Staple

Street food festivals are a great way to bring a host of people together with one common shared passion, food and drink. Street food festivals have become even more popular over the recent years with people’s ever-growing love of new, tasty, good food served in alternative urban environments. 

To organise a street food festival, first plan all of your logistics (particularly road closures), set your budget, find your traders, plan the marketing and ensure you have all of the relevant paperwork in place.

So, what is the difference between a food festival and a street food festival? Although in principle they are exactly the same, it comes down to location and style of food. Street food suggests being served on a street (but not always) and the style of food tends to be takeaway style and more artisan.

Due to the nature of the event often being outdoors in public space e.g. roads, pedestrian walkways etc., there are a host of differences when it comes to planning, managing, and organising a street food festival to ensure it can go ahead safely.

You will find another article here that I have written on how to organise a food festival. This will be more generic for when you are looking to host a food festival at a more conventional venue.

Although I have touched on marketing, budgets, and general organisational tips this other article will give you a greater depth of information. This blog post will focus more so on the key logistics in getting a street food festival up and running on roads which are typically used daily by vehicles and pedestrians.

Step 1: Planning and logistics for a Street Food Festival

Typically, street food festivals are held in public venues/spaces and in some cases roads. Although they are unique and often have high footfall passing the location, the organisation becomes a little more complex. 

When starting to plan, have a think about the following key things to help you:

• Will you need to close roads and or divert traffic to activate your event?
• Traffic management plan
  • How will you protect participants from live traffic and other dangers for the whole of your event?
• Will your event interrupt any public transport e.g. buses, trams, trains etc.?
  • If so, you will need to contact these services
• Do you need the Police to provide traffic management e.g. stopping traffic?
  • If so, do you have funding to cover this?
• Contact emergency services for support on the event day(s)
• Event insurance (Public liability)

• Have you spoken to residents/businesses to gauge their opinion/how they could benefit?

Find your location

I have seen some amazing street food festivals set off quieter streets (that typically have little traffic) or even in pedestrian areas in city centres. 

These are great locations in terms of footfall and add a little quirky edge to your location – not your run of the mill place!

There are some things that prevent you from obtaining permission to use roads/public space that needs to be closed these include:

• If it’s a main commuter route
• If it’s already being used as a diversion route due to other events and/or work
• If it would prevent emergency services from gaining access to stations, depots, other key roads or local businesses.

Make contact with the local authorities

Once you have decided on a location, it would be advantageous to start contacting local bodies (council, emergency services etc.) to even see if you can get permission for your event to go ahead. 

You will need to give details similar to the information included below in your traffic regulation order. Once you have done this you may get further questions, or just an acknowledgement, to show they have received and agree to your event taking place. 

Top tip: You will need to leave plenty of time to contact the council and emergency services with your plans (at least 3 months) as not only does it take time to put plans in place, but details will need to be published in newspapers and transport links will need to plan if they are going to be affected.

To obtain permission you will also need to submit a temporary traffic regulation order to the local councils traffic management team if you plan to close the road for any period of time. This should include the following:

• Organiser name and contact details
• Event details, programme of the event, the expected number of attendees, size of site needed
• Proposed location/venue (helpful to attach a map to prevent any confusion)
• Event date(s)
• Road(s) that will be affected and for how long
• Plan for road closure signing and implementing
• A description of alternative routes
• Insurance details (public liability)
• Risk and method statements that covers the below (plus anything else you feel relevant to your specific event)
  • Crowd control
  • Application and removal of traffic management controls
  • Erection and dismantling of any structures/stands
  • Emergency vehicle access
  • Disabled access
  • First aid
  • Fire safety (due to the nature of cooking food)

Top tip: You will need to provide all the necessary signs, cones and barriers in order to close the road to traffic and/or pedestrians. The traffic team will be able to help advise on what you need and there are numerous specialist contractors that will be able to help you with this. 

Will I need emergency services on site?

As mentioned above you need to give the emergency services a heads up. They will attend your event if there is an emergency however, if you would like police officers on-site to help manage traffic, this will come at a cost.

