Gary's Blog

What’s In Your Website?

2008-09-25T10:57:00.003-04:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about my websites. I have three active festival and event sites. I want to know if they are as effective as I want (need) them to be. In talking with a web designer friend, I realized that they all needed to be re-evaluated! I asked him to explain what the key ingredients where for a successful website. He started to answer me in another language, techno speak! I told him to slow down and talk to me in a language I could understand, English! He did and we covered a wide range of topics. Here is a summary of our conversation. In future blogs I will try to explain his ideas more fully and hopefully in “plain” English!
1. Site Construction – It is important, when building your site to remember that it has to attract two types visitors – human and search engines. Each is looking for different things. Your site must appeal to both if it is going to be successful. The foundation of any successful site is well written code. Search engines can and will penalize a site with poorly written code.
2. SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” – Simply put, search engines put out feelers (spiders) to find sites. Once your site is found it is categorized based on your keywords and then listed in order of importance. Your choice of keywords helps in determining the sites importance.
3. Meta Tags and Keywords – These are words inserted in your website. They bring attention to your site and its pages.Consider this information the “business card” of your site to the spiders and potential visitors.
4. Meta Description – This is the description that appears in your search engine listing and it is the first content the spider will see!
5. Use of Keywords in Text – In order to emphasize keywords, they must be used often in the text of the web page
6. Highlighting Text – Once keywords are chosen and inserted, they must be shown as being important. This is accomplished by highlighting (bold, italicized, underlined) each keyword.
7. Web Pages – Each important page (home, about us, products, etc.) should be optimized for different keywords!
8. Updating – Sites should be frequently updated and the information must be new, correct and consistent.
9. Simplicity – Simplicity is best, especially your home page, in web design, page layout and contents.
10. Website Layout – Sites should be easy to maneuver. Complicated site discourage visitors from surfing through your site’s pages. Well designed and planned websites with user friendly, consistent layouts are a must.
11. Contact Information – Make sure that visitors to your site have a way of contacting you. Since the contact is being made via the internet, e-mail contact is a must.
12. Linking – Encouraging other websites to link with yours is important. However, the linked sites should have relevancy to your business or site. Linking for the sake of linking is not a good move.
13. Traffic – Finally, the goal of every site should be increased traffic (visitors to your site). How you design and manage your site will determine its popularity and thus traffic.
14. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – is a form of Internet Marketing that will help your website increase its visibility. Marketing tactics can include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid placement and paid inclusion.

What’s The Real Solution?

2008-09-17T17:32:00.000-04:00

How many times have we heard politicians and special interest groups call for drastic legislation as a “knee-jerk” reaction to a problem? You don’t need a fish net to catch a fly! Unfortunately many make far reaching demands without worrying about the consequences. And the problem is, once a law is on the books it stays there! Rarely, if ever, is a law, good, bad or outdated taken, off the books! So, poorly thought out laws either create havoc or are just ignored! Most of these groups and politicians are well meaning. They see a problem and want it corrected. That’s fine if it really does solve the problem, but too often the solution goes way beyond the actual problem, thus the net to catch a fly analogy. New laws must be thoroughly thought through and all of the ramification must be considered. Consider the banning of all plastic water bottles. I have heard towns and groups advocating banning them entirely. Why not work jointly with water companies and plastic bottle manufacturers to come up with a safe acceptable solution. Similarly I have heard the some groups want paper coffee cups banned. The same applies here get all the interested parties together and fine a solution. Poorly thought out laws don’t serve anyone purpose! Personally, I like the attitude of some of the festival organizers have taken. For example, the Guelph Hillside Festival was having problems with too many plastic water bottles. They wanted to reduce or eliminate there use. Their solution was to develop a practical alternate. They decided to bring in a tank full of potable water and then sell re-usable aluminum water bottles that could be filled up for free! As a result of this innovative thinking they drastically reduced the plastic bottle waste! Then there is the Shelter Valley Folk Festival. They wanted to have a “green” festival. They wanted local product to be used and to have little waste. There solution was quite simple. Contract with local food vendors and make sure they were committed to using local produce. That was solution number one. The second solution for waste was just as simple. Invest in re-usable plates and cutlery and convince a whole bunch of people to volunteer to keep them washed! Now they enjoy a wonderful “green” festival that is the pride of all those involved! Rather then take draconian measures, each identify a challenge and then found intelligent solutions! Politician and advocacy groups would do well to take note!

