Creating Collaborative Communities Webinar 301124
Sally Porteous (2): [00:00:00] Hello everybody. Welcome and thank you for your interest in creating more collaborative community events. I'm really excited to host this webinar today. And for those of you listening at home or watching the recording a little bit later, I hope you all get a lot out of this. It's, it's really a passion of mine to create more community focused events, but I really want to see more community members creating their events.
So that's why I thought I would host this webinar and to share some of the ideas and tips that I have and that I've built around creating collaborative community events, and then hopefully there might be a few things in here that you might take away with you and, you know, perhaps go and create your own community events.
So the first thing I would like to do is acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet today, and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. The workshop [00:01:00] that I'm going to go through with you today is actually attached to a handbook that I created a little while ago called Building a Vibrant City Events Plan.
The reason I created this handbook was because I wanted to get myself in front of local authorities, so local councils, and I exhibited at something called the Asia Pacific Cities Summit, and I really wanted something at that summit to encourage local councils and local organisations to think about their community groups as event producers in their cities, and tap into their knowledge, you know, tap into their event programs, really invest in those community groups about what they're creating and add those into the city's event plan.
So I created this handbook that I handed out at this expo and essentially the idea was that I was in front of Mayors, [00:02:00] CEOs, executive leadership teams, those kind of people. And so the idea was that that, you know, they would take this handbook and it had a great sticker on the front that said, please go and give this to your grants team your community events team and your sponsorship team.
So ideally what they've done is they've taken this back to their councils and now those councils have these tools as well, but I wanted to share them with you too. So that's what we're going to do today, going through this handbook. organisersIf you don't have the handbook already you can send me a message and just ask me for the link so I can just give you a link quite easily to download this handbook and you can get a digital copy.
If however you would like a hard copy because I love a hard copy, this is it here. It's beautiful. I absolutely love it. And if you want a hard copy I'm happy to post you a hard copy as well. So let me know.
One of the other things I'm going to offer to you today as well, which I think is [00:03:00] critical to the success of community events is a volunteer engagement strategy. Volunteers are the beating heart. of our events, particularly community events, as no doubt you already know this.
And I've got some really cool tips and ideas on how you can engage volunteers more effectively, retain volunteers for a longer period of time, and just some things you can do to just make it more interesting for them to engage with you in your event program. And this is more and more important now. I read an article recently on the ABC talking about how regional events were starting to shut down because they can't get enough volunteers.
You know, people are getting burnt out. But the problem is they're taking their knowledge with them. So something to think about in your volunteer strategy is to make sure that you're keeping a documented list of the information that you're all building [00:04:00] together. Now, you may have seen before I have something called the 8 Week Event Plan, and that's exactly what the 8 Week Event Plan does.
So we spend eight weeks together as a group. We create your event in that eight week time frame using these tools that I'm going to show you today. And at the end of it, you end up with a portfolio of documents that are relevant to your event. And you can keep that with you. So it doesn't matter who's on your committee.
This is the idea behind it. Doesn't matter who's on your committee. Yes, certainly personal knowledge and networks, etc. are all highly valuable. But, you know, the nuts and bolts and logistics of that event that you're producing you now have that in a handbook. That's the idea behind the 8 Week Event Plan. So just keep that in mind that that's there and available to you if you're interested in it.
But so the bonus today is going to be that volunteer engagement strategy. It's an audio. And then I've also got the A template there. Two [00:05:00] templates actually. One is a volunteer callout sheet. So when you are calling for volunteers, it's a little bit of a, I don't know if you work in a workplace, it's a bit of a position description what it is that you're looking for in a volunteer.
So there's one of those that you can post everywhere. And I'm also giving you a. An example or a sample, I guess, of a general vollie call out that's got a few jobs that the person might be able to do. So you'll see when you listen to the audio, I recommend that you be very specific in your vollie call out rather than just calling for volunteers, but look, that's the bonus there.
So I just want to make sure that you don't forget that that's there. Let me know if you want it and I'll give you the download link.
So about community events and the current landscape, as I mentioned there's, we already know that festivals are being cancelled, left, right, centre for a number of reasons, most of which is you know, attendance, financing you know, [00:06:00] the increased cost of producing a festival.
