Believe it or not, most of what makes an event successful or not is all the stuff that happens before everyone shows up on-site, which is what we’re going to focus on here. Most people in the live event business understand the basics of putting a successful show together on-site, but what often gets overlooked is everything that happens behind the scenes.. so let’s break it down.

The Early Stages: 9-12 Months Out

Alright, so we’re starting 9 to 12 months before the show. At this point, we just need the basics:

• Is the show happening?
• What are the dates?
• Where’s it at?
• What’s the very broad scope? Are we doing just audio, or is it a full setup with lights and video?
• About how many people are coming?
• What kind of a show is it- Corporate? Tradeshow? Gala?

At this point we don’t need all the specifics yet – just the gist of it. Why? Because at this stage, we’re mainly focused on building the right team for your event. In our opinion, the most crucial part of any show is having the right people there. You can get gear from anywhere, but having the right team is key to a successful event.

Getting More Detailed: 6-9 Months Out

Moving on to about 6 to 9 months before the show, we start digging a little deeper:

• We’re talking concepts now, maybe doing some diagrams or renderings.
• We might do a site visit, especially if it’s a place we haven’t been to.
• We’re getting more specific about the scope – how many presenters are on stage, the number of rooms and/or activations, specific AV needs (audio, lighting, video), etc.

The goal here is to get to a budget. We want to align the scope of work with your budget as best we can and deliver the most value we can.

Locking Down Logistics: 3-6 Months Out

In the 3 to 6 month window, we’re buttoning up anything we haven’t finished above and getting into the logistics:

We’re dialing in a rough production schedule.

We don’t need to know all the exact call times here, but we need to know approximate days/times things are happening so we can schedule all the crew, travel, trucking, etc. as efficiently as possible.

We’re booking flights, hotels, and trucking.

Note- the pricing of these things is dynamic and generally the sooner we book them, the lower the cost.

We’re sourcing any gear we need to sub-rent in the most cost effective way possible.

Believe it or not, equipment prices can vary as well, similar to the above. Depending on how busy the industry is, equipment prices can vary greatly month to month.. but with enough time we can source from vendors we trust at the best possible rates.

This is probably when we’ll ask for a first deposit. The general rule of thumb is that when we start to incur out-of-pocket expense, we will typically will ask for a deposit. The higher those out-of-pocket expenses are, the larger that deposit is likely to be.

Final Preparations: 0-3 Months Out

Now we’re in the last stretch before the show:

• We want to start seeing content so we can test everything long before we get on-site, allowing time for changes if necessary.
• We’re finalizing our gear list and making any necessary adjustments.
• We’re finalizing the production schedule, making sure all the crew is scheduled at the right time, avoiding things like meal penalties and turnaround time when possible.

Ideally, we like to have all content in hand a week or two before the show so we can run through it all.

On-Site: Load In, Rehearsals, and Show Time

When we get to the venue, here’s what typically happens:

Load In

Ideally, we like to have a day before things actually need to happen to get everything set up and tested. For bigger shows, this could be multiple days, even weeks. On any given event, there are often so many people involved that it’s not all that uncommon for something to slip through the cracks or a last-minute change to occur, so this is a great way to help mitigate those potential curveballs.

Rehearsals

Specifically, there are two types- tech rehearsals and dress rehearsals

• Tech rehearsals are often overlooked, but they are absolutely vital to a successful show. This is when the show crew sits down with the client to run through all of the content and cues to make sure they have everything, it looks/sounds correct, and is in the right order. Keep in mind, this is likely the first time the entire show crew of 10, 20 or 30+ people have sat down together and actually run through all of the content for your show. The best techs are booked all year long and may have not had the time before now to really get familiar with everything.
• After the tech rehearsal, the dress rehearsal with presenters, entertainers, emcees, etc. can occur. This is where your talent gets familiar with the production, makes last minute adjustments to their presentations, and the show caller is dialing in the cue to cue.

The Show

Now that we’ve gotten through the load in and rehearsals, it’s show time! Most of us know what a successful show looks like and it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, so I want to point out a couple of things that can become costly mistakes if not taken into consideration beforehand.

Crew meals

• • • Did you come up with a plan to make sure the crew is fed? Because once that show is rolling, they usually can’t break away and if you haven’t given this any thought beforehand you might get hit with some costly meal penalties. In order to avoid this, your crew needs to be fed by every 5th working hour. You can provide them a meal or cut them for an hour to get their own, just note that if you decide to feed the crew instead of cut them, that is considered an on-the-clock working meal.

Turnaround time

• • • Your crew has to be cut for 8 hours in between shifts or their next working shift will be all OT+.
      • Pro Tip – If your load in runs long and the crew has an early call time, consider pushing the call time back that next day for all of the people you can and cut any crew that aren’t absolutely essential to minimize the impact because this one can get really costly.

Load out

• • • Sometimes after a long day of load in or show, it makes more sense to do this the next day. Your crew may be at the end of a 17 hour shift and in double time, as well as really tired.. so from both a cost and safety perspective, this might be the right move.

After the Show

Once the show’s over, a couple of things still need to happen.

Debrief with our clients:

• • We talk about what went well, what didn’t go the way we planned and make adjustments for future shows. This feedback is really helpful and we use it to improve our processes, crew, etc.

Final invoice and payment:

• • We try to pay all our vendors as fast as possible and generally speaking, the faster people get paid, the happier they are to work with you. Many vendors don’t have the means to wait 30+ days for payment after completing work, so take care of your vendors and pay them quickly. 🙂

Whether your event is large or small, all of these things need to happen. Larger events require a longer timeline, while smaller events can operate on a more compressed timeline.

Also, keep in mind that the event business is seasonal- if you’re flexible, you might be able to save yourself some money.

Typically February through June is really busy, then it picks up again September until the November Thanksgiving break. In these busy months, everything is more expensive, so try to schedule your event in the off months if you can to take advantage of some better deals.

Hopefully this was insightful since If you have any questions about anything above, feel free to reach out to me at z.grant@seaspro.com.

Thanks for reading!