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Author: tww-flex

Why you should start with lighting

Posted on 17th September 20199th October 2019 by tww-flex
Why you should start with lighting

When an event goes wrong, what is the most common explanation?

‘The atmosphere wasn’t right.’

The fact is, so much of the success or failure of an event comes down to an ineffable collective sense of mood and ambience, which is ultimately out of the planner’s hands.

Right?

Well, kind of.

Of course, nothing can guarantee an event will go brilliantly well.

But here’ the thing.

Too often mood is treated as something mercurial and impossible to control.

Isn’t mood ultimately what music is there to control? And decorations? And Drinks?

In truth, most of an event planner’s job is to manage and pre-empt the mood and ‘vibe’ of an event.

And the best way to do this is pay more attention to lighting.

Of course, this sounds silly – lighting is seen as a functional aspect of an event, something to be dealt with rather dwelt on.

But in reality, the more time that’s spent finding exactly the right combination of lighting, orchestrating exciting tricks with it and generally thinking about what could be done with lighting to compliment the rest of the occasion, the more powerful an experience you will cultivate.

Consider all the different kinds of lighting equipment we have here are Raptor.

With such a range and variety, imagination is the only limit to what could be achieved.

Rather than asking ‘what kind of flighting could we have?’ you need to start with the question ‘what do we want to achieve?’

Starting with a vision, a sense of ambition, you can work closely with lighting experts to make a truly memorable lighting show.

Because lighting really is the most cost effective way of creating a genuinely unique experience.

And that’s not to mention the fact that the right lighting with perfectly compliment the rest of the event, turning music into mood and dancing into an immersive sensory experience.

So rather than making lighting an after-thought, an accessory to everything else, make it at the centre of your event and you’ll see exactly what we mean!

Recent Posts

  • Why you should start with lighting
  • How to pick the perfect DJ
  • Three reasons your conference needs professional sound
  • How an event becomes an experience
  • Festivals should stand for something

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How to pick the perfect DJ

Posted on 6th August 20199th October 2019 by tww-flex
How to pick the perfect DJ

Hiring a DJ for an event can be a real challenge.

You might have the equipment all lined up, but you still need to figure out exactly the right person for the job.

And you probably have a mate who says they can do it, but the fact is a really great DJ can be a real make-or-breaker for events, and risking it could be costly.

So the question remains: how do you pick the perfect DJ?

How do you know if you’re onto a winner, and how do you choose between a selection of strong candidates?

 

First, determine what it is you really need

Plenty of DJs specialise – they might be a Pedding DJ, or a Party DJ, or a Club DJ – and that gives you a great shortcut for narrowing your market.

But beyond that, what is it you want them to achieve? What kind of vibe do you want your event to have? What is it a DJ’s going to bring to the equation you can’t do without one?

As an exercise, spend a little time really imaging the event, and try to figure out exactly what the DJ is doing to make it come alive the way you want.

DJs are experience makers, but you have to know what kind of experience you want them to help cultivate before they can go about doing it!

 

Ask for samples

You might not feel you’re in a position to critique a DJs work – what do you know? – but the reality is it’s your event, and you need to feel confident and secure that the DJ you hire (and pay!) is going to deliver the goods in a way you’re happy with.

So ask for samples.

That might be directly from the DJ themselves, but it’s often easy to simply find their work on SoundCloud or their websites nowadays.

And regardless of your misgivings, you’ll be surprised how quickly you find yourself picking up on differences and nuances between different candidates.

 

Establish limits

Before you go any further, you need to establish exactly what is off limits at your event.

There might be songs that are trigger points for a guest, there might be styles of music you want to veto.

And it might even be an issue of behaviour – you don’t want them drinking too much or turning up too late.

As with so many things related to event-planning, the key is to be clear without being too restrictive – don’t feel you need to direct every aspect of the set, but don’t shy away from giving instructions and setting limits!

 

Meet them first

One of the brilliant things about technology is it means we can meet people and feel out their ‘vibe’ without driving 100 miles.

So before you official hire a DJ, you should ask them to do some kind of Facetime or phone call or even just text a little bit to make sure your personalities mesh and that they seem to be professional and capable.

It doesn’t need to be heavy or involved – just make sure you get a little sample of what they’re going to be like on the day!

Three reasons your conference needs professional sound

Posted on 9th July 20199th July 2019 by tww-flex
Three reasons your conference needs professional sound

Let’s be honest: conferences are rewarding, but difficult to organise.