The thing is, I see this as a real amazing opportunity for smaller producers. I don't do massive big major events. I love to do audience engagement experiences. So I pitch myself as someone who designs and delivers event experiences. So I'm very focused on the audience experience and what the person actually feels, sees, engages in when they come to the event.
So I think there's a real opportunity right now to have a re-look at your festival or your community event and see if there's anything in there that you can do differently. And hopefully as we go through this handbook today, there's some things there that might spark some thoughts for you, that might spark some ideas for you.
So the current community event landscape is pretty tough as it is across the board, really, on event landscapes. But [00:07:00] I guess the impact is greater on community events, right? The impact is far greater because, you typically in community events, like I've just mentioned, volunteers, no one's getting paid. So what is the motivator?
What is the motivator for people to be producing community events? Now, when I say community events, I mean things like community cultural events, um, fundraisers charity events, charity sporting events general sporting events, actually, you know, when you're doing fundraising for sports clubs and things like that.
School fetes. Any community is involved in and essentially there's a volunteer committee that is brought together to create this event. Now in the city where I live, which is Logan in Queensland, there is so many community events going on on a regular basis. And I absolutely love it. It's one of the most multicultural cities in Australia.
And we have incredible multicultural events all across the city all of the time. So I would love to see more and more [00:08:00] people engage in those kind of events and see a bit more of a kind of coordinated approach, I guess, across the event program. And so at the city, we have this really vibrant event activity going on all the time across the city.
So this workshop is for community members and organisers who are feeling really exhausted. You might be feeling a little bit out of control with your event. You know, people keep coming on board. They all say they're going to volunteer. They all say, yes, yes, I'm going to get on board and help you with this.
And then they get on board and all they do is talk. All they do is share their ideas with you and they actually don't implement and get into doing the work. And of course, you can't engage them to do that because you don't know the work that they're meant to be doing. organisers I really want to help you with that.
So perhaps you're feeling exhausted, a little out of control and you really want to have the tools and resources to follow a calm, organised approach. And feel more in control. Like I said, you want to be able to [00:09:00] direct people who come into your community from a volunteer point of view.
And that doesn't mean that you don't take on board their skills and abilities. You absolutely do. But, people still need direction, they still need to know what it is that you want them to do, just like any other workplace.
So, what are you struggling with? I'd love to hear what you're struggling with. Feel free to drop a comment down below and let me know what you think the biggest challenge is in you creating your community event.
And then what does success look like for you? If you could create the event of your dreams and get the outcome that you absolutely would knock it out of the park for you, what does that look like? So just think about what does success look like for you as we're going through this workbook. Just kind of have this framing in mind as we're going through it.
What is getting in the way? Think about what are the [00:10:00] barriers that are coming up every step of the way as you try and create your community event? What are those blockages that you perhaps need to work on, you know, get some of those big blocks out of the way first that might then pave the way for you to be able to engage in your community event more effectively?
Sometimes it might be some volunteers on your committee. You might have some legacy some people that have been there for a long time and want to do things the same way that it's always been done. That's one of the biggest challenges that I see often at community events with community event producers. You know, there's, there's people who have worked on this event, or they really own it, you know, they really feel a sense of ownership on it, and they just don't want to change the way things get done.
The thing is now, since the pandemic, we really do have to change the way things are done. We need them to be more bespoke. We need them to be more connected. A lot of the times we need it to be smaller. You know, [00:11:00] people want a more like they want more space.
I went to Morton Bay Food and Wine Festival a couple of months ago now. And it was just delightful to have more space. I absolutely loved it. The, the fact that I could, enjoy this festival, all of the retail opportunities, the food, you know, I dined in this incredible dining experience. The fact that I could spread out, I could find a seat easily, you know, it wasn't jam packed. And I think this is the kind of thing people are looking for. I would pay more money for less people. That's something to think about.
But of course, community events are often free. So just have a think about what's getting in the way of you producing your community event. What do you want to do differently? Let's make a note of that. What is it that you want to do differently? And how can you convince your community to get on board that difference that you want to make.
And then, as I say, what does [00:12:00] success look like for you? So, think about the end in mind. If you were standing in front of someone who is going to give you all of the resources that you need to create this event, and they're saying to you, but Sally, how will you know you've achieved what you want to achieve? What does that actually look like? And I'd love you to just write down for yourself a bit of a description about what that looks like for you.
