The Life & Times of an Event Promoter - Floor Plan, What Floor Plan?

The origins of the phrase ‘Floor plan?  What Floor Plan!’ (Occasionally and only in times of greatest stress ‘Floor plan?  What ‘bleep’ Floor Plan!’)
So, you might be asking, what is the big deal about a floor plan?  Indeed, in the now immortal words of that lady referred to in the last article, “……………how hard can it be?  You stick some tables in a hall, charge people to have a table and charge us to come through the door!  Its’ a win-win situation.”

 Hmm, well it is not quite as simple as that.

Having acquired a venue, the first thing one needs to know is how many stands can be fitted into the space.  This determines the revenue the show could make if fully booked and when this is added to all the other costs such as advertising, printing, postage, staff, insurance, table hire, marquee hire, and a list of other bits that goes on forever, the cost of the stands can be calculated.

We do a site visit armed with a large tape measure and draw up a plan.  We take measurements between every door, and mark the position of fire exits, power sockets, fire extinguishers and any other feature. Once back at the office, we convert this to a computer CAD drawing.

Once the room is drawn up with all the features in place, I usually start by fitting in just single, 6’ trestle tables, leaving gangways the size required by health and safety guidelines and a 2’ or preferably 2’ 6” gap between tables.  The plan may be changed several times while we decide the best way to lay out the room, should the blocks run this way or that and so on, but the result is a nice, neat plan with the maximum number of single tables possible.

So, we have a nice, neat plan of the room with neat blocks of single tables.  Booking starts and then the fun begins.  Of course, only about half of the bookings want a single trestle table!  We get bookings for doubles, L shapes, tables with couches, tents or just space for an exhibitors own stand.  Next are requests for space behind the table for boards, banners or extra tables, or to get wheelchairs, pushchairs or scooters in.
Then we have the ‘extras’.  All our terms and conditions and every bit of booking related paperwork states that the booking is for a single table (or double etc).  In reality however, exhibitors bring extra tables to deepen the stand, small tables to add on the side, racks, rails, shelves and all manner of extra bits that they wish to squeeze in.  In most cases we do our best to accommodate these and where we know about them, to work them into the plan from the outset, but the 2’6” gap between stands gets more and more compromised until it is not unusual for someone arriving towards the end of set up time, to be unable to fit in at all!
The next challenge is stand content.  We limit the overall number of any type of stand, but hours go into making sure readers, jewellery and crystal stands are spread around the hall and not on top of each other.  We do our best not to have readers side by side or directly opposite each other.  If possible, not back to back either – although that can be hard to achieve on smaller shows.  Likewise, jewellery will be as spaced out as it can be and any other stands that do similar things.
We then take into account personal preference – back to a wall, near the loos, not near the loos, near the café, not near the café, near the entrance, not near the entrance – in a darker part, in a lighter part – not near readers, not near therapists, not near noise, not near music – even not near a particular exhibitor or list of exhibitors!
Things are taken into account like leaving sufficient depth for back boards – they do not do well on corners of central blocks as they impinge on the stand at the end – readers will want chairs in front – does the gangway allow for that in that position?
Eventually after draft 14 or 15, we have a floor plan!
Then, someone cancels!
We usually manage to re-let the stand, but more often than not, it may not be for the same thing or it will not fit the space.  Maybe the new exhibitor has a couch but the original one didn’t, so the replacement won’t fit where the first one was.  We start to swap spaces.  This has a ‘domino’ effect.  You move one, then the one next door can’t stay there, so you move that one and again, the one opposite now has to move.  By now we can be up to draft 20 or more. We have learned over time not to print the actual floor plans for our stewards out until the day before we set off, just in case of last minute changes
We used to print the plan in the show guide with a key.  This was in the ‘good old days’ when we received very few cancellations.  As the recession hit and cancellations and changes to stand size increased, we had to stop this as it caused more havoc than help!  The guide goes to print about three or more months ahead of a show.  The amount of changes that can occur in that time meant the plan could end up having no resemblance to the eventual lay out of the event.  We still get visitors asking for that, but it is simply no longer possible.
So, we arrive at the show, we adjust the tables that the venue has set out, to take account of the latest draft of the plan.  We juggle them about to get the right amount of space between, or as best we can, we put out the table names, the information sheets, the feedback cards and any other bits and pieces and then we are ready.
Exhibitors start arriving and before long, someone either won’t fit the space as they have something we didn’t know about or have forgotten about, or simply don’t want to be where we have put them and want to move.  They feel cramped, don’t like the way the neighbouring stand is set up, don’t like the energies in that spot, want to be facing the door – all manner of things can mean an exhibitor doesn’t feel happy in the space allocated.
My instruction to the team is, that within reason, we do what we can to make everyone happy!  My theory is if an exhibitor starts the show on a bad note, they are less likely to give off a positive, upbeat energy and so perhaps won’t have a good weekend.   If we can do our best to accommodate what they are asking for, they will be much better placed to take advantage of the weekend.  So, we adjust tables, move bits and pieces, move whole stands and generally try to be accommodating.
Sometimes though, someone can just be too unreasonable in their expectations, or more likely, arrive too late and so we are limited for options as much of the space is already set up.  Then, reluctantly we have to say no.  On occasion, by the time a show is set up, the draft of the plan that we are using (which by now can be number 28 or above) may bear very little resemblance to the finished show!
I must admit, there are times when I think those promoters who have a ‘this is it, take it or leave it – if you didn’t book it and didn’t pay for it, forget it’ approach, might actually have something!  There was one famous occasion when we had moved about 12 stands and ended up with two readers too close together and no more time or space to alter anything anymore, when I threw the plan up in the air and said, “Floorplan?  What bleep floorplan!”   The team fell about laughing, particularly as most of them had never heard me swear, and it stuck!  It is now the phrase often used if we get several changes on set up day and especially if it happens on the Saturday morning set up.
After all, “………….how hard can it be?  You stick some tables in a hall…………..”

