Rockabye Baby - Bringing Kids to Adult Events

A few months following the birth of my daughter in 2008, I had my first opportunity to attend (rather than work) an outdoor music festival (Pitchfork in Chicago, for those of you wondering). Observing the crowd for the first time through fresh, fatherly eyes, I was struck by several people who were attending the event with children in tow. We’re not talking teenagers, or even pre-teens...these were parents of infants and toddlers, schlepping bottles and diaper bags between stages as one would nachos or the drunken carcass of their best friend. Although I had seen this practice hundreds of times before, this was my first time witnessing it as a parent. Even though most had the good sense to provide their children with at least a modicum of personal protection (earplugs and sunscreen), I was initially disgusted and disheartened by this display of “irresponsibility”. I vowed right then and there that I would never, ever torture my daughter that way. And I’m not referring to subjecting her to Vampire Weekend.

Since this initial exposure, I’ve since warmed to the idea of bringing younger children to SOME adult-oriented events. Not only can it prove necessary for the maintenance of the parent’s sanity, it is a good way to expose your kids to arts and culture that doesn’t involve grown men in creepy matching outfits (no, not DEVO) and insipid purple dinosaurs. However, the event professional in me recommends a fair amount of pre-planning if you want your outing to be enjoyable for the entire family, and to avoid an unwanted visit from child services.

1) Choose your events wisely- as a hater of most children’s music, I welcome any opportunity to expose kids to a wide range of (non-pandering) art. However, a certain amount of discretion must be taken when selecting which events to attend. I don’t mean this in a musical taste/vulgarity sense (don’t get me started on that one), but on the actual physical characteristics of the event. Does it take place in an environment where you’ll be able to step away and wind down if need be, or is it in an unforgiving asphalt parking lot? Is the crowd demographic traditionally respectful of personal space, or should you expect junior to be rubbing against sweaty, swaying bodies all day?

2) Do your research - Be sure you know where the restrooms are located, what food options there are, and what is allowed in to the facility. Pay special attention as to whether re-entry is permitted, and for how long (you never know when you’ll need to take a car break).

3) Come prepared - To steal a phrase from Henry Rollins, you are now officially a baby roadie - your job is to schlep around all the necessities for your newly-minted rock star. And just as in your day to day life, you’ll need to bring with you everything you’ll need to make it through the day. Most venues do not sell diapers, formula, or anything close to healthy food (or, really, "food"). As mentioned above, make sure you do your research to be sure you can bring in everything you need.

4) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS bring hearing protection - If you plan on attending concerts regularly, invest in an excellent pair of child-sized noise cancelling headphones. Foam earplugs work in a pinch, but aren’t meant for small ears, which makes them uncomfortable and more likely to be lost or removed. As an event promoter, I have absolutely no qualms about throwing you out on your Docker-laden ass if you aren’t protecting your children’s hearing. See that fine print on the back of the ticket? That gives me the right. Don’t make me do it.

4) Watch the weather - the morning of the event, take a look at the weather report. Is it going to be over 90 degrees, sunny, and humid? Then call up your friends and get rid of your tickets, because there’s no way in hell you should be bringing a child out in weather like that for any extended length of time. Heat illness can strike children much quicker than adults. Don’t risk it.

5) Watch your intake - having a beer while watching a concert with your child is not a criminal offense (although I still recommend against it simply due to optics). However, getting sloshed and relying on junior to get you back to the car is an entirely different matter.

6) You’re on their schedule - Kids don’t care about set times, or your favorite song. When they’re tired, or hungry, or just ready to go, your fun is over. Know this, and accept it. Consider making it halfway through the opening act a success, and don’t be too disappointed if you don’t even make it that long.

Above all, don’t hold it against your kids if that despite all your planning efforts, things just don’t work out. They’re only acting their age...you’re the one still thinking you’re a free-wheeling 24 year old with a social life. Besides, I’ve learned that staying home with the kids on a Saturday can be just as exciting as seeing Ozzy for the 10th time.

And probably with just as much vomit...

Our Week on the Web - 2011-09-25

• RT @ready2spark: What if your band shares a name with right-wing pols? Tea Party decides they might sell their domain http://t.co/ZXXIStcA #


• KJ goes for the throat yet again. One of the many reasons to follow him : RT @PlannerWire: A Sad Day for the Broadmoor http://t.co/wbJjOQwS #


• I sense a logistical nightmare -Radiohead's Going To Beat Music's Ticket Broker Problem All On Their Own http://j.mp/q0ll0L #


• Anyone surprised by a $16 per muffin charge has obviously never drank from the hotel minibar before.
  #eventprofs #

Overbranded

A reality check for all the old-school, rock’n’roll purists out there...the days of the sponsorship-free concert are over. Done. As finished as Charlie Sheen’s career. And contrary to what you may believe, its death was not the result of some corporate money grab (well, mostly, anyway...). It was a survival move. The increased cost of concert production, coupled with the ever-swelling guarantees demanded by many artists meant ticket and concession sales could no longer support the promoters bottom line as they once could. For concerts to continue being a worthwhile (i.e profitable) venture, producers needed to find new ways of generating revenue. Borrowing a page from professional sports teams, promoters and venues embraced corporate sponsorship with overwhelmingly lucrative results. Seeing the money that could be made by dropping their anti-corpo-itarian posturing, the artists soon followed suit. And the new face of rock became...Nike.