If you don’t have a trained and confident first aider, it is worth paying to have an external first-aid organisation like St. John’s Ambulance representative at your event to step in if there are any medical emergencies. You can work out how much first you will need using our first-aid calculator.

Step 2: Budget; so what will I need to pay for?

You will need to allocate money for the following:

• Charge for hire of land/space
• Temporary event notice cost
• Traffic management specialist
• Waste management
• First aid provider (if you don’t have qualified first aiders on site)
• Charge for preparation and advertisement of any temporary traffic closures or changes/suspensions.
• Any additional Police Officers that you want to help with road closures or crowd management
• Insurance 

Each council’s costs will differ when it comes to using space e.g. roads. Previous experience has put site space anywhere between £500 and £2,500 depending on scale, number of road closures needed and popularity of location.

This then will obviously go up depending on how many days you plan for your street food festival to take place.

What facilities will I need?

Toilets

Due to the nature of the venue being on a road or public space, this often lends itself to needing toilets installed. The number of these can be relative to the number expected to attend and/or the distance to any public toilets.

Although the number of toilets vs people isn’t a requirement, there is nothing worse than long queues for a toilet at an event so the more you can accommodate the better.

As a rule of thumb, I have added the below table to give you a rough guide when planning:

Power

You will have one of two options when it comes to supplying power for the site. Your local council will be able to guide you through/work with you on this one. Your first option is to use a power source from the surrounding area and run extension cables to your site.

This is on the basis the council have a power source close to your site and isn’t so far away that you have to have lots of unsightly and potentially dangerous cables. Your second option is to use generators. These then can be positioned within your site in a chosen safe place.

You will need permission from the local council to use them and will need to be safely cornered off as well as monitored regularly throughout the event.

Water

When serving certain food and drinks hand washing facilities or cleaning facilities will need to be made available. Again, you will have two options which the council should be able to advise you on.

You will either be able to hook up to a mains water source (depending on the location of your chosen site) or get water tanks with fresh water in to connect to street food traders.

Sometimes your traders will come equipped with water tanks for their specific needs, so definitely make this a topic of conversation when booking in your street food traders

One thing to note is both water and power will come at a cost. Don’t be afraid to pass on some of that cost to your street food traders (write this into a contract) as they will typically be the ones who are consuming these resources the most.

Security

Being an open event (in public space) it makes it a lot harder to secure off your event site especially when you are loading in and out the various stallholders, toilets, any seating etc.

Not only does this add an extra layer of risk to any passers-by but also is a security risk if anyone were to pass and either damage or steal anything from you and/or your vendors. This is mind, from experience, it’s advisable that you have some simple tape and/or post and rope in order to corner off areas.

Accompanying this it’s good to have some security guards. Not only can they protect the site but also direct people away from danger. Security is something you then may want to keep on, instead of using police etc. to ensure the site is safe. They are also typically cheaper than the police too!

Step 3: Find your traders

Finding traders isn’t actually as hard as you think. Most of the good traders will have a good web presence and on social media, allowing you to easily contact them. If you run repeat events you will usually find that they approach you. 

The key is finding the right balance of traders for the event you want to hold. You should give some serious thought to the type of people who will attend your street food festival, what traders can you put in that will offer a wow factor. 

Start your search at http://www.streetfood.org.uk/

Remember, people love unique experiences.

Step 4: Plan your Marketing

The marketing tools you use predominantly will need to be tailored to your target audience and how they best consume advertising and find out information. Below I have highlighted a few key ways to help market your event.

Social media is such a valuable and cost-effective resource when marketing an event. The power of Facebook and other social channels can help reach volume both by consumer shares and paid for adverts. 

Partnerships are a great way to get marketing out there. For example, partnering with a well-established company will help give you further marketing reach and further event credibility helping to entice more people in. 

PR – have an event stand out element. This could be as simple as trying to set a small world record and inviting the local newspapers down to getting a minor celebrity on board to be a special guest. 

