Where on Earth? 7 Tips for Planning Events in Strange Locations...
When an event brief demands something truly out of the ordinary, event managers may find their clients looking to a site never-before-used for an event. This is the inspiration for our latest event management blog!
Whether part of nature’s landscape or a human-built structure, the unusual outdoor or semi-outdoor location I’m talking about is not a place where people typically congregate. Almost certainly, the site will have no existing power or water supply, nor any kind of infrastructure that provides for basic hygiene or comfort.
Take an underground span of road tunnel, for example. Tunnels bring live event delivery issues: adequate power, lighting, accoustics, mandatory emissions testing, catering facilities, amenities and even potable water.
So, before you utter “It can’t be done!” at the next bold event brief that comes your way, consider some tips from a person who loves a logistically-challenging event. In the space of two weeks, my Brisbane event management company, j2 ideas & events succeeded in delivering both a black-tie gala dinner for 550 guests inside Brisbane’s new Airport Link tunnel, plus an open day experience for up to 20,000 public inside the same tunnel, prior to it becoming an operational motorway.
Similarly not afraid to declare “we’ve never done anything in a tunnel before'' New Zealand event management company, Orange Group, staged a dinner inside the newly constructed Victoria Park motorway onramp tunnel in Auckland.
It can be done! Based on our past performance underground and above, here’s seven things event planners should consider when daring to go where no sane event manager has been before...
1. Is the event location strategically ideal for the client’s brand?
There are times when ‘the blank canvass’ event location is the ideal strategic solution. If your client’s objective is to highlight something unique and extraordinary about their business or a particular project, there may be a site of special significance to showcase through an event.
Be sure to stick to the brief, however! Although tempted to transform the space, you should consider how features of the raw site could be accentuated to connect guests with the host’s brand. If you inadvertently ‘hide’ the space through over-doing event styling, you’ll lose the uniqueness of the location and might as well have staged the event anywhere else—a lot easier.
2. Assume nothing!
Think of all the essential services we can take for granted in typical venues: power, water, anchoring points, rigging points, reliable satellite services for communications etc. Then start working through each, never for a minute assuming you’ll have access.
Is potable water available at the location? Do you have permission to attach anything (at all) to existing built structures? Suppose you cannot get equipment, furniture and supplies right to the event site where they’re needed, what then? Be it a remote wilderness area or a major road tunnel, confirm with the site owners or representatives what type of transportation is permitted into the event site. Conditions may be imposed on type of engine (diesel/petrol), axels and gross weight, as well as manoeuvrability.
At the location itself, will guests and workers find the event location an engaging and comfortable experience? A roadway tunnel, for example, may have steep inclines and declines easily handled by vehicular traffic but will your guests have appropriate physical stamina and agility to negotiate the surfaces themselves? It seems like a superfluous tip—be practical. Visualise people interacting within the unusual event surroundings.
3. Consult specialists and ask questions
Perceived constraints can be more crippling to an event manager than knowing what you’re dealing with. Accurate information is an event planner’s oxygen, so in the unfamiliar ‘first-time-for-everyone’ environment, it’s absolutely okay to ask questions of specialists associated with the location (eg construction and design engineers, architects, park rangers). If the person you are asking doesn’t know the answer, be sure you pursue the best source for the correct advice.
Unusual event locations will also bring technical and creative challenges. Assembling a specialist events team to handle the demands of, say, complex rigging, acoustics, projection surfaces and 'look and feel' of the function space should be a top priority on the event manager’s to do list. Talk to, and take to site, these event industry technicians who will bring the event to life. Help them to realise what you want to achieve. They need to see the vision, so walk them through it then they too can share ‘the dream’.
4. Don’t be frightened to ask for anything
While we’re on the subject of asking, don’t be afraid to ask permission to do something that at first might seem to border on bold or perhaps invasive. Here’s a good example.
For the Thiess John Holland Airport Link Tunnel Charity Dinner, within the 240-metre span of underground tunnel chosen for the gala function site, free-standing overhead truss-runs could not be achieved across the wide span of tunnel without putting pillars through the dinner. So I asked the question of tunnel engineers: could we negotiate for rigging points to be installed through the tunnel ceiling? Yes! Subsequently, around 60 rigging points were drilled into the tunnel’s ceiling, enabling housing of two parallel 64-metre truss runs for audio, lighting and projection.