So it's my view that there's three themes that make up a community event. There's the community, of course, but you need the community buy in. One of the things I often see is, the community aspect of it is disjointed. You have volunteers, you have the organizing committee, you might have a board you have various other stakeholders that are part of this event delivery. You might have local businesses, suppliers, vendors, those kind of people. But no one's actually talking to each other. [00:13:00] They're all working in their own silos of the parts that they play in this event.
I think the success is in bringing that community together with your local community as well. So when you have, you know, when you have your community meetings, for example, a great experience I had was I did some work on Childers Festival, which is a wonderful festival in Bundaberg. They actually have a committee called Friends of the Festival, and it's a local group of community members who work with Bundaberg Shire Council to ensure that their festival maintains the essence of Childers, the essence of the people in Childers and what they want.
So whilst they don't actually produce, the festival, they're still a part of it. And, and their role is to share, is to be the, the liaison, I [00:14:00] guess, between Bundaberg Shire Council and the rest of the community. So they can then filter this information out to the communities. They become the advocate for this event. They become the advocate in the small businesses. When, when one of the members of the Friends of the Festival goes and gets their hair cut and the barber says, Oh, this festival is ridiculous. You know, they closed the street off, my business is impacted. It's just ridiculous. I really wish they wouldn't do it.
Well, that person who's a part of the Friends of the Festival can then have a conversation with that barber and saying, Well, hang on, let's talk about this. When you say it's impacting your business, how? What can we do to help you maximise business? In this scenario, because all of a sudden we've got an extra, I don't know, it's something like 15, 000 people. It's a crazy number of people that come to town. So how can we help you maximize this opportunity? So as you can see, if you can, if you can [00:15:00] engage in your community and spread your tentacles of your community out there. You are going to get not only far greater reach and advocacy for your event, you're also probably going to get more people coming to it because more people will know about it. So that's number one.
Number two is collaboration. So one of the things, again, I often see is community events operating in silos. So this particular community group will hold their event at this time. They will rarely connect with the other community groups to find out, is your event on at the same time or, you know, can we, can we leverage off your event, for example, is it, is it at a time when resources are low, for example.
This is when people don't think about the impact of this during Christmas. So in my city, it's the, I think it's the fourth largest city in Australia. It's, it's huge. [00:16:00] The footprint of Logan is massive. And so there's lots of different Christmas carol events that happen across the city of Logan. And whilst there is one big one All the churches, all the schools, like, everybody has their own you know, community Christmas carols, which is awesome. I myself am planning on hosting one next year because I want to create a beautiful Christmas festival in the street right near me.
However, the dates of these particular events. Some of them clash. Some of them are on at the same time as others. And of course, you can't always mitigate that. But the thing you have to remember is the resources you need to produce these events are going to be exhausted. So anybody who is supplying to these events like fencing companies, staging companies, lighting and AV companies, even the food trucks, like the food trucks.
The biggest problem is the vendors, you know, you want to have those people there [00:17:00] to service your customer and make sure that they kind of hang around at your event night, but they can't be in more places than one at a time.
So collaborating with other people, checking in with other people and having it just having that whole of community, maybe once a quarter, once a quarter you do a whole of community catch up with each other to just check in, have a look at each other's event programs. What are you delivering? Who are you delivering it for? And what resources do you need just to kind of make sure that you don't find yourself in a position where you can't actually deliver effectively on your event because the resources are, scarce.
And then the third thing is connecting people together. One of the outcomes that you want from your community event is making sure that you are actually connecting your community. So when you are actually delivering your event, what is happening as [00:18:00] part of your program that is actually meeting that need of connecting your community together and thinking about that, again, you can tap back into collaborating with others and connecting with other community groups that you can have the conversation about, well, how can we bring people, bring more people together at our community group? So, think about your immediate network make a list of potential community members that you might put together that might form your, for example, Friends of Festival.
In terms of your immediate network. Who can help you? Or who do you want to know? It's your Friends of Festival. It doesn't have to be official. It doesn't have to be you know, people don't have to sign a memorandum of understanding or commit to, you know, a weekly meeting or anything like that. Just have a think about who is there in my community [00:19:00] that will actually advocate for this event on my behalf out in the community.
So they're going to be small business owners. You know, they're going to be you know, your friends, your family, people that you're connected with in your local community, but also things like your local councils, your local office of economic development, your chambers of commerce, Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, emergency services people. Don't be afraid to connect in with those people and ask them to ask them to be a part of what it is that you're producing.
