SHR6E037P~002 Portfolio: Event Evaluation
Event Evaluation
This evaluation reflects on.my role as the financial planner as well as overseeing the finances during the preparation and delivery of our country themed event which was centred around the Wranglers’ release of their single ‘Ghost’. We designed our event to create a country inspired atmosphere while also using the event to promote the artists and generate as much revenue as we could through the ticket sales.
As financial planner my main responsibilities included cost control, budgeting and going over the financial outcome of the event. However, I also was involved in the wider event planning as my group chose to each have roles in the planning of the event while also working closely together in every aspect to have a cohesive understanding of what the night of the event would be like which allowed us to be properly prepared for anything that may go wrong on the night. On the night of the event my role was also to look after the artists, tend to any of their needs and make sure they were on and off stage in time for the next artist.
This evaluation critically assesses the event in the areas of success and failure supported by photographic and documentary evidence. Each piece of evidence has been included to demonstrate both how effective the planning and execution of our gig was while also anything we could have improved on to use for future events.
Event Atmosphere
The atmosphere of our event was one of the key strengths of the night. We created a created a captivating environment and experience for the crowd through the use of the lights on the stage and decorations. We hung fairy lights on different parts of the events space (see evidence 1 and we set the lights for each act based on other country gigs we researched which immediately set the tone for the event.
Evidence 2 shows the audience where invested and engaged with our event , particularly in the wranglers performance of their new song ‘ghost’, where the audience where stood close to the stage and participating with the band by having their phone torches in the air and singing along, demonstrating a high level of emotional connection.
Headrow Houses stage is at the back of the event space and has a space for the audience at the front of the stage encouraging participation. the space is also large enough to ensure visibility for everyone attending. The headline performance had the most attendees who where all enthusiastically dancing and singing along with the music which created a lively ad immersive atmosphere. From my financial perspective, a. strong atmopshere has a better impact on revenue as it shows more ticket sales and more attendees to buy merch from the headliners the wranglers, and also shows the potential of more attendees for our next event. Evidence 3 however shows that at the start of the gig the engagment wasnt as high with fewer attendees, this was slower than what we expected, on reflection to combat the initial crowd energy we could have improved their engagment through activities or a stronger well known opening act.
Overall, the event atmosphere reflected successfully the intended theme, the audiences satisfaction and supported our financial outcomes, this has shown me how important having a good atmopsheree will maximise both engagment and revenue.
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Evidence 3
Box Office
The box office was a critical area for my role as financial planner and overseer as financial planning played a central role. Pre-event ticket sales where monitored on DICE, an online platform, as demonstrated in Evidence 4 through this we were able to see how many tickets we had sold and how far off break-even we where. Using an online platform allowed me to have accurate financial projections and informed any decisions i had for any expenditures.
On the night, our physical box office setup, shown in Evidence 5, was created to facilitate entry efficiently for the attendees. Hving a physical box office allowed us to have power over the queue and allowed us to have control of the peak times where it became congested. In the box office we allowed for poeple who had tickets from online to coem in tell us there name and they would recieve a wristband, shown in Evidence 6, to allow us to see which people should be in the gig and who shouldnt. we also allowed people to buy tickets on the door and collect a wristband, through the use of a card machine at the door. Shown in evidence 7.
The event successfully met its ticket sales targets, showing the pricing strategies myself and Leo came up with where effective, and the promotional techniques we chose to use through megans social media account where also effective. During the event there was a congestion in the queue however, as at different points only Lucy was on the door and could only sign one person in at a time, therefore having two people on the door throughout the whole ight would have been more effective as it would have decreased the wait time for the customers therefore improving their experience.
Evidence 4
Evidence 5
Evidence 6
Evidence 7
Security
Security at any event is needed, however we did not have security at the door or inside of our event. We discussed with the buildings event manager about this and where told that their would be security at the entrance to the building not at the door of our event. Evidence 8. There was no incidents thankfully at our event, but for a safer enviroment for the attendees i feel we may have benefitted from having more security on the night of the event. One aspect of security that we had in our event however was the wristbands we gave out to anyone who bought or had a ticket. This just allowed for an easier way of not having people who did not have a ticket to be seen and then either leave of buy a ticket for fairness for all customers. See evidence 6.
