Developing a Festival ~ Planning

       4.  Overall Festival Plan of Action

The most important stage in festival planning is the creation of a comprehensive realistic Plan of Action and Budget. These two processes give you the foundation for holding a successful festival. The more effort you put into these, the easier the festival becomes to organize and the less chance of unforeseen problems. Include a Critical Path Chart  with the Plan of Action. This will help keep your key managers on target in completing the tasks set out in the action plan.

5.  Financial Controls

As mentioned in the development stage, it is important to put solid financial controls in place right from the beginning. At this stage you will start to make financial commitments for both income and expense. You will now be dealing with a number of committee members who will want (need) to spend money. You need to be able to manage all this activity without losing control or your sanity. 

Developing a Festival ~ Planning

 2.   Finalizing General Details (Location, Dates & Timing, Insurance, etc.)

Now that the festival is in the planning stage, all key elements have to be finalized and contracts signed where necessary. Make sure everything is in place before proceeding too far. Here is a list of elements to consider. 

3. Festival Programs

Finalizing your festival’s program should be one of your first priorities. Your whole festival revolves around festival events and activities. If you are having specialized and/or unique activities, you need to firm them up quickly. You don’t want to have to change your program halfway through the planning stage. The more complex your festival’s events and activities are; the more time and effort needed to make them run smoothly and efficiently.

Developing a Festival ~Planning

 I was watching a well know wildlife artist work on a very detailed painting of a song bird. He was painting it upside down! I asked him how he could paint like that. He told me it was all in the planning. He researched his subject thoroughly, pre-planned the design, and the rest, he said, was just like painting by numbers. Easy for him to say, but hopefully you get the point. Developing a festival is just like painting a great piece of art… it’s all in the planning.

1.   Overall Festival Meetings

The number of people involved in the development and planning of your festival will depend on its size and scope. The larger your festival, the more people you will likely need to make it work. Organization will be the key to managing your workforce and making your festival a success. Regular, structured meetings are absolutely necessary. While thought out agendas and accurate minutes are a must. These, along with a comprehensive follow-up system, will all help you add your key managers maintain control over the planning process. 

“Developing a Festival” Appendix “M” – Preliminary Presentation Outline

 In preparing your Preliminary Presentation here are items to remember:

€    Who is going to read the presentation and who could affect the approval process? (Club members; committee members, town officials, etc.) Direst the presentation to them.

€    Back all your presentation information and statements with facts. If you don’t know something for sure, don’t include it.

€    Include as much background material and research material as possible. Include these as appendixes.

€    Although financial figures are your best guess, make sure you do your homework and make them as accurate as possible.

€    Give your readers a detailed description of what the festival will look like (who, where, what, when, why and how)

€    Be honest and realistic in your assessment of the festival. Discuss potential problems and risks, and then give your readers solutions to these risks and problems.

€    Keep you presentation positive, informative, factual and realistic.

“Developing a Festival” Appendix “L” – Benefactor Program Checklist

 Benefactor Programs act like a reward to individuals and businesses that want to support the festival financially. In return for paying a specified fee, the benefactor (patron) receives festival perks. Generally, the more a benefactor pays, the more he/she receives. This type of program is popular with larger events who can offer a lot of incentives to the benefactor. Here some ideas of what you could offer:

€    Consider what activities already available or easy to implement that could be included in the program

o   Tickets to opening night preview

o   Tickets to other events

o   Special seating at events (VIP area)

o   Private guided tour of festival

o   VIP Lounge

o   Acknowledgement in program

o   Special concierge service

o   Special delivery service for purchased items

o    Limo service

o   Special hotel/restaurant packages

€    Consider other activities that could be added the program

o   Special sponsor/benefactor event that would include celebrities (if attending) and performers (if appropriate)

o   Special sponsor/benefactor apparel

o   Benefactor festival pin

o   Signed festival poster

o   Special tour of local attraction

 Anything is possible, you just want to make the program enticing enough to have people want to attend your festival and pay extra for the privilege of being a benefactor.

“Developing a Festival” Appendix “K” – Sponsorship Program Checklist

Sponsor money and donor money may come from the same business, but they don’t come from the same pot. Businesses donate money to causes they support. Normally the donation comes from the heart. Sponsor money is given because the company sees a business advantage. This could come from a directed festival marketing program or because they want their company associated with a great event. The following list shows what needs to be done to create an effective sponsorship program:

€                 . Prepare a detailed inventory of your event’s assets and what they will offer potential sponsors

€                 Place a value on each asset

€                 Create different sponsorship categories

€                 Bundle assets into each categories offering different values to each level

€                 Determine total value (tangible and intangible) of each category

€                 Create Sponsorship Proposals for each categories outlining assets offered plus their total value

€                 Prepare list of potential sponsor for each category

€                 Prepare personalized Sponsorship Proposal for each prospective sponsor

€                 Make sales call and presentation

€                 Sign Sponsorship contract

€                 Follow-up with each sponsor throughout the planning of the event to keep them updated and interested

€                 Prepare service and fulfillment program for sponsors

€                 Provide assistance to sponsors during event

€                 Follow-up with each sponsor immediately after to discuss any challenges and to promote renewing their contract for next year

€                Follow-up resign sponsors for next year’s event 

“Developing a Festival” Appendix “J” – Manpower Checklist

 

To manage a festival effectively, a detailed manpower plan must be developed and then implemented. Here are some ideas to consider:

€    All section committees determine their own manpower needs, including numbers and scheduling

€    These need to be divided into two categories – planning manpower and implementation manpower

€    Each committee prepare a manpower schedule (i.e. – when they will be needed; where they will be needed and how many)

€    Have one member of each committee placed in charge of manpower and liaise with the overall manpower committee

€    Committee manpower plans should be submitted to the overall manpower committee for evaluation

€    When all the manpower plans are finalized, the manpower committee would then be in charge of coordinating manpower schedules, especially at the implementation stage

€    If there are not enough volunteers, or there is a specialized function, the manpower committee would hire the necessary manpower

By having one committee knowing all manpower plans, people can be moved around quickly if the need arises. A committee chair would simply contact the manpower coordinator with his/her needs. This frees up the section committee to do their jobs without worrying about manpower