When there aren’t things like pandemics to worry about, Melbourne is a city of event-goers. Sooner or later, the city will be back in full swing and community events will be back on Melbourne’s map. If you’re planning your next big public events, there are some pretty important things to remember if you want it to go smoothly.
Let’s take a closer look:
1. Get into the Weeds with Planning
Some people think that great events just happen because the right people have the right kinds of ideas and everything just falls into place. This just isn’t the case. There are endless elements and possibilities that you have to plan for. It’s not the most exciting part of the event, but it’s the most important. For example, the matter of event traffic control in Melbourne.
As one of Australia’s major cities and population centres, Melbourne events mean huge foot traffic, and therefore the need for effective management when it comes to traffic flow and parking. All it would take is a single unfortunate event between one vehicle and one event attendee for the entire day to be soured beyond repair. Therefore, planning must always be at the top of your list of priorities. Every detail needs to be carefully thought through, managed and prepared.
Don’t be afraid to hire outside help for any element of the event that is beyond your own expertise.
2. Be Realistic in Your Expectations
Good planning is one thing, but it also has to remain realistic and your end goals achievable. If you are overly ambitious with a modest budget, or over-promise to event-goers without being able to deliver, the only possible result will be disappointment all round. Work conservatively within your budget, make realistic goals and promises, and avoid outlandish plans that both complicate matters and lead to things not turning out as you’d like.
3. Plan for All Weather
Never bank on the weather being what you need it to be, even here in Australia. Weather will turn on a dime and that rain that hasn’t been around for weeks on end will land right on your outdoor community event day, or the strong winds, or worse. You need to have backup plans that make your event viable in all weather conditions.
It’s not only outdoor events that are affected. You might think you’re safely planning your event indoors, but have you accounted for additional air conditioning needs to keep your event space cool in the event that it’s far hotter than you thought, or that the interior heats up more than you expected? Prepare for every eventuality.
4. Promote, Promote, Promote
There should be almost no limit to the scope of promotion for your community event, especially if there are no tickets and so you have little way of tracking attendance. Use all available channels to reach your target audience, and have a simple and consistent message to transmit through those channels.
If you choose media partners to help, it might be good to favour those with innovative and original ideas for promotion rather than those who will just stick to conventional channels that you already know. 5. Get Visitor Feedback When the day for your event eventually comes, make sure you get feedback from guests on as many aspects as possible.
Positive feedback is always nice to hear of course, but the more useful feedback will come in the form of negative comments, or negatively slanted comments. Hearing that people had issues with parking, or with rude vendors, or stage/sound systems being too loud or of poor quality — these are the kinds of comments that will make your future events better.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/crowd-people-world-cup-soccer-game-417293/
