Developing and delivering events is a complex discipline that requires a variety of skills and detailed planning if the event is going to be successful.
From the inception of an event it is essential to really understand what the event has to achieve and who needs to know about it. It may require special permissions from land owners or local council and it will almost certainly have risks that need to be understood and mitigated.
The key to a successful event, no matter how large, is planning.
Here are examples of events I have helped clients develop and deliver:
Lewes Hike and Bike Festival was a multi layered event that spanned eight days and included a variety of activities.
These included a Street Fair, organised walks and rides, evening talks and a community day of action.
“Seaside Rendezvous” was a one day event developed with Sustrans and East Sussex County Council to celebrate the opening of a new seafront path between Bexhill & Hastings.
The success of the event was built on strong partnership working between local authorities, local businesses, community groups and NGO’s.
Promotional activity used a multi media approach including social media, print and bought space.
“Improve Uckfield” was developed for the Uckfield Town Centre Partnership as a consultation about town centre improvements.
To engage as wide a range of the community as possible I developed a strong identity – building on the already recognised TravelChoice brand that already had good recognition in the town. This gave the event a distinct sense of place the helped the campaign reach 7% of the town’s population instead of the 3% that would normally be expected to engage providing statistically strong results.
The style of presentation ensured that visitors were able to see and understand the issues and make informed comments.
We used Facebook and Twitter before the consultation period began to open a conversation with the community. This was supported by a multi media communications programme to drive traffic to the consultation available both on-line and as a physical event.
“Bexhill to Hastings Link Road” consultation was the largest consultation ever undertaken by East Sussex County Council.
The engagement programme involved designing an exhibition that would engage all the communities in the area. To achieve this I used a mobile exhibition unit capable of providing each community with an identical experience.
The exhibition visited 7 venues in 10 days and engaged more than 3,000 visitors.