Again, you're not asking people for a giant commitment. It's really just about asking them to share their ideas, advocate for your event in the marketplace, right?
And then the other thing I think would be a great idea for you to do is to list five other community groups that you could collaborate with. Have a think about who is in your community. What are they doing? Who are they being led by? Can you create your own [00:20:00] network of community group leaders? That again, you might only meet quarterly or once a year and just connect in with them, have a conversation about your event program and making sure that you're not only working together, but you're leveraging off each other, right?
You're leveraging off each other's events. organisers that is my things for a community event. Community, collaborate and connect. So have a think about those things and write down a few notes for yourself.
So now I'm going to move into this handbook that I mentioned to you, Building a Vibrant City Events Plan. As I mentioned at the beginning, this this document was actually created for delivery, for handing out at the Asia Pacific City Summit. So that's what I created it for.
But I really love it. I love it so much. I love creating these plans for different kinds of events.
And favourites. Community events are one of my favourite things to do. So I'm just going to go [00:21:00] through this workbook with you Now, and just talk about a few things just to lead you through it and then you can take this away and you can work on this at your leisure, but use it as a bit of a guide for yourself when you're creating your particular community event.
So, events beating heart of our city. Ignore this QR code here, that's this particular webinar that we are on right now. This is me. This is how to contact me. You've got all of my details there. You can see my previous clients. As well, but I really love community events. As you can see there, you know, the vibrancy in Australian culture.
It's in our shared desire to live, work and play together as a multicultural society. I think we have so many opportunities, cultural celebrations, community fundraising events, not for profit events community festivals, school fetes, all of those kind of things where communities come together to deliver.
One of my favourites [00:22:00] in my local community about Was post covid. so I think it must have been about 2022 then I think they'd done it for three years, 22, 23 and 24 in the street near me, someone decided to put on a Halloween festival and I, it was incredible. It was organisers so good. Essentially, they didn't follow any rules.
I do teach you that in the 8 Week Event Plan, I show you how to follow the rules and make sure that your event doesn't get shut down because they were at risk of having their event shut down, but they, they, a few houses in this street just made incredible Halloween installations and they advertised it on Facebook, they said it's a gold coin donation, we've created this awesome haunted house we're going to have a food truck and just come along, just come along and you know, share Halloween with us.
It went nuts. It was absolutely massive. There were so many people. It was absolutely crazy. [00:23:00] And it was a resident. It was just someone in that street who wanted to create a Halloween activity. For the community.
I remember going to it and walking down the street being like, cars were still driving down the street. Like, it really, it was a huge risk. But, you know, people stayed safe. Nobody got hurt, which was good, but I don't recommend you do that.
So the following year the following year, they did it again, but they had to follow a few more rules because, of course, Council then got wind of what they were doing. so then they had to meet requirements such as road closure activities, all of that kind of thing.
So the following year it was still great. They still did an amazing job. They raised, I don't know, a few thousand dollars for a particular charity. But again, it was just a group of people in this street wanting to create something for their families to go to.
And then this year it got much bigger. They moved it to a special, a specific location. I didn't go this year, but I'm sure it was absolutely massive, but that's an example of somebody in the community just going, you know what, I want to do something [00:24:00] fun for Halloween.
I want to create something in my street. I'm going to advertise it on Facebook and I'm going to invite people to come along and they did and it was a huge success.
So I'm sure it will keep going for many years. So that's an example of a great community event.
The other thing that I'm offering for you in this booklet is a free sponsorship resource. It's another workshop like this, but it's you do it at your own pace. So you can grab that there. It's the, I have an Idea to Launch worksheet, which I use for a variety of different purposes.
This one is the Sponsorship Edition, and it comes with a video attached to it. So make sure you grab that as well. I have a little bit of a different view in terms of how you can go about your sponsorship and how you can achieve greater results with your sponsorship. So make sure you download that as well.
So I look at this five part framework for event success. This, the order in which you do things I think is the most important part and this is what drives the [00:25:00] success of an event. And that is marketing is number two . A lot of the time people wait until they have done everything that they have to have done. They've implemented everything, they've organised everything, all the logistics are done, and then they go, alright, now we need to create the marketing collateral.
I promise you, you can start marketing your event well, before you've locked in all of the details, you don't even need a location. You just need a concept.
