Event evaluation finale by Diane Victoriane Delaveau

Event Evaluation

Let’s bring the book alive ! An Event at Druids Heath Library Diane Delaveau - Communication manager - 09/01/2017

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

Our Event Let’s bring the book alive! An Event at Druids Heath Library was held on the Saturday 3rd of December at the Druids Heath Library. Aimed at Children of the local community, it brings them together for an entertaining day around the book and gets them the chance to discover the new children’s section of the library funded by the Wolfson charity grant. We are two BCU students creating an event for Druids Heath Library, Birmingham, part of our degree assignment. Through this special non-profit event, we want to promote the Druids Heath Library as a learning and entertaining environment. A prize competition was also organised to give the opportunity to bring back home a book for the children. Druids Heath Library is a central community place : local population gathers there to deal with their problems, but also to enjoy their free time. Our event, « Let’s bring the book alive » was a special moment for them to gather, especially for children of the community. In the next part, I will give my evaluation over this event and aim to understand how we can improve my work within future event management.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

Table of content I. Objective achievement II. Research III. Event management process A. Event proposal B. Event planning methodology IV. Event production A. Logistics B. Marketing C. Management D. Health and Safety V. Event observation VI. Reflection

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

I. Objective achievement The intended outcome of the event was to promote Druids Heath Library and show people the new childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s section. The aim was to get children involve within the facilities that the library has to offer and inform them. We achieved to bring children and their family to the library around our event Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bring the book alive. Our event showcased the new library section with two different activities planned : a quiz that will let the children discover the library and understand what they can get out of it ; two actors who animated different games with the audience.

We also offered to enter a prize

competition to win books and toys to appeal the audience to come and enjoy the event. Overall, the event went smoothly, we had a great attendance of 13 children and their family. The objectives were clearly respected as our client was satisfied with the event delivery.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

II. Research Most of our finding for our research was about our audience, the local community of Druids Heath. We made our primary research about the Druids Heath area and the audience at the Druids Heath Library.

Our research shows us that the library was

attracting every segment of the population, and therefore we decided to set up our objective for a children’s audience. However, this could have been more accurate if we would have researched the attendance of age segment on each different day, rather than in general. Indeed, our event was held on a Saturday morning, which was not a privileged moment for our target audience to come, due to sport or leisure activities that they were attending at the same time. Our targeted audience compared to the demographic seen on the day of the event within Druids Heath area could have therefore been different, in order to refine our promotional strategy. However, we feel that our event was still researched as they were a real interest in the event held : we could have on the other hand chosen a better time period, as a weekday afternoon. Regarding the investigation on the venue, our venue was the Druids Heath Library in Birmingham. It is a community library at the centre of this local area. We decided on our key stakeholder in correlation with our event, but not with our venue. Indeed, we didn’t engage the main stakeholders of our library which could have enhanced the success of our event, such as the local school or the diverse partnerships they have with the local charities or institutions for example. We didn’t make use of the already existing materials that our library could have provided, although we were aware of it through our research about the Druids Heath Library.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

III. Event management process A. Event proposal We came out with an event concept that was targeting a children audience. It was very clear to us that it had to be as entertaining and engaging for the children as possible. We came up with the idea of storytelling really quickly, as an original concept but also something that appeals a younger public and stays in touch with our objective. As we had a really limited timescale and budget, we opted for actors to put themselves in roles of books or narratives, telling a story to the children and making them participate. We also wanted a secondary activity, to be able to propose something in case we had a large turnout but also to give the event and their attendees autonomy. We chose to do a quiz related to the mascot of the Druids Heath Library. Our main difficulty was to design an event that can involve the youngest who start reading, but also older children, that wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get annoyed or bored out of it. On the day, the event run great and as we had a lower attendance than expected, the two activities came together : actors were doing the quiz with the children. It was an unexpected outcome and the event didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen as we thought it would have. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t anticipate how to create an event for children can be difficult in terms of management. It came out great and the audience really enjoyed it, as our volunteers who spent a great morning entertaining the children. To attract the audience, we decided on several methods. we mostly relied on flyers, social media and press coverage. We started two weeks before the event to promote the activity day on social media as Facebook and Twitter, by putting in place a specific event and also tweeting about it and posting the event on specific interest pages and groups. We

