Tag: liveevents

Holy Fuck, Apple. You Spent HOW MUCH?!

EVENT DESIGN, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT PRODUCTION INSPIRATION, EVERYTHING ELSE, LIVE EVENTS, LOL, PRODUCTION

10 Major Events That Cost Less Than WWDC

Apple spent a whopping $50 million on its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. $50 MILLION. 

This staggering figure was recently unveiled by Phil Schiller, former head of Apple s worldwide marketing, during his testimony at the ongoing trial of Epic Games vs. Apple, and it shook us to our core.

Yes, we know Apple is a billion-dollar company, and yes, we know they use their week-long conference to announce their shiny new gadgets (of which we re big fans), but it s still just. a. business. meeting. The set-up is super basic: a stage, some cameras, some speakers, and occasionally a musical guest (Weezer, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Good Charlotte), but nothing so spectacular or extraordinary or life changing that the event could run up that kind of bill. 

To put this in perspective, we rounded up some other extravagant events that didn t cost nearly as much as Apple s week-long business meeting. 

10.  Naomi Campbell s 36th Birthday Party $1.8 Million

Supermodel Naomi Campbell rented out 18 floors of Burj Al Arab, the world s first seven-star hotel, to host her elaborate three-day birthday bash in Dubai. Each day featured a series of celebratory themed events for the OG Super Model and her high-profile guests, including David and Victoria Beckham, and Linda Evangelista. No assistants or phones were harmed at the big birthday bash.

9.  Trump s 4th of July Event $5.4 Million

In 2019, during Donald Trump s presidency he hosted an over-the-top 4th of July event featuring tanks, fireworks, and a military flyover at the Lincoln Memorial. He called the event remarkable; we call it a misuse of public funds.

8.  Macy s Thanksgiving Day Parade $12.3 Million

This 2.5 mile parade with enormous balloons, unbelievable floats, and talented performers, dazzles crowds during the holidays each year. According to The Smart Shopper s 2016 report, the average total cost to host the parade is between $10.4-$12.3 million. Event logistics can cost up to $3.4 million.

7.  Producing Hamilton on Broadway $12.5 Million

Everyone wants to be in the room where it happened. Mounting the show on Broadway took $12.5 million, or one-million-two-hundred-fifty-thousand ten-dollar bills featuring our founding father. There is nothing scrappy about the Tony Award-winning musical, which has grossed more than $1 billion in global revenue to date. 

6.  Jennifer Lopez & Shakira s Super Bowl Halftime Show $13 million

JLo and Shakira killed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2020. The 14-minute show included more than 130 dancers, 600 field team members, 5,350 pieces of pyrotechnics and some spectacular lasers. The televised performance won an Emmy Award, and resulted in millions of viewers feeling bummed out about their physical fitness and skin care regimen. 

5.  Opening of the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai $31 Million

With a goal to make this resort opening one of the biggest events of the year, event designer and producer Colin Cowie and Empire Entertainment turned up the flash to throw a lavish three-day extravaganza. Powerful video projections, pyrotechnics and fireworks told the story of the Atlantis across the outer facade, ending in the largest-ever fireworks display on record more than seven times larger than those used at the Beijing Olympic games. 

4.  2021 Oscars $40 Million

The Academy Awards wanted to go big and go live this year. All attendees were required to take three COVID tests prior to attending, but considering they received a gift bag containing approximately $225,000 worth of goodies, it feels like a fair trade to us. Plus, ya know, human interaction.

3.  Opening Ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics $42 Million

This spectacle was called Isles of Wonder. Directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle, the London Olympic opening ceremonies pulled out all the stops. With a television audience of 900 million, it became the most-viewed Olympic opening ceremony. 

2.  Burning Man Music Festival $44 Million

In 2018, Burning Man reported it took $44 million to produce the music festival focused on community, art, self-expression and self-reliance. The event creates a temporary city in a Nevada desert and features a 40-foot-tall burning effigy among hundreds of other elaborate art structures. Fun fact: they spend $1.4 million for sanitation services alone (aka: port-a-potties). 

1.  Prince Harry & Meghan Markle s Royal Wedding $45 Million

We watched, we wept, we drank tea at 5am. A royal wedding is more affordable than a work conference. <<>>

Apple: give us a call. We can produce a fantastic WWDC for you with a lower price tag and so much more than a stage with a screen and some lights.

David Sonntag Talks New Event Venue Outlook on LMG s The Road Ahead Podcast

COMPANY NEWS, EVENT INDUSTRY, EVENT RESOURCES, LIVE EVENTS, TIPS & TRICKS, VENUES

I recently had the pleasure of guesting on Les Goldberg s 39th episode of LMG s The Road Ahead podcast, alongside Lauren Chelf from AOAC International, and Diane Kovats from ISCB, to discuss negotiating and navigating event venues through the COVID-lens.

I d love for you to give our chat a listen, or keep scrolling for what you need to know when planning a post-pandemic event. 

1. Pay attention to event size vs. event capacity. Just because a venue can

   accommodate 1,000 attendees, doesn t mean that the city or state will allow that many people to gather just yet.