Budget

Starting your planning with a budget is paramount. Setting out your outgoings, income and projected profit will give you a clear oversight from the start as to what you can and can’t afford. This also will help to highlight where you could most use sponsorships, partnerships, or donations.

When budgeting don’t forget there are a few ways to generate income. These include some of the following:

• Stallholder fee
• Ticket/entry fee
• Partnerships & Sponsors
• % cut of stallholder’s profit

You then have the option to either charge an entry fee or let people come and go for free. Although a paid-for ticket definitely has its place boosting income and helping to predict attendee numbers, from experience, due to the nature of street food festivals often being in open roads/public spaces, it makes it very difficult to fence off/police a ticketed system. 

Step 5: Paperwork to consider

Alongside your  temporary  traffic regulation order, that you will need to submit to gain permissions before even planning the event, you will also legally need the following to ensure your street food festival is as safe as possible.

Pre-event paperwork

Risk assessments and safety are a major consideration especially when you are opening up to the public. Correctly identifying, assessing, and mitigating or reducing any potential risks is key both when setting up the event but also during and after. 

Safety and risk assessments can seem a daunting thing. However, there is plenty of guidance and ways to educate yourself on this to equip you. A great starting place or even a refresher is here. *please note this is for UK event safety and not necessarily correct worldwide.

Public Liability (PLI) is an essential cover that you will need. Think of it as an insurance policy for your event if damage or injury were to take place on-site. Your stallholders will have cover of their own (it’s good practice to ask for a copy of this).

In regards to cover for the event as a whole, this will either need to come from you (the event organiser) or the venue where the event is taking place, depending on who owns it. 

Food Safety is an essential check. All stallholders by law have to hold health and safety, food hygiene and licensing documentation from the Food Standards Agency. It is good practice to obtain a copy of this when confirming their place at your event. Every food business in the UK should have a star rating from 0 to 5.

There are also a series of food safety rules and regulations that your stallholders need to abide by. They should know these already as they are regularly selling food, however, it’s good to know these to ensure that they are following these rules.

A good place to find these is on the Food Standards Agency website.

Post-event steps

Finally, always do some form of evaluation. Seek 360 feedback from your attendees, your traders, and suppliers. In some cases, it can feel like ripping off the plaster when you gain any bad or constructive criticism after working for months on your event, but it will continue to help you progress and grow as an event and professional. 

Feed this feedback into future events!

Summary

To sum up, although planning a street food festival has many similarities to a general food festival, there are some key differences when it comes to securing a location/venue due to the nature of street food typically being held on active roads/pedestrian areas. 

Leaving plenty of time to plan will really work in your favour, especially as there are quite a few more stakeholders that will need to be part of the event in order to get it off the ground. Councils, emergency services and traffic management will all be a pivotal part in your event and will need to be included in the planning of your street food festival from the off.

Another significant document you will need to include is your temporary traffic regulation order to ensure you can get access to roads and/or pedestrian areas for your event. Remember, when filling out that document, the more information you can add the more chance you have of getting the site you desire.

A lot of the other planning involved in organising a street food festival is very similar to any other events when it comes to marketing, staffing, budgets etc. so is very transferable.

References and Useful resources (UK only):

The Purple Guide (Health and Safety) https://www.thepurpleguide.co.uk/

Food Standards Agency https://www.food.gov.uk/food-safety

The Nationwide Caterers Association http://www.streetfood.org.uk/

Hosting a gin-tasting can be an enjoyable and easy event to organize for your friends or colleagues. All it takes is some delicious gins, the perfect glassware, flavorful garnishes – mixed with a sprinkle of knowledge about each drink – for you to create an evening that’ll tantalize their tastebuds!

Organizing a gin event requires the following components; Introduction, Education, Tasting & Mixing, Make You Own followed by Questions

There is a vast range of gins and ways to drink, enjoy and learn about this spirit. Cocktails, on the rocks or with a mixer, are all great ways to showcase the drink and allow people to understand, taste, and identify different gins and what makes them unique.

