The Old Guard
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Small and local festivals in particular have an unfortunate stereotype of being the same year-over-year. Same venue, same vendors, same bands, same competitors, etc. They get tired, sad and slowly lose attendance numbers every year. In my experience these events are usually run by the same group of people over the years. These individuals usually become complacent and develop an “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it” mentality. While certain things are bound to fall by the wayside (like a slightly outdated website). There are several other items that should be addressed regularly, like website updates, available payment options, popular entertainment, etc.
Having worked with these kinds of event boards in the past, I understand how frustrating it can be for both sides. One group has seen success with this approach for years, why would it not work now? The other group can see that when technology and processes can be updated, it should be looked into and assessed for the event.
I’ll give a personal story: I was working with a local non-profit festival that had been run by the same core group for over 20 years. In the year 2017 their main marketing strategy WAS LOCAL NEWSPAPER ADS! They had absolutely no digital marketing at all. (I thought for a moment I had been sent back to the year 1995. But alas, it was still 2017.) In asking about the reasoning behind this, I learned it was because “that’s how it had always been done.” It was because of this old-school marketing that their numbers had been dwindling every year. The board had never thought to develop a social media presence and the event website was tragic. The webpage was from the late 2000’s and included information no one really needs or wants to know. The vendor page showed a list of all vendors that attended each year throughout the event’s multi-decade history (so vendors that had been at the show for 10 years would show up 10 times.) To add to the event’s website troubles, there was no way to accept payment online. We could ONLY accept payments by cash onsite or by mailed in check. (Yes, in the year 2017 this was still a thing). Upon bringing the website issue up to the board, about half of the members agreed things should be changed, the slight majority, including the chairperson, did not understand why the website needed to change. “Why fix it if it isn’t broken?” Knowing how the events industry is run, and that our attendance was dropping dramatically, I knew something needed to be done. The fact that the approval was not given for the website was frustrating, but being dedicated to the festival, I decided to take things into my own hands.
I researched the best simple web hosting platforms, for this event, the best option was Weebly. So I set up a free account, and in my limited free time, created a basic dummy site, pulling pertinent information from the current live webpage. It took some time on a weekend, but when it was done I felt it was a good shell of a simple, updated website.
At our next board meeting, I again asked to speak and showed the current website, showing the difficult navigation, etc, and then presented the dummy site. The board members, upon seeing the dummy site and hearing the annual actual cost, immediately approved the new website. Of course, lots of edits needed to be made, information needed to be updated, but they were shocked by how different their website could look.
Ultimately, this was a hard lesson for me on how; when working with these kinds of event boards, nothing can be assumed. NOTHING. Showing them and taking the time to explain these situations in in-depth but processable terms is the best way to address uncertainty or fear of anything new. It’s the best way to help ensure the event and all of its components remain as up to date as possible.
If you need assistance with your festival or event board, please feel free to reach out to Triskele Events. We are ready to help make your next event the best one yet!