When The Going Gets Tough…

2008-09-10T16:49:00.000-04:00

This year has been a disaster for many events. The cost of gas is higher. The economy is poor and the weather hasn’t co-operated! How many festivals and events will fail this year? For their community’s sake, I hope not many, but that may be just wishful thinking. However, there is hope. Judi and I were visiting the Orono Fair last weekend and bumped into an old acquaintance, George Trotter. He is one of the long time organizers of the Cobourg Highland Games. The Cobourg Games, a one day event, was hit with one of the worst rainfalls of the year! The parade and many of their events had to be moved indoors or, worse, cancelled. Vendors left early and attendance, their life blood was down to catastrophic levels. As a result the Games lost a great deal of money! Many committees would have thrown it the towel, but not the Cobourg Highland Games. They have had a proud tradition for over 45 years. George told me that they were in the process of organizing fundraisers to recoup their losses and planned on coming back next year bigger and better! I believe with the help of the Cobourg community they will do just that! If festivals and events are going to survive in today’s economy, their organizers are going to have to get tough and get going! Their communities are counting on them!

Set Up To The Plate…

2008-09-03T09:09:00.000-04:00

How many times have you made a promise to do something and then forgotten to do it? Or, how many times have you asked someone to do something for you and they have forgotten? How did you feel when it happened to you? It’s definitely important to keep your word when family, friends and bosses are involved, but what about casual contacts? I believe it’s important to keep all of your promises. Have I ever messed up? Yes, but I really make a conscientious effort not to. I can’t tell you how many times Judi and I have asked someone to send us information about their event or product and not received the information! It’s not only rude, it’s very poor business! I participated in many events where people have asked me to send information. I do, and most times I don’t get any response. Ii can be and is frustrating, but do I stop sending information? The answer is, of course, no. I guess some people become stilted and only go through the motions of promising to do something even though they have no intension of following through. They feel that they are just “wasting” their “valuable” time responding to someone who doesn’t really want the requested information! It’s too bad, in our case, because we usually want to promote their product or event on our website for free! If we don’t hear from them, we don’t promote! Look at the Babe Ruth. He struck out many more times than he hit and yet he was considered the greatest Baseball Player of all time! If you can’t or won’t follow-up, be honest, tell that to the person who requested the information. They may not like it, but they will at least respect you for telling them the truth! So, when you say that you are going to do something, “Set up to the plate” and follow through, you may hit a HOMERUN!

Setting the Stage…

2008-08-28T17:19:00.000-04:00

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…

2008-08-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

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…

2008-08-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

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…

2008-08-08T15:59:00.001-04:00

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!

What’s In A Name?

2008-07-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

I like visiting festivals that have a theme. The theme gives me a better idea of what to expect. I like it even better when a whole community becomes involved in the theme! This is especially true of festivals that have a theme that can be easily embraced by the community. A pumpkin festival, for example, makes a great theme and allows residents and businesses to easily become involved. Residents can create scarecrows and put them on their lawns and in their windows. They can carve scary pumpkins and put them on their front porches. Business can decorate their buildings and business windows. They and their employees can dress up to add excitement to the theme. The festival committee can encourage participation by offering prizes for involvement. Local media can become involved by enthusiastically promoting the theme. It’s a domino effect that keeps building with momentum. The Calgary Stampede started out as just an idea many years ago and now the whole city becomes involved. If you are not wearing a Stetson during the Stampede people will look at you strangely. The Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is the same. Most everyone there gets into the spirit of the event. Yes, these are larger established events, but it’s the spirit that matters and the residents of these communities have the spirit! I believe that is why they have had such great success. I can remember as a kid during Christmas, our village became totally engrossed in Christmas decorating. Doors were decorated, trees and houses were totally lite up with Christmas lights and most lawns had Christmas displays. People took pride in their homes and their community and it showed. People from all over flocked to our community just to see what the village residents had done. This tradition happened year after year and droves of people returned each year. It may seem like you have enough to do just organizing your event, but the positive benefits of having your community become “the event” will pay huge dividends in both the number of visitors and the dollars spent. The more interesting you can make your event, the better your event will become. Attention to details, large and small, is important to successful events!