In the last few years, gin has seen a massive spike in popularity with record volume sold in the UK with sales surpassing £2bn in 2019. Gin has left behind the ‘old fashioned’ image and has become one of the trendiest drinks to sip. The popularity of this drink does not show any signs of slowing down anytime soon, with it being declared as ‘a nation’s firm favourite’ in the drinks industry. 

This makes the humble gin a great focal point for an event, whether it be for just amongst family and friends or whether it’s a larger scale ticketed event. Like gin, no two events are the same. 

Make sure your next gin-tasting event is spectacular with these creative tips and tricks! From organizational pointers to helpful hints about making it a truly unforgettable occasion, we’ve got you covered. So raise those glasses – the perfect G&T awaits!

What happens at a gin tasting event? When it comes to the exact plan and running of a gin tasting event, it can vary depending on your preference and ideas. There is no right or wrong way to run, plan a execute a gin tasting event. However, I have set out a rough template and some key things you could include when mapping out the running order for your event.

1 – INTRODUCTION

Start by giving your guests an introduction to your event and gin as a whole:

• What is the schedule for the night?
• What gin(s) you are presenting and why

2 – EDUCATION: 

Although you don’t want to bore your attendees, some short, punchy facts and figures always go down well, helping to add credibility to what you are saying and doing at the event:

• History of gin
• Recent popularity
• Distilling process
• Botanicals
• Overview on flavours
• Mixers and garnishes

3 – TASTING & MIXING

It’s a good idea to taste both gins and mixers separately showcasing how they work both alone and with each other (the craft gin club have lots of tips to help you with this).

• Show your customer a range of gins, e.g. pink gin, fruit flavoured, floral, fruity etc.
• Let them sample, smell and taste them.
• Do the same then with mixers, e.g. tonic, soda, juice etc.

4 – MAKE YOUR OWN

It’s nice to taste and learn about the spirit but even sweeter if you get to have a go yourself. 

• Let your attendee choose their favourite gin(s)
• Allow them to create either a cocktail or spirit with mixer and garnish. 
• To add an extra element of fun you, as the host could judge these and pick a winner (perhaps win a bottle of gin).

5 – QUESTIONS

Swot up on critical facts or get an expert in to cover any detailed questions on the spirit.

Other ideas

You also have the option to choose to disguise the spirits and do a blind tasting to prevent people from making their mind up based on a brand, description, or aesthetic.

Simply decanting each gin into a jug or carafe can help keep the gin looking classy but removing any other information. (Just make sure you label them well so you can quickly identify which gin is which!).

As with any event, a gin tasting event is very much up for individual interpretation so, although the above offers a rough guide, don’t feel you are limited to this. 

How do you start a gin tasting event?

An excellent place to start is to have a think about what kind of gin tasting event you plan to run.

To start a gin event, you need to consider the target audience, the venue, the pricing, marketing and licensing and which gins to showcase.

• Is it for a special event, e.g. hen do, birthday etc.? 
• Is it just for family?
• Is it to make money, e.g. for charity or as a business?

Once you have this streamlined, it will help you to focus on the tone of the event and level of professionalism you will need, as this will vary depending on whether it’s for family, friends or paying customers.

Target Audience

A great starting point is identifying your target audience. Who is it that you are planning this tasting for? This is an essential factor, especially as different people’s preferences will vary. For example:

• Family and friends (more casual and low key)
• Charity event (professional and seamless event needed)
• Hen-do/private gin tasting (higher expectations and standards)

Venue 

It’s a good idea to get your venue booked in from the start. Not only is it a critical piece of information ticket holders will want, but also gives you a focus and a starting point. You can pretty much hold a gin tasting event wherever you desire (within reason when you have alcohol present) as the event requires little specialist equipment.

Pricing

Buying alcohol isn’t cheap, so you will need to consider that. Saying that though, most consumers would expect to pay more for an event where you are sampling alcohol.

You need to consider your out costs and from then work out a ticket price to ensure you breakeven and more so make a profit. 

