The Best Festival Planning Guide for Event Planners (Step by Step)

1. The Best Festival Planning Guide for Event Planners (Step by Step) Festival Planning: Setting goals, finding a workforce, and making it all happen all take a lot of effort when organizing a festival. This year, in particular, additional planning and preparation will be required to guarantee that everyone has a fantastic and safe time at your event. As you start planning your next festival, use this step-by-step celebration planning guide as a starting point. Here’s a quick rundown of what this guide will cover: There are eight steps: •Establish your event’s objectives and timeframe. •Make a financial plan. •Choose a location. •Choose your technology. •Locate your vendors and partners. •Determine your key attraction. •Plan out your marketing strategy. •Make a plan to capitalize on your new connections with attendees.

2. Establish Your Event’s Objectives And Timeframe: Setting concrete goals for what success means for your fest this year is critical when you begin preparing a festival. These objectives should operate as a compass, guiding you through the steps necessary to achieve success in your planning process. There are some examples where you can get ideas for identifying your goals. •Schedule 5 festivals that are in the top 20 on the Billboard charts. •Become the region’s finest summer event. •Provide the most environmentally friendly festival experience possible. •Implement health and safety regulations that go above and beyond what is required. •Increase the engagement on social media and the amount of attention you get from social media.

3. Establish A Budget For Your Festival: It’s time to start assigning a festival budget to make all of your festival goals a reality now that you have a firm grasp of them. There are many moving aspects to a festival that must be examined and budgeted for while preparing your event. Here’s a rundown of common financial line items to think about when you prepare your budget: •The expense of renting a venue or a site. •The expense of talent or entertainment. •Catering and the logical expenditures that go along with it. •The expense of a sanitary facility. •Volunteer management and staffing. •Measures to ensure health and safety (cleaning, barriers, additional COVID-19 procedures required by health officials). •Rentals of equipment. •Permits from the local government and security.

4. Organize A Festival Location: It’s time to get out there and secure your festival location or venue now that you’ve set your budget. Because a festival’s location or venue may have a significant impact on how spectators and performers view the event, it’s critical that you choose a place that is both accessible to your target audience and appropriate for the experience you’re aiming to give. It’s not simple to choose the ideal venue for your festival event. Consider the following to guarantee that your event is accessible to your target audience and performers: •Is the venue easily accessible by public transportation, and does it have plenty of parking? •Is your location able to accommodate the current number of attendees? Is it also scalable enough for your event to grow year after year? •Is it equipped with the necessary infrastructure, such as high-voltage capacity? •Will you be able to carry all of the necessary suppliers and equipment to the location?

5. Make Arrangements For Your Festival’s Lineup And Merchants: Now it’s time to start thinking about the lineup and vendors. These selections will impact the type of festival experience your attendees will have, so it’s critical to get them right. Line-up for the Festival.You must first assess your core attendee demographics and what would inspire them to attend your event before you begin making calls. Booking a hip-hop musician for a country music festival might be a waste of time and money, so be sure you know who you’re intending on inviting. Here’s a simple checklist to get you started with your line-up booking: •Make a list of entertainers and entertainment suppliers you want to hire. •Begin booking musicians and other forms of entertainment. •Create a festival calendar and fill in the blanks with fresh and exciting events and entertainment. •Send the festival schedule to artists and entertainment suppliers, and make any necessary changes. •

6. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads – Data is king, and you can now truly focus your PPC ads to reach your intended audience. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; diversify your PPC efforts by utilizing social media and Google. This gives you the opportunity to test which channel is ideal for your festival. Social Media: Create hashtags and provide ticket competitions and giveaways when consumers share your material on social media; when done well, this is a low-cost, high- reward strategy. Influencer sponsorships and giveaways –This marketing strategy may raise eyebrows, but if you choose influencers that have a large following of your target demographic, a single post might result in a large number of ticket sales. Local media – Reach out to your local newspapers, radio stations, and non-profit groups, and tell them about your giveaway and sponsored marketing. Locals will be more inclined to purchase tickets to your festival. Email marketing: Email Marketing is a tried and true method of marketing. To get people interested in your event, go back to the prior year’s connections and offer them unique ticket prices and incentives.

7. Organize Your Festival’s Volunteers And On-Site Personnel: Without a dedicated team of event personnel and volunteers, no event can take place. It is critical to the success of any event that it is adequately staffed, and for many events, this means relying on volunteers to get the job done. You’ll need to build a volunteer management plan to attract volunteers for your event, and you should consider investing in a volunteer management solution designed for events to efficiently and effectively create and execute a successful event volunteers management strategy. With InitLive’s volunteer management system, you and your volunteers will have all you need to succeed. Some key elements of an effective volunteer management plan are as follows: Determine your personnel requirements – What particular duties must be accomplished to ensure the success of your festival? How many volunteers are you going to need to do those tasks? Make clear descriptions of volunteer roles – Define the many jobs and responsibilities that volunteers will be responsible for in order to keep your event well-staffed, clean, and safe.

8. Make a schedule for your volunteer work –Determine when, where, and how many volunteers you’ll need in the weeks preceding up to, during, and after your event. Then create a volunteer calendar that includes the shifts and volunteer jobs that must be completed. Public shift possibilities should be posted on the volunteer page of your event website and promoted through your marketing channels. Volunteers may browse and sign up for shifts immediately, decreasing the amount of administrative work your team has to do. Provide the smartphone app to your volunteer –Give your staff easy access to their own schedules, event maps, and a direct communication option to ask inquiries and get updates from festival organizers. Ensure that all security personnel has been briefed –Inform your security personnel on the security measures in place and what to look for at the check-in counter. Make a detailed schedule for your festival: It’s time to look at the event schedule, logistics, and all the elements that come with it now that your talent has been hired and your staff and volunteers have been secured. Getting your event schedule right is crucial to ensure that your guests have a good time while also ensuring that your food suppliers and staff can keep up with everything. When planning your festival schedule: think about how people will transition from activity to performance and how to make sure they can do it safely. When it comes to planning your event’s scheduling and logistics, event safety is crucial. When it comes to logistics, festivals don’t need any surprises. Make an online and numerous print maps of the area where your event will be held:

9. All parking spots, restrooms, dining locations, and emergency exits should be marked on the map. Have a well-thought-out emergency plan in place, including evacuation routes, emergency procedures, and safety instructions. Your schedule may also be utilized in your marketing efforts: such as posting it on your event website and on social media. Your event schedule will provide attendees with a clear overview of how fantastic your event will be. On the day of the event, see how your festival planning paid off: Nothing beats seeing all of your hard work pay off when it comes to festival planning and preparation. However, things usually come up at the last minute in the weeks leading up to the event and on the day of the event. You should also try to plan for those last-minute problems. Here are a few last-minute things to expect and plan for as part of your festival planning checklist: Relocation of equipment –In the days leading up to the event, be prepared to relocate obstacles, technical equipment, and even tents. You must be prepared to change your festival plans in response to new requirements such as changing weather, changing security concerns, and unforeseen events. Staff scheduling difficulties and no-shows –Make sure to overstaff your team and use technology to track employee and volunteer attendance so you can reallocate human resources when individuals don’t show up or when things get hectic.