Events production - creating a scene
Their often lavish nature means that, at times, events have been seen as an unnecessary expenditure. But, in reality, it is times like these that events really come into their own, creating standout and reaching the audience.
This collective tightening of belts makes a collateral impact on the events industry inevitable. The majority of event services companies The Drum spoke to admit they are now feeling the effect of financial burden filter through from their clients.
The corporate event market in particular has been “squeezed”, according to Annie Diamond of support and specialist crew firm Diamond Events. “Budgets for internal awards, Christmas parties, team-building and conferences have been scaled back considerably and while many events continue to take place, the money spent to deliver them is coming under increasing levels of scrutiny from both the media and the public.”
With lower budgets available, a common thread is event organisers looking for tighter margins to be delivered by event services companies. “Scottish event companies have been particularly hard hit by the reduction in events from financial services clients and when budgets are available, lead-times are becoming increasingly curtailed,” Diamond says.
Glasshouse Events’s Alan Gray accepts that ‘black tie’ arrangements are “perhaps viewed as not appropriate when people are being made redundant or cuts are being made”. But although times are tough, he insists the value a good event offers to a brand means they should not be seen as expendable. “Clients are always on site and in most cases pretty close to the final product and they can see where their budget has gone, they can experience consumer or guest reaction and they just get under the skin of the whole thing. This runs true to an awards ceremony, a sponsorship or a promotion,” Gray says.
Whether it is motivating a sales team about the launch of a new brand or informing health professionals about new government legislation, Diamond says events bring messages to life in a meaningful way. “For a time, the buzzword was ‘experiential’ and I believe that still stands today because every event is an experience which can engage all the senses simultaneously. In the current climate particularly, events which boost staff morale are even more important as pay freezes, cuts or redundancies continue to disrupt working environments nationwide.”
Peers in the industry are similarly defiant. “Our events have high production values that we are not prepared to compromise,” says Neil Butler, director at Scottish events giant UZ Events. “We work with our clients and partners to maintain budgets or to reconfigure our events to ensure that we maintain standards.”
According to Butler, events are a very cost effective way of presenting messages to the public and attracting editorial. “They often have additional benefits such as motivating staff and customers. Our experience is that they become an even more valuable communication tool in an economic downturn,” he adds.
Evolve
One certainty about the economic climate is that it has made events firms work even harder to meet clients’ briefs.
Bscenic’s Christian Fenwicke-Clennell says that set builders “are at the end of the chain and by the time the budget gets to us there is nothing left”.
But even despite the bleak financial picture, he had already seen set design evolve in recent times. “A few years ago, we were building big conference stage sets with different elements of design and materials,” he says. “But the building of large stage sets tailed off about two to three years ago with the development of screen technology as clients just wanted as large a screen as possible to showcase. With continuing advances in technology, we are trying to push for people to see beyond the technology and use set design in conjunction with it.”
Fenwick-Clennell believes the design of a set, exhibition stand or display item is vital to the success of an event. “There are ranges of different materials and processes that can be explored and incorporated making the set stand out by using new and innovative ideas.
“We always aim to provide a solution to some strange and wonderful ideas. Unfortunately, our job can sometimes be made quite difficult when we are provided with a design that has already had approval from the client, which can’t actually be built to look like the visual! Normally we can overcome this but it does take a lot of time to work out the construction and safety elements whilst still retaining the look of the visual.”
Budget constraints make some sacrifices when it comes to the look of events inevitable, according to Ron MacGillivray of FMX, an audio, lighting and staging equipment firm.
But he argues that most of the time, these things can be resolved with little fuss just by chamfering off some elements that aren’t essential. He says, “We’re finding it’s the smaller items relating to the event that are being sacrificed and the main essentials are still required at the correct level.
“I always think that you have to have the correct basic items if you wish the event to go successfully and therefore camouflage the cutbacks in the minor areas; and of course nothing beats experienced technical staff.”
Although events firms are facing new challenges brought on by the current financial crisis and having to be flexible, they are still, ultimately, fighting the same age-old battle according to Baseline Graphic’s Douglas Walker – getting people through the door. “Quite simply, an event is not a success if people don’t turn up to it, regardless of whether a potential audience buys into it or despite any measurable success achieved in a brand building or awareness capacity.
“It’s the ‘bums on seats’ that directly allows the building of a successful brand awareness - which can then can be successfully developed and fully utilised.”
Baseline Graphics operates a screen printing offshoot – Handcooked Posters – that specialises in posters for gigs and festivals. The business runs ongoing work for both DF Concerts and the Scottish Arts Council.
“There’s nothing that will focus you more on honing your craft than the deadlines involved in events work,” says Douglas Walker of Baseline. “Our first fully successful poster was for REM playing at T in the Park. The print run was completed at 1am in the morning, just before the festival and the poster being presented to the band by the event’s promoter. This probably best sums up event work from our experience – there’s nothing that can be as difficult at times, yet nothing is more rewarding than seeing a successful event come together.”