Crowd Control…

2008-07-24T23:32:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago Judi and I went to Upper Canada Village for an 1812 re-enactment battle. The battle took place on a large open field and the audience was able to watch the battle while sitting on the side of a shaded hill. It was a perfect theatre. The field was “roped off” to prevent onlookers from wandering onto the battle grounds and joining the battle. We arrived in plenty of time to get a good viewing area. Additional people arrived even after the start of the battle. As the hillside filled up and more onlookers came to watch the re-enactment, they started taking spots at the rope barrier. They stood there to watch the activities. Soon the complete barrier line was filled with people! The people who had planned their time and who had come early to get a good viewing spot had there view blocked by the late comers up front! I can’t understand the mentality of people who arrive late for an event and then think they have the right to block the view of those who came early. Frankly, I find this type of behavior rude and unacceptable! What is even worse is the most festivals and events allow this to happen and then don’t take any action to prevent or correct it! Fortunately this was not the case at the Upper Canada Village re-enactment! As soon as the announcer noticed what was happening, he stopped describing the battle and asked the people up front to move away from the rope barrier and take places on the hill. The press who were taking photographs were allowed to stay but were asked sit down on the ground and to keep a low profile. My congratulations to the organizers of Upper Canada Village re-enactment! I can only hope that more organizers will take action against the few rude and annoying people who consider it their right to come late and then get a front seat view!

Vendors Talk…

2008-07-19T19:29:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago Judi and I had dinner with friends of ours. They were in town (Cobourg) to attend the Cobourg Highland Games as vendors. During our meal the conversation naturally turned to festivals and how they treat their vendors. Our friends commented on how differently each event treats their vendors. Some treat vendors as partners, while others treat them as a necessary evil! As a vendor I certainly know which festivals I would be selling my merchandise at! I believe that if a festival or event is going to have merchants as part of the event, they should attract the very best and then treat them like gold! They are the ones who pay the booth fees and attract the crowds to the events! For many festivals they are the main attraction! Festival organizers should realize that the better the quality of vendors they have at their event, the more people they will attract. It’s a big circle! Good vendors attract good attendees. Great vendors attract great and more attendees! Ones who will be willing to spend money! The more people spend, the more vendors earn. The more the vendors earn, the more an event can charge them. Successful vendors are willing to pay “fair” booth fees. More money to go back into the community! And remember, attendees and vendors TALK! Attendees tell their friends and their friends tell their friends! It’s called the “rippling effect”. Bad news travels fast! As for vendors, they also talk. Vendors love to network. This may come as a surprise to some festival organizers, but vendors, especially the more experienced ones, talk to one another regularly! They know which festivals are the best to attend for sales. They know which festivals treat their vendors well and who treat them poorly! Any festival that wants to become and stay successful should be acutely aware of these realities and plan their festivals accordingly! Here are vendor friendly five tips:
1. Provide a “booth sitting” service
2. Provide vendor only washrooms and a clean-up area
3. Provide “food delivery” service
4. Have a rest area for vendors and their staff where they can relax and snooze in peace
5. Provide vendor only parking areas

Survival…

2008-07-11T14:10:00.000-04:00

I was reading an article in a US newspaper that had bold headlines reading “Festivals across US downsize or cancel because of economy “. The reasons given were the reduction or elimination of sponsorship dollars, higher costs and fewer attendees. Both corporations and attendees are feeling the economic pinch, falling sales for corporations and higher gasoline costs for attendees. For many people the cost of getting there is just becoming too expensive. With costs increasing for festivals, organizers have to take a much closer look at their budgets and profitability. Even though many festivals are organized and managed by non-profit organizations, excess monies are usually invested back into organization’s community. Members of the organization usually throw themselves into a festival project because of the charitable factor. Without profits, many groups are now re-evaluating their role. Some, as the newspaper article says, are downsizing while others are simply canceling. Rather than “throwing in the towel” and giving up, these groups should re-evaluate themselves and find innovative ways to grow and prosper. For me, this doesn’t mean increasing the admission costs or the booth fees. It means taking an honest comprehensive look at all aspects and then coming up with responsible solutions. The first few years may not produce high profits, but hard work, time and intelligent perseverance will. Remember everything is cyclical and the economy will bounce back, but if you leave the game or diminish your product (festival) everyone will lose! Festivals are an intricate and vital part of every community! What your group does now and how it responds to the challenges of today WILL affect tomorrow.

