With another busy and exciting festival season underway, you’re undoubtedly juggling numerous priorities to ensure that everything goes as planned.
That includes how you’ll successfully manage your live event IT, including your business-critical Internet connectivity as well as WiFi for VIPs and attendees. You certainly don’t want to risk any shortfalls due to bad service, unreliable connectivity, and poor performance.
To help you better manage festivals or other live events, here are five proven ways to maximize your investment in live event IT:
1. CHOOSE AN IT PARTNER WITH RESOURCES
When considering who will handle your live event IT, your IT vendor should have solid wholesale or service provider relationships with a variety of Internet backhaul carriers. In the end, that means better bandwidth, lower costs, Service Level Agreements, and no long-term contracts.
2. TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF LIVE EVENT IT
Ensure that your live event IT vendor is able to support a robust and scalable IP network. This will allow more operational groups to take advantage of the network’s capabilities during your event, including:
- Access control, RFID, wristband and ticketing
- Point of sale (PoS), credit card, cashless and ATM systems
- Controls and distribution for audio, video, lighting groups and platforms
- Social media teams
- Production and other back-of-house (BoH) groups
- Attendee engagement platforms
- Digital signage
3. BUILD TO SUIT
Work with your IT provider to ensure that your event has the proper bandwidth and network coverage. Request documentation detailing the infrastructure and deployment so you can be confident that you have the right IT for your event and not more than you need, and certainly not less which might pop up additional costs on-site.
4. PREPARE FOR UNEXPECTED EVENT REQUIREMENTS
Discuss the potential for any unexpected event requirements, such as unplanned sponsor needs, or inclement weather plans, with your IT vendor. Then, build in the projected costs before the event rather than delaying until the event is underway when unexpected costs can quickly mount up.
5. ENHANCE THE VALUE OF YOUR WIFI COVERAGE
Deepen the experience of your VIPs and attendees by providing attendee WiFi zones so that they can easily engage on social media, while adding additional sponsor revenue streams. The incremental cost to provide WiFi services for your attendees might be less than you think, all while adding significant value to your IT spend.
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR LIVE EVENT IT
Keeping live event IT costs properly contained will add significant value to your event. Using the five tips we’ve provided here will ensure that you get the most out of your live event IT investment.