So that Idea to Live worksheet for the sponsorship there, you can do that Idea to Live worksheet for your event, and that will give you enough information to create a Facebook page, to do a whole bunch of marketing elements that you may not consider doing that early in the piece, but I'm going to get to that.
So my five part framework.
DESIGN, how, what are we doing here? What are we creating? You sit and look at who are we creating it for? What are our objectives? Who are we trying to appeal to with a community event? And what is it that we [00:26:00] want them to get out of?
Number two is the MARKETING. So shaping the brand and value and generating the engagement. Essentially making sales. You know, getting people to come to your event.
OPERATIONS. That's the implementation. That's getting everything done. So booking everything in, lining everything up, doing all of the worksheets, making sure that everybody is on track with all the tasks that they have to do.
ADMINISTRATION. Who is running the event? You know, the budgets, the communication, all of the contract negotiation all of that kind of administrative tasks that often falls by the wayside until it's needed, you know, until someone realises, oh, we need to we need to sign some contracts. Who's going to do that? We need we need a procurement strategy. Who's going to do that? So administration, there's a few tasks in there.
And then CONTRACT NEGOTIATION and RISK getting the best deal, keeping everybody safe. So the five parts to my event [00:27:00] strategy.
As we know, what it takes to produce a community event.
So I'm going to show this to you and you're going to be very surprised. However, if you really think about this, you are using this strategy all of the time, whether you are creating a dinner party, a children's birthday party a holiday, all of these things are events and you are undertaking all of these activities whenever you create an event like that, regardless of how small it is or how big and complex it is.
There's nearly a hundred tasks in the event management plan. So my 8 Week Event Plan actually goes through all of these elements. This is all the stuff that we work through in the 8 Week Event Plan.
Now, as I mentioned before, we have ADMINISTRATION, DESIGN, MARKETING, OPERATIONS, and RISK over here. So they're the five elements, right? [00:28:00] And then we go through each of those elements.
So if we look at the ADMINISTRATION, financial, human resources, information, procurement, stakeholders, etc, etc.
In the DESIGN section, same thing. What is the content that we're going to provide? Do we need any entertainment? How are we going to source them? How are we going to select them? And how are we going to support them? What does their environment look like? Do we need any date or props, finishing, signage, that kind of thing? Are we having any food and beverage?
How are we going to select that? How is it going to be delivered? What specific needs are there around our food and beverage?
Production, sound, lighting, staging. How are we actually going to present the material that it is that we need to present to people. The program, what's the program look like? Just brainstorm you know, when people arrive they get this, then they see that, there's an opening welcome, there might be some entertainment you know, if you've got a stage show happening, well, you know, school XYZ performs first then we do the auctions, then we do the [00:29:00] raffles, and then we have some more entertainment, service and, and meals are served, that kind of thing.
So what does your program look like? Just brainstorm that.
And then the theme, how are you going to tie it all together for people?
So this one is for community events. We're here talking about community events today. That is the theme. This material though, is exactly the same, whether you are doing a business conference, a festival, a school fete, a wedding, a 21st birthday party, whatever you are doing, this material doesn't change. I just call it different things because, if I said to you, Hey, come along to an event planning workshop, you would be like, Oh, no, I'm not an event planner. I'm not, I don't need to go to that.
But if I say, Hey, come along to this community event planning workshop, you're like, Oh, yeah, I'm a community event planner. I'm coming. So, that wouldn't be my thing.
The MARKETING, the target customer, the messaging, the [00:30:00] design of all the material. How are you going to promote it? What's the advertising campaign, the networking, the distribution?
So this checklist is really handy. If you do nothing else, download this. You can see there's a QR code here to download this. If you do nothing else, grab this, download it, print it in A2, like take it to Officeworks and print it in A2, and stick it on your wall. This is your ultimate checklist for any event that you're producing. Any event at all. You don't, you don't do the 8 Week Event Plan, just grab this because it will give you everything that you need.
So I'm just going to drill down now a little bit more on those elements.
So this is DESIGN. Alright, so this is the design element we're talking about here and the design section is the content, like I said, including the topic format, the presenters. What kind of entertainment are you going to be selecting? What does the environment look like? And when I say environment, I want you to think [00:31:00] about the setup as well, not just the space that it's in, but what does the setup have to look like?