5. Think outside the box... for everything
Newton’s third law states “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction” and it seems to apply when planning events in the strangest of locations.
For every event solution you begin to devise for your event management plan, be prepared to come unstuck by a mysterious and annoying unseen opposing force! Think laterally—even imaginatively—to come up with alternative plans. Be prepared to do things twice. You may need to adjust and re-work one event element in order to enable another aspect to function effectively.
For example, if you build a temporary kitchen for caterers in the only existing emergency egress passageway, you will need to determine an alternative evacuation plan. Another issue could be mobile and radio communications, which may work at your event location one day, but not the next. Test and re-test communications and other areas of event delivery before the event, to be sure you are able to operate efficiently come show time.
6. Weather contingency planning
A wet weather plan is not optional for outdoor and semi-outdoor events—it is mandatory. But rain isn’t the only enemy of an enjoyable, safe event experience; wind, cold, humidity and heat (among Mother Nature’s other treats) have the propensity to affect everything from event styling and pageantry to the master of ceremony’s ability to read from script notes.
Always consider the safety and comfort of patrons and crew, in addition to preserving the location itself, equipment and other assets required to deliver the event.
7. Never underestimate the power of lighting
In a separate j2 ideas & events blog post we have explored the importance of effective lighting. Something of a specialist science and art, lighting is not just about improving visibility but a medium that has the capacity to change a space, enhance features and alter mood. How exciting that there are infinite possibilities available to an event manager to use and control light!
Depending on what constitutes your event space—a built environment or natural surrounds—Illumination may present a challenge. It may be entirely unrealistic (from a physical configuration or budget perspective) to run overhead truss all the way through your event site. Consult a lighting designer and consider other ways to enhance and illuminate the space. Chandeliers, candelabras, illuminated furniture, and back-lit images could be ways of integrating different lighting effects into the design of your event.
Science and technology advancements make what was once impossible in the events industry, now feasible. While I’ve used experiences in underground tunnels to prove there’s no ‘too hard basket’ for events, should you have the opportunity to plan an event in any kind of unusual location, seize this exciting chance to test all the event management skill and experience you’ve amassed. Assume nothing and learn along the way!
Cheers, Jo Jordan
Brisbane event management company | j2 ideas & events
Follow the j2 team on Facebook & Twitter to keep up-to-date with industry news and event planning trends, tips and technologies.
Whether part of nature’s landscape or a human-built structure, the unusual outdoor or semi-outdoor location I’m talking about is not a place where people typically congregate. Almost certainly, the site will have no existing power or water supply, nor any kind of infrastructure that provides for basic hygiene or comfort.
Take an underground span of road tunnel, for example. Tunnels bring live event delivery issues: adequate power, lighting, accoustics, mandatory emissions testing, catering facilities, amenities and even potable water.
So, before you utter “It can’t be done!” at the next bold event brief that comes your way, consider some tips from a person who loves a logistically-challenging event. In the space of two weeks, my Brisbane event management company, j2 ideas & events succeeded in delivering both a black-tie gala dinner for 550 guests inside Brisbane’s new Airport Link tunnel, plus an open day experience for up to 20,000 public inside the same tunnel, prior to it becoming an operational motorway.
Similarly not afraid to declare “we’ve never done anything in a tunnel before'' New Zealand event management company, Orange Group, staged a dinner inside the newly constructed Victoria Park motorway onramp tunnel in Auckland.
It can be done! Based on our past performance underground and above, here’s seven things event planners should consider when daring to go where no sane event manager has been before...
1. Is the event location strategically ideal for the client’s brand?
There are times when ‘the blank canvass’ event location is the ideal strategic solution. If your client’s objective is to highlight something unique and extraordinary about their business or a particular project, there may be a site of special significance to showcase through an event.
Be sure to stick to the brief, however! Although tempted to transform the space, you should consider how features of the raw site could be accentuated to connect guests with the host’s brand. If you inadvertently ‘hide’ the space through over-doing event styling, you’ll lose the uniqueness of the location and might as well have staged the event anywhere else—a lot easier.
2. Assume nothing!
Think of all the essential services we can take for granted in typical venues: power, water, anchoring points, rigging points, reliable satellite services for communications etc. Then start working through each, never for a minute assuming you’ll have access.