Change…

2008-07-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

I was watching “Speed TV” a week ago and “Dave Despain” was interviewing the new president of USCA (United States Auto Club). Despain asked the new president how he was going to improve USAC. His reply was simple. They were going to have to change, to appeal to more people, to appeal to different demographic groups. This interview started me thinking about festivals and events. I remembered a conversation that I was part of. It happened a few years ago. We were talking about the future direction of a major festival. One of the principal organizers thought for a moment about the direction of his portion of the festival and then said, “You know, we’ve been pretty successful over the years, I don’t see any need for change.” In his mind this was absolutely true. His portion of the festival is still going, but, in my mind, it seems to be losing the vitality it had a number of years ago. I wonder of how many other festival and event organizers refuse to consider change as part of the management process? I believe too many! I worked in the wildlife conservation banquet business for over 20 years. Most banquets are still using the same fundraising formula that was used when I entered the business! Today’s banquet proceeds and attendance is considerably down. I am not advocating that change has to be done on a wholesale basis. I think that evaluation of your event regularly and then comparing it to today’s realities is important and necessary! Looking into the future and planning for it is just smart business! Consider all the corporations that no longer exist because they couldn’t accept change and embrace it!
There is a major, very successful event in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, the K-W Oktoberfest. I was at a conference where the Executive Director talked about his festival and how they developed a new 5-year plan. He told us that they did this re-evaluation regularly and that they were in the process of revamping their volunteer program. It wasn’t because their program and volunteers were bad; actually it was quite the contrary. Their volunteer program was second to none! It is just that they wanted to offer their patrons and visitors a Disney-like experience. To accomplish this, it meant re-educating and re-focusing their volunteers. A huge task, but well worth it!
Festivals and events are a major part of all our communities and far too important to wither up and die!

Washroom Facilities…

2008-06-26T16:45:00.001-04:00

Why do washroom facilities for a lot of festivals and events seem to be an after thought? It is very disappointing to find poorly placed and badly maintained and equipped facilities! It is almost as though event organizers are embarrassed that they have to provide washroom facilities! They place them in out of the way locations, not taking into consideration those who need them the most. It’s like they don’t want the washroom facilities to interfere with the rest of the festival! I have been told that Disney Parks place a great deal of attention to their facilities. Only senior trained staff is allowed to maintain their facilities. They realize that clean washroom well stocked washroom facilities reflect their entire operation! So, if it such a high priority to Disney, why isn’t it important to most Ontario festival and event organizers? This is such an easy way to win the hearts and loyalty of the patrons! The following is a list of my top washroom facilities “pet peeves”:
1. Poorly located facilities, especially for visitors who need to use the facilities frequently
2. Too few washrooms for the size of the event
3. Lack of or no disabled facilities
4. Unclean and poorly maintained facilities
5. No wash-up stations
6. Poorly stocked facilities (toilet paper, water, towels, soap, etc.)
Organizers should make sure they inspect the washroom facilities that they are renting to ensure that they are good quality and reflect the quality of the event. They should also insist on frequent clean out, even if it costs a little more. Finally organizers should ask for references and check them out. Remember these washroom facilities are an intricate part of your festivals reputation.
Having well maintained, startegically placed washrooms high on your priority list will pay big dividends. If it works for Disney, it will work for you and, your visitors will appreciate your efforts!

They’re The Best!