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

have created a media kit aimed to the potential sponsors, the local authorities, the media outlets selected but also the library. We have sent the press release to the local media on the Friday 25th of November. Our two initial strategies were also to attract sponsorship and get some schools to promote our event through giving our flyers to their students. For sponsoring, we mainly targeting the local shops of the Druids Heath and Maypole area. We have been researching online for all of them their social corporate responsibility, and the one that was closest to what we think are in their interests are the shop Greggs, WHSmith and Aldi. We successfully secured book donations from WHSmith King’s Heath. On a shorter notice closer to the event, we got 20 pounds gift card from Wilko that we decided to use to buy more prizes for the competition, but we also decided to use it to buy essential items for the day, as water and plastic cups. Moreover, as sponsoring was our incentives to attract our audience, we needed to communicate and find our audience. We have researched the primary school of Druids Heath and contacted them unfortunately without results. This could have been done differently, by implicating directly in the making of the event. They were key stakeholders in our event and we didn’t secure them, which has implied on the number of attendees on the day of the event. It has been a challenging aspect of our event management that we didn’t handle properly and being more persistent and getting a compromise between one school and the library could have been an answer to our troubles. Overall, our event process went as expected although we encountered some issues, we managed to have the event set as required by our client. We delivered the event correctly and in agreement with the expectations of our client and our audience. We know

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

next time that schools for a children’s event are crucial partners and there is a need to understand how to communicate with them and create a relationship with them can make a key difference. Sponsorship are important and we are happy about this achievement, however, we have overestimated the influence of them in our event : they are not an essential item of our day, although it is a real plus-value.

B. Event planning methodology We didn’t plan a clear timeline for our attendees as there was no set time to attend the event and enjoy the activity. We created a timeline for our volunteer team but we didn’t assign define role for each of them. We could have done that as it was sometimes unclear and confusing for them to know what to do and when. Our event program started early, at 11 am, but the majority of our audience came at the time of 12.30 pm. This made our event run differently than we would have expected, having more people at only one period of time. To plan our event, we decided to divide our role : Berit has done everything related to the event management itself : the logistic, implication of volunteers and photographs. I took care of the whole communication process and the health and safety plan. It came naturally to split the task in that as we both have our aptitude in each area. It went pretty smoothly and it was clear for the two of us which tasks was assigned to who, although we were a really restricted team.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

IV. Event production A. Logistics Venue preparation was really basic and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t require much. We proceed however to a health and safety inspection and make our volunteers aware of the safety rules with children. We followed mostly the guidelines already in place at the Druids Heath Library. Our venue is not meant to hold a big event and is made of small areas for quiet reading or games. It was hard to find a compromise between a larger space and something that will still show how the space looks on a normal day. We decided to leave the space untouched and thanks to the limited number of attendees, it worked within the space and created an atmosphere of game and entertainment for the children. Activities planned were accurate for the kind of event we were putting on. The quiz was a low budget activity and we secure volunteering from two actors from the Birmingham City School of Acting, which was a great achievement. The audience enjoyed the activity and found it interesting to discover the library and the new children section.

B. Marketing As explained earlier, we secured two sponsorship for our event which allowed us to put in place a great set of prize for the competition. School liaison didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t finally work out, so we secure the attendance only through promotion on social media, via a press release and through flyers within the local shops of the Druids Heath area. We promoted the event largely through the diverse platforms we were offered, and the flyers were available to see in the majority of the shop of Druids Heath area. We put great effort into our

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

promotion by making sure a large amount of our targeted audience was able to see our message. However, we lacked regularity in our messages online on social media, and therefore our audience couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t interact with us. We could have been more accurate and set up more exact and regular timing for our social media campaign.