I went for a walk through the city last night, up through the mall in Brisbane City, and they put all these couches and umbrellas and all this streetscape just out in the middle of nowhere and I loved it. It, it was very summer, very California. It was really gorgeous the way they had just designed the, they changed up the streetscape just for this kind of summer period. It was really beautiful.
So think about the activity that you're conducting. What is the most comfortable way for people to engage in that activity? All right. And you know, what kind of food and beverage are you offering them? That kind of thing. So I went through that before. So that's the first part. Okay. You do the design. What is it that I'm creating here? What am I including? What is the effect to the person who's coming to my event?
Then we are going to look at the MARKETING. As I mentioned a little bit earlier, who is the target customer? What do [00:32:00] I need to say to them to encourage them to come? I need a clear vision of what that distribution method looks like. This is where your community you know, the community buy in that we talked about before. Volunteers, local business, Councillors, people in your network, that Friends of Festival or Friends of Community event that you've put together. That is your distribution network of your marketing collateral.
Knowing where to find your target attendees. So where are they hanging out? I miss out on so many events in my local community because they only target a very specific stream of person, or they only put it on Facebook, like they'll only create a Facebook event and they won't market it anywhere else. I don't look at Facebook events, you know, it's one of the things that I, it, it just never comes up on my radar.
I try and think about bands and circuses. They're the two, my, they're my two reference points. If I was a circus, how would I market this? If I was a band on the road and trying to get people to come [00:33:00] to my show. How would I market this? Look at those two industries as a reference point for you and you will come up with a whole bunch of unique and different marketing ideas that other event producers are not doing.
The marketing also includes making it really easy for people to RSVP, buy a ticket, come along. You want to make that journey as easy as possible.
Next we look at the OPERATIONS and the operations is, as I said, the implementation. This is the actual delivery of the event that you are creating. So you know, you need a clear idea of how people are going to transition into your event. The path that they need to take, the journey that you're going to take them on. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer and really visualise, okay, well, I'm showing up to my festival. How do I know what to do? Do I know what to do when I get here? Have a think about that and what does that customer journey look like?
Know what's needed to ensure [00:34:00] clear communication is distributed both internally and externally. So your volunteer community that is working on your event. How are you going to talk to each other? You might use a WhatsApp. You might just use mobile phones. You might have radio frequent radios. You might have all sorts of different methods. You might just call each other on the phone. Just think about what that method is and how you're going to communicate with each other.
And then also the external communication strategy. So how, how are you going to get your message out? In terms of not only the promotion and the marketing of the event, but if something happens, if you need to cancel it, if you need to engage in some sort of PR, what does that external communication look like?
Again, operationally additional infrastructure, do you need to accommodate for any of that? What does that look like? Building your run sheets, your sequence of events. Just start brainstorming that kind of thing to that will highlight for you areas that may need your attention when you start building those.
Have a clear idea of what you [00:35:00] need in the venue or the site and know how to inspect it. I do have a venue site inspection checklist, which I'm happy to share with you. And again, another little video that goes with that, basically demonstrating how to do an effective site visit. So if you are going into a function centre or an event space I highly recommend that you have a look at that venue or site selection tool, it'd be very helpful. And then start to look at where you're going to get your supplies from.
So again, ignore this page. This is this webinar right here. Now the administrator, actually, I just want to give you a little tip, you know, when I created this workbook, I thought, how can I take people on a journey in this workbook. How can I make sure that I get to promote what I want to promote? I get to give massive value in the tools that I want to share with people. But I'm not a magazine creator. I don't know how to layout a [00:36:00] magazine. I don't know how to, like, in what order I should present information.
And so I was really grappling with this. I was, and I just want you to think about this from a marketing point of view. I was really grappling with this and wondering, well, how am I going to do this? I want to make sure that it's really compelling, this document that I'm sharing.
I went to the supermarket that day, and as I walked out of the supermarket, there was, you Woolworths here in Australia. But I actually picked up a Bunnings magazine and I thought, Oh, I'm just going to copy the format of this Bunnings magazine. And so all I did was I just followed their process. So they had the front cover. When you open the front cover, it's like, Oh, there's an ad there. All right. So I'll put an ad inside the front cover. Then there's you know, I explained before there was the, about me, my credentials, why am I doing this? And then you give something of value, and then another ad, and then some more value, and then another tip, or a tool, or something like that. And I just actually followed the format that that magazine was [00:37:00] laid out in, because they've got the experts working for them, right?
