Sport is exciting and bringing together hundreds of people to enjoy it both passively as spectators and actively as athletes is creating a unique experience. Organizing a sporting event requires planning, organization and coordination so that promoters, athletes and the general public can enjoy a successful event.
Sporting events can attract large crowds of people, so you will have to take into account certain aspects that we are going to tell you in today’s post, so everything will go as planned and you will be prepared for any unforeseen event. Shall we start? Here we go!
4 key tips for organizing a sporting event
The key to a sporting event lies in taking into account some indispensable pillars in any sporting event.
1.The brief, the best friend of any event
In order to organize any event, the first thing to do is to create a document that gathers all the relevant information. In the business world, this document is called a brief, which in Spanish refers to a “summary”. En él recogerás información relativa a la organización, planificación y coordinación del evento.
But… What information should it include?
Description of your event: surely you have already planned and imagined what it will be like: a soccer match, a skateboarding event, a climbing championship… Why not be more detailed? Be specific about what your event is about and how you want it to happen.
Set the objectives: why do you want to hold this sporting event, is it for direct profit or is it for charity, are you a brand and do you want to organize this event to create awareness, or do you just want to create awareness? Or do you simply want to create an event that generates entertainment? Whatever the objective… Specify it!
- Audience: if you have well defined your type of event and its objectives, it will be easier to identify the target audience: seniors or young people, only athletes or a general public? Be as specific as possible and estimate the number of people you want to attend. This will help you with the following steps.
- Budget: establish the budget you have available. We recommend you to distribute it by the different aspects that make up an event: space, staff, catering, contingencies, performances… Be realistic and stick to the resources you have available!
- Date and place: one of the most important things, choose the date and place of celebration. Consider the place where you want your sporting event to take place: sports pavilion, sports center, conference room, in the middle of the field… Always check the availability of the chosen location and the weather during those dates. Sport events are usually held outdoors, so if this is your case, try to find a date when the weather forecast does not show signs of rain or storms.
- Staff: depending on the size of your event, you will need more or less staff. Remember that in sporting events the euphoria grows and with it some unforeseen events, perhaps it would be good to have the necessary security personnel. In addition to this, count on hostesses, medical team, catering team and other necessary staff.
- Timing: one of the keys to any well-organized event is timing. Establish the timing for each part of the event: pre-production, production and post-production.
Whether it is a large or small sporting event, we give you a recommendation that is always applied in event management companies: the event should be organized at least three months before the date of celebration. So, set your schedule and get down to work.
Pretty comprehensive, isn’t it? Creating a brief for your event is one of the best tips we can give you. The success in the planning and organization of sporting events lies in this useful document.
2.Sponsors
If you attend sport events with some regularity or even if you do a little research, you will have noticed that most of them, if not 100%, have sponsors or sponsors.
It is very common to look for a sponsoring company that provides capital or helps with species (equipment, drinks, food, merchandising, etc.) in this type of events.
Finding a sponsor will be perfect to divide expenses and be able to allocate part of your initial budget to other aspects, or simply to be able to reduce the own capital that we were going to allocate in the beginning.
And one very important thing, try to make sure that your sponsors are aligned with the values and objectives of your event
3.Publicize your sporting event
If we are organizing an event, it is with the objective of having attendees, otherwise, it would not be an event and it would be a team meeting.
In order for your sporting event to sell tickets and reach the maximum capacity, we recommend that you consider different ways to make it known.
How? Through a good website, traditional advertising, digital media advertising or through a tool used by almost 60% of the world’s population… Social networks.
If you want to go deeper into the subject, we have a blog where we talk about promotion strategies for an event, and we also tell you many tricks!
4.Technology will help you
As we already mentioned, an event has three parts: pre-production, production and post-production. The organization and planning of your sporting event must take into account these three stages to be a success.
For your event to go smoothly, we recommend you to include the innovations that are being implemented in all kinds of events. Technology can help you with the management part, for example, to ensure security throughout the event you can have technology capable of giving you real-time information on capacity levels or peak times at the entrance and exit.
With this type of information you can manage your staff and security personnel so that there is greater control in areas with greater capacity or even manage more efficiently the process of accreditation of attendees, which will get to avoid overcrowding and a smoother entry to the event.
Another technology option that you can include in the planning of your event are cashless payment systems with which you will provide agility to your staff and your attendees. It is a way to reduce fraud, increase security and have greater control of orders, payments and stock inside the venue.
Technology that the most cutting-edge events are including to improve their organization and attendees’ experience. At the end of the day, an event is about having a good time, so why not also ensure the well-being of our attendees?
By following these four tips you will become a pro at organizing sporting events. As you have seen, the importance of a good organization lies in planning and establishing good strategies and actions to make our event memorable. The most important thing? Always keep in mind the possible unforeseen events, the need to increase security and above all, that technology can always help you to check if your organization has been adequate and who knows… Maybe in a few months you will organize a new event.
