What do music festivals, carnivals, theatrical plays, wine
tastings, gaming events, or even church functions have in common? They are all
considered events. Planning an event is not an easy task. There are several
factors that play a major role in making an event successful.
Project managers and
Event Coordinators are
the professionals that dedicate themselves to making live shows spectacular and
awe inspiring.
As a kid
growing up in New York, I remember waking up every Saturday morning to watch one of the
best cartoons at the time,
ThunderCats. One day, my parents took me on a trip to
Madison Square Garden for an event. To my surprise, it was for “
THUNDERCATS”!
Here I am, 4 years old, sitting in a packed arena with hundreds of other kids,
looking at my favorite cartoon characters live! This show brought a cartoon to
life for ninety minutes. 28 years later, I still remember lifting my
ThunderCat sword, with hundreds of other kids and yelling out "HOOOOO!" when Lion-o needed our help to destroy the evil Mum-Ra and save the day.
As amazing as the show was, I had no clue what it took to make a show like that. Today, I am
taking up the task of planning my very own event and feel that the
following four areas: theme, venue, personnel, and marketing, are paramount in
making the show successful.
Purpose or Theme
What message are you
trying to give or what do you want your event to be about? This may seem like an
easy task but it isn't. Several factors play a part in
breaking it down to the theme. Talent, budget, and venue are a few.
Coming up with the right theme to gain an audience is hard enough but not being
able to choose from many good ideas escalates the difficulty. You might love magic but you have no audience for it. Or you may love comic books but not have the right venue for it. I have chosen to marry the two
and showcase the “Mystic Ladies of DC”,
A Magic show focused on 4 characters
from the
DC Universe.
- Zatanna-
a super hero stage Magician, whose illusion and spells are real.
- Raven-
is a half Human half Demon hero; whose power is connected to her emotions and
must struggle constantly to keep them in balance.
- Circe- a Greek sorceress who is in constant battle with Wonder Woman and the Amazonian's.
- Death- from
the comic Sandman, Death is one of the Endless and embodies death personified similar to
the Grim Reaper.
Venue
Where will your show be located? Finding a Venue is not that
difficult, booking one on the other hand is a different story. Some venues are
booked months in advanced or can change last minute. You also have to be
conscious if the venue fits the theme. You do not want to have a burlesque show
in a family oriented area or a book reading next to an area where live bands
play.
For my Event, I have access to
three locations.
Full Sail:
The Library-
has partnered with our class to help make events possible. They donate the
space, crew for set building, and a hundred dollar budget.
Pros-
- Receiving help from the film crew for set building is great.
- Getting a hundred dollar budget to start comes in handy
also.
Cons-
- It is the smallest of the three venues
- It will have to be a free event
The Treehouse-
a venue built for small concerts and live performances
Pros-
- It is ready and built to have a performance there.
Lighting, Sound, Stage, tables and chairs are all set up and the vibe lends
itself for an event.
Cons-
- They are not partnered with the class, so no outside help
will be given, no budget, and I have to go through the proper channels of
reserving the time.
ACME Comics
This venue has a great room for events. The class instructor
has a connection with the owners of Acme that lend him time and space to have
appropriate events.
Pros-
- A comic book store with an auditorium for events. This is
perfect for the show since my magic show is comic inspired.
- They have an established audience. Acme has hosted several
student projects and thus created a following of people who anticipate events.
- We can charge for the show. Events start out as a loss
because you invest your money upfront. I can hope to recuperate something from
the ticket sales.
Cons-
- There is no budget and no crew help. I will have to find
both to make this event happen.
Personnel/Talent
No man is an island,
so help will be needed to get any event up and running.
Working on a team helps so you can play off
each other’s energy and talents.
When finding a partner or team, make sure to select people who are equally
enthusiastic about the project and each bring some skill that compliments
yours. In this case, I have partnered with a classmate that has a passion for magic and is proficient in audio. He brings an insight to the team that I do
not posses.
Continuing to collect others
that wish to help and have a skillset will make things easier.
Below is a small list of job titles that most event teams
need:
Producer
Director
Ushers
Runners
Audio director
Lighting director
Set-building
Choreographer
Costume designer
Make-up artist
Aside from the event
crew, you have to look for the “Talent” for your show. Singers, bands, stunt
performers, magicians, what ever your show is about, you have to find the star
of it.
For "Mystic Ladies of DC", I
need 4 female magicians who do not mind to take on the persona of comic book
characters. Apart from talent agencies, there are other resources that can help
you find what you need. The internet has many sites that let you search
for talent like
Gigsalad, (a site that acts like an online portfolio for
performers). You could also post want ads on free sites like Craigslist, which
is a tactic used by most casting companies. Luckily, in my case Full Sail has a
Casting Department that can assist in looking for what I need.
Marketing
From business to
products,
Marketing is crucial.
In the
case of events and live shows, the lack of marketing can ruin everything. You
depend on people coming and seeing the event, which was the whole reason for
putting it on in the first place. Target your marketing to the demographic you’re
trying to reach. Flyers, Social Media, and "word of mouth" are common marketing strategies. Thinking creatively and coming up with other solutions to get the
word out is a great skill to have.
OrbitMedia.com has some great tips and other
good ways to market your event. For Mystic Ladies of DC, I plan to use either venues website to promote it. I will also make a website for it and link
several social medias to it. One out of the box strategy will be to create a
“parody trailer”, with me (a 200 lbs. Hispanic guy) dressed up as one of the
suggested characters and use YouTube and periscope to broadcast it live.
All in all, I plan to
have fun and use the experience to showcase what I did through the process.
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