How poor production can make or break an event

By Sam Dimond: The events industry is more than a significant contributor to the global economy. The latest figures show the global industry was worth approximately $1.2 trillion in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2023. The industry was disproportionately impacted by Covid yet still remains on a rapid growth trajectory and is anticipated to reach pre-pandemic levels of growth by the end of 2024. So, what makes the events industry so important? Well, several reasons but the most important by far is that it generates significant economic value by creating jobs, stimulating local economies, and attracting tourism. However, events also stimulate economic value for individual organisations such as charities who benefit greatly from events in order to increase revenue to help others. It is therefore imperative that any event, charity or otherwise, is perfect. Bekki Wilkins is the event manager for the Willow Foundation in the UK. The Willow Foundation puts on special days for seriously ill teens and adults. One of those annual events is the The London Football Awards, which this year was based at one of London’s most historic venues, the Roundhouse. The event saw football clubs coming out to support the charity. Bekki says the event is an opportunity to showcase the Willow Foundation in the global media and, although the event itself does not necessarily increase revenue, it leads to organisations becoming involved with the charity that can donate and sponsor in the future. “A successful event can be measured by good PR surrounding the success of the night. The Football Awards were positively featured in all the major UK press outlets as well as the Footballing home media.” Bekki maintains the success of an event such as this is down to ensuring the production is outstanding. Spotlight Sound has a long standing relationship with the Willow Foundation and provided technical event support. Bekki says: “If the production had gone wrong, our event would have gained press for all the wrong reasons and quite possibly jeopardised a part of the Foundation’s fundraising efforts.” The process of technically producing a big event like The London Football Awards is complex. It requires an experienced team. Avoiding annoying things happening like people being unable to hear the speakers on stage, or a light shining in a guest’s eye throughout the event is elementary, but a lack of planning can often cause these issues. Also the wrong clip or music being played at a sensitive moment, or getting the awards mixed up, or not considering the space properly so that press and celebrities are thrown together causing mayhem are other production failures which could hit the headlines and damage reputations. An event production team must provide technical support to ensure the event runs smoothly and creates a buzz. Often an event company will be provided with the event brief. However, working with the event planner on the brief at the outset and deciding what audio-visual equipment is needed and where it should be placed in the venue can save time and problems later down the line. This pre-visualisation is similar to a CAD drawing and a fly-through. It shows the client exactly how the event will look. As part of this, the layout of the venue, the theme and the capacity should all be considered with the production team. Health and safety documentation for the event must also be adhered to. For the historic Roundhouse venue, there was a 52-page handbook for events companies to work with. Experienced and thorough due diligence and event set-up is the key to a production running smoothly on the day or night and the event being a success. A good event company will very often find solutions to problems that event managers did not know they even had. Sam Dimond is the founder of Spotlight Sound. He has over 15 years experience in the audio visual industry an,d along with his team provides event set up and hire all over the UK as well as AV installation and service.