Any helpful hints/tips to guide me in my meeting with a club manager regarding events I would like to throw?
August 19, 2012 1:00 PM Subscribe
I have a meeting tomorrow with an university club manager regarding events that I would like to throw. I have never done this before - any tips/tricks on what I should bring, what I should have prepared and how to negotiate the best pay for me?
I sent him a brief proposal outlining my ideas already, so he has a good idea of the theme, the target audience and the general vision I have for the nights. I am going in tomorrow to discuss the 'details', which I'm assuming is whether I'm going to take a percentage of bar sales (what is the average, by the way?) and how much they're going to contribute to the night.
I have around three weeks to plan this event. He offered to hire a DJ and do the posters and tickets - is there anything I should keep in mind? Also, because I'm a student, I don't have to pay a rental fee for the university space.
I'm kind of jumping into this head first. I've done events before but never this scale or in this setting. Any tips or hints will be greatly appreciated!
I sent him a brief proposal outlining my ideas already, so he has a good idea of the theme, the target audience and the general vision I have for the nights. I am going in tomorrow to discuss the 'details', which I'm assuming is whether I'm going to take a percentage of bar sales (what is the average, by the way?) and how much they're going to contribute to the night.
I have around three weeks to plan this event. He offered to hire a DJ and do the posters and tickets - is there anything I should keep in mind? Also, because I'm a student, I don't have to pay a rental fee for the university space.
I'm kind of jumping into this head first. I've done events before but never this scale or in this setting. Any tips or hints will be greatly appreciated!
Response by poster: Oops, sorry if I was unclear!
I'm an event planner. Basically, I come up with the event and theme. I promote and market the event by word of mouth, hiring promoters and so on. Normally, I would hire the DJ and print the posters myself, but he liked the idea enough to offer an incentive for me to do the event at this university club. I was shopping around for places to do it, and I made it known, which is why I got the DJ and posters from him.
My original plan was to run a series of events throughout the city that all had one singular theme. He expressed an interest in having me run it as a weekly event at the club but I think it also depends largely on how I perform on the first night - so yes, you're right. I am planning on a couple of parties.
Hope this clears things up!
posted by cyml at 1:38 PM on August 19, 2012
I'm an event planner. Basically, I come up with the event and theme. I promote and market the event by word of mouth, hiring promoters and so on. Normally, I would hire the DJ and print the posters myself, but he liked the idea enough to offer an incentive for me to do the event at this university club. I was shopping around for places to do it, and I made it known, which is why I got the DJ and posters from him.
My original plan was to run a series of events throughout the city that all had one singular theme. He expressed an interest in having me run it as a weekly event at the club but I think it also depends largely on how I perform on the first night - so yes, you're right. I am planning on a couple of parties.
Hope this clears things up!
posted by cyml at 1:38 PM on August 19, 2012
Response by poster: Just to clear it up some more - I am being paid to market the event which would bring in sales/people to the club. He mentioned that I could take door sales (which I don't want to do because charging cover would deter people from coming). He didn't explicitly mention percentage of bar sales, but that's what I'm hoping for.
posted by cyml at 1:40 PM on August 19, 2012
posted by cyml at 1:40 PM on August 19, 2012
Best answer: Sounds like he is doing all the work. When I was doing promotion, I never asked for a percentage of the bar tab. It's a huge fucking hassle to track, and if you are dealing with somebody shady, too many opportunities to rip you off (doesn't sound like that's going to happen here, just a general observation)
If you are throwing the night, you should book the DJ, there are millions of them, and it's easy to find a DJ that will work for free or cheap. If you want to make money, you should be handling ticket sales and handling the money at the door, as well. Let him pay for advertising if there is any. You basically don't want to have to divvy up money after the fact or figure out who owes who money after the night. You should be able to just walk out the door with the money you collected and never have to talk to the manager again.
Be generous with free tickets, but you have to be strategic about it. If you know a group of people, give a few of them free tickets, enough so that they'll drag the rest along with them. Your primary incentive for your first few parties is to not LOSE money, and not have an empty club. If you have to give away every ticket to get people to show up, do that. Nothing is more valuable than your reputation, and one banging party full of people is worth more than any amount of advertising, for your next event.
posted by empath at 1:45 PM on August 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you are throwing the night, you should book the DJ, there are millions of them, and it's easy to find a DJ that will work for free or cheap. If you want to make money, you should be handling ticket sales and handling the money at the door, as well. Let him pay for advertising if there is any. You basically don't want to have to divvy up money after the fact or figure out who owes who money after the night. You should be able to just walk out the door with the money you collected and never have to talk to the manager again.
Be generous with free tickets, but you have to be strategic about it. If you know a group of people, give a few of them free tickets, enough so that they'll drag the rest along with them. Your primary incentive for your first few parties is to not LOSE money, and not have an empty club. If you have to give away every ticket to get people to show up, do that. Nothing is more valuable than your reputation, and one banging party full of people is worth more than any amount of advertising, for your next event.
posted by empath at 1:45 PM on August 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
After reading your update. Take the door. Bar sales are a hassle. Charge a cover, but give away a lot of tickets for the first event. Everyone loves to be "on the list". It makes them feel special and makes it more likely that they will come. You will still get people showing up and paying, as long as you close the list a few hours before the party starts.
posted by empath at 1:51 PM on August 19, 2012
posted by empath at 1:51 PM on August 19, 2012
You can also charge a cover after 11, or something like that, to encourage people to come early. Every person in the club is advertisement for another person to come in or stay longer, and the earlier they get there, the better...
posted by empath at 1:57 PM on August 19, 2012
posted by empath at 1:57 PM on August 19, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:28 PM on August 19, 2012