Last week, we spent a couple of days at the Event Production Show at Olympia in London and got to see some of the latest innovations in the sector, as well as hear the thoughts and experiences of industry pioneers. It was a really great experience and we learnt so much from the conversations we had with partners, competitors and fellow service suppliers, as well as the many panel sessions we attended.
Our main takeaway from the conversations we had and panel sessions we attended was that there is a huge demand for greater and faster product and service evolution. Suppliers need to look at how they can make improvements to their services so that they are more original, creative, personalised and kinder to the environment. The unanimous view was that although in the last few years the pace of innovation has been significant, it still needs to be faster.
The gentrification of festivals panel
The Gentrification of Festivals was a lively and fascinating panel with Wayne Hemmingway, Harvey Goldsmith, Justin Clarke and Dan Walsh.
Across the board, the panellists appeared to share the view that the festival sector needed to offer people facilities that would enhance their festival experience. These facilities need to be provided by organisers, sponsors and commercial exhibitors.
Event organiser, Harvey Goldsmith raised the point that it’s now more about the experience a festival provides, rather than who its headliner act is. He also stated that whilst festival creators need to increase the value of the experience, they must do so without increasing the price of the tickets.
Dan Walsh spoke of how today festival creators are required to think about the identity of their audience and their interests. The more choice people have, the harder companies have to work to make their festivals appealing to them. The appetite for live events is bigger than ever and festival creators can capitalise on this by offering value for money and a great experience.
Many of these views chimed hugely with our experience and dialogue with clients over the last few months. We have extensive enquiries from agencies and festival organisers about developing facilities for festival goers using both our experiential containers and exhibition unit environments. All of these briefs aim to develop a facility that adds to the event experience affordably.
Festival aesthetics and experiential activities
In another session we attended, speakers Paul Reid of AIF, John Finch and Ben Merrington of Grillstock and Simon Foreshaw from Metropolis Music discussed festival aesthetics and experiential activities. The panellists all agreed that the visitor experience is the most important part of organising an event. They also talked about how organisers must offer speed of service and efficiency, whilst also making their events bespoke and tailored to people’s interests. This applies to all events from music and entertainment to food and drink.
This is something that The Events Structure can help with. We provide fast and efficient venue solutions such as experiential containers, exhibition units and roadshow trucks, all of which can be fully customised, contributing to a tailor-made event experience.
The panel went on to discuss how consumers like to escape from reality and how festivals help them do that. This is evident in the themes that festivals adopt in order to transport their attendees into a ‘different’ world.
Experiential activities at events are of increasing importance to both consumers and organisers, but they need to offer value to both parties. They must to enhance festivalgoers’ experience in order for them to hold any value to organisers. This applies to food retailers, samplers or product experiential engagement. The idea is to make the audience feel to feel part of an experience.
For more information on our temporary event structures including self-drive units, roadshow trailers, mobile showrooms and customised containers get in touch with The Events Structure team today on 0161 821 1010.