Events/Concerts are Back...Or are they?

Daily, we see new listings for events; civic events, concerts, forums, wine tastings, restaurants with open-mic nights. Why heck, New York City has announced an August concert for 60,000 people in Central Park (no artists booked yet, see article below). But even in the big NYC announcement there's a disclaimer. "the article notes, despite the rapidly expanding reopening across the U.S., prospect of a large-scale public event may still pose complications for health and crowd control." It goes on to talk about vaccine passports, and other cautions.

So there you have it. We're back, right? Well maybe. As you think about your upcoming event there are a ton of considerations. Who will be comfortable attending? What will they need to hear in order to MAKE them comfortable? Will you make masks mandatory or optional? Will you require proof of vaccination? What are the legal ramifications to either? Will you allow 100% capacity? That's just the beginning.

If you're hiring talent, what are their needs? How do THEY feel about the audience masking up, or not? Will they talk about that on stage? (just sayin'). Speaking of politics, if your event is civics related, or in any way close; how will you handle political dialogue? How good is your moderator? Do they understand the "rules"? Are there any rules? Do you have a sponsor? Do THEY have an opinion?

Now think about marketing the event. I laughed the other day when someone commented on a digital ad for an event and asked "is it in person, or virtual?" The promoter had ignored the most basic question of all! We've been trained for 14 months to assume all events are virtual. What makes event managers think that prospective attendees will just "know"? They won't. Even if it's obviously a live, butts-in-seats ticketed event; is there a virtual option? Many people will pay for a virtual option even if there's a live in person event.

Lyle Lovett has successfully staged virtual one on one shows. He partners with another musician, often in a remote location. In his show with Jason Isbel, Jason was at his home in Nashville, and Lyle at his home outside Houston. The format was talk, play, talk some more, play some more. Each artist got in four or five songs. The talk interplay was great (Lovett proved to be a good interviewer). That $10 was amongst the best I've ever spent. And, I'm not sure I'd have gone to see it with 3,000 people in front of a stage even if it were ONLY. $10.

So think about your event, and whether it actually need to be live and in person. Maybe just live is good enough, and virtual. And if it's live, remember to ask yourself "are we really back?" and what does that mean?

-for more events and media insights help message me on LinkedIn or contact me at Tim.Roesler@Protonmail.com

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/new-york-clive-davis-central-park-mega-concert-1234990065/