Example out costs:

• Spirits, mixers and garnish
• Venue
• Staff
• Glassware and equipment. You can hire these at a low cost if you don’t want to invest. 

Say your overhead costs come to £700 and you aim to have 40 people attend, if you charge £40 per ticket that’s a total revenue of £1,600. Remove your out costs and your net profit is £900.

*Please note this is an example only and not a pricing guide.

Although you always need to break event, be sure you have a look at other similar events and what they are charging. You don’t want to overprice yourself and not sell tickets. See our guide to pricing event tickets. 

Marketing

Getting the word out about your event depends on who you are targeting and why you are running the event. 

For example:

• If you are running a gin tasting event to raise money for charity, a great way to market is to utilise the charity’s connections, social and media channels. 
• On the other hand, if you are marketing your event for the broader public in order to make money and run a business, simple and cost-effective techniques including word of mouth and targeted Facebook adverts (based on location, age, demographic etc.) can be really useful. 
• Another great way to market your gin tasting event is to look into a partnership. Teaming up with a local distiller or event glassware provider can help widen exposure when it comes to spreading the word and selling tickets. 

Licencing

• If you are doing this in your own or a family member’s home for an informal tasting, you don’t need any form of licensing. 
• You will need a licence to cover the serving of alcohol for paid-for events.
• This depends on where you hold the event. E.g. if it’s at a venue with a premises/licensed bar you will be covered under that. 
• If you are going to a non-licensed premises, you will require a licence for serving alcohol.

Which gins to showcase?

Identifying and writing down the best gins is very subjective. What you might like and see as the best gin, another may hate!

One piece of advice here is variety! Make sure you have a range of gins on hand to help suit all taste pallets and preferences across the event. 

Broadly, gins typically fall under the below categories. Depending on budget and availability, it would be advantageous to have at least one gin from each of these.

• Classic dry gin
• Citrusy gin
• Floral gin
• Spiced gin
• Savoury gin
• Fynbos gin

Although many of these gins can be purchased simply and easily at most supermarkets, this leaves little guidance for you when picking them out. Heading to an independent bottle shop or store selling spirits will mean that you can tap into and utilise an expert’s knowledge. This also will help you swot up on crucial information to present at your tasting event. 

What’s more, using an independent or standalone bottle shop often then means you can buy the gin on a sale or return basis. This will mean that if you go a little overboard on the gin order, and are left with a lot of stock, you can get your money back and not lose out.

It’s not just the gin spirit itself you should consider when planning. Below I have set out a few things that really help make a gin tasting event fly. 

Using the right glassware and pours

• Serving the spirit neat lends itself well to a tumbler. However, if you plan to use the same glassware to subsequently add in garnish and mixer, a gin glass, stemless wine glass or brandy balloon glass works best. (This is because it means you can get your nose in to smell the gin!).
• It’s advantageous to use the same style of glass across the evening as changing the glass can improve the flavour and then the experience for your guests.
• How much you want to serve someone in ml is up to you. However, on the whole, 25-30ml per serve is a good size.
• Make sure you use a drinks measure to ensure everyone is getting the same (you don’t want squabbles over who got more!).

Garnish and presentation

• Like the gins itself, variety is also essential when it comes to garnishes as these can enhance and change the gin when drinking,
• It’s often a good idea to try the gin without a mixer or garnish first to see what flavour notes you can taste before adding.
• Think outside the box. Don’t just stick to a slice of citrus, herbs and spices also work really well in a gin-based drink. 
• As a rule of thumb, you are usually trying to enhance or compliment the botanicals used in the gin. E.g. a citrus gin add some lemon rind.
• Finally, don’t forget your ice! You always see drinks filled with ice, and there is an excellent reason for this! The bigger the ice cubes and the more of them, the more effectively they will work to cool the drink, melting slowly so as not to dilute the gin. 