Is potable water available at the location? Do you have permission to attach anything (at all) to existing built structures? Suppose you cannot get equipment, furniture and supplies right to the event site where they’re needed, what then? Be it a remote wilderness area or a major road tunnel, confirm with the site owners or representatives what type of transportation is permitted into the event site. Conditions may be imposed on type of engine (diesel/petrol), axels and gross weight, as well as manoeuvrability.
At the location itself, will guests and workers find the event location an engaging and comfortable experience? A roadway tunnel, for example, may have steep inclines and declines easily handled by vehicular traffic but will your guests have appropriate physical stamina and agility to negotiate the surfaces themselves? It seems like a superfluous tip—be practical. Visualise people interacting within the unusual event surroundings.
3. Consult specialists and ask questions
Perceived constraints can be more crippling to an event manager than knowing what you’re dealing with. Accurate information is an event planner’s oxygen, so in the unfamiliar ‘first-time-for-everyone’ environment, it’s absolutely okay to ask questions of specialists associated with the location (eg construction and design engineers, architects, park rangers). If the person you are asking doesn’t know the answer, be sure you pursue the best source for the correct advice.
Unusual event locations will also bring technical and creative challenges. Assembling a specialist events team to handle the demands of, say, complex rigging, acoustics, projection surfaces and 'look and feel' of the function space should be a top priority on the event manager’s to do list. Talk to, and take to site, these event industry technicians who will bring the event to life. Help them to realise what you want to achieve. They need to see the vision, so walk them through it then they too can share ‘the dream’.
4. Don’t be frightened to ask for anything
While we’re on the subject of asking, don’t be afraid to ask permission to do something that at first might seem to border on bold or perhaps invasive. Here’s a good example.
For the Thiess John Holland Airport Link Tunnel Charity Dinner, within the 240-metre span of underground tunnel chosen for the gala function site, free-standing overhead truss-runs could not be achieved across the wide span of tunnel without putting pillars through the dinner. So I asked the question of tunnel engineers: could we negotiate for rigging points to be installed through the tunnel ceiling? Yes! Subsequently, around 60 rigging points were drilled into the tunnel’s ceiling, enabling housing of two parallel 64-metre truss runs for audio, lighting and projection.
5. Think outside the box... for everything
Newton’s third law states “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction” and it seems to apply when planning events in the strangest of locations.
For every event solution you begin to devise for your event management plan, be prepared to come unstuck by a mysterious and annoying unseen opposing force! Think laterally—even imaginatively—to come up with alternative plans. Be prepared to do things twice. You may need to adjust and re-work one event element in order to enable another aspect to function effectively.
For example, if you build a temporary kitchen for caterers in the only existing emergency egress passageway, you will need to determine an alternative evacuation plan. Another issue could be mobile and radio communications, which may work at your event location one day, but not the next. Test and re-test communications and other areas of event delivery before the event, to be sure you are able to operate efficiently come show time.
6. Weather contingency planning
A wet weather plan is not optional for outdoor and semi-outdoor events—it is mandatory. But rain isn’t the only enemy of an enjoyable, safe event experience; wind, cold, humidity and heat (among Mother Nature’s other treats) have the propensity to affect everything from event styling and pageantry to the master of ceremony’s ability to read from script notes.
Always consider the safety and comfort of patrons and crew, in addition to preserving the location itself, equipment and other assets required to deliver the event.
7. Never underestimate the power of lighting
In a separate j2 ideas & events blog post we have explored the importance of effective lighting. Something of a specialist science and art, lighting is not just about improving visibility but a medium that has the capacity to change a space, enhance features and alter mood. How exciting that there are infinite possibilities available to an event manager to use and control light!
Depending on what constitutes your event space—a built environment or natural surrounds—Illumination may present a challenge. It may be entirely unrealistic (from a physical configuration or budget perspective) to run overhead truss all the way through your event site. Consult a lighting designer and consider other ways to enhance and illuminate the space. Chandeliers, candelabras, illuminated furniture, and back-lit images could be ways of integrating different lighting effects into the design of your event.
Science and technology advancements make what was once impossible in the events industry, now feasible. While I’ve used experiences in underground tunnels to prove there’s no ‘too hard basket’ for events, should you have the opportunity to plan an event in any kind of unusual location, seize this exciting chance to test all the event management skill and experience you’ve amassed. Assume nothing and learn along the way!
Cheers, Jo Jordan
Brisbane event management company | j2 ideas & events
Follow the j2 team on Facebook & Twitter to keep up-to-date with industry news and event planning trends, tips and technologies.
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