Joyce Mealey
When planning an event, the stakes are high, just like a band preparing for a sold-out concert. Every detail must be flawless, from soundcheck to showtime, to ensure a successful performance. Here, we’ll share tips to help your brand, business, or institution execute events that hit all the right notes. We’ll also look at some famous event fails and how to avoid them. Let’s get ready to rock!
1. Plan Like a Pro
Plan your event like The Rolling Stones, preparing for a world tour. Create a detailed roadmap with timelines, budgets, responsibilities, communication plans, and emergency procedures. Ensure every team member knows their role, has the needed resources, and understands the communication and emergency plans. Remember the 2017 Fyre Festival disaster? It needed proper planning, and that lack of planning led to chaos. Avoid this by having a solid, comprehensive plan in place and regularly reviewing it.
2. Nail the Soundcheck
Musicians conduct a soundcheck before any concert to ensure everything sounds perfect. Apply this principle to your event by testing all equipment and technology beforehand. Triple-check AV gear, lighting, and internet connections to ensure everything works seamlessly.
Arrive early! And have your team arrive even earlier to handle unexpected issues and start the soundcheck on time. If there’s extra time, let your team rest briefly, as they’ll be on their feet for most of the event.
Build detailed checklists for event day and the run of the show. Communicate tasks and responsibilities. Use multiple points of approval (double eyes) and a waterfall approach (A must be complete and verified before B, and so on). Walk through the event from an attendee’s perspective to ensure a smooth experience.
Avoid failures like Mariah Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance 2016, where technical issues led to an embarrassing show. Proper preparation will help you avoid such pitfalls.
3. Promote Like a Rockstar
Promote your event across multiple channels—social media, email marketing, traditional advertising, SMS, and strategic partnerships. Think of how Coachella generates buzz months in advance. Create compelling content that excites and engages your audience. Ensure your messaging is clear and consistent, avoiding the confusion that led to the underwhelming turnout at Woodstock 50 in 2019.
Offer early bird tickets, exclusive content, or special incentives to generate interest and drive early engagement. Collaborate with influencers and leverage user-generated content to expand your reach. Track your promotional efforts and adjust strategies based on performance data to maximize impact. Effective promotion will ensure your event is well-attended, memorable, and sure to run successfully.
4. Rehearse and Prepare
Professional performers rehearse before hitting the stage, and so should your team. Conduct several run-throughs of the event schedule in your pre-show and staging meetings. Always perform a full rehearsal, including transitions, to ensure everyone knows what to expect. This helps identify potential issues and allows time to fix them. Add surprise challenges to see how your team reacts and manages them. Remember how the Oscars 2017 mix-up occurred during the announcement of the Best Picture winner due to a lack of rehearsal and preparation? Avoid such mishaps by rehearsing thoroughly.
5. Engage Your Audience
A successful event is about more than what happens on stage. It’s about engaging your audience and making them feel like they are part of the show. It’s about what they take away from your performance and how they feel days and even weeks later. Take a cue from Beyoncé’s legendary Coachella 2018 performance, aptly labeled Beychella, where she involved the crowd in energetic dance routines and interactive elements and even produced an entire Netflix documentary. Use social media, live polls, and Q&A sessions to engage your audience before and after the show. Make them feel part of the experience and help extend that experience beyond the event.
6. Expect the Unexpected
Live events are unpredictable. Have a backup plan for everything! From technical glitches to sudden weather changes, you must be ready to adapt. When Adele’s microphone dropped during her Grammy performance 2016, the team quickly resolved the issue, and she continued to deliver a stellar performance. Your ability to handle unexpected challenges gracefully will impress your audience and ensure the event’s success.
7. Gather Feedback
After the event, gather feedback from attendees and your team. Use attendee surveys, social media comments, and direct conversations to understand what worked and what didn’t. This information is invaluable for improving future events. Glastonbury is an excellent example of how to gather and activate attendee feedback and run a major event. They aggressively pursue post-event outreach and evolve each year based on the feedback they receive, making it one of the world’s most celebrated and successful festivals.
8. Celebrate Your Success
Finally, your hard work is done, and it’s time to celebrate your success and recognize your team’s diligence. Before the celebration, have one last post-event meeting. Gather key stakeholders and discuss your challenges and successes. What can you improve? What was a home run? Take notes, and be open to suggestions from everyone involved.
Once your event has wrapped, share highlights on social media to thank your attendees and everyone involved in making it a success. Just as bands celebrate a successful tour with their fans, show appreciation to everyone who contributed. Then, start planning the next event based on the insights you’ve gained!
Executing a successful event is like putting on a spectacular show. It requires meticulous planning, thorough preparation, and adapting on the fly. By following these tips and learning from past mistakes, your brand can deliver memorable events that resonate with your audience. The Round Table Group is here to help you turn every event into a blockbuster hit. Ready to rock your next event?