Through years of delivering mass participation events, it’s interesting to see what things, however large or small can make or break a mass participation event. Here are just five to get you started!
1) Entry and Confirmation
You’ve captured someone’s attention; your marketing is on point and the event you're selling looks great on paper. But we all know great marketing does not automatically mean the event is going to be delivered to the same standard, anyone with a Netflix subscription that has taken the time to watch the Fyre Festival documentary will agree!
The process of entering an event is the first time someone will interact with your company directly, it’s important that this process is straight forward and painless. Keep it simple and ask people only for the information you require from them.
Someone clicks ‘Pay Now’ on their entry system and boom, they're in. The next screen confirms their entry, offers them a reference code and tells them to keep it safe. This isn’t enough, people will ignore this so it’s standard practice to send a confirmation email and/or have them uploaded to a competitor list on your website. Not only does it generate a smooth entry process it will also reduce the amount of email queries coming through to your team.
2) Delays before or after the event
A fast track to putting someone off attending your event in future…delays!
When people have trained hard for an event or challenge and have invested a lot of time into it, they are understandably anxious for the day to go perfectly. This anxiety will be peaking the morning of event, people may have had a poor night’s sleep in anticipation and just want to make it to the start line. Any delays that stop them getting to the start line can feel like a much bigger issue than it actually is. Delays at this stage can include trying to get their car parked because the que is moving so slowly, a large line for the toilets or a problem picking up race packs the morning of the event.
After the event, as an event organiser you will experience heightened emotions from your competitors of another kind. People will have often pushed themselves to the edge of their ability, they are tired, cold, hungry and exposed to the current weather conditions, whatever that may be. Delays that stop people getting more comfortable after their race can have a very negative impact on their experience and can lead to more serious welfare issues if left unresponded to. Delays at this stage could include picking up their bag from the bag drop or delays getting out the car park.
3) Value for Money
In the current economic climate people are going to be looking for value for money, they want maximal experience in exchange for their hard earned cash.
It’s important to look at where your event offers value for money and where costs need to be reviewed.
With this, it’s also important to keep in mind what will have the biggest impact on your competitor experience and what they will remember. For example, someone taking part in a running event is much more likely to remember the cold beer they were offered at the finish line over the expensive branded gantries on the course. Spend your budget wisely to offer maximum value for money.
4) Community
It’s well documented and proven that a strong community within an event is a passport to success. Examples of mass participation events with strong communities include Ironman in triathlon, Race for Life in running or the Fred Whitton Challenge in cycling.
But what attributes do these events have that generate a positive and tight knit community that return year after year?
Ironman is one of the toughest single day main stream events out there and because of this the community is strengthened through the sharing of training practices, their accomplishments and entry into a relatively select group of alumni.
On the other hand, Race for Life builds a solid community by connecting people that have each suffered similar experiences and trauma of Cancer, whether that be themselves or a family member.
Finally, the Fred Whitton Challenge brings people together not only because it voluntarily supports a number of charities, but because despite how large the event grows the same local touch from the steering group never leaves. Local pubs, local food vendors, local suppliers for the giveaway all adds to that tight knit local feel.
So when you are building your event, pick that niche and work towards developing a positive and unique community.
5) Doing the basics well!
Sounds simple right? Well, it is, but during the mad rush of the final weeks of event planning it’s very easy to overlook things that can turn into major reputational or welfare issues.
Here are just a few for you to keep in mind when planning your next event:
- Ordering enough finish line medals/giveaways
- Providing good pre-event information
- Communicating with your competitors when/if things change
- Having a good venue vibe (but don’t have the music too loud).
- Stock up those loo’s with toilet roll
- Offer good quality merchandise that reflects the quality of your event.
This is only a brief list, if I continued the list using personal experiences from events over the years would cover multiple pages.
If you would like to hear more or want to get in touch with All About Sports Events about a project you have in mind or need support with, please email hello@allaboutsportsevents.co.uk and say hi.
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