Forces of Nature

Last year I ran a charity event which was a quiz, comedy and music all in one night. It was a bit of a mess to be honest, but we still managed to break even from our operating costs and raise almost £200.

Here I reflect on things that I liked and things I didn’t but would alter to make better. It is also a guide for anyone who is planning to run an event for the first time so that they can learn from my efforts.

The event was organised as a group of five people. Because it was for a University module it meant that member’s motivation varied from person to person depending on personal commitments and willingness to put maximum effort in to achieve the best grade. Because I wanted to encourage progress on the event – I arranged weekly meetings and would e-mail everyone updates, thoughts and ideas regularly encouraging others in the group to do the same. I noticed enthusiasm was not always present. I guess this would not be a problem because if I was arranging a future event people would either be paid, or have volunteered – hence they would be dedicated to the cause.

Contacts:

The event was originally supposed to be a health promotion event, this fell through for a very simple reason – contacts. Unless you have the contacts or access to the contacts throughout the Yellow Pages your event is not going to go anywhere. I originally asked for help from the University to give contacts for a Health Promotion event, where I was ignored and found out later that they ran their own Health Promotion event. So we used more simple ideas – intending to book comedians, bands and to fill out the event hold a quiz – I realise for the time allocated four hours this was too much for people as some people did not turn up till later till after the quiz and left when the comedians finished. We would have been better putting our efforts into one section.

Getting a PA system was simple as it was a case of looking in the Yellow Pages and paying someone to turn up with the equipment – it was expensive £120, but it did at least come with the operators expertise and was something less to worry about running on the night. Finding comedians was difficult, as they all seemed to have agents, and cost too much for our budget. I was lucky to find Chris Ramsey through his Myspace, who brought along Carl Hutchinson, so we had the comics sorted. I found out afterwards that the place to go for eager cheap comics would have been Chortle. Finding the bands where easiest because they were friends with one of the organisers. For the quiz we composed some questions and got a host simply by asking a guy at a quiz night if he would present it. So having the money or the contacts should get the people you need together.

On the night the PA guy turned up late that really messed up the timing of the evening and had everyone looking impatient waiting for the start, I still paid the guy in full despite all the extra stress.

Running Order:

Having so many different things made it a logistics nightmare as it was not smooth and could have done with better timetable organisation. It turned out we had too many acts for the event and had to tell the last band to wrap it up early as the venues licence finished at 12.00.

Marketing:

For the event we had various marketing ideas to promote the event – we had about 75 paying customers at £5 a head so we didn’t do too badly. We planned to get into the student newspaper but no one in the group got round to doing it. As the team leader I should have defined roles so that someone was reasonable for marketing and PR.

We spent £30 on flyers. Using a poster design in Photoshop and printing the materials on our own printers. As we only had a limited number (about 100 leaflets) we targeted relevant events at quiz and rock nights in the local area. On the day we did last minute flyers with what was left over. There was no indication of how successful doing this had been, but if only 8 extra people turned up, it would have paid of the marketing cost.

We used the Internet, as it was cost effective promoting the event through Facebook, Myspace and the University Intranet. This targeted our friends and acquaintances who were in the area.

Venue:

We booked a pub with a function room that was strategically placed across the road from the students union, and near most of the student accommodation so it reached our target market. It required a £100 deposit which was returned on the room being in good condition. The room was not the best they had neglected cleaning properly from the last event and plug sockets where lacking which was a worry for all the electrical equipment that was being used. It had a bar and good facilities. I estimate that the venue itself must have made a few hundred extra pounds at least from selling drinks. I probably would try and negotiate getting a cut or funding for the acts from a venue next time.

The capacity of the venue was an ideal size and with the number brought in it gave the event a good atmosphere. Although the different acts caused problems logistically because it was difficult organising them and handling their needs, it did help because people did not all leave at once and left after certain acts had been on.

The venue was also supposed to be selling tickets for us but did not bother which was shown when two people turned up at the start of the event and was direct to us to buy tickets from, which was annoying.

Competition Analysis:

The event occurred when students where feeling the squeeze having spent up there second instalment so it was difficult persuading people to come along. We had chosen a night without any competition from other comedy or rock nights so we had free access to people. There was also Comic Relief and the Universities RAG week which probably cut into making any money from our raffle which was a disappointment. Most of the prizes where actually won by my friends who had bought over half the tickets sold which unfortunately made it look like a fix.

The Night:

The comedians where the best part telling me Chris Ramsey was worth the money alone and Carl Hutchinson even dared to do some material on Oxfam (who we were raising money for) and was funny enough to get away with it. They over ran slightly but people enjoyed them so I didn’t mind. Because they were the easiest to organise (not having to carry equipment, having a basic PA system) and because comics have a wide appeal I would do a comedy night again.

The quiz should have been left off and cost too much money in the prize which was not really the draw I hoped it was to get people in.

The bands were okay, but met towards a niche audience being metal, however it was good to help gradually clear the room out.

The raffle as mentioned only just broke even and in reflection was out of place for the event.

During breaks between acts music was supposed to play but did not. For the price being paid for the PA guy, he was pretty poor.

I kept things professional paying people what had been agreed in pre set envelopes.

Other stuff:

We met the estimate numbers which shows part of the success of the event. The numbers where important but enjoyment of our guests was priority.

The seating was laid out nicely, so not to defy health and safety.

Health and safety was covered well – spillages cleaned up, fire exits clear. However because of nerves I forgot to mention health and safety information at the beginning.
Problem with the bar not serving till 8pm. In reflection I felt although the group members performed well they could use their initiative a bit more. I was very busy sorting issues so could have done with someone else asking about drink prices and dealing with bar. This might have been a good idea to allocate jobs.

We bought drinks for some of the acts which was a mistake as it sunk into the profits, and they were getting free publicity.

Cash was handled very responsibly by the organisers, devising a strategy of banking any cash before the event and splitting cash up on the night incase of theft.

Conclusion:

The event managed to pass us by without any major problems. It could have been more enjoyable and we probably should have had less. We could have also done with a couple of reliable volunteers to do general work.

The door could not be covered later on particularly as it got later less and less people came, so it was left open which I think resulted in a few people coming in for free. It was also difficult to notice who had paid and who had not. Again if we had recruited a volunteer they could have helped out with that

It feels so long ago so I forgot some things. If you have any questions please ask. I will talk about another event that I was involved in later for Oxfam – a fashion show.