After years of fruitless resistance, the young punk in me has come to accept, even embrace, tasteful corporate sponsorship as a necessary part of the modern concert landscape. After all, with no profit, there’s no show. However, I do contend that there is a fine line between tasteful, effective branding and gross discourteous profit generation that should never be crossed.

Accepting that corporate sponsorship of concerts is a necessity (even a benefit) does not mean you should allow your client's marketing efforts to overwhelm your event. In fact, "overbranding" your event can actually work against your goals. People appreciate and respond to effective, tasteful integration of sponsorship into their event experience. Conversely, they will reject and resent efforts that scream in their face, rather than whisper in their ear or tug at their emotions. Sponsorship should enhance an event, not overshadow it.

Similarly, there is such a thing as too much sponsorship. Scarcity creates (and even raises) value...even if such scarcity doesn’t actually exist. Not only do guests have a limited capacity to absorb event marketing, too much sponsorship dilutes the marketing efforts of ALL your clients and decreases the overall value of participation.

Its the difference between allowing a dealership or local car stereo shop place a tasteful nameplate on your shiny new BMW after doing some work, and slapping bumper stickers all over the ass of your Corolla. One demonstrates that you have taste, and value quality and reward experience. The other will get you ridiculed and, contrary to your intent, almost universally ignored.

Given the choice, which would you want to drive?

Our Week on the Web - 2011-09-18

• A little industry drama for your reading pleasure - Alleged censorship at Track 29 ripples through concert industry |http://j.mp/rnF0rn #

Attack of the Clones

Editors Note - Welcome to latest edition of “Let’s See Who We Can Alienate This Week”.  Avoid reading further if you offend easily or can't handle well-intentioned criticism. We’ll resume our otherwise good-natured writing shortly.

Tired of tumbleweeds blowing across the sands of your website? Struggling in vain to increase your blog's visitor traffic? After many hours trolling the Internet, I have discovered the obvious solution to your problems.

Start blogging about how to increase your blog traffic.

It’s a method proven to send visitors flocking to your website, hanging breathlessly on your every word. It doesn't matter if your website is about widget manufacturing, or if you know next to nothing about how to ACTUALLY increase blog traffic. Just enter "increase blog traffic" in the search engine of your choice, and blatantly snatch ideas from one of the millions of listings that come back. Which site you choose is irrelevant- a quick read of your search returns will make it apparent that everyone else has done exactly the same thing as you are. Toss your pirated goods into some hastily-written copy and "Presto!"...you've joined the chorus of voices saying the same damn thing for fun and profit. I guarantee that your site’s traffic will improve...because there's a billion other bloggers out there looking for the same quick fix.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok...so perhaps I'm joking, if only slightly. However, this (admittedly snide) example is demonstrative of a larger issue I see happening as more event professionals begin their own blogs. If you're going to invest time in maintaining a blog, you basically have a choice to make. You can hold visitor traffic and re-tweets as your holy grail, and choose your topics based upon what will appeal to the largest number of visitors, regardless of how played out the topic may be. Or you can be a leader and forge your own path, be original, and be fearless in exploring subjects that may not have mass-resonance, even within your field of expertise. Sadly, too many otherwise fine event writers seem to have chosen the former, regurgitating endless variations of the same social media and networking topics that have been written hundreds of times before. I myself have been guilty of this on more than a few occasions, and I hardly consider myself one of the industry’s finer examples of professional writing.

Yes, focusing on these well-worn topics will drive traffic, which is necessary for building your personal brand. But unless you're bringing something new to the discussion, it’s also lazy, and limits the options of those event professionals yearning for new ideas and information. There are literally thousands of event-related issues that can (and should) be addressed - so why do I keep seeing the same things crossing my media feeds over...and over...and over?

The event industry can only thrive with a relentless dedication to creativity and originality. We should hold our blogs to equally high standards, and avoid falling into the trap of lazy repetition simply because it “sells”.