2008-06-20T15:55:00.001-04:00

Last week I was in Bracebridge to attend a friend’s 65th surprise birthday party. Judi and I decided to stay overnight the day before so that we would be on time for the cruise that was scheduled to start at 11:30 AM. That night I became very uncomfortable with a pain in my side. I toughed it out that night and well into the next morning. I wanted to be there for my friend’s surprise. About midway into the morning I couldn’t stand the pain anymore and drove myself, with Judi to the Bracebridge Hospital. There, they tested me and put me on intravenous. The hospital and their staff were terrific! Finally, after the pain subsided they sent me home (back to the hotel). They thought I had just passed a kidney stone. I was fine that afternoon and evening and enjoyed my friend’s reception and party. The next day I was still feeling okay, so we went ahead with our plans to visit the Dundas International Buskerfest. I felt fine the whole day, except that I was extremely hot. I put this down to the temperature outside. By the time we dove home I was still okay but feeling hot and tire. That night the pain same back, this time with a very high fever! Once again I toughed it out overnight, but in the morning I was in rough shape. Judi and I took a taxi to our local Northumberland Hills Hospital. Once again they tested me to try to determine what my problem was. After receiving the test results, the Emergency Room Doctor told me I had a kidney infection and that they were keeping me in the hospital for a few days to get my temperature and infection under control. Within 5 days I was feeling better and they discharged me. My reason for writing this blog is simple. I want people to know how wonderful our hospitals and their staff are. During my stay at the Northumberland Hill Hospital I could not have been treated better. The staff was very kind and attentive. It always upsets me when I hear on American television how bad our system is. Yes the system has its problems, but so does the American system. Nothing is ever perfect, but with the type of personnel we now have in our hospitals, the future is very bright. During my stay at our hospital there were a number of interns working with the hospital doctors. I just hope some of them stay in our community. My final reason for this blog is to encourage people who are not feeling well when they attending an out of town function to take advantage of the community’s local hospital. I am sure that you will appreciate the local hospital, its staff and volunteers as much as I did!

My Grandson…

2008-06-12T15:53:00.000-04:00

A while ago I had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman about an antique boat cruise company he operated. The conversation turned from boats to events. He was telling me about a new classic boat and car show that taking place this August in Rosseau. He had read my article about the Antique and Classic Boat Show held in Gravenhurst and that I had attended it with my Grandson. He suggested that the new show would be great for my Grandson. This started me thinking about the “kid” friendly shows I had visited and that I would visit in the future. There is something wonderful about festivals and events that can cater to both adults and children alike and do it well. Obviously a lot has to do with age of the children (and, perhaps adults) but to be able to capture both takes a lot of thought and planning! Some attractions do it naturally, like the Toronto Zoo. Others have traditions where the two come together, such as the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) or the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, but the planned combination festivals are truly special! I think one of the best events that we have attended for this combination is the Mississauga Waterfront Festival (2007). Its activities offered a wide range for all visitors. For the children, the Kid’s Stage feature Barney and Friends plus a cast of other children entertainers. For adults, there was an Ojibway Storyteller, Native Dancers and Chinese Arts performers. Their greatest achievement, however, was in combining activities that appealed to both groups. these activities included the McCann Super Dogs, the West Coast Lumberjack Show, the Jet Ski Stunt Show and the Skyriders Trampoline Show. I believe that most festivals should be for the whole family to enjoy. Festivals that accomplish this well will win the festival visitor “sweepstakes!

Pack Your Own Lunch?

2008-06-05T17:03:00.001-04:00

The more festivals and events that Judi and I attend the more we feel that the food offered is neither good value nor nutritional! It make you wonder if we should be packing our own lunch. I am not sure why so many festivals allow high priced, poor quality food to be offered at their events. Since food plays such a major roll in the festival experience, it would seem to me that smart festival organizers would start to reconsider the types of food offered and how and where it’s presented. This is especially true for larger events that allow food vendors set up shop and then charge ridiculously high prices. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I believe that festival visitors will become more and more discerning about the festivals and events they visit as gas and food prices increase. Although it’s difficult for festival organizers to dictate what food vendors can charge and what ingredients they use, they can be very selective on whom they choose as a vendor by asking hard questions and only contracting with the very best. Good value, healthy ingredients and a good selection of foods will win the hearts of their visitors. A further thought for festival organizers is that they should be offering food areas for their visitors. There is nothing worst then trying to juggle food, drinks and other packages while trying to eat food. Festival organizers should include in their planning a convenient food court with plenty of seating and lots of shade. I feel that festivals organizers who go that “extra mile” will be richly rewarded for their efforts!

