Executive Summary
‘Paint the Beat’– an event showcasing a unique form of entertainment and collaboration among local artists and musicians. By creating works of art through a different avenue of inspiration the music is performed and the artist’s expression and interpretation of the music helps further inspire the artwork being created in the moment. The event concept was developed to evoke how talented Melbourne's artists are in collaboration with one another. The event, held onThursday the 10th of October, involved a band that brought everything together and two young talented artists that brought contemporary art to a whole new level. By encouraging and supporting amateur and artists and musicians alike, the guests were able to enjoy the ambience of performance in a whole new light of artistic and musical expression.
The event was a success in itself as our mission for two performance elements to work together in collaboration, being art and music, did create levels of inspiration for the art pieces. The ambiance of the rustic venue played a huge part in the success as it created the atmosphere of the performance to the audience. Not only did the event bring artists and musicians together, guests also experienced a new concept of performance art that has the potential to become a reoccurring event.
Introduction and concept review
The event went on as planned. There are many things that went on as planned in the initial plan. There had been targets and benchmark that we followed in order to achieve the targets that we had in the project. It met most of the objectives that were planned.
- Fill the room with at least 80 people to cover costs of the event.
- A seamless event for all of those involved
- Create the beginning of what could potentially become a reoccurring event
- Create an event that would be a benchmark all other events that would be conducted in the future
- Conduct an event that would be cost effective and yet cutting edge in terms of entertainment
- Create an event that would, by all means, follow the ethics that are stipulated according to the university rules and regulations.
Team rules
There are rules that we were required to follow in the event. They served as a guide I the development of the event.
- We were able to get a location that was convenient for the guests and the event. Although we had anticipated that 80 guests would attend, the number that attended, 49, fit the location. At the end of the event, we were able to achieve our goal. We managed to have the event look like it was filled with musicians an artist. The feel and ambience of the event were achieved and was successful.
- We managed to develop the marketing tools that we used in the event well. There was effective use of social media and fliers in the marketing of the event. We had anticipated that the event would be effectively marketed to the interested parties. We, successfully, made use of the social media and fliers to undertake marketing. At the end of the development of the marketing tools, we had ample time to communicate the event to the audience that we wanted to attend.
- We managed to have effective communication in the planning and execution of the plan. We managed to achieve this as a team. The team members communicated anything that required the attention of the other team members. This was an important aspect of the communication plan.
Perception of the success of the event
My role as one of the coordinators of the event was also successful. Most of the goals and rules were met in the long run. This can be attested from the questionnaires served to the attendees. Most of the attendees were satisfied and would attend a similar event in the future. It was important to know what the attendees were concerned the event. They liked all the preparations and felt that they got what they expected. I was also able to interact with the people in the event and I managed to realize that the people got the most satisfaction in the management of his event. From the people I was able to serve ad get their requests, they congratulated the event organizers. This shows how the whole event was considered a success.
Sponsorship plan
The sponsorship plan that was organized and suggested was fitting to the whole event. One of the main sponsors was the Victoria University Student Union (VUSU). VUSU fit to the pan am they are concerned with ensuring that students are sponsored in extra-curricular activities. They ensure that the welfare of the students out of classwork is fitting. The sponsorship plan was fitting to the event. The event was fitting to the mission and vision of the union. They like to have students make use of their talents in the whole process. This way, they will be able to achieve what they want in their lives. They ensure that student non-academic bodies and organizations retaken off. They were able chip in $1750. This was enough and fitting according to the objectives of the event.
There was also the use of raffle tickets. From the sale of raffle tickets, we were able to sell artistic objects for Adelle and Alan’s materials ad from this we were able to have some pay for them as a way of appreciation. From the sale of raffle tickets, we managed to pay Adelle and Alan’s art materials $150. This was fitting to the whole event. This is because of the fact that we achieved ensuring that all artists were rewarded when they attended the event. This is even satisfying given the fact that the artists were not expecting any form of pay from the event. They wanted to have experience and the small token we gave them was valuable to them.
We were also able to cut costs from having a Salacious / band. This was a special form of sponsorship from them. They normally charge $500 for such events. They, instead, charged us $300. With this, we were able to save $200 and we took this to be a form of sponsorship from this band. The band also managed to have an extra member, Michelle, for the event. This was a great boost for the event. We were able to save on the cost of having to pay for this extra member. We were privileged to have the band take care of her costs.
The venue also allowed us to save on costs of furniture. We were able to use all the easels and furniture that we found in the room.
