Alexy Cuni SHR6E037P~002 01234567 Portfolio: Event Evaluation

SHR6E037P~002 Portfolio: Event Evaluation

Event Evaluation

Live music management evaluation

Event Atmosphere

The plan for this night was night of Motown and soul. We picked a variety of bands who would showcase original music as well as covers of popular songs. The room that this gig was hosted in was the gig room in Belgrave music hall. Due to the day of the event, wee were told that we had to be leaving by latest 10pm so they could prepare the room for another event that was happening later that evening. We tried to discuss with them to see if they could set the room up beforehand since it would make closing down much less stressful and also make the room look much nicer. Despite this making sense to us, Belgrave refused for some reason.

This is quite a large room with a lot of space to fill so we had to make sure we were prepared to try and fill it. Despite my worries, we managed to sell 210 tickets overall. This allowed the room to feel full whilst also giving people more than enough room to dance if they wanted to. This number also meant that we would not need to pay any extra security costs.

Playing first on the night we had CHLÖE. She brought a 5-piece band and played groovy soul covers that warmed people in as they were walking to the gig room. Following CHLÖE, we had Mikey and the G’s playing. This was a big band that played covers of popular songs. Since I was on the box office, I was unable to catch most of this set. This set showcased the tone of the night much more clearly and settled people into what the rest of the evening had in store. Finally, we had pockets playing. Pockets played an extended set that contained a variety of popular soul and pop songs for people sing and dance to. Pockets created a create vibe in the room that encouraged the room to show a bit more energy that wasn’t present earlier on the night.

· Box Office

We had a few ways that we sold tickets for the event. As part of the contract of working with Belgrave Music Hall, we had to sell an allocation of tickets, on their partner platform dice. This ended up not being an issue for us since using dice gave us access to an array of statistics that we would have to manually keep ourselves if we planned to sell the tickets on our own. Of these tickets, we had a limited run of discounted tickets that could be purchased through a unique link. We allocated around 50 tickets that could be sent out. We also ensured that we had some tickets that we could sell on the door. Since we did not want to pay anyone on the night to run the box office, we decided to do it ourselves. This would also allow us to keep a count of who was coming in, as well as chat to some of the people who we didn’t know about. How they discovered the show. We would rotate who was sat in the box office to ensure that everybody had a chance to see the show. We ended up with around 170 tickets bought digitally and around another 30 bought on the door.

· Security

We had security for the event provided to us by Belgrave as part of the booking fee. These security guards ID checked everybody going into the event due to the bar selling alcohol. We had a variety of coloured wristbands given to us by the venue in order to identify who was underage and who was part of the band etc. this made it far easier for people to go in and out of the gig room. They also kept a head count of everybody going in and out. This helped keep an accurate number of how many people showed up so we could compare ticket sales to attendees after the show. The security also assisted with closing out the night since we had a hard curfew of 10pm that we needed to be done by so the Belgrave staff could prepare the gig room for another event they were hosting later that evening. Due to the fact that this gig was not likely to sell out, we only started with one security guard. Since the ticket holders were coming through one entrance, this was the only security necessary. As the night continued and more people showed up, we eventually had another security guard come to help. This was mostly to make sure that everybody left in an orderly manner, and nobody was causing issues whilst the music was playing. Both these guards ensured that the crowd was safe and that we would have a point of contact if we needed any help with something throughout the night.

· Health and Safety (you should directly reference points outlined in your groups risk assessment)

We ensured that health and safety was always taken into consideration whilst this event went on. In order to prevent congestion, we ensured that all exits were easily accessible and clear throughout the night. Belgrave has three exits located all around the gig room, so this meant there was always at least two exits with nobody around them. This proved to work great since even when we had the ticketing desk close to the door, people were still able to easily come and go as they pleased, without any congestion happening that may have been a risk to someone’s safety. For all risks regarding the stage, we ensured there was always constant supervision from the Belgrave sound team. This ensured that all the equipment was set up correctly as per the venue’s specifications. It also meant that if anything were to go wrong then the sound engineer would know where to look.

For food health safety, we did not have to worry about this since we were not personally serving any food.

