Setting the Stage…

In real estate jargon they say a great looking house has “curb appeal”. When they want to make the inside of a house more appealing, they call it staging! What they are talking about is marketing, making the house saleable. There are lots of television programs on the air right now about this subject. Festivals and events should learn from the real estate industry! Festival and event organizers should pay greater attention on how their event looks, both on the inside and the outside! An appealing outside will attract people; make them want to come in to “check” the event out. A well planned inside will make them want to stay, spend money and tell their friends about the great event! It will also bring them back, year after year. “Setting the stage” is easy to do, but it takes thought and planning. Not just the day before the event starts, but right from the beginning. Staging an event includes the basics such as, great location, well planned site layout, interesting activities and events, clean and convenient washrooms and informed volunteers. It also includes the not so basics, well place signs and a lot of them, a simple but effective internet website, happy and enthusiastic vendors and a workable “green” plan! Really, proper “staging” is the anatomy of a well run successful event. The more effort that is put into this area, the better the final outcome will be. And this, in today’s competitive and costly environment, will mean the different between survival, growth and prosperity or defeat, lose and closure!

The Beehive Game…

Have you ever been in a crowd of people and wanted to ask a question of someone you just met, but were too embarrassed to ask? You know, questions like “Do you know who wants to buy a kitten?” or “Do you know any good lawyers?” You get the picture! The old axiom “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is very often too true in the real world! Networking with like minded individuals can be very helpful, strength in numbers. I think that this is especially true with festival organizers. After all, we all have different experiences and different acquaintances. Whether it’s finding top notch entertainment, reliable suppliers or unique vendors, networking works. I found this out in a very tangible way at this year’s Festivals and Events Ontario annual conference. One of the first planned activities at the conference was the Beehive Game. They wanted all delegates to participate. At first I thought it might be another one of those silly “parlour” games, but when Michael Fletcher and his assistant, Dawn Smith, explained the concept of the game, I was relieved, but still not sure. Once the game started (with mass pandemonium), I was sold! (Take a look at the Beehive Game website (http://www.neworldcoaching.com/beehivegame.php ) to see how the game works.) Basically though, it is a networking game. One that easily allows you to find out who in the crowd might need or have what you want. All just by asking a question, “Who do you know…”! As a matter of fact, I am still getting calls and e-mails as a result of that game and thus the networking continues! It has been so successful that I have now enrolled in the on-line version (http://www.beehivegameonline.com) of the Beehive Game. I have just asked my first question and am anxiously waiting for the results!

Lost Opportunity…

We recently visited an event that had great theme and a lot of potential! Unfortunately it fell far short of being the really special event it could have been. I know that the organizers work very hard each year, so the problem was not for lack of effort. So what went wrong? The event has been running for many years, so perhaps it needs new direction, a re-evaluation. On the day that we visited the festival, there was a whole day of events scheduled. We arrived about noon, just in time for the start of the downtown festival parade. It was a long interesting parade and would have been perfect if it was just a town parade. However, the parade was supposed to represent the festival’s theme and it did everything but! There was very little in the parade that tied to the fun and spirit of the festival’s theme! After the parade there were a number of activities scheduled to take place in the downtown area. We couldn’t find any of them and we looked. We tried to find an event organizer or a festival program guide, but could not. We drove around town looking for signs that would point us in the rights direction. There were no directional signs to be found anywhere! We drove all around town looking for any information. The only thing we saw were a few large signs telling us to call a number for information and tickets. Even the festival information we printed off the event’s website was hard to read and incomplete. We weren’t looking for problems. We really wanted to enjoy this event! After all, we had driven several hours to get to it! So here are the basic problems with this event:
1. No directional signage
2. Lack of communications
3. Poorly designed website
4. No informational signage
5. Cancelled or “no show” events
6. A parade that wasn’t theme driven
These are all solvable problems (challenges). It’s just that the event organizers have to recognize and acknowledge that the challenges exist and that is where the greatest challenge likely is. Most organizers don’t like to think they have to change and correct, but they do! Good festivals, events and businesses are constantly evaluating themselves and making changes and adjustments as necessary. Hopefully the organizers of this event will recognize the need for change. Otherwise it will be an “opportunity lost”!

There Must Be A Reason…

It always amazes me when we go to a festival or event and find vendors that shouldn’t be there. I don’t mean that it’s the vendors fault. They are only going where they think the money is! Most of the vendors who go to these events are novices. However, when they don’t make any money or possibly loose some, they quickly learn, the hard way, to ask more questions from event organizers before they sign on the dotted line! Frankly, I think organizers who insist on having a vendors’ section even though it has no benefit to the event are misguided and are likely novices themselves! Without proper planning and marketing, vendor sections are doomed to failure! Vendors participate in festivals and events to sell their products and to make money! If an event is going to ask vendors to participate, the organizers need to provide the type of atmosphere that is conducive to buyers buying. Many event organizers believe that they need vendors to enhance their event. This, however, is only true if they have planned vendor sales as part of their festival’s program. Anything less than this is irresponsible! Most vendors are small entrepreneurial business people who “live” and “die” by their sales. Poor sales can be disastrous! There are enough uncontrollable elements that can affect their sales. They don’t need poor planning and apathetic organizers adding to these elements! Careful planning and intelligent promotion is a must! Festival organizers should make sure that if they are going to have a vendors’ section that it is well thought out and that they attract the right mix of vendors. Vendors, on the other hand, should know as much about the festival or event as possible and then asked a lot probing questions. Only then, once they are satisfied with what they have read and heard, should they agree to participate.
On a final note to organizers, if your festival runs into weather related problems and the financial results are poor, please remember your vendors. Most festivals are run by volunteers and are non-profit. If the festival loses money, there is no financial lose to the volunteers. On the other hand, weather can ruin vendors financially, especially if they have to pay large festival fees on top of their traveling and out of pocket expenses. Try to preplan a policy that takes these vendor losses into consideration. I know you don’t have a legal responsibility to help them, but I believe you have a moral responsibility to minimize their losses. Besides, I think it’s good business in the long run. Good hard working vendors are hard to kind and keep!