Organising an Event

1. Make a Plan

• Objectives – How many tickets to sell, and at what price?
• Activities – Make a plan of potential marketing activities
• Budgets – Allocate marketing budget, assign realistic amounts to activities, plus contingency
• Timescales and Deadlines – Working to a schedule gives more chance of success

2. Letting People Know

• Think about the audience from the outset (price, times etc.)
• Make sure the RIGHT people know about your event
• Tailor your promotion to the audience you want to attract
• Think about their age, level of expertise, demographic, interests etc.

3. Information – Be clear about the details on all publicity

• Where and when – the location, date and time of the event
• What it’s all about (think about the audience)
• How much it costs – are there any incentives like group booking discounts or concessions?
• How to get more information
• How to get a ticket
• Other information (what to bring, wear, etc.)

4. Publicity Material

• Appealing, Professional & Functional
• Good quality photographs and artwork
• Good quality design – is it worth paying a professional?
• Clear information – the main objective!
• Branding – please put the Worcester Festival Logo on your publicity material (download here)

5. Promotion ideas

• Leaflets & Posters

> Print as many as you can afford
> Distribution: Shops, cafés, restaurants, community centres, hotels, pubs, leisure outlets, hairdressers etc.

• Press and radio coverage

> Find out who the best contact is and build a relationship
> Press Releases – The Golden Rules!

• Include the vital info in bold:
• Name of event, date, time, price, venue, booking telephone number and press contact details
• Brand your release as a Worcester Festival event
• Eye-catching headline and image
• First sentence should be snappy, interesting and factual
• No longer than one side of A4
• Use quotes from reviews and interviews with artists or organisers
• Write your press release in a style that you would expect of a newspaper article
• Submit to free listings and guides

• Word of Mouth

> Get people talking about your event – give free press tickets, organise VIP events etc.

• Reciprocal Arrangements & Sponsorship

> Join up with other events, businesses or organisations

• Advertising

>Identify potential advertising opportunities – newspapers, magazines, radio, newsletters, billboards etc.
> Check that the cost of any advertising is viable by working it out as a cost per person, or by calculating how many tickets you would need to sell to make the money back

• Mailings

> Do you own a list of past customers or can you get hold of one
> Are they the right people?

• Banners

> Think about where they could be displayed legally!

• E-Marketing

> Website: www.worcesterfestival.co.uk
> Link own website to the Festival site
> Look out for websites with free events listings
> E-mails and e-flyers – Start capturing e-mail addresses for your audience (run competitions, organise questionnaires etc.)

6. Help from Worcester Festival

• Entry in the brochure and on website
• Design and print contacts if required
• Contact: Festival Administrator, [email protected]

Remember – ultimately, publicising your event is your responsibility!

You will need to sell your own tickets for your event. You may wish to do this yourselves or via an established ticket agency. However, it is your responsibility to organise this and pay any fees charged by the agency. Your entry on the Festival website can be linked to your chosen box office provider if required. 

We will not supply you with printed tickets, but you can sell your own tickets, and will need to do so on the night of the event if there is capacity. (Use a raffle ticket or something similar on the night to save money.)

For further information please contact the Festival Administrator, [email protected]

INSURANCE
If you are putting on an event, you must carry Public Liability Insurance of at least £5 million. The Festival does not cover insurance on your behalf.

PERFORMING RIGHTS
If you are staging a musical event and somebody who died less than 70 years ago composed any of the music, you have to pay Performing Rights. Please contact the Performing Rights Society Helpline 0845 300 6033 for more information.

LICENSES
If you are staging a public performance in a venue you may need an entertainment license. The venue will probably have one, but you will need to check with them.

VENUES
You have to find your own venue for your event. Also, you have to staff it on the night, i.e. run a Box Office, provide stewards if necessary, etc. We may be able to help put you in touch with venues but ultimately it is your responsibility to secure a venue.

EVENT REGISTRATION
All participants must fill in a registration form with full details for each event. This will be taken as final information and cannot be changed once the brochure has gone to print. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your registration form. If you do not receive a receipt please contact the Festival Administrator, [email protected]

BROCHURE
Worcester Festival produces a full colour Festival Event Guide, and prints 20,000 copies for distribution. In order to appear in this printed guide, you must submit a Registration Form for your event by the specified Event Registration Deadline (please see the Registration Form for details). We cannot guarantee to include photos in the Event Guide, but will do our best. Only sponsors’ logos will be included.

MARKETING
You are responsible for marketing your own event, but the general Festival marketing will support your event. Please use the Festival logo (click here to download festival logo) on all of your marketing material, including programmes and any advertising. It is compulsory that you do so if your event is part of the Festival. If you have a website, please link it to the Festival website once tickets are on sale (www.worcesterfestival.co.uk). Please be as honest and informative as possible in your copy for the brochure.

TICKETS

You will need to sell your own tickets for your event. You may wish to do this yourselves or via an established ticket agency. However, it is your responsibility to organise this and pay any fees charged by the agency.  We will not supply you with printed tickets, but you can sell your own tickets, and will need to do so on the night of the event if there is capacity. (Use a raffle ticket or something similar on the night to save money.)  For further information please contact the Festival Administrator, [email protected]

BROCHURE DEADLINE
You must make yourself aware of the Event Registration Deadline, which will be published on the website and appears at the top of the Registration Form. It may be possible to register an event after this, and for the event to be listed on the Festival website, but it will not be included in the Festival Brochure.

CANCELLATIONS
Once the brochure has gone to print, no event should be cancelled for any reason without first consulting the Festival Administrator, [email protected]. If an event that is listed in the brochure is cancelled, then you must arrange for someone to be at the venue for half an hour before and after the start time to deal with any ‘walk-up’ customers.