Finally, regarding fire safety, we checked to ensure that there was an appropriate number of fire extinguishers in accessible places. Belgrave constantly ensures that their equipment is suitable in case of a fire so there was not much issue regarding this.

· Production (sound and lighting)

For sound and lighting, we had a technician provided to us by the venue. This was great since it meant we had somebody who knew their way around the equipment, ensuring the night would flow smoothly, and also maintain a high enough standard that we are after. Despite this, there were still a few hiccups. Due to a miscommunication with the sound engineer, he was under the impression that we had much more time than we actually did. Because of this he was taking his time with the soundchecks, resulting in us falling quite a bit behind schedule. We managed to sort this out before it became too much of an issue and only resulted in us starting slightly later than planned. We explained this to people on the door whilst they were queuing and the seemed to understand.

· Artists Liaison

The main person in contact with the bands was Antonio. I also kept some contact with Chlöe since I knew her prior to the gig and was able to contact her quickly. We decided to create a group chat with all the bands in so there could be clear communication and everything important was in a single place. By the time of the event we all got there at 3pm since that was the earliest that we were allowed to be there. We then waited for the artists to let them know what the plan for the evening was and when they needed to set up, be on stage etc.

· Stage Management

The stage was one of the things that we had a big issue with. Since we had a small time slot and large bands, it meant that set up and sound checking would need to be as smooth as possible in order to ensure that we had enough time for our event and wouldn’t have to cut anything short. Because of this we made it extremely clear to the bands what time they were playing or when they needed to soundcheck. In order to plan ahead as much as possible, we asked the bands to send us a stage plan and equipment list. This allowed us to create a document of what equipment everyone could use on the night and who would need to bring what. This prevented any clutter that we might have had since we needed as much room on the stage as possible.

· Online Marketing – This can include websites, social media, forums, blogs etc.

For online marketing, we mainly focused on social media marketing. This was due to the fact that it was not only free, but our target demographic was also on social media. in order to target the 18-25 student range, we posted on Instagram reels and stories. With each member of the promotion team, as well as the bands social media pages, we had a large local audience that we could target. This proved to be the majority of ticket buyers for the event.

In retrospect, we could have pushed for more ticket sales by using paid ads. This would allow us to reach a much wider audience. We did speak about this as a group, but we were unsure how much of these views would actually convert into ticket buyers, so we decided to not do it.

· Promotion –

For physical promotion we opted to create a poster that clearly showcased the headline acts, as well as what the expectation for the night was. We placed these posters around LCON and Belgrave. This proved to be extremely effective, with us selling 36* tickets on the door. This ended up boosting our profits slightly on the night which was pleasantly welcomed.

We also decided to sell an early bird ticket through dice. This exclusive discounted ticket gave people an incentive to buy tickets early, allowing us to get a good amount of sales early on.

This presale sold out on the 28^th January, with 8 tickets in a waiting list for main release.

We also posted on the university of Leeds jazz and soul society forum about this gig. This society was comprised entirely of people who were exactly our target audience so we felt that it was essential to post something on their forum.

Finally we also did some in person promotion at Leeds Conservatoire, with the incentive of a vinyl as a raffle prize.

· Financial outcomes – This should be presented on the settlement template provided on space.

Overall, we ended up making profit from the event, which I was initially a bit worried about since Belgrave is a difficult venue to sell out for small events companies. Our total costs came to £278.14. this was to cover the venue fee as well as PRS costs, plus some other minor costs that we had to cover (such as a giveaway prize). Following the night, we earned a gross total of ~£1670 in sales. Firstly, we removed to total costs from this and then payed the bands. Pockets had a rate of 65% of total revenue and Mikey and the G’s and CHLÖE both got payed a flat rate. This resulted in the total sum going to the artists being £1084.34. this left the promotion team with £188 to split between the five of us. This ended up being more money than I had initially invested so I came out of this show very happy.

In conclusion, I found this event to be very successful. We managed to make profit whilst also curating a night that people found enjoyable and danced to. Despite this, I believe we could have possibly marketed this show in order to maximise the number of tickets sold. This could have potentially generated much more revenue for not that much effort, however was not entirely necessary since we still managed to sell a substantial amount of tickets.