A few tips:

• The zest of a fruit will lift any drink with tonic, but having a slice can sometimes make the drink a bit too bitter.
• When using herbs (like when making cocktails or cooking) make sure you manipulate/bash them a little (not so much that they fall apart) so they release their aroma and oils. This will help enhance the flavour and smell when drinking.
• Spices work perfectly in a savoury gin but, by nature can be quite overpowering so use sparingly.

How do you host a gin tasting event?

When it comes down to hosting a gin event, you have two principal options. Either you recruit the guidance and expertise of an event manager to plan, manage and organise the whole event for you or you take it into your own hands, and design it yourself.  

If recruiting someone to plan it for you, there are a few things to have in mind to help them make the event everything that you desired. These include:

• Number of attendees
• Time of day/year
• Preferred setting/venue
• Budget 

The event manager will then guide you throughout the process, touching base regularly to ensure that they are providing and planning what you want and need.

Hosting an event yourself can seem daunting but is relatively straight forward. If you decide to host your own gin tasting event, there are a series of critical steps you should consider and follow to make your event successful. I have broken these down below into rough sub-headings to help you plan out your event efficiently and effectively. 

Do your research!

There is nothing worse (especially if you have paying customers) than someone running and or hosting an event with little to no knowledge. Not only does this look very unprofessional, but it will leave you feeling embarrassed, and the event experience being lowered significantly.

You don’t have to be a trained expert to know all the essential facts. You also don’t have to know everything! If someone has a question on the night, you can’t answer, tell them you will follow up after seeking advice or researching. 

You have one of two options. An easy option is to get an expert in (contact a local distillery who, for a fee, might come along and spread their knowledge). Alternatively, do it yourself. No two gins are the same, so tasting, researching, and learning about gins can be a fun way for you to expand your knowledge and prepare for an event.

Top tip: Ginventory is a useful app you can get up on your phone, which has over 5000 gins inputted with recommended garnishes and mixers. Saves lots of time and have been tried and tested by gin experts! It’s also free – extra bonus!

Glassware, mixers and spirits

• It’s easy to underestimate the number of glasses you will need for a tasting. 
• As a rule of thumb if you are serving six samples work on six glasses per person. To cut down glassware, you could do 3 per person as 6 requires a lot of space. This means doing the tasting in 2 rounds and thoroughly washing the glassware in between.
• Make sure you use a ml measure (we have all been tempted to free pour!). This will mean you can work out, depending on the number of attendees, how much gin you will need in advance. You don’t want to be running out at the event.

Tasting – the main event!

In the drinks industry, there is actually a right and wrong way to taste gin (who knew!?). It will add an extra layer of professionalism if you guide your attendees through how to correctly taste the gin.

• Serve up a shot of gin over ice and encourage your attendees to swirl the spirt around the glass (this allows the initial notes of alcohol to evaporate and is easier on the nose!)
• Next suggest a gentle sniff and a small sip, encouraging them to swirl it in their mouth before swallowing (this helps them get a good taste of the botanicals in the gin).
• Next, you can get them to add a tonic or mixer and taste again.
• Finally, add in the garnish to top it off and taste again. This will then allow your attendees to see how the flavour profile of the gin changes as you add in the extras. 

Final Tips:

• Providing a jug (to spit in if they really hate it) is advantageous.
• Having water on hand to help people cleanse their pallet is also a good thing to have.
• Having some plain water biscuits also helps clear the pallet between gins.
• Having paper and pens for people to write down notes is a great addition, especially as alcohol is involved and memories might start to blur!

Hopefully the above has given you an insight into what goes into a gin tasting event and has helped you with a good starting point to organise your own!

Film screenings are a great way to fill a quiet night in a venue, raise money for charity or even to launch your own event business. In this post I’ll look at some of the key things you need to think about.

Introduction

I have organised countless film screenings in the last 20 years and there is one piece of advice that I would always give to anybody looking to organise a film screening and that is the choice of the film and alignment to your target audience is key.

I have had free-entry film screenings where I’ve had audience members on the floor because it was so busy and others where I have allowed my own ego to pick the film but the room has been remarkably empty!

