2003 Hawkesbury Event Planners Seminar Gary Pedler - Venue Manager Event Planning - for Success and Failure and Some Trends in Decoration and Signage

From an “We worked on a launch for a major confectionary company. * The T-shirts we ordered to give away were too small. * The blazing sun melted the chocolate bars. * No one had thought to provide ice. * The permits weren’t valid. *The promotional truck had an accident. We got fired as the agency.”

Failure in planning the event ‘You need to be an Optimist to want to stage an event, and a pessimist to run one.’ ‘We will worry about that on the day.’ ‘The sponsors still haven’t decided.’ ‘I thought you were looking after that.’ ‘We will get kids from the local schools.’ ‘We were going to tell you about that.’ ‘Gary Pedler said it would be ok!’ Did I? ‘But, I thought we were setting up over here?’

Consider all the things that can go wrong, and have a plan for them. Use redundancy or backup systems where possible. Make sure the important bits get dealt with first. Establish critical dates for decisions; -especially cancellation/commitment dates -media and supplier deadlines -sponsor commitment dates Select your team early, brief them, give them the responsibility and control necessary to the task. Make sure, early that the tasks are feasible. Don’t keep secrets from the venue, or authorities. Always have a site inspection, use maps not descriptions. Plan safety into your event. Just some suggestions

Failure to execute the plan ‘This is the way we always do it.’ ‘We didn’t have time.’ ‘Sorry.’ The problem of accelerated communication. Lack of resources - see failure to plan. Lack of time. The unforseen.

Motor Show 2002

Same Location, same time

Measuring Success Whose agenda? What criteria? Purpose of the information

An Extract from the Motor Show Site Issues: Safety Crowd Control Damage Control Public Relations Co-ordination

Some Trends in Public Area Decoration