Unit 353: Music Event Management

The Hotdog Social

Welcome to The Hotdog Social, the college gig which us was a class are planning from scratch. Although this is something many of us haven't got any or many practise in, it is something I have done a few times with my church. For example I headed the planning for the past two Christmas Balls and a Music Evening, taking into account rules and regulations, health and safety and making the event as fun and atmospheric as possible whilst keeping the cost of the setup as low as possible. As a musician it is important to be good at managing events and having the confidence to go round asking people/places for their services as it will benefit your band/session musician. 

In our first meeting we had together we assigned everyone a position in preparation for and during the event itself. These were all strategically discussed and appointed based on the skills each of us had. The positions are as followed:

• President - Someone who overlooks the whole project, making sure everyone is on time, seeing whether anything else needs doing during the preparation period and solving problems that occur during the preparation period and during the event itself. We chose James Porter for this position as he has skills in all areas and is very friendly and gets on with everyone, something which is surprisingly important when heading the event organisation. He is also very good at reacting to problems in a positive way and finding solutions to these deterrents. 
• Vice President - This is the second-hand man to the president, someone who the presidents refers to and runs through ideas with before they are given to the person who it concerns. They are a double team and are the ones who keep the event running, hopefully smoothly. We chose Andrew Davis for this position as he is very close to James so they work well together, he is also very sensible and can put a level head on suggestions from James. 
• Secretary - Someone who, during the meetings, takes useful notes and also holds the meeting, creating an agenda as to what we have to cover during the meeting in an order which makes the most sense and ticks off all the points which need to be raised. We chose Fran Taylor for this position as she is very organised and is good at making quick, but decisive notes which are easy to read and understand.
• Treasurer - Someone who is in charge of the financial side to the event, they need to discuss budgets and how much things are going to cost, how much we need to price the tickets in order to get our money back. Sort out prices for food and tickets. We chose Jess Gilder for this position as she is very confident and competent with Maths, she is also a very organised person who will get the job done punctual.
• Talent Officer - Someone who organises and finds artists and bands to play at the event, getting a good mixture or specific genre to suit the event style. We chose Charlie Clarke for this position as he has gigged around a lot and has become very close with a lot of artists and has experienced being with many different types of artists and bands. He is also a very welcoming and friendly character and isn't shy to approach people.
• Publicity Officer - Someone who gets the event out there, whether thats via social media, posters around the local area or telling friends. They also need to be constantly updating people about the order of the event and whats happening. We chose Neve Murray for this position as she is very organised but also skilled in computer arts and is very good at making professional looking posters and regularly updating social media to keep everyone informed as to what is going on.
• Logistic Officer - Someone who designs the set and how the place looks to people who are coming for the event. They also need to ask each act how they would like their set up so that they can lead their team in creating the right staging for each artist. We chose myself for this position as I am skilled in being organised but also taking into account everyones needs and making sure I make them. I am also very good at design and how things should look, making them look neither too cluttered nor too bland.

Theme:

We chose to have a Valentines theme as it is a week before Valentines Day. When we thought of the theme Valentines Day we thought the colour red would be a good idea to have around the set. Also banners with hearts on. However because it is called 'The Hotdog Social' I had the idea of having the set look like an American diner, with classic red and white chequered table clothes for the seated audience, with classic menus and a sign for the diner about the stage. We thought these two aspects worked together as WE ALL LOVE FOOD. 

My Role:

In preparation for The Hotdog Social I had many jobs to accomplish to make sure of the safety of everyone in the building. This included taping down all of the cables to make sure there were no trip hazards. Made sure the seating part to the audience space was correctly positioned, made sure the fire doors were easily accessible for everyone in case of an emergency. I was also in charge of the staging and how it looked. Getting the right set is important to create the correct atmosphere. I worked with a team and we came up with many different ideas but settled on making it Hawaiian based and colourful. The drum kit was raised above the rest of the stage to create a more realistic and made the stage look less boring. I also set up all of the microphones and set up the amps. Also in the committee meetings I came up with the ideas of having both seating and standing areas for the audience and how we would cater for the audience.

All in all I think I did a good job and everything was thought through and the evening went well with no injuries. The only aspect which I didn't think about was the opportunity for the audience to get onto the stage. I should've fenced it of or had some sort of barrier to stop this from happening. Also taping the leads down was a good idea but labelling them would've been better as there were problems with the musicians with which label belonged to which amp.