Hey Big Spender…

Hey Big Spender by @PenthouseLord

Hey Big Spender:
The largest party LJS Events has ever put together, both in terms of cost and logistics and one that most stretched the company’s resources to the limit, was to mark the bi-centenary of a international media consortium. This company was recently in a lot of trouble for listening to some phone calls of phones they did not own…oops. Initially the client had only a vague idea of what kind of party it wanted and it was left up to me to go to the company HQ for a brainstorming session with its PR people. The outcome was they could spend £2000 a head – I was already picking out my next watch and charity.

Now a lot of people ask me, how can you possibly spend that kind of a money on a event but instead of me giving you the long and short of it, let me break it down in points :

• If you think of the actual components of a party, what the money goes on – the most expensive thing you can do is to build a house from scratch. So building a completely new structure would send the budget shooting up immediately.
• Even erecting a marquee is only as cheap as you want it to be. A marquee starts out as a white tent, like any room starts out as a bare white space. It’s how you build from there and the luxury you bring in that dictates the budget.
• Do you want a “wow” element, like a canal going through the marquee, complete with real gondolas ? Nothing is impossible
• Do you bring the designer elements from Ikea or Philippe Starcke? That could raise the spend from £100 to £1000.
• In terms of design, we could bring in some Picassos or some cutting edge stuff designed for this one off occasion; we could bring in celebrities. We could pour the best champagne and serve only vintage wines and caviar.
• We could add layer upon layer of luxury, making the experience of sitting in the marquee or that basic tent cost £100,000 or £200,000. It’s not going to cost a lot more than that, unless we transport the room to Marrakesh – which has also been known to happen for a big enough event.

Truth be told there is no set amount of money that guarantees you a good party or event. The essence of a good party is to understand your guests , to understand their origins and expectations, and to understand your own motivation in having the event. Working out a budget is key to throwing a good event. Once you know the parameters your working to, it’s much easier to fill in the blanks. Stick to what you can afford. If you go over, you are not going to feel relaxed about the event and you will probably end up cutting corners later on. Work out what elements are most crucial to you and remember guests won’t remember the food was so-so or the wine was cheap if they have been “wowed” by the theme or location, or the effects or the overall styling. Understand your client and their guests, work out what will excite them and make them feel special, because after all, it’s often the theatre of an event which will stay in people’s minds for a long time after the event is over.

This particular event really illustrated to me the ebullient indulgence of some industry’s. So what did I DO ….

Guests would enter through a dynamic time tunnel, with 16ft high banks of scenery ranging from an old London street scene complete with goats, chickens, straw and Victorian characters right the way through to a painted panorama of the modern London Skyline. Inside the venue itself the gel on the lights had changed to blue.

There were 20 production personnel, 20 lighting technicians and thirty actors, plus dozens of line managers. The event went off with a, well big bang. After the last guests had left and I walked into the room where the media representatives had gathered, still buzzing with adrenaline from the evening’s events, there was a spontaneous round of applause.

Another great night but in all honesty the biggest event for ages and I do wander if the recession has made dinosaurs of these kinds of events and clients or if the golden age will come back at least one more time. What do you think, are the BIG SPENDERS a thing of the past?

~ by Lord Jason Scott on February 8, 2012.