And between booking the right space and ensuring the program is properly planned, it’s easy to overlook how your speakers are actually going to be heard.

Which is understandable.

Few people are likely to comment on the sound being exceptional.

But the truth is, professional audio quality is amongst the very most important aspects of any conference.

Even smaller conferences benefit immensely from the presence of crisp, precise sound.

With the right sound quality, the most intimate conference can be made to feel highly professional and the biggest conference can be made to feel intimate.

Not convinced?

Well, we’ve built up extensive experience providing excellent audio for conferences, talks and public speaking events over the years, so allows us to lay out exactly why professional sound is such an essential in three basic ways.

 

Simplicity

Having professional sound makes everything simple.

Because rather than faffing about figuring out what equipment you need, what combination will work best, how the room’s acoustics work, you can be focusing on everything else.

Rather than wasting time sourcing equipment from various avenues or stressing about whether people at the back can hear, you can be investing it in refining your programme or prepping your speakers.

Professionals are professional: that’s just what they do.

So while you’re sweating your way through a call-sheet and fixing up the buffet, you at least will know the sound is covered.

 

Understanding

As we’ve said, you’re unlikely to get great compliments on the sound quality of your conference.

But in reality, this actually illustrates the importance of sound.

Because professional sound quality isn’t there to be noticed – it’s there to ensure your speakers are understood.

The quality of dialogue and dissemination is protected by proper audio engineering, as is the tone and dynamic in the room.

Having dodgy sound at a brilliant conference is like serving a Michelin-Starred meal in a restaurant you’ve never cleaned.

 

Signalling

There are always things that can go wrong with conferences.

Whether it’s guests being delayed or issues with the venue, nothing can guarantee totally smooth sailing.

What can be controlled, however, is how you, the conference runner portray yourself and the conference.

Everything you do, every decision you make sends a signal to your attendees.

How professional is this organisation? How seriously do they take their responsibilities?

The fact is, there is nothing more amateurish than poor sound.

Screaming feedback? Faulty Speakers?

That’s hardly the message you want to be sending.

By having a smooth, perfectly functioning sounds system specifically selected for the venue you’re using, you are clearly signalling both how much you value the event and how much those attending it should, too.

How an event becomes an experience

Posted on 14th June 20199th October 2019 by tww-flex
How an event becomes an experience

Everybody loves an event – we love the anticipation, we love to get dressed up, we love to see our friends and loved ones, we love to feel like things are happening.

But the truth is, events are really not so uncommon.

Just google your city or town’s name, and you’ll be offered a seemingly never-ending list of all the ‘events’ going on near you over the coming days and weeks and months and years.

But how many of them excite you?

How many of them look like events you’ll treasure the memory of for years, that will make you feel new things and take you out of your day-to-day life?

This, my friends, is the difference between an ‘event’ and an ‘experience’.

 

Experiences last

When you look back on your life, you’ll probably have a handful (or hopefully more!) of moments and memories which still feel vivid and alive.

They’re the things which feel separate, special, as if they were in sharper colour or brighter lighting.

And sometimes, you can actually barely remember the details at all!

It’s as if the event became something else.

And that’s why experiences are so much more powerful than mere events – they take us out of the everyday and into something more fantastical and more enticing.

Surely, therefore, that is what every event you throw should aspire to – to be remembered, treasured, to feel like a moment in your attendee’s lives.

Whether it’s a wedding, birthday party, or any other kind of event, you should be aiming to create an experience.

But what does that really mean?

 

Experiences are immersive

As our friends at Sneaky Experiences know, the easiest way to create an event which truly becomes an experience is to make it immersive.

That means creating an environment, making your event venue into a whole world.

It might mean having a theme, like an era or a beloved film.

But it might also mean bringing scents and sounds and lights and sounds into the mix to create a genuine sensory extravaganza.

Let’s imagine it’s your wedding.

Of course, it’s going to be a brilliant day regardless.

But imagine if there’s also rich, evocative scents, and a woodland scene, and choreographed dancing, and your best friends have all prepared a song with the band.

That’s something you can get lost in, something immersive and intoxicating.

That’s an experience.

Festivals should stand for something

Posted on 9th May 20199th October 2019 by tww-flex
Festivals should stand for something

As we’ve explained in an earlier post, running your own festival is actually far more possible than many assume.

