EVENT DESIGN & PLANNING
​The ‘heritage of gin’ theme was incorporated into all aspects from the outset, starting with the choice of venue and relating to the ‘environment design’ of the EMBOK model (Silvers, 2008) as The Riverside is not only know for its Gin Heritage but also emits a rustic and ‘old English’ persona which resonated perfectly with the concept.
Regarding the production design, English flowers, tea lights, foliage and décor accompanied the rustic and wooden room which not only added to the theming but also created touch points that created additional experiences for attendees (Moritz, 2005). Radiation Events also considered Richards et al (2015) guidance and asked what the connection was between the attendees’ journey, touch points, organizations and experience, resulting in the adaptation of Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) ‘designing memorable experiences’ as shown in the table opposite.​​
These elements made up the ‘eventscape’ – known to be an amalgamation of tangible components that shaped the event environment, producing emotional experiences and responses for all involved (Sharples et al, 2014).
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All of these elements created cognitive, affective, decisional and psychomotor outcomes that meant attendees learnt, were active, gained new awareness and made choices, indicating a successful event design and delivery (Bladen et al, 2012). The event design also facilitated all four realms of Pine and Gilmore’s ‘Realms of Experience’ (1998), due to the following:
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Active participation stemming from the cocktail making and gin tasting
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Passive Participation from the mixologists
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Absorption resulting from the entertainment and gin information
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Immersion from being involved in the centre of the atmosphere​
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Regarding the effectiveness of the event design and delivery it’s important to refer to the event objectives and outcomes, as this was a significant part of the planning process (Bladen et al, 2012; Brown et al, 2015).
With effective event design involving the formation of an planned event experience that is carried throughout the event’s delivery (Bladen et al, 2012), Radiation Events took advice from Goldblatt (2005) to consider the following questions before solidifying a relevant event design:
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Why must we hold this event?
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Who will be the stakeholders for this event?
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When will the event be held?
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Where will the event be held?
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What is the event product that is being developed and presented?
This resulted in a charitable event with stakeholders including the charity, caterers, performers, venue owners, mixologists and attendees, held on 30th March at the Riverside with the product being a Gin tasting. In addition to these questions, background research was conducted in the form of a feasibility study, whereby a SWOT and PESTLE analysis indicated that the concept was successful, relevant and therefore worth pursuing (Matthews, 2007).
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With the concept decided upon as a Gin tasting, it was important that the theme was communicated throughout every aspect of the event, creating what Pine and Gilmore (1998) deem as a ‘participative story’ due to the unification of all elements.
Whilst the financially related objective was measured by ROI and money raised, measurement for the others was slightly more complex due to the tangible and intangible indicators (Brown et al, 2015). The total profit for Roundabout was £272, which meant a ratio of 1.4 : 1. Although this meant failure to meet one of the event objectives, it can be put down to the fact that funds were previously spent on the original event concept, but it also places doubt over the choice to employ the pricing structure that was used. Nevertheless, this objective was not a reflection on the effectiveness of the event design itself but the planning, as the objectives focusing on the design and concept were all achieved.
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When evaluating the other objectives, feedback from a range of stakeholders was taken into account due to in order to ensure the success frim a range of perspectives (Brown et al, 2015). Feedback on the event design, organisation, décor and entertainment were all factors included in forms and emails sent to attendees, the charity and to the performers, enabling an informed and clear evaluation of the theming, concept and design to take place (Sharples et al, 2015). All feedback was positive, with comments including those situated below:
‘Food was fantastic, great atmosphere, very informative and engaging talk’
‘Well thought out organisation, educating gin tasting, great flow’
‘Fantastic evening and would love to recreate an event like this again’ – Roundabout Charity
‘Such a good evening. Different things to suit different people. Everything was spot on’
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​With effective evaluation measuring event success related to goals, the planning process, meeting stakeholder expectations and making improvements (Brown et al, 2015), it can be concluded that overall the event was successful in terms of these criteria. Regarding improvements, reflection on Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) event design highlighted gaps in the post event design, and with increased attention now being paid to the post-event phase (Richards et al, 2015), this is something that Radiation Events can take note of for future events.
