by Robert Jackson
by Steven Wood Schmader and Robert Jackson
Review by Tom Hamilton
Making Special Events Fit in the 21st Century
According to the author, depending
on how you count them, there are upwards of 15,000 special events in the
U.S. every year. Special events provide the most personal of all entertainment
vehicles. No others quite match their abilities to put "entertained"
people face-to-face with each other, with their entertainers (frequently
interactively) and with people running the shows.
Robert Jackson began his career with the genius of entertainment, Walt Disney. This book is Jackson's viewpoints, concepts, opinions, appraisals and in many cases, ideas. They have been formed over three decades of experiencing more than 500 special events, encompassing virtually every type and size in a large number of geographic locations.
Beside the Disney organization he has worked at the United States Travel and Tourism Administration, John F. Kennedy Center, General Mills, Inc., and for a myriad of clients I serve in the capacity of an independent event consultant. "One of my goals in writing this book was to instill the constant need to be creative and innovative as a means of expanding an event's appeal," Jackson notes. "In sports events, for example, techniques can be utilized to broaden an audience span to include spouses and other adults not strongly interested in the subject of sport.
"[People just coming to the event], is that what we in the events industry really want? People coming because it's free or there just isn't anything else to do or we offer convenient timing and location? I don't think so. I hope not. We should be magnetizing crowds because they want to be at our events, because those happenings are productions of quality, because they skew perfectly to their audiences or spectators."
Jackson's book includes 16 hypothetical case-study situations on which event planning can be accomplished. The book includes thorough reviews and recommendations of committee needs and structures, how to recruit and keep only the best volunteers, attract sponsorship support, schedule only the most potent entertainment at reasonable or no cost, maximize attendance potential and effectively market eventsregardless of their nature, theme, intended audience, geographic location or size.
Jackson's table of contents is titled, Your Event Fitness Program. That theme takes a fitness attitude toward event organization. He builds his chapters on headings like Looking Good-Being Good and Pumping Up Marketing Muscles. That attitude is an important approach to achieving success. The book is a blueprint for getting started in thinking out of the box and pumping new vitality into an event.
Making Special Events Fit in the 21st Century, 150 pages, $26.95, published by Sagamore Publishing, 804 N Neil St., Ste 100, Champaign, IL 61820.
Special Events: Inside and Out
Written by Steven Wood Schmader
and co-authored by Robert Jackson, this is the revised second edition of
this book. Schmader is the President of the Boise River Festival, which
started from scratch in 1991. Today, with the support of more than 750 sponsors
and 3,700 volunteers, the Festival features more than 400 events and reaches
an aggregate attendance of over one million. Often recognized as one of
the top events in the U.S., the Boise River Festival has been highlighted
in this magazine.
This book is a comprehensive guide for special event planners. The book helps event planners and sponsors alike gain the necessary inside knowledge about the essential topics of special event planning such as: organizing and planning, budgeting, securing sponsorship, research and targeting, publicity and advertising, working with volunteers, and evaluating the event.
The book formalizes or crystallizes a wide range of thinking relative to the strategy of event marketing. The goal is to present a condensed, viable, and totally practical "how-to" approach to securing corporate sponsorships and to making events as successful, easily implemented, and rewarding as they can be.
The book is written to help those with little or no experience in event marketing. At the same time the authors offer new ideas, fresh ways of thinking, and creative approaches that are worthwhile to those with some experience as well as those who are highly polished professionals.
Special Events: Inside and Out, 120 pages, $26.95, published by Sagamore Publishing, 804 N Neil St., Ste 100, Champaign, IL 61820.
These two books compliment each other and form a nucleus around which a balloon event organizer can begin to form their blueprint for a successful festival. Whether you are just thinking about balloon event organization or actively involved, make the investment in these two books and lay the foundation that will make your event successful in the 21st century.
