Everyone likes a sports event, and whether
it’s indoors or outdoors, you’re sure to get a good crowd of people attending to
cheer on their favourites. When you are organising something that’s to be
outside however, it always comes with its own unique set of issues that simply
aren’t a problem if everyone is indoors. It’s all good fun however, and really,
what’s a football match without a bit of rain anyway? Here we have a few tips
to help you get started with organising your next outdoor sports event:
Step 1: Find a Venue
The local park really isn’t an option if
you are hosting an official competition or sporting event. You’re going to need
a space that has all of the right certifications, the right amount of space, and
also has access to everything else a stadium provides. This includes things
like good changing rooms, seats for fans, and even a place for everyone to go
and enjoy a catered dinner afterwards. Outdoor sports event venues for hire in
London are popular choices for a whole rage of different activities,
particularly things such as music concerts. So, if you’re looking to hire one
for an actual sporting event, it should really be a walk in the park.
Step 2: Have a Rain Plan
No one likes to think about it, but if you
are organising a sports event outdoors, then you need to have a rain plan. Of course,
most sports can carry on to a certain extent in the wet weather, if anything it’s
somethings the default for training in. Yet there still comes a time when things
need to be called off. Knowing when this is, who will be calling the shots, and
having a plan for if this does happen are all essential. A good course of action
is to get everyone in the dry and see if things clear up after a time. If not,
have another date already booked provisionally in the calendar in case the
whole thing has to be cancelled. No one likes to travel for a cancelled event,
so make sure and still feed everyone if that was the original plan. The weather
can’t be helped, so everyone will understand.
Step 3: Look for Sponsors
If order to afford everything that a large
outdoor sporting event needs, you’re going to need some sponsors under your
belt. They will help you to advertise your event, sell tickets, and provide you
with the much-needed cash required for branding and venue hire. Sponsors from
the local community are great for helping to foster relationships, and they
will already be well known by those attending. While you’ll have to adhere to
their sponsorship conditions, this shouldn’t be too difficult. What is
difficult is trying to organise an event like this without a sponsor helping
you out.
Step 4: Hire Your Staff
You’ll need a lot of staff for an outdoor
sporting event, so it’s advised to get on the ball early when it comes to getting
them all organised and ready. You’ll need security at the entrance to check
bags, staff to take tickets and usher people to seats, help with the different
teams and competitors around, and much more. Volunteers are a great resource
that you should utilise to its fullest extent, but don’t forget that you need
people in charge of them and to train them in what they need to do. First aid
personnel will also need to be hired as well as administrators to keep
everything running. After all, while you might be the main organiser, you can’t
be expected to do everything on your own. Finally, you’ll need officials and referees
for the day. Without these, your whole sporting event won’t be counted as
official by anyone.
Step 5: Marketing
Once you have the basics covered, it’s time
to get marketing. Reach out to all the local sports clubs and venues and ask
them to display your poster or share your event on social media. Getting
schools involved is also great for promoting purposes as well. You need to
start marketing early and with fervour in order to get the word spread far and wide.
Social media is of course your friend here and having a competition where
people can win tickets will help the promotion train along nicely. Don’t,
however, disregard the local media. Newspapers and radio are great at promoting
events, and more people still read their local paper than you might think. Promoting
something like a sports event happening locally is sure to be something they’ll
want to get involved in.
Step 6: Prizes
It’s not a competition without prizes, so
you’ll need to ensure that you have medals for everyone competing as well as
something special for the top spots. It’s a great idea to be able to give out a
goody bag of branded material to everyone involved and your sponsor should be
able to help you to do that. Everyone loves some freebies and it’s important
that those who have come along are made to feel welcomed and special. It’s also
a good idea to make sure that you have a photographer on board to take action shots
as well as pictures of everyone together. Not only will this be something that participants
can look back on, it will also be great post-event marketing material to use.
Hosting an outdoor sports event is a big
ask for anyone, which is why you’ll need a team of people behind you. Of
course, the rewards speak for themselves, being able to get an audience in to
celebrate human achievement at any level is good for the participants and fans
alike. While there might be a lot to do, once you’ve found the perfect outdoor
sporting venue, you’ll be halfway to a successful event before you know it.
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