We also had a designated green room for the artists, shown in evidence 9 and 10, where they could leave their belongings and go to when they wanted. It was kept locked until the artists needed it for better security. As my role was to look after the artists on the night i had the key and was the person who locked it and unlocked it when they needed it.
Evidence 8
Evidence 9
Evidence 10
Health and Safety
Health and safety management, which was guided by the risk assessment, was implemented competently but not without limitations. Katie created a risk assessment after going in and going through everything that could be a risk, identifying key hazards. Evidence such as Evidence 11 which was plastic cups to allow us to give these to the customers to stop the risk of smashed glasses and Evidence 12 which shows the exit sign incase of a fire or any other emergency where the venue had to be evacuated. However, when evaluating the health and safety on the night, there was limited evidence from the venues side of proactiveness toward health and safety. there was signage oplaced around the building however they werent all placed in optimal positioned areas for easier viewing for customers. See Evidence 13. For our next event, i will advocate for a higher safety budget to improve visibility and accessibility which will strengthen both safety at the time and any safety outcomes that may arise to look after the audience and strengthen their confidence in our brand.
Evidence 11
Evidence 12
Evidence 13
Production
Production was one of the key areas for our event as its impact on the overall quality of the event was highly significant. The techincal set up, ran by the music technician on the night was smooth, Evidence 14, and the perfomance visuals, evidence 15 and evidence 16, demonstrated a high standard of delivery. We chose headrow house to do our event as we had heard good things about the production of their events. it was more on the expensive side, however this investment contributed to the customers satisfaction. However, a negative of the production was that there was no music when doors opened at the start of our event and during switches between artists there was no music. This could have been combated by having a playlist set up for these moments to give the audience music through the whole night.
Evidence 14
Evidence 15
Evidence 16
Artist Liaison
Artist liason was handled effectively, with evidence 17, 18, 19, demonstrating that we had clear communication with the artists before and on the night while also meeting their needs. Before the night we got in touch and asked what they wanted on the night, see evidence 20, so we went and bought them beers and snacks to make them feeling comfortable. As financial planned i allocated £40 toward this for the night ad it was covered with some left over. Doing this allowed for the artists to be more comfortable and feel welcome, leading to abetter performance and atmosphere for the customers. In a competitive live music industry, we believe that exceeding expectations can strengthen the professional relationships with the artsists and lead to more opportunities with said artists and through word of mouth other artists.
Evidence 17
Evidence 18
Evidence 19
Evidence 20
Stage Management
Stage management was a large aspect of the event, with clear scheduling, and coordination on getting artists soundchecked, see figure 22, 23 and 24 and then getting on and off stage during the event, to ensure minimal delays and a smoother run for the event. This efficiency had a financial benefit aswell as it prevented any additional costs such as extended venue hire for going over our allocated spot. However, from a critical outlook this success was largely depedning on how effective our communication was, as a precaution next time we will have a larger time for each artist to sound check to allow for a definitive smoother run on the night. We also went early to help the artists with the load in. See Evidence 25.
Evidence 22
Evidence 23
Evidence 24
Evidence 25
Online Marketing
Online marketing was our most cost effective aspects of the event, look at evidence 26, 27, 28. We chose to go heavy on instagram promotion as our target audience was university students based in leeds so after researching how to get strong egagment we tailored it to them. We relied on instagram as there was a minimal cost and had a high return on investment. However, a critical evaluation shows that we could have had a higher engagment by usiung paid ads on instagram, therefore next time we will do this to have a higher return on ticket sales.
Evidence 26
Evidence 27
Evidence 28
Promotional Materials
The promotional materials we chose to use where flyers and posters. We were able to print these off at uni which cost us nothing. This meant we were getting basically free promotion. See evidence 29. We also spent a day in the cafe bar in Leeds conservatoire to gain more traction by baking brownies to bring people to the table and then advertising our event. However, i believe if we were to push the use of our QR code for our ticket sales in the cafe bar, we would have been able to track how effective it was and then had a clearer insight into how we could have promoted the event. See evidence 30.
Evidence 29
evidence 30
Financial Outcomes
We managed to make a profit of £86.21, this shows that our gig was a success on a financial standpoint.
