By Abbie Peterson
We’re back with the next installment of our Tips for the Time-Crunched Event Professional series and this week we’re diving into the world of event production! With over 20+ years of peer-to-peer fundraising event production experience here at Event 360, our team has some useful tools in our toolkit.
So, you’ve secured your event date and location, have started contacting vendors and are ready to take the next step in planning your event—mapping out your beautiful event site! How do you create the best experience for your participants? Where do you start? Whether your participants walk, run or ride, we’ve got three tips to help you create the best site to maximize the impact of your event.
1. Meet Your Best Friend: Google Maps
Can you remember the times when we’d plan events with no ability to scout locations without traveling to them? Technology has certainly made the lives of event pros easier, and we’re here for it! Get acquainted with your event site by using a platform like Google Maps. Take hot-spot Grove 16 at Montrose Harbor in Chicago, for example. You’re able to begin mapping out your site with a bird’s eye view.
Site Layout Tip: Measure your event site using the Measure Distance feature. Right-click on the point where you’d like your measurement to start, click Measure Distance, and then select your measurement end point. By measuring each side of your site, you can easily know the distance you’re working with for mapping out tents, your stage, etc. Below, you can see we’re working with 277 ft on the west side of our event site.
2. Put Yourself in Your Participant’s Shoes
Picture this, you’re walking into your event site on the big day. What are you looking for first? Registration/Check-In? T-shirts? Great! Those should be two tents that are extremely easy to find within seconds of being on your event site. Also note, these tents will likely see the most traffic on event day. To avoid bottlenecks when attendees arrive, you also want to make sure they are set up with a good amount of space in between to allow for lines or congregations of people. And when able, use all sides of the tents for folks to get what they need! Other hot areas include tents for your top fundraisers to feel celebrated and acknowledged, photo ops strategically placed in areas with unobstructed views and great lighting, and enough room for your stage to become the focal point which allows participants to give their undivided attention during your opening ceremony.
Site Layout Tip: Keep signage high and tight! Signage is easily readable when it’s above eye level and not flapping in the wind.
3. Bring Your Map to Life and Mark it Out
Congrats! You followed our tips, created the perfect event site and are ready for the big day. Use your data to map out your event site before load in with flags or chalk to confirm your dimensions were correct and that you don’t need to make any big adjustments. Arriving on site before load in also allows you to troubleshoot any unexpected obstacles or construction. (Event pros know that feeling all too well!)
Need a little more inspiration? Check out previous Tips for the Time-Crunched blog posts.
A Balancing Act: Social Media Hacks for the Time-Crunched Event Professional
A Balancing Act: Tips for the Time-Crunched Event Volunteer Manager (Part 1)
A Balancing Act: Tips for the Time-Crunched Event Volunteer Manager (Part 2)
A Balancing Act: Tips for the Time-Crunched P2P Fundraiser
Our Resources page also has tons of information to help any event pro produce an incredible event!