Confusion…

2008-05-29T22:54:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year we attended an event that was confusing! It’s not that the event didn’t have a purpose and a theme, it did. The event was a race of sorts and celebrated a disaster in the town’s past. The confusion for me was simple, was the event held for race participants or was it for the race visitors? In this case, the event was heavily geared towards the race participants. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s up to the event organizers to make their choices. However, I think that they and the town are missing a great opportunity to promote the town, its amenities and its merchants! With just a little more effort this event could become one of the biggest attractions in the area. Don’t get me wrong, the event already attracts a good crowd, especially if the weather is good, but it could do better, much better! This may not be what the race organizers want, but it may be what the town needs. If the race organizers don’t want to spearhead an expanded event, why not make the race and event within a larger event or festival! An overall festival committee could be formed and its members could develop plans to expand and compliment the existing event. Expanding on an already successful event just makes good sense! The race already attracts a good number of out-of-town visitors. Why not give the more to do and see? Why not give them greater opportunities to spend money and help downtown merchants? It makes me wonder how many other communities are in the same position. Right now, I believe, a great number of opportunities are being lost!

Contingency Planning

2008-05-24T09:35:00.000-04:00

This past week we visited an event that was scheduled to have its activities take place inside and outside. When we arrived it was raining quite heavily, plus it was cold! A bad combination for a spring festival! When we got there I checked with the festival information desk to obtain an event schedule. One of the staff explained the schedule and outlined the changes being made due to the poor weather (rain/cold). Everything seemed organized with an adequate contingency plan. Unfortunately the execution of the plans was poor! Staff were walking about, confused as to where and when activities were taking place. There was one event that we particularly wanted to see, so we asked one of the staff members the time of the next performance. She told us 1:30 PM. When we came back at 1:15 PM to see the show, there was no line up, so we asked a different attendant the time of the show. He told us 2:45 PM! This was disappointing, not only because we were given incorrect information, but the time was in direct conflict with the main attraction which was to start at 3:00 PM. We decided to miss the 2:45 PM performance. We bided our time by walking the festival grounds, in the rain. Finally, with plenty of time to spare, we made our way to the main attraction’s venue. We found a good viewing spot and claimed as our own. As the time got closer to 3:00 PM, set up activities started to take place. This activity seemed to draw people to the staging area! People started to arrive in numbers and were sitting and standing wherever they could. So much for arriving early and choosing a good viewing spot! Finally the set up staff realized that the performance area had people in it and that they were going to interfere with the performers. After much wrangling and time, they managed to relocate the encroaching crowd to new non-conflicting positions. 3:00 pm came and went! At approximately 3:20 PM the first performers were introduced. The whole production was spectacular, definitely worth waiting for! However, I believe that the confusion and delays could have been avoided if the contingency plans had been taken more seriously. Plans like these need to be practiced and understood by ALL staff members, not just the planners! This was a world class event, at a world class venue. I am sure that in the good weather everything ran smoothly, but with the bad weather everything seemed to fall apart. This event deserved to have the same professionalism, good weather or bad!

Amazing Recovery…

2008-05-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we visited the Bowmanville Maple Festival & All That Jazz. The entire main street was closed off for the festival. The was no mean feat, as the main street is the former Highway #2 and is normally a very busy road! However, the road was closed and full of festival visitors. Parking close to the main street was difficult to find, but after a little driving we found a spot on one of the side streets. We walked from our parked car to the main street. The festival was in full swing! Vendors had set up their booth along the street. There was a long line up at the Lions Pancake Breakfast and jazz musicians were entertaining the crowds at several locations. What I have just described is typical of any great event. People walking the festival and having a good time. This year’s Bowmanville Maple Festival was NOT typical! Bowmanville had just experienced a major downtown fire just a few days before the festival. Fire crews had spent hours preventing the fire from spreading and succeeded heroically! The citizens of Bowmanville must have been in shock, but the spirit of the residents and the festival organizers lived on! Despite the calamity the festival was held as scheduled. I know Judi and I enjoyed ourselves as did the other festival visitors. To me this shows what true community spirit is all about. People working together even in the face of great odds! Congratulations Bowmanville!