C. Management Most of our communication with our client was made by email and through on-site visits. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plan any specific time or day to update them about the event production, but we regularly send them an email with all the details of the process, about one to two time a week. Going on site was for us more relevant as other duties in the process were bringing us in the Druids Heath area, as sponsoring for example. Communication could have been set up with more professionalism however this went well with a more informal manner. Regarding our event team, Berit and I met three days in a week for quick meetings and update about the process. It was really useful and I truly felt that meetings were the best way to keep track on the process, rather than email or messages. We could handle things straight away together if any problem occurred and it gave us a great cohesion as an event team.

D. Health and Safety We proceed prior to the event to a heath and safety review thanks to the risk assessment form. We decided on the day that I will be in charge in case of any incident happening. No hazard happened but to know that one person was responsible and knew

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

the right thing to do in case of emergency was reassuring for the whole team. We were not use to work in an environment with children and we took absolute care that we could handle most of the situation.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

V. Event observation For a complete overview of the event and a better evaluation, it is truly important to include some observations of our volunteers, the client and my teammate. Working with Berit was engaging and straightforward. We got along about the event planning really quickly and I enjoyed working and developing an event in a professional manner with her. We both have develop our team working skills but also our team communication skills. I realise how communication is a crucial component of any event team and it is the basis to the success of our work. With regular and clear updates of both of our production, I knew what she was doing and when and it gave me the confidence and the envy to achieve and propose a challenging event. Success such as sponsoring securement gave us a sense of achievement as a team. A week before the event, one event team in our group had it event cancel. Two of them proposed as volunteers for our event, Beth and Emily. It was an add-on to our already existing of four people on the day, and we were worried about being too many to support the event. As a last minute resource, we added a special activity for them in the quiz. On the day of the event, it was great to have an outside eye of the event to give us help on how to handle last minute details and share their thoughts about our event production itself. More, the two actors volunteering gave life to the event and we realised how important volunteers and staffing in general in events management are the crucial support to any successful event with children. They are the one who got the engagement of the audience, made them enjoy our event.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

The client was satisfied with the event. They further on developed another similar event, smaller in size and requiring less volunteer to help, on Saturday morning. They were happy that our event gave life to the library and brought a new audience inside the venue.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

VI. Reflection On a total, 13 children attended and took part in the event, which we measured through taking pictures and count the completed quiz by the children. The event was for us achieved as we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t encounter any hazard during the event day and we had an audience to support our event. The outcome for our client and audience were positive as we have positive feedbacks from them. I will do that kind of event again as volunteer. It is an engaging and hard-working experience, but we felt that our event gave something to our audience and being able to offer this activity day was something achieving. For further event, we next time wanna focus more on the research and understand more the need and want of the community we are developing the event within. We wanna go further than just analysing data, but asking the audience itself and the client itself. We had few knowledge about the area and asking directly people that knows a lot about our expecting audience would have been a start to make a better event proposal. We did a great event production however. This evaluation will help us and our client in the future to understand mistakes and good choices that has been done and being able to create a more adequate event proposal and also propose a better event production, achieve new challenges. We now understand what are the important stakeholders in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event and what is it to work for the specific need of a client, within a precise context and requirements.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

VII. Appendices Evidence of the Event

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

Communication Plan POTENTIAL SPONSORS :

- Greggs : In Store told contact Head Office - Contact through Facebook + Call Greggs Birmingham (the person required wasn’t there) - Left a message and call again Thursday morning + Facebook : contact getintouch@greggs.co.uk contacted

- WHSmith King’s Heath : Contact in store and through Facebook - Call manager 01214445533 Call again Thursday afternoon to speak to Mark the manager + SEE VICKY TOMORROW

- Aldi : Paper given to the manager, Contact through Facebook (answered) and online website Local store manager may authorise it - directly go to the store manager.