Compared to 20 years ago competition now exists from the likes of Netflix and Amazon along with other streaming services that are able to provide a wide range or films six months or even earlier after they’ve been in the cinema. It is not always possible to gain a license to show such films any earlier and you’ll need to consider properly licensing each screening.

A word of caution (here in the UK) you are NOT allowed to simply raid your home DVD collection and play a film of your choice to a group. We will get into the legalities of film screenings later in this post.

You may be hosting a film screening for a few reasons, such as:

• Community Cinema in local libraries
• Film societies in Universities
• Film Festivals
• Charity fundraisers
• Pop-up events
• Experiential cinema events

Who is your target audience

As with all events, starting off by considering who is your target audience is important. Doing enough market research at this stage can save you time and money further down the line and it will help to ensure that your event is a success. You should try to think about the kinds of people who would be attracted to the film or films you want to show.

For example not everybody will want to attend a film screening of an offbeat indie film, but a wider audience may want to attend the latest Hollywood blockbuster. This is not too say that that the indie film doesn’t have the potential for a great event (indeed whole film festivals are based on this!). What you must consider is who the audience is and how to reach them and how you will add value before, during, and after the film screening.

A great resource you might want to look at here in the UK is the ‘Audience Finder’ tool from The Audience Agency. It’s totally free to use and provides some great insight and pre-made target profiles within arts and entertainments in every post code across the UK.

What will be your added value?

As always providing value is key. In the world of online streaming video services where people can watch from the comfort of their homes, delivering a remarkable and memorable experience is key to the success of any film screening event.

There are some great examples of companies such as Secret Cinema making fantastic experiences out of films . No doubt the production cost of such experiences are huge, so you’ll have to balance this with what you feel that you’re able to charge in terms of ticket price if you go down this route. Be careful not to oversell the experience and then underdeliver on the actual event.

It may still be possible to pick out certain elements of the film and translate this into a live experience on the event. For example, organisations like Secret Cinema use actors as attendees are entering the screening who are in character from the film. This adds a completely different dimension to the experience of going to see a film. You are no longer simply a passenger but an active actor in that experience.

You should consider how this value can be delivered during three phases of the event delivery; before, during and after. Much of the before will be connected to your marketing and promotion for the film screening so try to think about how you can pick out elements of the film and deliver those as valuable touchpoints to your audience before they buy a ticket. Here are some of the ideas used by film screening companies to engage on a deeper level with their target audience:

Before

Think about the following touchpoints that an audience member is likely to experience in the build-up to buying a ticket and attending your film screening:

• your website,
• your social media,
• your ticketing page,
• your emails.

You should endeavour to deliver a consistent experience as customer through each.

During

During the screening you should think about touchpoints from the moment the customers arrive to the moment they leave and how you can take them on a journey that ties into the film. This doesn’t require huge amounts of money and try to be creative in the way that you bring the film alive on the evening!

I would advise consideration is given to how to serve food and drink during the film, what kind of seating is provided (note try not to use hard seats!) and the kind of service that they will receive from your staff or volunteers. Giving a good experience at this point helps to build your reputation especially if you’re considering future film screenings.

After

Depending on the film screening and the amount of time and money you have available, it may be worth attempting to do undertake some evaluation with your audience to enable you to get feedback on how to improve future events.

This doesn’t have to be an onerous task. You could send an email survey to all the people who bought tickets from you or you could simply look to do something creative at the end of the event.

One example I came across a few years ago was during a film screening for the film Seven (with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman). At the end of the event the organizers had somehow located large quantities of doll heads and each person was asked to place the head in one of 10 boxes. This is quite a creative use of what is a well-established evaluation tool known as The Net Promoter score. Essentially, they were asked to rate if they would recommend this film screening to a friend you can check out the theory behind this at this link.

Marketing

When considering how you’re proposing to promote the film screening you should always reference back to your target audience. This is key in understanding how to reach them and what will resonate with them to help build a desire to attend your event.