Festival Amenities…

2008-05-08T17:42:00.003-04:00

Judi and I determine what festivals we are going to visit by going onto websites to see what is being offered. I think many people use the same method. If you look on most festival websites, it is very hard to tell what basic amenities they are offering, disabled parking, children’s activities, shuttle services, first aid, etc. and if they are offering any of these, what are they actually offering. Right now, it is mainly a guessing game on the part of festival goers. Perhaps Festivals and Events Ontario or some other authoritative body could come up with some standard guidelines that festivals could use to describe basic amenities being offered. These guidelines could list each amenity and describe minimum standards for each. Special icons could be developed that could then be used by festivals if they met the minimum standards as outlined in the guidelines. These special icons would be the property of the developer and could only be used by festivals on written authority. By developing these standards, both festival organizers and event goers would benefit. Organizers would have amenity goals and standards to aim for, thereby making their event better. This would especially be true for new events. Festival visitors would benefit because they would know what amenities are being offered and what to expect from each amenity. I believe the overall effect would be a win-win for everyone. Festivals who participate in the program would have better events, would draw more visitors and have fewer disappointed attendees. Visitors going to these festivals would know in advance what to expect. This would mean happier attendees and happier attendees usually spend more. If Festivals and Events Ontario were to spearhead this program, they could use it as a membership recruitment tool and it would give them the opportunity to educate and upgrade their existing festival and event members. The standards should be detailed, but not be too complicated. The program could start out by standardizing simple amenities, ones that every attendee would appreciate knowing about. Amenities such as washroom facilities and their placement, seniors and disabled facilities, children’s facilities, first aid, shuttle services and “green” programs could be the first ones standardized, others could follow later. With gas and food prices drastically increasing, people are becoming more and more discerning about where and how they spend their money. They want value for money spent. They don’t want to drive long distance to events that have no appeal. They are using the internet more to select the festivals and events they are going to attend. Our Ontario Festivals Visited (www.ontariofestivalsvisited.ca) website attests to that, as does the Ontario Travels site. The traffic on our site has quadrupled over the past few months. In April we had over 7,500 visitors. According to Peter Fonseca, Minister of Tourism, the Ontario Travels site averages 260,000 visits per month. It is important that festival organizers understand these changing dynamics and take advantage of them as new opportunities. Those that don’t will ultimately fail. Standard guideline, I believe, will help festivals achieve their potential.

Following the Crowd…

2008-05-01T22:25:00.001-04:00

I can remember as a young man working at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and being amazed at the crowds that came to visit. Back then I never felt threatened by the crowds. In fact, I loved them! I used to make a game of walking through the crowds to see how quickly I could maneuver my way through them! I was never rude, but I did say a lot of “excuse me’s”. Back then I could move quite quickly and was very agile! Now, of course, it’s different. I’m a lot older and not quite as quick or agile as I use to be! I still love walking through crowds! For Judi, it’s a completely opposite story. She hates crowds! This “love/hate” is the challenge that all successful festivals and events organizers have to face, because success brings bigger crowds. So how does a festival prepare for this type of success? First of all, traffic control, vehicle and people, has to become an intricate part of the planning process. If your traffic control is poor or non-existent, your success will be short lived! Festival and event visitors will only stand for so much inconvenience. I have talked before about parking and shuttle services, so I won’t talk about them in this blog. Rather, I want to talk about pedestrian traffic flow. This type of traffic is much harder to manage than vehicle traffic because there are no “rules of the road”! It is basically every man (person) for themselves. If organizers take this fact into consideration, they should, at least, be able to help the traffic flow. This is especially important if you are encouraging seniors and the disabled to attend you event! One suggestion that I have in this area is to use “people movers” (golf carts, mini vans, and handicapped bus) for people who are unable or unwilling to move through heavy crowds. This takes some of the pressure off both organizers and seniors/disabled. Other suggestions for traffic control includes strategic placement of major attractions, clustering like attractions together (food court, craft show, midway). This helps divide crowds into a variety of different interests. One of the best festivals we visited for traffic control was the Mississauga Waterfront Festival. Their events were well spaced and due to their location, Memorial Park in Port Credit, they were able to take advantage of the park’s great walkway system. Whatever the solutions, festival and event organizers should make traffic control a high priority.

