Tips to Make your Festival a Success

Festivals are a great time for people to get together and enjoy some culture. The festival may revolve around excellent food, literature, cinema, music or something else, but the quality of these things alone isn’t enough to ensure the overall success of the event.

Here are some tips to make your festival thrive.

Get Branding Help

There are times you need to defer to the professionals, and you simply need to hire a graphic design agency to promote and brand your festival — the stakes are high, and they’re the experts. Local companies like Cosmic Design have overseen the branding for a wide range of festivals. You want to work with a company that is simultaneously big and experienced enough to get the job done, but small enough to nimbly respond to the client’s needs.

Some larger companies have too many layers of go-between, and there isn’t always direct dialogue between the art directors and designers with the clients. When the design studio has the right size and temperament, it will feel to the client like an extension of themselves. When it comes to putting on your festival, look to a graphic design agency with real experience in both print and digital branding, as well as environmental elements like stage signage and tent wrap.

Branding is a major tool for driving attendance to the festival, and at the heart of it, every festival is really a celebration of people — it doesn’t matter how good the festival is if nobody is there to enjoy it.

You Cannot Plan Too Much

Every festival has many moving pieces, and they need to fit together just right. The nature and the location of the festival will dictate what needs to be planned.

If it’s in an urban environment there’ll likely be more permits required, and the branding will need to make the event standout amid what can be a busy downtown setting. If it’s an outdoor music festival somewhere rustic, you’ll need to be prepared for different weather contingencies, and ensure there are adequate washrooms, first-aid kits and safe drinking water available.

Planning properly helps to make the event run smoothly. Still, things can be hectic, both at the festival itself and even during the planning stage. Prepare early and carefully, and be hands-on by personally making sure that the plans are being carried out properly the day (or night) of the festival. Know that the plans will sometimes go wrong, and be prepared for that too!

Keep It Focused

Whatever other goodies or bells and whistles there may be on offer, deliverwhat the core of your festival is really about. If it’s a food festival — say, rib-fest — the priority has got to be ensuring the grill masters have all they need. If it’s a music festival then nothing matters more than the sound, so ensure the speakers, microphones and amps are wired properly during the sound check. Give the people what they really want!

If your festival is branded professionally, planned carefully, and delivers on the heart of what it’s really all about, everyone will have a great time.