Successful Events - It's All About Selection

Ever wonder why an event is a smash hit in one town, but completely falls flat in another?  Event selection is the key to making sure that you are spending your time and dollars wisely.  Before you add a new event to your downtown's calendar, make sure you can answer some key questions.

Find Your Event Sweet Spot - Who is your target market?  Families, young singles, teens, baby boomers?  The tendency is to say all of the above but it is rare to design an event that has wide enough appeal to hit all those markets. (Not impossible, but that's a blog post for another day).  What does the crowd look like at your events?  When people are calling to get more information, what kind of things are they interested in (i.e. children's activities, alcohol availability, entertainment, etc.).  Pay attention to the feedback you receive through your social media channels as well.  This approach should give you the clues you need to design an effective event calendar.  Design events for the market you have, not the market you want.

What's The Point?  Is the point of the event to raise money, ring registers or raise awareness?  It could be a combination of any of these, but you should be able to identify the primary purpose.  To me, it's all about balance.  You don't want to overdo the "sale" events because of the negative consequences it can bring (customers wait for the next sale, because there are so many).  Conversely, it's impractical to only host friend-raising events because the value is much harder to measure and these types of events are only a part of your overall promotional effort.  The best event calendars I see have a mix both fundraising and friend-raising, with some retail events sprinkled in.

Can You Execute It?  There are tons of great event ideas out there.  But the single difference between a successful event and an epic failure comes down to one thing - execution.  Whenever I'm thinking of adding a new event, these items are part of my evaluation.   Logistics - Develop a sketch in your mind of what the event looks like.  What do you need to bring in to make the event happen (i.e. electricity, rental items, signage, etc.)?  Community Support - Determine how much support do you need to run the event.  Volunteers are key.  What do you need from the businesses and are your expectations realistic?  Make sure you are not setting yourself up for failure before you even get started.  And finally, the dreaded "B" word, Budget.  Do you have the dollars to do it right?  Identify any opportunities within the event that could generate revenue to offset costs. 

Last, but certainly not least, what is the "right" number of events for a downtown?  It varies from town to town, and it depends on the willingness of your businesses and the appetite of your event-goers.  In Downtown Rochester, our calendar has grown over the past 14 years from 3 events to now over 100 event days annually.  Learn from each event, and build your calendar gradually.  Don't be afraid to make the hard decisions to eliminate events that, while they have some nostalgia, have run their course.  Events are a key element of any downtown revitalization program and, when well-executed, can deliver significant traffic, dollars and awareness to your downtown.