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
Money (continued)

6. Volunteer Identification: I believe that volunteer identity is absolutely necessary! There are two reasons for this. The first is that festival visitors want to know who is running the festival or event. This is especially true if they need something or want to ask a question. If you want to have a well run professional event, identify your volunteers. The second reason for identifying volunteers is simple. They like to be recognized as being part of a great festival or event! Volunteers work hard, donate their time and are proud of their event! For these reasons there should be some sort of tangible identity! If your event is just starting out and doesn’t have a lot of money, simple name badges should be affordable. This is at least a start in the right direction. Another alternative is for the festival to pay for a T-shirt template (silk-screen or embroidery). The cost for this is about $150. You can then make deal with a T-shirt company to sell your volunteers custom T-shirt with the Festival logo. Most volunteers would be willing to spend a little of their own money to be identified with the event, plus it is a keepsake of all their hard work. Perhaps you can work a “volume” deal to keep the costs down! If you have a good salesman in your group, you may be able to convince a local business to sponsor the T-shirts. Sports teams do this all the time. It just takes someone in your group to take the time to approach businesses. Make sure you offer the business something in return for this support.

7. Miscellaneous Cost: There are other miscellaneous costs that could come up. If you are planning on serving liquor, you will likely need a liquor licence. Unless you fall under umbrella coverage from your town or organization, your will need to purchase event insurance. If you are providing booths, you might need to purchase building materials.
All of these costs fall under the banner of “Monies needed before the event”. There could, of course, be other costs not mentioned here, but this should, at least, get the process started. The next section will cover “Monies needed during the event”.

(To be continued)