Next instalment:  Advertising

The Life and Times of an Event Promoter - On Finding a Venue

Morning :)

Today we have the first of a series called The Life and Times of an Event Promoter.  A fantastic inside look into the world that Angie inhabits!

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People often ask me just what it is a promoter does.  I think they see me twiddling my thumbs in a show and think it is a push over of a job.  By the time I get to the middle of a show, my work is more or less done, apart from trouble shooting during the weekend and the pack down at the end. The hard work goes in before we ever get to the weekend of the show. 

Over the years, people have often said I should do articles about what goes into a show, so I have decided to do a series for our blog of ‘The Life & Times of an Event Promoter – a Promoter’s Musings’, giving some insight into how those wonderful stands miraculously appear in a hall and visitors miraculously walk through the doors :)

The best place to start is always at the very beginning, and the first task before any show can begin is to find a place to hold it, so here is my first article in the ‘Event Promoter’s Musings’, on finding a venue!

I always say that one of the hardest parts of my job is finding an actual venue that works for a show.  People often say to me, ‘why don’t you do a show in X or Y?’ The simple answer is, I can’t find anywhere suitable and affordable to hold one!

When we go on a venue hunt, I go armed with a list of twenty-two requirements.  Some of them are essential, others are preferred, but can sometimes be worked around. They include things you might not even consider on first thought.

First and foremost of course is space.  In the good old days before the recession hit, we always needed a minimum of 750 square metres, otherwise we would be turning away too many of our ‘regulars’!  Now however, anything over 600 square meters is worth a look, as we are considering slightly smaller shows due to falling exhibitor numbers.  Just as High Street shops have closed, so exhibitors have gone out of business too.