Do this every single step of the way. Tap into the experts that are out there, already getting paid thousands of dollars to do the research, to do the degrees, just follow along the procedures that they do.
One of the tips I really love to give people is, if you're creating an event, sign up to people who are creating the same event as you, that has been going for, you know, 20 years. Sign up to their newsletter, pay attention to the frequency of the newsletter, the structure of the newsletter, what are they sharing each time.
This works really well for something like a music festival. I like to use this for that kind of event because I love to follow Blues Fest's formula. You know, their artist announcements, how they drip that out, what kind of information do they share with me each time their newsletter comes and how do they just keep me hanging on the line all [00:38:00] the way along.
So pay attention to what other people are doing. Look at their structure, look at their formats, look at their formulas and copy them.
Okay. Back to ADMINISTRATION. Consider what reports you need to create, particularly if you've got funding, you're going to need to acquit that funding and there will be requirements that you will have to provide to the funder in terms of, yes, you'll have to fill in a report, but you're going to need to provide photos, you might need to provide survey results, you might need to provide participant feedback or testimonial, so make sure you know what reports you need to create as you journey through your execution of your event.
Identify and understand all of the stakeholders that can and will have an impact on your event, and I need to add in there both positively or negatively. So it's a little bit like the [00:39:00] community you looked at before. So the community and the so you know, the volunteers, the businesses, the councils, all of those kind of people, as well as other community groups. It's kind of expanding on that list a little bit more, but then you've got to sit and look at each of those elements, each of those groups or people, and understand for yourself, do they view your event favourably or negatively, and what is the impact on your event, if that were to change.
So you just need to be aware, but you can also tap into that network as I've mentioned before.
Set up how you'll manage your database, knowledge management, information. How does that flow with you? What forms, what standard operating procedures do you need to implement as part of your event delivery?
And then start to work on your timelines, production schedules, and project charts.
So again, If you just follow this in order, you will have a great sense of calm. Events are not something that [00:40:00] are easily done in a particular order. I often say the difference between event management and project management is project management typically follows a linear progression.
If you're building a road, building a house you can't, normally you have to, you know, I can't do this until I've done that, I can't do this until I've done that, I can't do that. So your critical path, it's called in project management, typically looks very clean and organised and the Gantt chart is beautiful. It's a beautiful, lovely flow of what has to happen in the order that it has to happen.
Events on the other hand, We're doing everything all at once, responding to everything all at once. And it can get very overwhelming. It can get really messy. And having a structure to follow, I find really helpful. Even if you don't go back to that almost 100 tasks and use that as a checklist, you could use this as a [00:41:00] checklist, right? Follow this in order, tick in the boxes. That's what the boxes are there for. Then you know that you've at least started on these things. You haven't forgotten about them.
You're not going to get to event day and go, Oh my God, we haven't got any production run sheets. We haven't done any timelines. The stage guy's looking at me going, what is the run? What comes first? What comes second? What comes third? We haven't even bothered to do that. You'll have it in your little checklist here that you'll be able to make sure that you get that done early.
All right, and then we get into CONTRACT NEGOTIATION & RISK.
Now, I just want to flag here, this should actually be first. If you have wherewithal, please do contract negotiation and risk first. The reason it's not first in the workbook is because I think I would lose you in the first five minutes if I started rattling on about this because it's a very dry subject, but it is the most important.
So, have you considered any licenses, regulations, laws, [00:42:00] codes that you need to abide by, both for yourself and your vendors? If you've got food trucks, for example number one, are you allowed to have food trucks at the location that you're considering producing this event? But those food trucks need to have food licenses. If you know, there might be gas certificates, they might need additional power and can you access that power if you're in a park, for example? So who do you need to talk to to make sure that you abide by all the laws and regulations to A, put your event on, and B, so with the vendors, etc, that are coming along to help you as well.
Establish decision making rules and criteria and a chain of commands. Now, I find this so helpful at an event. One of the things I love to do at my events is give people the power to make decisions to a certain point. So what that means is, If [00:43:00] one of the places this, this occurs, for example, is if it's a free event, but it's an invitation only event, and you've got someone on the gate, say you've got someone on the gate and you know, XYZ said they could come in for free but they're not on my guest list, you need to empower the person on the gate to make the decision.