Overall, the sponsorship was a great success. We were able to have many events and yet we did not have the money required to host such an event. Without such opportunities that we got, we would not have been able to host such a big event. We had almost everything that is found in a big event without using lots of funds, thanks to the sponsors and the band who re able to understand and be part of the event without charging any cost. We feel we were privileged to have such opportunities. At the end of the event, we were able to cover e foods of the drink and foods for all the guests who attended the event. This was a great achievement concerning the sponsorship fit.
Risk assessment
The risks that we faced were inadequate funds for the event. We were able to get the funding in the last minutes of the preparations. The sponsorship would not have been enough if the artists and material owners had charged their right and standard prices for most of the things that they took.
The greatest risk that we faced during the preparation of the event was not having the materials that we would use for the event. One of the materials that we were afraid we would lack includes canvasses. There was also the risk of not having the people attending the event. Although we were not able to get the targeted number of80 people, the 49 people we got was fitting to the ambience and plan of the event. The event was successful in its own way. We were able to get the people that made the event successful. The tickets through the sale of raffles were not that successful but it was one of the risks that we had anticipated. The raffle tickets sale helped us reward Adelle and Alan art materials.
The Concept & Event
Paint the Beat
Attire – Ladies - Pull out some sassy attire and heels (Cannot go wrong!)Gents - Nice shoes, pants and shirt
Artists - AdelleGresle& Alan Vy Romeo CzapskiMusicians - Salacious - Swith, Michelle &Chanelle
Tickets - $20 On the Door OR online - https://paintthebeat2013.eventbrite.com.au/
Food & Beverage – Canapés & Open Bar
The Venue –
The 1920’s rustic feel of the venue was the perfect fit with the theme and performance aspect of the event. The ambience of the evening was reflected through the venues’ style, furniture and fittings, lighting and size. As it was insuch a tight nit space, the musicians and artists were positioned in a way that avoided the music to become background music to the guests (Appendix 0.0 Floor PLan). Combining the R&B inspired music, the artist’s creativity in their work and also the vintage venue, the ambiance was the perfect setting for guests to sit back, drink, eat, mingle and enjoy a relaxed and classy evening among friends.
The Leveson was the idealistic choice in that it was naturally fitting to the theme of the evening. They provided the required elements of service, the capacity was perfect for our final guest numbers, and the features of the function space allowed us to use our imagination and work towards creating ‘the experience’. Although we had hoped to fill the room with 80 people, our final numbers only came to 49. What was recommended by the venue in terms of numbers, was misleading yet, our final number were the perfect fit for the size of the room and final set-up of the required equipment and furniture. Guests had the opportunity to move around, grab a drink, follow the food, mingle with friends and watch the performance.
Overall, the venue provided a great ambience for the performance art concept along with their great services, food and beverages available to guests. They layout also set a great viewing position for guests and everyone was able to sit, stand, how they liked throughout the evening.
The Team – Manar, Zaid, Brooke & Melissa
Mel - Someone will need to complete this
Zaid -
Brooke -
Manar–
The Budget
Between the forecasted budget prior to the event, and the actualbudget, we had significant difference in all areas of event costs, funding, expenses and the estimated profits. Firstly, as shown in Appendix 0.0 Budget Table, we had not incorporated any type of expenses that would be incurred for the art supplies required by the artists. Although we had incorporated the art supplies into the original budget, an estimated cost should have been to be inserted in order to give us a closer estimated profit or loss amount. Secondly, we had estimated an approximate amount of funding that would be available to us to help assist with any event expenses that would be incurred. The Victoria University Student Union (VUSU) was a great help and assisted with $1750 worth of venue expenses that we had budgeted for the food and beverage - $950 for canapés and $999 was utilised for an open bar(Appendix 0.0Budget Table). The pre-event cost breakdown originally included $450 worth of beverages for guests, yet as the minimum spend was $2000, VUSU were happy to assist with the spend in which allowed our bar to be open until the money ran out.
In terms of final guest numbers and ticket sales, our numbers were substantially lower than we had projected and hoped to make up. As a result, 6 early bird tickets were sold online at $17 per ticket, 26 were general tickets sold online at $20 and 17 were on-the-door sales for $20. Overall we made a great $940 in ticket sales which assisted in the unexpected costs of supplies and additional event expenses, musicians fee and art supplies. Although our numbers were lower than we had hoped to achieve, it was idealistic in terms of the venue size and spacing available for the performance. Not only was it beneficial with the capacity of the venue, with the assistance and funding from VUSU we were able to avoid utilising our own money for the event.