Next, having found the room, we need to look at practicalities such as:

• Is it lockable, alarmed, is there a security guard? 
• Does it have enough electrical outlets to supply every stand? 
• Is there somewhere to site the entry desk that controls the flow of visitors and can we easily restrict it to one entrance only?
• Is there a separate room in which to hold the talks that seats around 70 plus people?  If not, can a marquee be used effectively for this purpose? 
• Do we have exclusive use of the rooms during show?  I have memories of a University where although the management said we did, the students who used the atrium as access to other parts of the University, saw no reason why they couldn’t walk straight through the show!  Quite a difficult weekend ensued and of course, we did not return!
• Timings are important – council and university buildings cannot always accommodate our access timetable.  We need access from 10am to 7pm on the Friday preceding a show, from 7am to 6pm on the Saturday and from 8am to 8pm on the Sunday to allow for breakdown of the show.  So many times, we get this far and the excess hours on Friday and Sunday nights, or the early start on Saturday cannot be accommodated.
• Parking and food come next.  Is there onsite parking?  If not, is there good on-road and car park facilities nearby?  Can exhibitors park near enough for unloading and is the unloading point suitable for trollies? We prefer one large room on the ground floor of a building, but if it is split level, then is there a good, modern lift – is there a service lift or secondary means of access if the lift should break down? 
• Does the venue have facilities to run a café?  Do they have in-house catering which we are obliged to use or can we get our own?  These days, there are hardly any venues that allow us to bring in our own catering, as they want to make the extra revenue from this too.  Getting them to cater for a larger than usual number of vegetarians, special diets and stock copious amounts of bottled water can be a challenge in itself!
• After all of that, we get down to the bits and pieces, such as can we put up a large banner outside and for how long?  Some venues won’t allow it, some restrict the length of time it can be there and others charge for it!  At Chester for example, it has cost over £800 to have a banner up for one week! 

• Will they allow posters and flyers in their reception and a pull up banner?  You would be amazed at the amount who won’t. 
• Do they supply first aid provision or do we need St Johns? 
• Do they have trestle tables and chairs or do we need to hire them?  Both of these add to the quoted cost of course.
• Do they hold the necessary Markets Licence and entertainments licences?

Having managed to tick all these boxes, the crunch comes – can they do the dates we want and how much will it cost?    You would think this would be the first question, but most venues won’t quote or look at dates until they have gone through all your requirements.

Dates are a problem with hotels, as most don’t want to book shows in the summer because of weddings.  Some won’t take three-day bookings at any time of the year, preferring to get a wedding, party or formal dinner on the Friday and Saturday nights.  We need three days of course – one to set up the show and two for the show itself.

If we do get over all of this, it is then ‘cross-fingers’ time, as we wait for the quote.  Quotations of up to £12,000 per day are not usual with city centre venues that tick most of the boxes, and quotes of around £3,000 a day are common with the larger types of facilities.  Some can be negotiated to a reasonable figure, others will not budge and so fall at the final hurdle.  These days I try and push for a ‘ball park’ figure before going through everything, but venues are very reluctant to commit themselves until they have all your requirements.

When we really want to do a show in a particular area and cannot find something ideal, we do look at a compromise, as happened with our recent Nottingham show.  Most of the city centre venues were in the £7,000 to £12,000 a day bracket, hotels were not interested and so we found ourselves at Nottingham Forest FC.  It was an upstairs room, not our favourite, had two lifts one of which broke down and was a very difficult shape to work with, complete with fixed seating along one side and a ‘balcony’ type area which was overlooked by many visitors. Signage was restricted by the football club and catering was not what we usually look for, all of this came at a price of over £3,500 for the weekend but it did enable us to try out Nottingham.  As it turned out, with the show falling far short of expectations despite heavy investment in advertising, I was pleased I had not paid more!

So here we have it – the life and times of an event promoter, or at least, a very small part of it.  You can perhaps see why, when after all of this, exhibitors walk in and say ‘this is hard to find’, I don’t like the atmosphere, the lighting, the parking, the unloading, the position I am in or any one of a hundred other things, we sometimes sigh deeply to ourselves before summoning up the cheery smile and trying our best to make them feel comfortable and happy.

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Next instalment – Things That Have Gone Wrong – a trip down the memory lane of my biggest nightmares and some of the things that have provided the steepest and sharpest learning curves!  Fortunately my sense of humour and sense of the ridiculous usually enables me to look back at them with a grin, even though at the time I was probably on a search for the nearest rafter to hang myself from! :)