- Wilko : Form hand in stores - Contact through Facebook - Sent email to charity@wilko.com Call 012147434854 The person responsible will be back Tuesday 22 - Call on Tuesday 22

- Iceland : Paper given to the manager, Contact through website and Facebook - NO - Call local branch - NO

- Boots : Call Boots Customer Care : 03450708090 - NO - Local Branch - NO - King’s Heath branch?

- Sainsbury’s : Contact Olivia Verny - She will be in Thursday 17 - Go in store and speak to a PR ambassador, Olivie will be Tuesday 22 MEDIA OUTLET :

- B14 News website - Birmingham Newsroom website - Birmingham Mail - Birmingham Post - Library of Birmingham Website

Plan a communication strategy MEDIA OUTLET (25TH OF NOVEMBER)

- B14 News website - Birmingham Newsroom website - Birmingham Mail - Birmingham Post - Library of Birmingham Website COMMUNITY GROUPS (MONDAY)

- Brandwood Centre

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- Maypole Youth and Community Centre - B14 Druids Heath, Maypole, Yardley Facebook group - Spotter : Druids Heath Facebook group - Friends of Druids Heath Committee Facebook Group - Malachi - Druids Heath Facebook group - Druids Heath Library Facebook Group and Website.

Flyer of the Event

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

Quiz

Let’s bring the book alive Quiz So here is your guide to enjoy your day and find out where Boris is hiding… By answering all the questions correctly, you will get to discover the fantastic world of books! And of course, help each other! Good luck!

1. But wait… Who is Boris? Look around, there is a few pictures of him… What animal is Boris?

2. Okay, now.. Go through the books that library has and find out the answers to these questions and you will be a step closer to find out where Boris is hiding! ➢ What did Cinderella turn into? (Laura North ‘Cinderella: The Terrible Truth’

section: stories)

➢ What is the cat’s name? (Anne Fine ‘The Killer Cat Strikes back’ section:

stories)

➢ Who is the unluckiest space invader on Planet X? (Guy Bass ‘Alien Invasion’

section: fiction)

➢

What is the name of the new teacher? (Jeremy Strong ‘Cartoon Kid: Supercharged’ section: fiction)

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU

Research evidence Diane Delaveau

Client-based Event Production

Druids Heath Library

Audience research There is not dominant demographic library users. Users under 16 years old represent around 18% of the visitors of the library in 2014.

Area research (B14) Druids Heath is an area of southern Birmingham, United Kingdom covering the south-west quadrant of the B14 postcode (west of the Maypole). Nearby settlements include Kings Heath and Kings Norton. Druids Heath is in the local council ward of Brandwood, which is represented by Labour Councillors Mike Leddy, Barry Henley, and Eva Phillips. It is also in the parliamentary constituency of Selly Oak. Therefore, it is represented in the House of Commons by the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Steve McCabe. The schools within the Druids Heath area are; The Baverstock Academy, Bells Farm Primary School, The Oaks Primary School and St. Jude's RC Junior and Infant School. Druids Heath has remained largely unchanged since it was developed in the 1960s. There is two shopping areas nearby the library : one in front of it, with four shops including a cafĂŠs and a cake shop. The other one, across the main road (Alcester Road) is larger and made of wellknown shop as well as independent one : Greggs, Iceland, Burger King, Sainsburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Wilko, etc. There is a small parking right next to the library, which can be useful on the day of the event.

Venue research Opening hours Address : Druids Heath Library, Idmiston Croft, Birmingham. B14 5NJ Email : druids.heath.library@birmingham.gov.uk Tel : 0121 303 7171 Library Manager : Marian Wolff Transport : Bus 50 stops outside the library. Bus 49, 69 and 2 stop nearby.

EVENT EVALUATION - DIANE DELAVEAU