Introduction
This evaluation shows evidence of the Night of Indie-Folk Music that we hosted at the Lending Room on the 25th of February 2026 for the Live Music Management module. In this evaluation, the planning, execution and the outcome of the event will be critically evaluated with supporting evidence appended to this document.
This event was put on collaboratively by a promotion team of 5. We all played equal roles in the running of this event. My main role was to establish the risk assessment, to supply an artist press kit, and to help create technical specifications to give to the venue.
This evaluation will be as comprehensive as possible. Focusing on aspects such as the event atmosphere, the setup of the stage, the production and lighting of the event. As well as, safety aspects, ticketing and security. Artist liaison, promotion and also the financial outcomes of the event.
Photographic or video evidence has also been used to show evidence to claims made in this evaluation, and have been chosen and referenced deliberately.
Event Evidence Video
Event Atmosphere
The event that we put on was able to achieve a very lively and enthusiastic atmosphere, with audience numbers growing throughout the night and engaging with the music that was being played.
I have attached 4 images, the first showing the audience accruing before the first act, and the three images following showing the audience retention through the acts (images in order of acts).
We were able to create such a positive atmosphere throughout this show via a few methods. Firstly, the structure of the bill was chosen deliberately so that the more established acts went later in the night, meaning people chose to stay for longer after the opening acts had finished.
We also chose a room that was relatively small in size, and due to the dimensions (being shorter and wider) the room was able to create a more intimate and close environment while not being filled to max capacity.
Finally, we also had very well timed changeovers of twenty minutes, this allowed enough time for the audience to take a break between sets but also wasn’t too long where the audience felt like they were waiting around.
Box Office + Security
Shania (another member of our group) took on the responsibility of checking tickets and ID for the night.
Attached to this subsection of the document are four images: The first of which shows Shania checking attendees’ bags to ensure safety within the venue, and to comply with the venue’s rules, e.g. no outside beverages or any drugs being brought into the venue.
The second photo shows the list that Shania was referencing for tickets bought in advance. We used ticketlab for our online ticket sales, ticketlab provided a tickable list of names, with attendee information attached, that was clear and easy to track entry of attendance.
For those without tickets bought in advance, we sold tickets at a £5 increase of £10, offered on the door.
The third photo shows Shania stamping each attendees hand with a marker so that it would be easy to monitor who has already entered the venue and paid for their ticket.
The final photo shows an ID being checked on entry to the venue.
The way that we conducted our Box office and security for this event was effective and we had no problems with people without tickets trying to get into the venue.
In future events that we host it could be worth investing in being able to keep cash at the door as we were only able to offer sales by card which could have hindered attendance; however, it did not on this occasion.
We also could have invested in a proper stamp that wasn’t just a marker that could have been forged by an attendee trying not to pay for their ticket fare.
Due to the nature of this type of event we did not see it necessary to have a hired security guard on the door; however, the venue did have security on site in the main bar area had any problems occurred.
Health and Safety
We incurred no issues with health and safety during our event.
I have attached images of the considerations that we made during our show.
First, as both venue policy and in our agreement, there was no glass to be taken upstairs into the venue, this was to avoid any breakages that could cause injury or disruption to the show. Instead plastic cups were used.
The next two pictures show the fire escapes that were clearly signed in the chance of a fire or if evacuation from the venue was necessary.
The last picture showed the use of a wet floor sign being used after a spillage had occurred, this was one of the risks identified in our assessment before the event. Fortunately, as a result of the correct signage being readily available, no slips were caused.
The venue technician also turned up the house lights between sets so people could move around and in and out of the venue room more safely.
Production
The Production of the show proved to be very effective and high quality. The sound technician provided by the venue was able to create a very high quality audio output as well as produce effective lighting effects and was even able to use a fog machine to help create atmosphere on stage.
Due to our thorough tech specs that were both given to and received by the venue, no last minute kit was needed by any of the artists and everything we needed was either brought or provided by the venue for us.
The first and second images attached show the stage layout, showing the drums, guitar and bass amps mic’d up, as well as the wedges that were used for the sound on stage for the artists to be able to hear themselves while playing.
The third image shows the amplification system used by the venue that was controlled only by the sound technician.
The fourth image shows Kai, the sound technician, helping to check levels during one of the artist’s sound checks.
