Event Production 101: Know Your Customer!
Have you ever heard of HarpCon? I hadn’t either until our team was hired to plan their event in August at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis. HarpCon is the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen’s convention and as the title may suggest, it’s a far cry from your typical corporate event production!
Understanding your customer and their needs is essential to event planning. For HarpCon we’re sticking to a brief list of “dos and don’ts”:
Don’t
- Bring a Powerpoint show! It’s all about the music
- Worry about the numbers. There will be no sales forecast or budget discussion here!
Do
- Gather the very best Folk Harp players from around the world
- Schedule classes with tutorials from leading teachers and craftsmen
- Plan daily live concerts in a beautiful, world class grand ballroom
It is great to have many different types of clients as you can learn so much from different organizations and their audiences.
The point is, understanding your customer means listening, then plan an event that meets their expectations, not yours. It’s worth it to pause and ask so you can wow them – hippies, harpists or corporate honchos alike!