Our Week on the Web - 2011-09-11

• Bring the Noise: Handling Noise Complaints http://j.mp/enAsmf #eventprofs #


• New Post: Bring The Noise – Handling Noise Complaints http://j.mp/gn5S5I #eventprofs #


• Great NYT piece on one of the nation's best festivals (IMO), Austin City Limits- http://j.mp/nFzeT2 #

Our Week on the Web - 2011-09-11

• Bring the Noise: Handling Noise Complaints http://j.mp/enAsmf #eventprofs #


• New Post: Bring The Noise – Handling Noise Complaints http://j.mp/gn5S5I #eventprofs #


• Great NYT piece on one of the nation's best festivals (IMO), Austin City Limits- http://j.mp/nFzeT2 #

Bring The Noise - Handling Noise Complaints

Back in the early days of my venue management career, I had an stalker. Well, maybe not a stalker, per say...although I spoke with her often enough to recognize her telephone number when it came across my desk. Her name was Mary (or as I half-affectionately referred to her, Crazy Mary), and she lived in a neighborhood not far from our venue. I would receive at least one call from her during most concerts, although (thankfully) not with any amorous intentions. No, she’s call to complain. Loudly. About the noise. Never mind that the venue had been active for nearly a decade before the subdivision she lived in was even built...our horrible little outpost of sin and vice was destroying the purity of her sleepy Midwest suburbia, and she demanded that we tell those heathens on our stage turn it down. Tell that to Lemmy, ma’am.

When it comes to concert production, Abraham Lincoln was right - you can’t please everyone all of the time* . No matter how respectful of your surroundings you may be, sooner or later you will encounter a noise complaint (or several). When that fateful day does come, dealing with your disgruntled neighbors will require more than a half-hearted apology and filing away the complainants name. Dealing with such complaints and minimizing them in the future requires several proactive steps.

Anticipate issues before they arise- A sad reality about noise complaints - most people who complain about the volume level at your event are not really complaining about the volume at all. Whether they admit to it or not, most are actually complaining about the music itself, or the audience which the concert attracts. Volume is simply a convenient, socially “safe” excuse to express their displeasure with what is occurring on their doorstep.

One venue in which I worked was situated adjacent to a pricey yacht club....one of those sweater and boat-shoes type places you thought only existed in John Hughes movies. Despite the obvious culture clash between our two establishments, the relationship was remarkably friendly. Most nights, boaters were regularly seen lounging dockside, drinks in hand, soaking in the free sounds on a warm summer night. That is, until we hosted a nationally-promoted hip-hop tour at the venue. Although the exact number of noise complaints escapes me now, they numbered in the dozens, which was more than the venue had garnered during the entire season beforehand. Yet in terms of volume, the monitored sound level was no different than the hundreds of concerts produced previously. All that differed was the artist on stage, and the people in the audience.

I have no intention of arguing the social implications of this phenomena (although it IS tempting). Rather, I mention it to show that knowing what events are likely to raise complaints is the first step to proactively dealing with them. Research your venue’s complaint history, and make an effort to know the demographics of your area. These actions may not tell you exactly which shows you should worry about currently, but it may give you a partial snapshot so you can estimate your complaint level.

Plan ahead - By knowing what types of shows are likely to garner complaints (as mentioned previously), as well as the general area in which the noise complaints arise from (more on that in a moment), you can take additional steps to minimize any potential impact your noise levels may have. Adjusting your stage position and show/set times are just two ways in which you can help limit noise and minimize complaints.

Take complaints seriously - when a noise complaint does arise, by all means TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. Never, ever ignore their grievance or treat it with anything other than complete seriousness (which I’ll admit is often very difficult). There may be little that you can actually do at the current time, but a bit of understanding and compassion can go a long way in avoiding an escalation of the situation. Escalation usually involves the local police, who are usually much harder to appease once they've been called. Listen to their complaint, offer to do what you can, and be sure to get their name, address, and telephone number. This is important to identify what areas are being impacted by excessive noise, and so that you can....

Follow up with them - Based on their complaint, take whatever steps you feel prudent to prevent another complaint (structural changes, lower noise guidelines, bribery). Following the next event, reach out to those persons who previously complained, even if they didn’t do so this time. Inquire as to if there were any issues this time around, and casually mention the mitigation efforts you put in place based upon their initial complaint. This will send the signal that you are concerned with their well being, and will (hopefully) warm them to your cause enough to prevent additional complaints.

Unless, of course, you work near Crazy Mary.

* In actuality, Lincoln is generally quoted using the word “fool” in place of “pleased”. Who knows where this common substitution began, or who was actually responsible for it. But since Lincoln himself likely nicked the quote from Lydgate, Aesop, or one of the other 500 sources its attributed to, I figure he wouldn’t mind some (potentially) unfounded credit.

Our Week on the Web - 2011-09-04

• Makes the case for fostering fans and partners, not simply customers - "Growing Pains for Burning Man Festival" - http://j.mp/p0R3Fc #


• Four Hard Truths For The New Concert Professional http://j.mp/gn5S5I #eventprofs #


• Bay area peeps, your night has been planned. RT @NathanDoFrango: This Friday Night @ZUGHAUSgallery - Free Concert - http://t.co/yQrAYO8 #