The final two photos showed the running order and were placed both in the green room for the artist’s own time management, and around the venue room so that both staff and audience members were made aware of the running order of the night.
Visual production such as lighting and stage layout may also be noted in photos attached under the event atmosphere portion of the appendix for this assignment.
Artist Liaison
Due to all the artists who played on the night being members of the promotion team who put the gig on, we were all comfortable to not use riders for the gig as we would have been the ones who would have spent money on the artist hospitality anyway.
We did however, have access to a private green room in the venue that we were able to safely store our equipment in and to be able to use recreationally as a quieter/private space between sets and during load in and soundchecks to relax and eat.
We also had event information such as the set times, as well as a copy of the advance accessible in the green room (this can be shown in the photo of Leo with the set times) as to ensure that all artists and staff were aware of the evenings timings and when they are needed.
If we had not hired artists who were already in the promotion team I think it would have been more necessary to consider using a rider as to ensure that the artists have a comfortable experience.
Stage Management
For our stage management, we made sure to have cables in uniform streams to reduce the risk of both performers or staff tripping over cables during or between the sets. This has been shown in the first photo uploaded to this subsection.
We also made sure not to overload plug sockets and the venue made sure of this by having ample amounts of wall sockets available.
The edge of the stage was also lined with reflective tape so performers were able to move around the stage safely in lower light levels and to reduce the risk of falls.
We ordered the soundchecks in reverse order to the sets that were being performed. This was a deliberate choice so that we would have to rearrange the stage as little as possible as the night went on, and we could start the first set with the stage already set up.
Online Marketing and Promotion
For this event we mainly promoted via online marketing on social media platforms such as instagram, facebook and tiktok. We also took to putting up 60 posters in the shared Leeds Conservatoire spaces such as the library, the stairwells, the communal areas on the 5th floor and the cafe bar.
We identified this as a key area of our promotion as we are aware that a good proportion of attendees were going to be students who were interested in seeing their friends perform and we took to making sure they were as informed as possible about our event.
The poster that we printed and placed around the campus has been attached.
Online marketing consisted of several stories, reels and posts that were released consistently in the month running up to our gig as per the promotional plan.
We made the link to buy tickets available in all our social platform bio’s as well as attaching clickable links to most posts and stories.
We were able to speak to our friends in the Bi_Plus_Leeds_Social_Group who also agreed to share our gig poster to help spread the word for the event at no cost at all. This was beneficial as it meant that the gig was now being pushed to people who were not yet in the circles or fans of the artists.
I have appended a selection of evidence for our promotional materiel.
Financial Outcomes
For our event, we sold a total of 56 tickets. Taking into account both prices for on the door (7 x £10) and advanced sales (49 x £5) this made us a gross total of £315.
Alongside tickets sold, and the various band members and promotion reps who were in the venue and watching the gig, the audience felt reasonably full and there was a very good atmosphere in the room.
We had deductions to our gross total of £315, of both venue hire cost, which was £130, and a small fee for the on the door ticketing system that we used, which was just 2 pounds.
We, the promotion team, agreed to pay back all of those who invested into the venue hire, and then to split the rest of the profit among the acts equally.
After paying back the venue hire fee to the group, this left us a total of £183 to be split 3 ways (£61 among each act).
Conclusion
Overall, there were several aspects that would help to consider our event as successful.
Every part of our planning helped to allow for this show to run safely and smoothly, as well as not only making our money back, but allowing all artists to make profit off of the evening.
My main roles, which included the risk assessment and technical specifications, were proved successful by the safe running of the event, with all risks mitigated appropriately.
And my work in the technical specifications helped to allow a very smooth running of the soundchecks and transitions between acts. With extra time between soundchecks and changeovers available due to sufficient planning and communication with the in-house team.
This evaluation has also highlighted areas that could be improved in the future running of an event of this nature. With the belief that we could have promoted/ announced our gig further in advance of the date than what we chose to, and that would have contributed to more ticket sales.
And also the aforementioned idea of bringing a small cash box so that we could accept cash purchases on the door as well as a more identifiable stamp.
The running of this event has been a very enjoyable experience that has inspired me to try it again in events of different genres in the future. It has helped me to understand the planning that makes the running of an event of this size possible and has developed my skills in team-work, planning, and adaptability.
