I was watching Angelo rules on cartoon network, with my daughter and actually learnt a lesson or two about “eventing”. In this episode Angelo is planning the “Go Mental Fest” which he plans to do in his back yard. So he plans to get the publicity out. He started by making very colorful posters, which he put up at his school and they immediately got everyone’s attention. Then he felt that wasn’t enough and went ahead and took over the school’s public address system and announced details about the event and even faked a voice of a big star so that people can come and watch. And then, classic, he put one of his friend’s head in a tree and then called the biggest TV channel to come and cover the story and he says to the reporter, “ so my friend and I were putting up posters for the Go Mental Fest (which he emphasised), and then…” before he could finish the reporter starts asking about the Go Mental Fest. Next thing you know promoters from all over are calling and want to promote the event. Even big artists were all calling in wanting to take part. And to increase demand, he lied that all the tickets were sold out, so people ended up paying double the price for a ticket! Ingenious! So Angelo had 2000 people in his backyard! HILLARIOUS! BUT …he forgot to ask his mum and she showed up just before the concert started, then the cartoon ended.
I like his basic lessons to event promotion and that is what every event planner should be aiming for. Lets go back to the basics. An event does not happen unless you get the word out there, and like in Angelo’s case, by any means necessary. We all have great ideas for events but they are fruitless if they are not seen by anyone. We need to consider what the easiest and most effective ways of getting the word out there is, before we embark on more costly ways. More importantly, you need to get the word out to the right market. So maybe getting your head stuck in a tree may not be the best way to do it but lets think outside the box and get the word about your event out there. And don’t forget to notify the relevant authorities.
