THE PANEL
Ian Irving sales and marketing director, Sledge
Mike Richmond managing director, Richmond Event Management
Joe Russell head of events, UK, Momentum Worldwide
Kerstin Shields CEO, Out of the Blue Communications
What are the key elements needed for a successful public event?
Joe Russell An engaging concept relevant to the target audience; a great venue; relevance between brand and event; marriage or partner of brands; a good team; suppliers and attention to detail. Having a realistic and creative client, who wants to ensure that the event is a manifestation of brand DNA.
Ian Irving Keep the organisation tight and simple, know your audience, make the content engaging and ensure that it enriches the experience. Also use robust technology, strong planning and research.
Mike Richmond Funding - key stakeholders need to buy into the event. Once that's in place, key factors are emergency services and contingency planning, involvement of the statutory authorities and, in the case of a free event, the willingness of the organiser to commit to an event with an unknown attendance.
How important, if at all, is the celebrity factor in producing a public event?
JR Again, it boils down to relevance. If your client can afford to have a celebrity that will enhance the activity at its event. However, if they can't afford it and they are just importing shallow celebrities that have no relevance, then no.
Kerstin Shields Event content is the most important element in delivering public attendance. Often, the easiest way to ensure this is via celebrities. However, creative, unique, novel, once in a lifetime content can also succeed in delivering an excellent public event, without the celebrity factor.
What is the best public event you have witnessed that was not your own and why?
JR Live 8 for the production complexity alone.
KS The Red Bull Flugtag is without a doubt my favourite brand-owned event. I also love the work of La Machine, the French group that staged the Sultan's Elephant activity in London and, more recently, the Spider in Liverpool, as part of the capital of culture launch. My favourite paying public event has to be Glastonbury. It may not have the greatest event production values in the world but, without doubt, it has become one of the most important events of the year.
II Nike Run London.
MR Cheltenham Festival.
What would be your dream public event to organise?
JR Flora London Marathon.
KS New Year's Eve in London
MR The World Morris Dancing Firework Championships because it wouldn't need a licence and would prove that fireworks and dancing can cohabit quite safely.
II Led Zeppelin and AC/DC on the same bill in central London. Seriously, though, I have already been involved in a dream public event. To do another England Rugby World Cup Victory Parade would be very pleasing.
What is the most effective way of measuring the success of a public event?
JR The event space has always been a challenging area in assessing value, and every agency has their own method of evaluation. Our model evaluates effectiveness against hard and soft measures (brand and business).
KS This is dependent on the event objective and how and why it is being funded. For ticket-paying events, measurement will be based primarily on attendance, ticket sales and repeat business. For brand-owned events, measurement takes many forms. More and more, we see it being measured via reach, the successful amplification of the event content via other marketing channels. This includes PR coverage, the amount of time people have spent on associated websites, TV and radio coverage and, ultimately, sales uplift.
II Many have tried to say that there is an exact science to this, but the simple fact is that you need to look at every consumer touch point and consider it an opportunity to engage and evaluate. The Innocent Village Fete, for example, left no stone unturned when consuming visitor feedback and using it to evaluate all of the positives and the negatives from event and brand partner perspectives. It is what you do with this valuable information that is key.
What are the most challenging elements to producing a public event?
JR Balancing the different elements towards a single goal. Public authorities, sponsors, production, can all have very different opinions.
KS Without doubt, expense.Public and, particularly, outdoor events are expensive to produce, particularly if you aim to produce high-quality, safe and best-practice events. A second challenge is the creation of genuinely unique, valuable and exciting content in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
MR The public. Events can look fantastic on paper and have great emergency and contingency planning, as well as scrutiny. When you open the doors, you're never quite sure how they will react. You have to produce what they want, giving them what they expect and more.
EXPERTS' CHOICE
Our public events club reveal their favourite venues and suppliers for producing the perfect event.
VENUES
Ian Irving
Crowne Plaza, Marlow;
Concept Centre;
The O2
Regents Park;
Somerset House
Mike Richmond
Ashton Court Estate, Bristol;
Danson Park;
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard;
Regents Park;
Worthy Farm
Joe Russell
The Barbican
Hyde Park;
The O2
Roundhouse
Royal Albert Hall
Kerstin Shields
Central Park, New York;
The Jack Daniels Distillery, US;
Jameos del Agua, Tenerife;
Roundhouse
Trafalgar Square
SUPPLIERS
Ian Irving
Blinding Light;
Hall & Partners;
Mash Marketing
Online AV;
Soup Digital
Mike Richmond
Arena Seating;
Count on Me;
Eve Trakway;
Powerline;
The Event Safety Shop
Joe Russell
Events By Appointment
Eye Candy;
GTMS;
Hot House;
Terry Tew Sound & Lighting
Kerstin Shields
Colour Sound;
DHB group;
Encore Sound;
Experiment;
Show & Event Security