Festivals are often borne out of passion, which is why it is hard to follow it up when the chief organizers have lost the enthusiasm and fervor for it. See, it’s more than just planning to buy marquee or renting other equipment for it, although those are pretty important too.
If you are thinking of doing one soon, take note of the following below. This set of advice may seem like something you’ve already heard before. But, those do bear repeating.
It’s all about goal setting
Ask yourself, what do you ultimately want to get from this? After everything has been said and done, what is the end result?
Every single aspect in your planning process will be based on this goal, which you want to achieve. That pop up marquee that you want to have made, the color of the booths that will be installed, the stage that will be set-up – all those should be aimed at that goal.
Make a checklist of everything that is needed
In the past, it was a clipboard that organizers carry around with them. Now, it’s an iPad. Whatever you choose between the two, you will need a checklist of all that you need to do.
You could systematize your checklist based on committees handling specific areas of responsibilities. Those managing overall décor, for instance, will be the one figuring out ways on how to buy marquee and concerns like that.
This is non-negotiable, by the way, if you want the whole event to be as smooth as possible.
Delegate responsibilities, not just tasks
No man is an island, especially in festival organizations. Don’t, for a while think that you can accomplish everything on your own.
Don’t just tell someone that he should look for marquee for sale signs on the streets and ads on newspapers. Trust the people around you and give them responsibilities. You’ll be surprised at what can be done when you do that.
Don’t let differences veer you away from the plans
Compared to music and arts fetes, organizing business festivals are a bit different in the sense that the people involved here – mostly entrepreneurs and money makers – are more straightforward and rarely beleaguered by ‘artistic differences’.
Nevertheless, disputes about how something should be done will still crop up. Simple decisions like where to buy marquee or what tickets should look like will be argued upon like everything depended on it. Again, remind yourselves of the goal because that’s what matters.