With genuine passion and determination, and a little help from the right professionals, you can take the power back from massive festivals like Glastonbury and create exactly the kind of festival you really want to attend.

But this realisation does prompt questions.

Like why do you want to start a festival?

Is it just to say you did?

Is it to bring some life to your town?

Whatever the particulars, it’s important to realise that all the most successful festivals today start with the ‘why’, not the ‘how’.

So before you even start thinking about the logistics of your festival, it’s important that we really think about what your festival is going to stand for.

Now, you might be wondering why a festival has to stand for anything?

What does Glastonbury ‘stand for’, for example?

But the fact is, major festivals stand for themselves – they exist as institutions, as symbols of their own history, and for any act playing Glastonbury means something regardless of the beliefs of the current promoters.

And if we think about the new era of festivals, from Boomtown to Coachella or Burning Man, they all have a purpose, a distinct flavour of their own.

So what is yours?

It’s not as if every festival has to have a major political or ethical motivation – it just has to mean something specific.

Below are a few suggestions to get you thinking…

Local talent

In five years time, is your festival going to represent an important platform for local talent? If so, why not forefront that in your thinking?

 

Ethical concerns

Feel strongly about an ethical issue – vegan, political, whatever it happens to be – a sure fire way of giving your festival direction, purpose and an in-built audience is to dedicate it to a particular cause close to your heart!

 

Local causes

Is there a local cause – a beloved business struggling, a library losing funding – close to your heart? Why not mobilise support for it by making it the focal point of your festival!

 

Charity

Charities can be the most powerful motivators, and the best causes to bring people together. Whether it’s something that’s affected you personally, or a particularly important concern for your community, a charity could be the perfect reason for your festival to exist!

 

Once you’ve established the ‘why’, you can start thinking about the ‘how’ – how do you integrate these themes into your festival? How do you make sure people understand what your festival stands for?

Five ways to make your wedding awesome

Posted on 8th April 20199th July 2019 by tww-flex
Five ways to make your wedding awesome

Let’s face it.

Your wedding might be the only chance you get to indulge your wildest fantasies, and have everyone find it endearing.

Indeed, have everyone falling over themselves to make it happen.

The rest of your time is spent making compromises, and that’s great.

But given this one chance to abandon all sense and do something outlandish, why not really go for it?

We’ve been involved in a lot of weddings over the years, and seen some pretty remarkable things.

So we thought we’d pass on that wisdom to you, by offering up the five best (and most surprising) things you could add to your wedding to make sure it’s exceptional.

 

Confetti cannons

This might seem simple, even uninteresting.

But confetti cannons are so much more entertaining than anyone ever anticipates.

Because they get everyone in the mood, and make a lovely little mess.

Which helps everyone relax and embrace their silliest, most excitable selves.

It’s like a shot of energy, and so straightforward to implement.

Plus it helps put a twist on the tradition.

Meaning you can have your cake and eat it too.

Camping

There’s something about sleeping outdoors that makes people that bit wilder.

Which is great for making sure you have the wildest, most memorable day possible.

And it means people have to make a commitment to the day.

You might use tepees, you might use old fashioned tents.

Regardless, incorporating camping into the equation will always make things that little more interesting.

And save your guests’ hotel dollar, too.

 

Perfect lighting

Another deceptively simple one.

The right lighting can be a real make or break.

And as much fun as quirky concepts and out-there ideas can be, the atmosphere needs to be exactly right for any of it to work.

But that’s not to say lighting has to be straightforward.

You can have extravagant lighting synchronised to the music.

You can have lighting which switches wirelessly between segments in your day.

You can light parts of your venue in unusual ways, or create unique spaces using lighting.

Or you can just make sure everyone’s skin looks really good in the photos.

 

Fairground

Yes, people genuinely do this.

Why not?

Seriously, you can hire fairground rides and amusements.

Don’t try and pretend you’re not tempted.

There’s nothing like seeing people dressed to the nines on a super slide.

And there’s nothing like a Ferris wheel to sober you up for that big toast.

Make it a Festival

We’ve seen plenty do it.

Get a band, a suitable venue…whatever you can think of.

It’s really not as big a challenge as you might think – especially if you use our guide to building one.

You could even combine each of our other four examples to make the biggest wedding any of your guests have been to.

The key is just to think big and bold.

Because, fingers crossed, you’re not gonna get to do it again.

 

Raptor & Co

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