Sunday 10 April 2011

Week Eight: 21/03/11 - 27/03/11

Decoration, or décor, for the event is an important consideration. One should view a venue as a blank canvas in which they can paint a masterpiece, or in other words the decoration at an event is there to facilitate an atmosphere and to influence the audience. This decoration whether internal, external, at the entrance, on the stage, or even on the bar will set the stage for the event and will affect how the audience feel at the event. This is why it is important to consider exactly what theme the event is and how the decoration will work with this theme (silvers, 2004).

The four main areas to consider for decoration by Julia,R Silvers (2004) are:

1. Walls – these can support murals, pictures, paintings to be showcased, or can be hidden with cloth tabs/backdrops. Also they can be painted to add an aesthetic for the event.
2. Ceilings – this area could be left blank. Other options available are filling it with balloons, painting a logo on it, attaching hangings, pinning up flags of pictures, using lighting projections, and covering with fabric.
3. Floors – the can be decorated with carpets of different fabrics, painted, dance floors, or be covered with coverings with logos or decorative effects.
4. Architectural – these are features such as windows, doors, frames, columns and other built-in features of the venue.

How does our event production consider these areas of decoration?

The walls themselves are going to be covered with black tabs as they are a plain white paint and would detract from the main areas. Also if lighting is present white will reflect light and cause difficulties with lighting effects. The ceiling is to be left bare as due to time and money constraints we will not be able to afford enough cloth to cover it. However some lighting effect may be able to give some colour to the ceiling. In terms of the floor area not much can be done again to time and money constraints but also due to health and safety implications; adding carpet will increase risks of tripping for audience members.

The architectural features present at the fruit venue are two structural columns, a coat room constructed of wood, and a bar. The bar area will not be decorated as this may cause complications in the bars service. The two structural columns will be decorated will magazine clippings from movie magazines which will fit in with the movie magazine theme. The coat room will be covered by some display boards which will be showing movie heads shots of the group. These head shots will be artistically done and will be similar in style with those done in movie magazines.

Bibliography:

Silvers, J (2004) Professional Event Coordination. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons Inc.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Week Seven: 14/03/11 - 20/03/11

This past week the group has focused on the sponsorship side of the event production. With the venue being paid in full by the veolia sponsor, the group is looking to raise funds to pay for other over heads of the event such as, printing cots, lamination costs, Decorations for the venue, and DVDs for the films to be burned to. Plus the more sponsors the event gathers the greater the profile of the event, which could help to persuade media professionals to attend.

Sponsorship is important because it offers an event free funding, free materials, or possibly both. This can reduce both the expenditure and resource gathering which can free the production group to focus on other areas of the event. Also these donations from the sponsors can help to progress the event or raise the event status. The sponsor could possibly even offer a venue for free or a reduced price, though this may be down to bartering (Conway, 2006).

However on the flip side this does enter the production group into a form of contract that is legally binding. The production group must agree to the sponsor’s terms whether they are to display the sponsor’s logo, include mention of the sponsor, feature sponsor products, or even allocate spaces for a representative. Whatever terms are agreed the production group is responsible for the implementation of them and failure to do so will bring the production group into legal action. Also these terms can affect the overall feel of the event and whether the event could be seen as a “sell out” which may affect whether people wish to attend or will attend the event again.

It is apparent that if one is to seek sponsorship one should consider carefully exactly what they need, how many sponsors to approach, and which sponsors to target (again if the event needs any at all). If the selected sponsors reply and are willing to then an amount of bartering will be needed to gauge the amount of “give and take” the sponsor has over the event.

“An event organizer, having succeeded in getting the desired sponsorship, must then be able to service the sponsor, that is to fulfil the sponsor’s expectations of the event and its outcomes for the sponsor’s business or brand” (Shone and Parry, 2004, pp116)

Bibliography:
Conway, D. (2006) The Event Managers Bible. 2nd ed. Oxford, How to Books Ltd.

Shone, A & Parry, B. (2004) Succesful Event Management A Practical Handbook. 2nd ed. London, Thomson Learning.