Keeping Your Events Fresh

1970s Brady Street Festival

October is coming to an end and other than June it’s my busiest event month. Businesses want to host their final outdoor events of the season before the snow flies which actually happened last night! This is one of the earliest snowfalls I can remember although last year, during a Halloween event there were some flurries. My outdoor chalk artists were almost frozen solid. I’m happy that the weather was beautiful this year, or they may have decided never to participate again.

IS YOUR ANNUAL EVENT A BORE?

This brings me to my blog post for today. For those of you who work on annual events, how are you keeping things fresh so that the event doesn’t become borrrrring?!? I strongly feel that annual signature events are an important aspect of businesses and nonprofit organizations. When you think of the large nonprofits, several annual events will come to mind: The Walk to end Alzheimer’s, The American Heart Association Heart Walk, The American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb... I also personally helped several business districts produce their annual signature events this year.

As an event producer, there are some obvious reasons why you want to make sure that your event has added new elements each year. For example, you always want to increase attendance which in turn drives sales. There are other reasons which are often overlooked.

WHY YOU SHOULD KEEP IT FRESH (OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS)

First of all, our audience is constantly changing. In the case of the Brady Street Festival which actually got its start in the early 70s, some of the audience have literally aged out. It’s great to see all ages of attendees at this event. The stories that the older generation tell about this Festival are pretty spectacular. The history of the Festival is definitely one of the draws of the event, and also why it has seen so much success. It’s also important to find out what the younger generations are looking for in event experiences. I have discovered that one of the best ways to understand what younger generations are seeking is to hire event interns for the event season. College students are a wealth of new information, energy and creativity.

A second reason to add some new elements to your events each year is to encourage new sponsorships. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, sponsors may not be looking for logo placement anymore. They may want to find ways to activate at your events. If you are someone who travels to events yourselves, you may have seen some pretty extensive activations. One year at the Brady Street Festival, Hendricks Gin set up an entire scene with a (fake) hot air balloon and people could climb in and out of the basket for amazing photo opportunities. This past year, Hendricks actually launched a real balloon that took flight above the Toronto Art Museum proving once more that Hendricks is a gin that is “undeniably peculiar.”

As the snow falls, it’s a great time to sit back in front of the fireplace and do some online research to discover new ideas or methods to shake things up for your events next year. Or maybe take some trips this Winter to places that are still hosting events all year long… Mexico and other tropical spots come to mind!