It’s the old adage, that as long as someone is talking about you or your event, it must be good publicity for events… right? Even if what’s being said or done is controversial, or not to everyone’s taste. Ultimately, it’s making people talk about the event. So it’s putting you on the map.
It’s a hotly argued point, and we’re not sure it’s one we’re wholly on board with. Yes, greater publicity for any event is great. But not at any cost.
When the unexpected happens
There are many incidents where things have gone wrong at events. Event fails are always mortifying for the organisers, but fantastic sources of gossip for the internet. You only have to look at the furore surrounding Fyre Festival to know how much the public loves something to go wrong – even if just for the memes.
Obviously, in some cases, bad publicity is in no way good publicity. If there is an accident at your event, or one of your guests is harmed or even offended by an incident then you’ve ultimately let your paying customers down. It’s your duty of care to ensure you look after your staff and members of the public.
However, something going a little bit wrong can provide plenty of entertainment and can even go viral! It’s unlikely to actually help your event gain popularity, sell tickets or build your reputation though. No-one likes to be the butt of the jokes, after all.
If your sound system goes wrong or there’s the odd typo in your event literature then you might be forgiven provided you can respond well to the incident with good humour. But it’s important to react with professionalism.
It’s all about context
The key thing to be aware of is to make sure that your staff, acts and customers know where they are, who surrounds them, and how they should behave. You need to make sure that whatever happens at your event, it doesn’t cause upset or offence.
Because the wrong incident, at the wrong event, at the wrong time, would surely see an eyebrow raising news story, become a mainstream outrage.
So to answer our first question about publicity for events…
…no, not all publicity for events is good publicity.
Yes – you and your event can weather things that go wrong, particularly if there are no real victims, and no one is truly offended.
But when there are issues that run deeper, these can stick. And be very difficult to get past. So make sure that, whatever the size of your event, you’re taking the greatest of care over the most serious things that could go wrong. And everything else should look after itself.
That’s where we come in
As an event organiser, it’s your responsibility to first and foremost look after your staff and attendees. Without knowing they’re safe and protected, no one’s going to have a good time.
It’s no mean feat organising an event. And there are lots of things to consider. But after you’ve got your plans underway, make sure you’ve considered the risks that you and your customers face. From the small to the large, every event has the potential for something to go wrong.
And if that something is major, it will not only have detrimental impacts to your reputation. But someone could get hurt in the process. And that’s something that no one wants, and any event would struggle to recover from.
So take mitigating steps to protect your customers, your staff, and yourself.
Manage the risks. And make sure you’re properly insured in case the worst does happen. And if you’re not sure how to go about this, talk to our team. We have a range of risk management and insurance specialists who live and breathe the events industry. We know where to spot potential issues, and how to advise you to keep everyone safe.
So if you think your event could be better protected, it’s never too early to start planning. Speak to our team now, and we’ll make sure things go off without a hitch.
