffic and parking. With local businesses,
especially downtown merchants, you will want to consider their special concerns.
Things like road closures, street traffic and drawing people away from the
downtown shopping area on event day. If you don’t address these concerns, the
businesses will become very vocal and your event will be in trouble. Finally, there
is the town and the town council. You will need their blessings and okay to
proceed. They will want to know that you have considered such things as
policing, road closures, garbage, use of town property, etc. If you haven’t
given careful consideration to these areas, your event likely won’t even get
started! Like with the volunteers, having a strong detailed plan will go a long
way in helping your event get off the ground and then succeed!
(To be continued)
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