Organising a roadshow, where your event travels nationally and/or internationally to a variety of different venues, is a great way to deliver powerful brand and personal communications to many customers in a short space of time.
The key to a successful roadshow is in delivering consistently high standards, exactly as planned, at each and every venue. Here are some tips to help you stage a successful roadshow:
1. Involve your event services provider early in the planning stages, ideally before you choose your venues. They will be able to advise suitable venues that meet your needs and can accommodate the style of event you need. Poor venue selection can lead to unnecessarily higher expenses and may compromise your event objectives.
2. Keep it consistent. One of the key elements of a great brand is that it delivers on consistency and that the core brand promise and its values do not change to any great extent over time. This consistency is absolutely essential for a brand as this helps to deliver trust and confidence to your audience as well as clarity of purpose and positioning. To achieve a consistent brand look and feel at every venue, ensure your event services provider assigns a single technical event specialist to co-ordinate all details for your roadshow. This will deliver that much needed consistency and minimise the scope for any misunderstandings in the communication process. You will also save yourself considerable time by not having to brief to each venue separately.
3. Conduct a detailed site survey. Visit each venue beforehand, or get someone you trust to do so (e.g. a technical event specialist). This will ensure the venue matches your event needs, has the facilities you require, and is a good fit for the overall theme of your event. It also means you will be forewarned about any potential issues that could impact on your event.
4. Prepare early for success. When your event starts in the morning the temptation is to set up early on the day of your event, just before the actual presentation. This may be okay for a small show but for an important event or one that entails a fair degree of set-up it is not ideal. You risk having little or no time to make the necessary alterations in the event of late changes to the schedule or if you’ve forgotten something. It also means rehearsing directly before show time or worse, not rehearsing at all – a recipe for trouble. I suggest you leave nothing to chance. It is much better to set up the night before your event and have everything in place and ready to go. You can then have a good night’s rest with the peace of mind and confidence that your event is 100 per cent prepared. You will arrive at your event in the right frame of mind and high energy to present the best possible image.
5. Minimise stress and potential budget blowouts. Consider utilising the services of a technical director (TD) to travel with the roadshow to all events. This will ensure consistent direction throughout and means that any changes to the event that are made during the roadshow are communicated quickly and effectively before each subsequent show. A traveling TD will free you up to focus on other aspects of your event, safe in the knowledge that the technical issues are under control. It can also save you money as there are less likely to be budget blow-outs or expensive last-minute additions.
A well-organised and co-ordinated roadshow can save you significant time, money and stress compared to trying to organise each venue separately by yourself.
Sean Grech is a business development executive with Haycom Sydney. He has worked in sales and marketing roles in the audiovisual events industry for more than a decade. His company, Haycom, specialises in helping clients get results through quality driven technical event management solutions. To find out how you can get your message across more effectively, contact Sean by phone on (02) 9667 4633 or by email sean.grech@haycomstaging.com.au.
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