Consider which social media channels your target audience uses and how likely it is that any posts you add will be seen by them. Remember that the algorithms on social networks like Facebook are weighted heavily against organic natural posts. It may be worth giving some consideration to a small budget for paid advertisements on these networks.

Try to tap into any community groups local to where your film screening is taking place and if you’re choosing to use the event to fundraise consider tapping into any groups or mailing lists that your charity may have.

You may be undertaking the film screening as part of a University or College film society so be sure to communicate the information through any social media groups or email lists.

If you’re considering this as a business idea, with plans to run more film screenings in the future, you should consider starting an email list as this one of the most effective ways to sell event tickets.

Budget

The first thing you’ll need to consider with your budget is how much you need to pay for the screening of the film. In the UK there is a requirement under Copyright Law to ensure any film screenings for entertainment purposes require a license.

Luckily there are organisations that license film screenings. One such organization in the UK is a company called Filmbank Media. They license film screenings in several ways. If you are simply showing one screening, then you can buy something called a Single Title Screening License or STSL. This allows you to show the film to an audience once. Within the STSL there are non-commercial screenings and commercial screening options.

Non-commercial screenings are those where the audience attends for free and you pay a fixed fee from £83 pounds for indoor screenings or from £139 pounds for outdoor screenings.

Commercial screenings allow you to charge the audience a ticket price but the difference here is that you are required to pay a percentage of your box office takings if they are greater than the non-commercial fees.

For an indoor screening you will be required to pay from £83 or 35% of your box office (whichever is greater) and for outdoor screenings from £139 pounds or 40% of your box office takings (whichever is greater). These prices are illustrative of the price you could pay and the fees increase with the venue capacity. (prices are correct as of April 2020)

You can find further information on the Filmbank Media website.

The choice to pursue the non-commercial or commercial routes is therefore dictated by whether you feel you need to charge for entry to the film. You may consider that you can make up the revenue through other avenues at the screening such as selling snacks or drinks or by offering additional experiences that tie into the film. These are fine as long as entry to the venue is free.

You will also need to consider costs such as venue hire, staffing (before and during the event), the cost of any marketing materials or advertising, any website hosting fees or design, and any theming you wish to include with the venue.

Picking a venue or location

The choice of venue or location will play a huge part in the experience you deliver. As I mentioned earlier you should consider how the audience will watch the film. You will need a large screen and projector along with a suitable sound system for the size of venue you have chosen.

Many smaller independent cinemas allow you to hire out their screens. This may be the easiest solution if you are looking to host a charity film screening that will fundraise but if you are considering a more in-depth experience then you might want to consider a more bespoke venue.

The previous example of the Seven film screening that I mentioned was actually screened in a disused retail outlet and careful thought was given to the ambiance, lighting and decoration to match the dark nature of the film.

If you’re considering screening the film outside, then you may want to consider using specialist audio visual company to provide the screen projector and sound. You will also need to consider other infrastructure that is needed such as seating fencing and lighting. you should also check if any additional licenses or permits are required wherever you are planning to host the event.

In the UK a Premises Licence is required only if you aim to generate a profit from the tickets being sold. Please check the Licensing Act 2003 for more information.

You should make sure that your venue or location is completely accessible to all people who would want to attend your event. This may also include:

• Subtitles or sign interpreters,
• ensuring people are aware of any flashing lights used in the film,
• preferential seating for those who are partially sighted,
• ensuring the venue has wheelchair access.

Other paperwork to consider

As with most events you should consider any other paperwork such as insurance and safety documents (such as a site plan) as key elements of your event plan. Check with your venue for any procedures to do with fire safety they may have and what your role would be in any emergency such as an evacuation. It’s very important to work with the venue if you are planning to include props and theming to ensure this doesn’t become additional hazards during the event.

Best of luck with your film screening!

Some other great resources:

UK Film Screening licenses: https://www.filmbankmedia.com/licences/stsl/stsl-pricing-options/

Making film screenings accessible for communities: http://cinemaforall.org.uk/