5 Tips to reduce and recycle waste at your event

Events tend to have a positive impact on the local economy and community. Smaller businesses might generate large proportions of their annual income during an event. However, besides the positive impact on the overall economy, events can also generate large amounts of waste. Therefore, organizers should start the planning process by creating a recycling and waste prevention plan to protect the local environment.

Here are 5 tips that can help event organizers recycle and reduce the amount of waste that is generated during an event:

1. Understand your waste

Identify the most common waste streams and prepare accordingly. A food carnival will certainly have different waste compared to a special event featuring livestock. Therefore, as an organizer, you should inform competent authorities and provide them with details about your upcoming event. They are the ones making sure that recyclables end up in the right place after the event. Examples of common types of waste are: plastic bottles; paper; cardboard; glass; food waste and general waste.

2. Educate your team and attendees

You should inform your participants on the where, what and whys of recycling. Train your volunteer staff and give them insights into effective recycling practices. Create a fun and challenging competition and reward your volunteers accordingly.

Inform your attendees about designated recycling areas in advance. You can send out newsletters and give brief instructions. Besides that, you can assign volunteers to offer assistance and assure that waste is sorted properly.

3. Vendors should use recyclable or compostable materials

It is important to assure that vendors use recyclable materials. They will be responsible for a large amount of the venue’s waste. Make it mandatory and include in the contract that adequate packaging and materials must be used by event vendors.

  • Recyclable materials – these materials are reused and some examples include: aluminium and steel cans, cardboard, glass, newspapers and plastic bottles.
  • Composting materials – it is a process that involves organic waste which can be used for different purposes. It gives back to the earth the materials that initially came from it. Examples of compostable materials include: fruits, vegetables, leaves, old wine and any biodegradable waste.

4. Print only necessary materials

Instead of printing out promotional materials and tickets, try to do that electronically. There are many platforms that provide solutions for that, Oveit being among them. For promotional materials, you can send out newsletters instead of brochures and flyers. However, in some situations, brochures and flyers prove to be more effective. If you decide to print, do that strategically. Do it on both sides and avoid blank spaces.

5. Clearly mark all containers for recyclables

Clear signage is essential to differentiate which materials can be recycled and where to put them. It would be a good idea to place signs high, so that your attendees can see them from distance. Use self-explanatory photos with universal symbols to assure that foreigners will have no trouble understanding the message. Besides that, provide written instructions in English and other relevant languages.

Communicate in advance with the local recycling service provider and request color-coded bins. Avoid placing recycling bins in separate areas, because it’s not convenient for your participants. Instead, place a recycle bin next to every trash can and use clear signage to differentiate them.

February 27, 2020 Concerts, Event management, Event professionals, Events, Festivals, Uncategorized No comments yet

Your event: Successful or not?

Recently, you’ve hosted an event and you feel like your hard work finally paid off. Ticket sales were above expectations and you managed to reach your goals. However, with so many stakeholders involved, it is important to evaluate the success of your event in an objective manner. Obviously, feeling good about its outcome is a great sign, but in the events industry, there is always room for improvement.  

In this article, I will go over different methods that can help organizers measure if their event was successful or if they need to make changes for future editions.

Pay attention to social media activity

In these days, it’s a given that you should be active on social media, especially if you want to promote an event. Post-event reactions coming from your attendees is the most valuable and rewarding feedback. In the end, all your hard work is centred around them with the purpose of creating memorable experiences. If you identify positive comments to your posts, such as: reactions, likes, comments or retweets, you will know for sure that your participants had a blast. Keep in mind that you should create social media content after the event to measure reactions more precisely.

Post-event surveys

Surveys are also a great method to find out opinions related to the success of your event. For relevant and truthful answers, try to keep them anonymous and don’t ask for personal details. Create questions strategically and don’t expect your participants to reply with long answers, because they won’t. Before conducting the survey, you should clearly define what you expect to get in return. For instance, dichotomous scales (‘yes’ or ‘no’) won’t help you find out if a customer was happy with an experience or not. In our case, a Likert Scale will prove to be more efficient. It is a good way to measure attitudes or feelings, therefore providing you with valuable insights.

Examples of questions that can measure the success of your event:

  • How do you rate the event location?
  • How do you rate the content that was presented?
  • What is the likelihood to recommend this event to your friends?

If attendees respond with ‘less likely’ or ‘very unlikely’, you can insert a box that allows them to elaborate on their answers.