Right? You need to give them very clear instructions on what do they do in that situation. You don't want them wasting time trying to find you on the phone. You're too busy doing other things, right? So that's, that's number one. You need to empower people to be able to make a decision. So have a discussion around that. If someone shows up, who says they can get in for free but they're not on my list. What would you like me to do about that? Right?
The other thing you want to do is when, when you want to give someone, you want to give people financial limitations as well. So one of the other things that occurs is you know, something might break, you might've forgotten something. Someone's going to run to Bunnings to grab something, [00:44:00] to fix something, maybe Maybe, for example, you know, some signage isn't going up, your double sided tape's just not working, or you've run out of gaff tape, something like that. You want to be able to give people, again limits.
If something's broken or there's a problem and it's going to cost less than $100 to solve it, you don't need my permission to go and spend that money. Just go ahead and spend the money, get a receipt, I'll reimburse you. If, however, it's more than a hundred dollars, you need to find me, call me, we need to have a discussion about how we might solve this problem.
So it's just, you know, you just really want to give people power to make decisions, but also know when, when they need to come to you, when they need to talk to you.
All right. Understanding, consider the requirements for health and safety. Think about whether you need special insurance for your event. Understanding of whether you need legal representation to negotiate or understand contracts.
Now I, I recommend that you get more than one person to read the contract. In my procedures, I go [00:45:00] through and I highlight the important elements of a contract that I want my clients to pay attention to. And I also get someone else to read that because as I mentioned before, my attention to detail. can be, you know, a little challenging at times. So make sure that you have an understanding of what it is that you're reading. And if you don't, get legal representation. It's not that expensive. It really isn't.
You know, in the past, it's cost me less than $500 to send a contract to my lawyer and go, can you just have a look at this for me and let me know if there's any red flags. It's super easy to do.
And then look at your security requirements, consider procedures and systems of control to make sure that you keep all your patrons safe, you keep all your vendors safe and you keep yourself safe as well. So think about this security requirements and whether you need anything to do with security as well.
So there we have it. We are all the way through our workbook. [00:46:00] The last page of that workbook is a little bit about me. This is what I do, coaching aspiring event creators. So like I said, I have the 8 Week Event Plan. If you're interested in that you can just go to 8weekeventplan.com. You will find more information about that there.
I'm also an event strategist. So if you're trying to create an event and you just really can't pull those pieces together, we can have a conversation and I can help you.
I'm an event producer, of course. I love producing events. And I do lots of large scale, small scale, not giant, just, just small scale. You know, big ish community events that I really love to do, as long as I can stay connected with the audience. Business cheerleader, of course. I love supporting other businesses and helping them along the way.
And you will see through this workbook, I talk a lot about mindset. I'm a big believer in mindset and manifestation, and I do believe that we create our own future. And I think you can have a really amazing event just by simply focusing, paying attention to [00:47:00] your audience
if you focus Really focus hard on your audience and the experience that you're giving to them. That's where the gold is, right?
You're going to deliver absolutely what your audience is looking for, if you just focus on them, think about the fundamentals first, like what do you have to deliver to make it a community event, and then if you get more funding, you can add on.
If you get more opportunity, more sponsors, you can add on them. Start with the fundamentals, focus on the audience at all times, creating the experience for them, and I am sure you will have an incredible community event. And make sure you connect with all your other community event producers in your city and across your city, too.
I'd love to hear what you create. Please invite me. I'd love to know about it. You'll find me on all of the socials. Sally Porteous, my name is down there in the corner if you want to find the spelling.
But if you Google me, Sally Porteous Events, you will find [00:48:00] me in a bunch of places. Please talk to me, you know, share with me all about your community events. I'd love to hear about them. I'd love to come to them.
So I hope that has helped you today. Get in touch with me if I can help you in any other way. Don't forget the 8weekeventplan.com. That's where you will find information on the 8 Week Event Plan. The next round I'll be doing from January, and it will be in relation to community events, it will be specifically for community event producers.
So have a look at that if that's something that is of interest to you. Otherwise, I might see you at one of my Event Managers Network events next year. Or, the Logan Event Network, which is something brand new that I'm just starting to create. So, happy eventing everybody. Thank you so much for listening to me today. I really hope that's been beneficial and let me know if you want any of those downloads. All right. Have a wonderful weekend everybody and see you soon.
