The council and events: a cost-benefit thing

Ever wondered why cities want to host events and festivals? You might think that the costs of street closures, police officers on duty, ambulances on standby, and cleaning costs would put councils off. Luckily not...

The economic benefits of events are quite often much greater than the costs. When I worked with San Francisco Pride I conducted an economic impact study on behalf of the city. The numbers were impressive:

• $40 million was spend on retail during Pride week
• $33 million in restaurants
• a total economic impact of almost $360 million

Not bad for a week long event. But that's just one event that takes place in the city by the Bay. Numerous events take place throughout the year and they all contribute to the local economy. 

South Tyneside Summer Festival

Obviously there are costs as well. Have you ever heard of South Tyneside? Nope, me neither but in this area the council organises a few free events. They say the Summer Festival brings people to the area, provides jobs and adds £1.7 million to the local economy. But there is no such thing as a free event.

The councils has published their event budget and hence we can see how much it cost to organise Summer Festival 2016. This is how we know that they spent £21,000 on a stage and £3,000 on entertaining guests. The following article is, I think, fantastic as it highlights the costs involved in organising a great festival. Is it too late to nominate South Tyneside council for council of the year?

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Snapchat for events and festivals

Are you using Snapchat for your event? Why not? Launched in 2011, Snapchat wasn't taken seriously. Just another social media platform. However, the company has been growing steadily and more and more people have started using Snapchat. Including event planners.

Snap Inc. is planning to bring Snapchat to the stockmarket which could value the company at $30 billion. I guess they're doing quite okay then... The New York Times wrote a great piece about Snapchat a few weeks ago: How Snapchat Revolutionised Social Networks.

Event planners! If you are not using Snapchat yet you might want to look into it. Snapchat is a fantastic tool that allows you to engage with your event attendees. You can read how you can use it for your event in this article: It's a Snap! from Associations Now.

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Can you 'digital detox' at music festivals?

Earlier this year Adele asked her fans to put phones away and enjoy the gig in real life. Not sure how many of them actually did exactly do that but I can see where see is coming from. Somewhere during the summer months I read an article about digital detoxing. People who make a conscious decision to go off grid for a while.

Turns out that a third of British internet users have tried this digital detox, according to a report from Ofcom. Now, I'm not ready for a complete detox yet but since the start of 2016 I no longer have the Facebook app on my phone.... too addictive. Am I a better person for it? Not really but I do look less at my phone, which was my main reason. 

How will this work for festivals? Fans want to be connected. They get annoyed when there's no wifi and want to post on Facebook and Instagram instantly. A good festival provides escapism. So isn't a festival a perfect opportunity for someone's digital detox? 

Some festivals are tapping into this market. Unplugged Festival and Off Grid Festival are two examples of UK festivals that allow people to switch off from the online world. And they are successful festivals. I guess festival organisers have to make choices...

Social media or social experience? Let's see if the trend continues.

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W hotels is entering the music festival market

A hotel chain that is organising a music festival? W-Hotels gave it a try, according to this Forbes article, and did a good job.

So how does it work? Apparently it was a "100% W experience". Although I'm not 100% sure what that exactly means. But W did manage to fill the hotel on a normally quiet weekend, making the festival a marketing tool for the hotel business. Interesting.

Networking at conferences: plan your time!

Ever been to a conference? How did "the networking" work out for you? Did you leave the conference with new ideas, leads, and useful contacts? Sometimes going to a conference can feel like you wasted precious time. But perhaps that is because you didn't plan it properly. You didn't look at what you wanted to get out of the the conference. How the conference can work for you.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article about networking at conferences.

Be more creative with the content of your event

Week 1 of #EventTutorTips

You need to create smart content. But what is smart content? To answer that question you need to know who the visitors of your event(s) are. Once you know who your visitors are you can figure out what they like, what motivates them, what they engage with and how they engage.

You need to look at your event and think about the different aspects your visitors can engage with. You can think of your artists, your acts, the artwork at your event, the vibe at your event, the creativity at your event, your event partners, etc.

Make sure you are out and about at your own event. Interview your acts, ask your artists to create content, take pictures, or shoot short videos. From build up to break down, make sure you document it. At Shambhala Music Festival they have 10 photographers taking pictures all weekend long. They use those pictures on their social media platforms during the festival and throughout the year.

Plan smart and creative content for your event!

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