Some additional money that was a last minute idea consisted of raffling off the final pieces of artwork that was created during the event. It was a way for us to cover the cost of the art supplies and also provide some extra money as a thank you to our wonderful artists for taking time out if their evening to add to the performance and success of the event. We were able to sell raffle tickets at $4 a ticket or 3 for $10 and made $150 in profits which will be handed to both Adelle and Alan for their great work.
Overall, estimated costs were differentiated as there were expenses that were not included in the budget, additional funding was provided and numbers were substantially lower than predicted yet, all in all the final expenses and income worked in our favour and we made a $293.93 profit to be divided between the four of us (Appendix 0.0Budget Table).
Evaluation
Throughout the planning stages and creation of the concept of ‘Paint the Beat’, it was in our best interest for the event to be a success not only for ourselves but also the artists, musicians, venue and guests. In terms of making our budget and not spending too much on the theming of the event we were able to successfully create a great ambience for guests as the venue covered all aspects enjoyment including the food, beverages and service. In order for us to analyse the success of the event we created short survey forms on A5 pages that sat on the cocktail tables were guests mingled and spent most of their time. Halfway through the evening we kindly requested that they complete the surveys to give us their honest opinion of different aspects making up the event. All in all, we were successful in all areas of the event including the ambience & service of the venue, the musicians’ & artists’ performance, current enjoyment and also the value for money (Appendix 0.0 Survey Table). With 38 respondents of the 49 that attended we were rather lucky as the results were really positive and gave us some great feedback on not only how well it went, but also a few suggestions for another event with the same concept. Looking at the rating scale, we can see that the guests had some different opinions of how well the musicians and artists performed throughout the evening. With some 3’s and 4’s, we can either assume that the music was not their genre of style, or the art was not what they expected it to be. It could be a number of factors, yet they are still positive numbers contributing to the overall success. The outstanding comments that are a contributing factor to the success of our event are that each and every survey respondent would attend an event similar to this.
We were able to achieve the objectives that we had initially set in the project.
With the success of the event, the aspect of the specific place of the event was a matter of concern. The location of the event served to enhance the success rate of the event. The time of the event was also a good way that the success was assessed. The time that was allocated to the planning of the event was successful with the whole project. It was important to have time-bound objective that would enable the team members know where things and events would fall in place.
The event was achievable. We were able to plan an event which we would be able to achieve even without the sponsorship. The size and the cost were manageable. We were able to measure the goals that we wanted for the project.
ADD SMART Objectives – Manar& Zaid please complete
What we would do differently!
If we were to host an event like this in future there would be several factors that would need to be taken into consideration such as guest numbers, location, type of music, style of artists, age group of guests, as well as the time of year and date. As our guests were mainly university students several factors were taken into consideration such as the time, type of food served, beverages available throughout the night and also the style of music and art. Based on the guests attending it was idealistic to utilise an open bar as it is another drawing point for university students to attend the evening. As there was a minimum spend of $2000 for the venue, it was important to forecast whether or not the guests would spend enough money to make up the $2000 and cover venue costs. At this stage, the food was only going to cost $950, and drinks on arrival were $450. This would then leave $700 worth of beverages to be purchased over the three hours. Being a work/university night this could have been difficult as they would have either travelled from work, or would be driving home and therefore not spending much money. As a result, we decided to add the $999 as a beverage tab for the evening which was highly successful. In future, if it were a weekend and the audience were an older crowd, they would be more likely to think ahead, arrange a way to have transport to and from the event allowing them to have a few drinks. This would then result in them spending more money and a bar tab allowance may not necessarily be required to cover potential minimum spends.
If this event were to be held again in future, I would ensure that we had proper funding before we were to arrange the venue, musicians, artists, theme and realistically all planning of the event. Money is a large factor in all events as the money needs to be available either through sponsorship, charity or funding in order to plan each stage of the event. This event was pieced together with the hopes that we would make enough money to cover costs – we were extremely lucky that it come together in the end! Idealistically the artists and musicians would be given more time to arrange for more acknowledgment and promotion to the public before, during and after the event. The marketing would target the right audience with enough time for people to accept and arrange their schedules to attend. Overall the event has great potential to be replicated in future with different styles of music and art, atmosphere, audience and also location. It is simply the matter of determining what the Mission, Vision, Goals and Objectives are of your event and planning them in such a way that will create a successful event
Final Expenses & Income
Final Floor Plan
Conclusion
The event was successful. Basing on the SMART objectives, everything fell into place. What was desired was achieved as many people were satisfied with the management and the organization. The event met most of the objectives which had been put in place at first. At the end of the event, my most of the artists invited to attend and the costs that were incurred were manageable. Overall, the event was a success.
Survey Results