2. Review requirements and regulations. Safety measures and restrictions vary drastically from state to state, and city to city. The hotel, convention center, or event venue itself is also likely to have an additional set of rules. Ask upfront and get details in writing.
3. Determine venue staffing needs. Hotels and event venues are just as excited to be back in action as we are, and welcome the opportunity to bring back furloughed team members. It s crucial that your event venue has enough experienced staff working now to handle your events needs. (Because we all know there s more to a flawless event than the event day itself.)
4. Consistent, coordinated communication regarding COVID safety. Both the event venue staff and the event producers must be on the same page when it comes to communicating and executing COVID safety measures. These could include mask wearing, temperature checks, COVID tests, cleaning measures, and on. For example, a venue, city or state might not require temp checks, but the event producer and client does for all attendees and staff. Share safety requirements before the event takes place with all involved parties, in order to manage expectations and equal treatment across the board.
5. Internet is essential. We ve encountered venues that are willing to improve Internet service and create hot spots, and others who are not. As Les says in the podcast, he d prefer Internet over air conditioning these days, it s just that important. Amen.
6. Hotel room rates are often negotiable. Holding a large-scale company meeting or conference in a hotel? So far Team dB has found that there s a lot of wiggle room with room rates.
7. Hybrid events are here to stay. Yeah, I said it. Not your jam? Think of it like this: hybrid activations allow for greater attendance. (And elastic waist bands.)

Those are a few helpful highlights from our fun discussion; listen to the full podcast for more, including our thoughts on specifically when I predict think 250+ attendees at an event will be the new (old) normal.

Crowd Dynamics: How to Prevent Crowd Crush Through Proper Planning

Backstage, event design, event industry, event production inspiration, event production technology, everything else, live events, news, tips & tricks

Typically when you notice an old blog post of yours trending, it s a good thing. In this particular case it s actually just devastating. Back in 2015, our team at Decibel posted a blog titled Crowd Dynamics: How to Prevent (and Survive) a Human Stampede or Crowd Crush. At the time, we were reviewing the New Year s Eve stampede in Shanghai, and the Germany Love Parade disaster of 2010 to learn how best to plan for and avoid these types of tragedies at events. With the recent event disaster at Travis Scott s Astroworld concert, this post gained more traction as people searched to find out how something like this could happen. While the documentary and information on this post is still relevant, we thought it important to revise with current information, regulations and best practices.

As many of you know, Houston is my second home. While Decibel did not have a role in the planning or production of Astroworld, we do want to take the opportunity to present key learnings and provide best practices for our clients as they plan their events. What we will not do here is place blame, accusations, or conclusions for this particular event. There will be a time and place for that, but it is too early in the process to have any comment on this particular event before the investigations are complete. However, we firmly believe that no event should lead to an avoidable death or injury if it is planned correctly. So there will be many lessons learned here, and I am sure there were mis-steps along the way that could have telegraphed this in advance. This is avoidable, full stop.

Safety First Mindset

I will start by stating that at any large scale event, there needs to be a safety-first mindset. At Decibel, we are members of the Event Safety Alliance, and we recommend looking into the safety mindset and track record of all vendors and promoters. For crowd management, there is a industry standard protocol for the planning of large scale events. This is covered in the American National Standards Institute document ANSI ES1.9-2020. You can download a sample here, and the entire document will run $40 from ANSI. We HIGHLY recommend reading and following this protocol on your events.

Plan

When producing large scale events, the plan is key. These scenarios must be anticipated, and a plan of action must be in place, in writing. This needs to be agreed by all principal teams onsite as to when this will be executed. In this scenario, the plan causes the action when certain criteria are met, and the human element is minimized in the heat of the moment.

One great example of this is our High Wind Action Plan that we at Decibel have in place for outdoor events. As the wind increases and hits certain speeds, there is a written plan as to what action is automatically triggered. Once we hit the max speed, a full evacuation is in place. There is no real-time conversation or discussion needed. It is pre-determined based on safety and stage tolerances and is set to execute. This saves time, limits discussions, and ultimately leads to lives saved. This scenario can also be in place for crowds as they get energetic, as crowd crushes begin and as the situation reached a danger level.

For crowd specific planning, this document focuses on the DIME-ICE matrix for analyzing risks and managing crowds. This stands for Design, Information, Management, Expectations, Ingress, Circulation, Egress. This is a great explanation of how to asses and plan for crowds. We highly recommend reading and following this matrix as you plan your events.

Sample DIME-ICE matrix during Normal conditions. For illustration purposes only. Your matrix must be based on the circumstances of your event.

Venue Design

Safe venue design is paramount when developing your layout. Through this safety-first mindset, you can do your best to mitigate crowd crush and provide egress for participants. This is as important for outdoor events as it is for indoor events.

This is certainly one of the elements that will be reviewed in the Astroworld venue layout. One way of separating the crowd is through the configuration or design of a T-shape dividing the crowd to stage left and stage right sections. A few other aspects to consider. It is important to avoid 90 degree interior angles, as turns should be rounded- this avoids compressive corners. Also, the more separate corrals or split viewing areas with ingress and egress will help divide the crowd, as well as allow medical and staff to arrive at emergencies as needed. I am sure CADS and layouts will be released in the investigation and I am curious as to how this was initially set up.

Image of Stage Barrier T Shape Design

Communications

Aside from pre-planing and venue design, I really feel that communications are paramount when it comes to safety. At large scale events, cellular coverage can never be relied upon for any emergency. At Decibel, we bring in large amounts of radios for our events, and add repeaters as necessary.

Radios for Communication on Large Scale Event

Teamwork:

Finally, teamwork is important. You can plan, design and communicate to your hearts content, but if all of the teams are not working the same plan, are not working together, all the rest can fall apart. This is one of our strongest attributes at Decibel- we put team above all else and it shows in our productions.

Other Considerations:

Covid and general attitudes are something we are really keeping our eye on as we emerge from this pandemic. After being in lockdown and distanced for two years, the energy of the crowd needs to be taken into account. This will be something to continue to reassess and review as we receive more data. But in addition to the interest of getting back in person, the energy of being around and excited, there is also a wave of aggressive behavior across the board. We are seeing this in the air and at restaurants, at businesses and at town hall and PTA meetings. Decorum has really taken a back seat with some individuals. I do not have a solution here, but it is important to keep an eye on in the coming months as we get back to events.