A Helping Hand…

2008-04-24T22:28:00.000-04:00

Over the years Judi and I have been involved both as organizers and participants of many festivals and events and, of course, we have visited many more. As vendors we always appreciated when we were treated well and were disappointed when we weren’t. Festivals that treat their vendors and participants well will always be the event of choice for the better vendors. If your festival or event’s revenue is based upon the success of your vendors, treating them well just makes sense! It should play a major part in your event’s vendor marketing program. The Cobourg Rotary Club in their section of the Cobourg Waterfront Festival has taken this treatment to heart and offer their vendors a variety of amenities. Some of them include special vendor parking, booth sitting services and s vendor relaxation area with refreshments. Tenting and electricity are also included as part of their booth fee. By providing these, the club’s Craft Show and Sale always has a long waiting list and they have the “cream” of the crafters participating in their show! The Makers Hand in Picton, offer their vendors a lunch service. While we were visiting this show we saw volunteers go to each vendor and ask for their lunch order. We found out that the volunteer then went back to the in-show café, put up the order and then brought it back to the exhibitor. On a short show where selling time is precious, this is a great benefit! I can tell you from experience that these services are really appreciated and good vendors seek out festivals and events that go the extra mile when it come to the treatment of their vendors. By doing this it’s a win-win situation for everyone, great vendors equal great events and happy visitors!

Activity Planning…

2008-04-21T16:25:00.003-04:00

Several months ago Judi and I visited a festival and were disappointed when we found out the amount of down time we were going to experience if stayed for the whole event. With this particular festival, they had plenty of activities planned for the morning and musical entertainment for the evening but not very much in-between. The type of planning may be acceptable for local residents, but for out-of-town visitors it is a deterrent. Having an interesting array of activities and events, strategically scheduled for the entire day/weekend is critical to a successful event. When planning an event, organizers must keep in mind who they are trying to attract and then plan the event/festival accordingly. One event (Mississauga Waterfront Festival) that we visited last year, in my opinion, planned their activities and event to perfection. They had a wide range of interesting events that appeal to their target market. The activities and events were planned in such a way that none interfered with the other. This included timing and just as important, sound interference. Also, the events were planned in such a way that visitors could make their way without having to run to make it in time. This type of scheduling avoids the tension that so often results in angry parents dragging their children from event to event. Judging the reaction of fellow visitors, I could see that they also appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee. Successful festivals always know who their target market is and how to cater to them.

Festival Dining…

2008-04-21T10:38:00.001-04:00

To me food and how it’s presented is an important part of how people perceive an event or festival. Part of the festival experience is the food and it’s likely the biggest festival expense for a family. If the food being offered is of poor quality, visitors will think the same of the event. I doubt this is the message that most festival organizers want to send to their attendees! I don’t mean that the food has to be at the gourmet level, but I believe that it must be prepared well and have strong appeal for the whole family. Fortunately local governments and health boards are taking a closer look at outdoor eating facilities and making vendors prepare their food in a more hygienic fashion. This answers the preparation concern, but not the appeal. Festival organizers should screen potential food vendors very carefully to insure the only reputable operators are allowed to participate. Careful attention should be made to the types of foods being offered. A wide variety is preferable, not only for the people attending but for the vendors themselves. In addition to hygiene and variety, people are demanding healthier and more nutritional foods. Festivals should be aware of this trend and make sure they are making this type of food available. One food related area that most festivals miss is having a decent eating area close to the food vendors. There is nothing more annoying then having to juggle food, drinks, purses and packages or to have to stand up to eat. It is such a simple thing to provide food area seating. I can’t understand why festivals don’t offer this amenity. One of the best examples of how to combine all of these elements is the Winona Peach Festival. At the Winona Peach Festival they have one large food court area. All the food vendors are located in this one area. The food vendors, all of whom are manned and operated by local community and service groups, offer a large variety of wholesome foods. Visitors, after purchasing their food, can take it to a covered eating area! The Winona Peach Festival is a great event to learn from and copy. Good food, at a reasonable price, will always win the hearts of festival visitors! Finally, I have one further suggestion. When setting up an eating area, festival organizers should include a wash-up facility. I am sure that this is one element that would be very much appreciated by all visitors.