How easy is organizing your own festival and what impact would it have on your life and maybe others?

Creating a new event takes courage, dedication, and hard work but the rewards can be enormous. We took the opportunity to develop a wine and food festival.

The Wine and Food Classic is now in its twelfth year of operation and is a Celebration of the quality wines produced in the local region. It is an opportunity to match the wines with a variety of foods in a festival setting that features artists, craftsmen and entertainment.

What Motivates People to create a local festival?

Steve explains, "The best motivation for anyone setting up an event is to have a desire to give back to the community". Local businesses such as hotels, food, restaurants, motels and petrol stations reap the benefits of events held in their region. The Wine and Food Classic's funds are donated to St. James Primary School to help develop the youth and teach the children the importance of community service.

How do you choose a Location?

The key elements to choosing the right venue area: availability and cost involved. This is relative to the time of the year but more importantly public familiarity and accessibility. Steve said, "By positioning the festival next to the motorway one year we brought in high numbers of attendants purely because the venue was visible and accessible to motorists".

Putting together the team

The success of a fundraising event is greatly dependent on the commitment and organization of the volunteers. For the Wine and Food Classic a committee of 6-10 was assembled. Members were each allocated specific roles which included: vendor contacts and listings, volunteer coordinator, entertainment, venue coordinator and publicity. Steve pointed out, "For the event to be successful, it is not a good idea to create a board of directors made up of your friends. You should focus on what skills you know will help the committee. Diversity of staff is the key, to attract different market segments."

The Exhibitors

The Exhibitors at an event are 50% of the success. It is crucial that the exhibitors largely benefit through sales and exposure of their products. The satisfaction of these key customers is vital. To make sure these people are taken care of it is a good idea to carry around complimentary drinks, and food for them at certain points of the day.

How hard is it to get an event off the Ground?

Unfortunately, most first time events do not receive the rewards they deserve. This is due to the lack of knowledge in the community. At the first Wine and Food Classic there were only 25 people through the door in the first hour. The entire event only made a profit of $1000. However, by the fifth year profits increased to $90,000. This demonstrates that if you are considering organising a first time event for your community you must be in it for the long term. If you focus on the people and vendors enjoying themselves the event will grow sensationally overtime and become a huge success.

How do you market the Event

The most beneficial marketing techniques for large events are press releases that are sent to all the local and regional news papers and magazines. Interviews with local news and radio stations also help. Steve usually contacts all of the televisions stations and asks the weather person to mention the event during the evening news. Print media also plays a large part with posters being placed around all nearby cities and towns. The Internet can also play a major role with businesses capable of sending emails to their database about the upcoming event.

Why should you take the leap into Event Organizer?