Event ROI

ROI (return on investment) = (benefits of the investment – cost of investment) / cost of the investment. Depending on your event theme and purpose, the benefits of the investment may vary. For instance, if you aim to turn a profit from ticket and registration sales, finding the ROI is simple. However, for a company that launches a product and therefore decides to host an event, the ROI will most likely be negative. The purpose of a product launch event is to generate as many leads as possible. You should look at it as a long-term investment that will generate a return in the future and not immediately after the event.

Sponsors Satisfaction

As previously mentioned, it’s not only about your attendees. Sponsors have a great contribution to your event and their feedback can add value to future editions. On top of that, they are the ones funding your event and they can’t be neglected. It might be relatively easy to bring them in for a first edition, but more importantly is to establish a long-term relationship that results in mutual benefits. Their level of satisfaction and willingness to return is measured slightly different. Listen carefully to their constructive feedback and prove that you fully understand what needs to be different for the next event.

Define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A key performance indicator is a performance measurement tool designed to evaluate the success of a business and its particular activities. The KPIs for measuring event success will be different based on your pre-defined goals and objectives.

The KPIs covered in this article apply for most events. However, for specific objectives, you might have to establish additional indicators.

February 21, 2020 Event management, Event professionals, Events, Uncategorized No comments yet

How to efficiently secure your festival line-up

A good line-up is a key element that can establish the success of a music festival. Its release date is when attendees become interested, especially if their favorite artist is performing. For older festivals that have a good reputation, it is important to be creative when booking performers. Therefore, try to secure new artists for every edition to avoid monotony and complaints. However, for festivals celebrating the first edition, organizers must be extremely careful in this process. This article will go over some tips & tricks that contribute to securing the perfect line-up.

Allocate a budget for your line-up

Clearly define the budget intended for the line-up of your festival. Do your homework and find relevant data coming from previous editions of similar festivals. This area requires a high willingness to spend because it is the main way to attract and convince people to attend your festival. Don’t forget to include accommodation expenses and transport costs for the artists. It is important to make them feel good and pay attention to small details, especially if you want to bring them back for future editions.

Communicate with your prospective audience

With the help of social media, you can find out which artists are most expected by your prospective audience. Most likely, they will ask for big names. Although their expectations will exceed the allocated budget, it is important to allow them to express their preferences. To satisfy their requests, you can focus on booking in the top two mentioned artists. It is a good way to assure that your festival-goers will be satisfied with the festival line-up.

DJ’s between acts

Artists love to be waited on before performing on stage. To keep the vibe lively between bands, you can hire a local DJ to take care of that. Unexpected delays, technical difficulties or even cancellations must be foreseen. As for the local DJ, this can be a unique experience. Keeping the audience entertained before a famous artist is about to perform can be a great opportunity for a local DJ that needs more exposure.

Book your line-up well in advance

Usually, larger acts (especially international ones) need to be booked at least one year in advance. Those will be your headliners, the ones most expected by your participants. Once you manage to secure them in, the rest should be relatively easy. However, make sure that you are covered by a strict agreement with your artists in case something goes wrong.

All in all, booking your festival line-up can be challenging at times. As previously mentioned, festivals with first editions can take advantage and avoid common mistakes by doing some research and finding out the best way to tackle this key element. With a well-established plan and a dedicated team in place, you won’t have to deal with major obstacles.

February 19, 2020 Event management, Event professionals, Festivals, Uncategorized No comments yet

Confex 2020. Introducing our Economy as a Service Software

For the last 37 years, event professionals from all over the world meet up in London for International Confex, Each February brands, agencies, event planners, and suppliers share their ideas on how to transform events into unforgettable experiences, making it UK’s leading attraction for event profs. In 2020 we will be back at Confex to discuss with event planners and entertainment venues managers how to kickstart their local economy. Yes, the event or venue can (and should) be seen as a local economy…inside a local community. Better said…the Economy as a Service software.

The economic impact festival and events have over small communities is critical – but so it’s the way event professionals manage payments inside (and outside!) of the site of the event. Because it’s time to push the event economy outside it’s geographical “borders”.

We’ll be over at L24C stand. We have some great gifts but also some new ideas on how to:

  • Increase your revenue.
  • Speed-up transactions.
  • Onboard new vendors.
  • Have detailed live reports. Data is the new oil and we believe that event industry professionals are not using this to its full potential.
  • Decrease fraud. And losses. And bad experiences.
  • Better use your staff. Team members should concentrate on what really matters, technology can take care of the repetitive tasks.

But most of all we want to talk about how the event’s economy can exceed the event’s area. How can the community benefit from it more, all while the event itself benefits from the community’s involvement? All using a mobile-first app that allows you to set up your own local economy.

February 18, 2020 Festivals, Uncategorized No comments yet