Event Operator Handbook

2017

Table of Contents

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1. Introduction 03

2. Promotion 03

3. Register your event 04

3.1 Event criteria 04

3.2 Marketing options 05

3.3 Event registration deadlines 05

3.4 Tips for a successful event 06

3.5 How to register – Step-by-Step 07

4. Contact Us 08

5. Appendices 09

5.1 Event coordinator in your area 09

5.2 Event results survey 2017 10

updated 5 June 2017

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1. An introduction to TASTE RIVERINA

Now in its sixth year, the Taste Riverina Festival is a month-long celebration in October, showcasing the Riverina’s diverse range of local food, beverages and agricultural produce in many towns across the region. The Festival’s vision is to be a premier regional food and beverage festival in Australia that develops the Riverina’s prosperity.

The values of Taste Riverina are: Collaboration (working together), Education (raising awareness), Innovation (inspiring others) and Supporting Local.

In 2016, the Festival attracted more than 35,000 visitors and generated $1.3 million revenue at the events, not taking into account the additional spending throughout our communities.

Building on the success from previous years, Taste Riverina was named a Finalist at the 2016 NSW Tourism Awards and was recently listed among Australia’s Top 10 Food and Wine Festivals in a national travel magazine.

For the third year in a row, the Taste Riverina Festival has also secured funding from Destination NSW as part of its 2017 Flagship Event Fund. The $20,000 boost will be used for out-of-region advertising.

We have exciting things planned for 2017 and hope you’ll join the celebration this year.

2. How is TASTE RIVERINA promoted?

Taste Riverina organisers will undertake comprehensive marketing campaigns to promote the Festival and encourage people to attend. The Festival’s target audience is Riverina locals and people from outside the region in Albury/Wodonga and the ACT between 25 and 64 years with an interest in food, beverages and travel related experiences.

Festival websiteTasteriverina.com.au features all participating events, towns and other relevant information. The website received more than 37,000 unique visitors in 2016 with a high of 13,000 visitors in October alone.

Digital Our extensive digital advertising includes ongoing social media posts as well as paid Facebook and Instagram campaigns.

Printed programFull colour event programs will be printed and distributed via Visitor Information Centres, event operators and other supporting businesses within and outside the region.

Radio

A radio advertising campaign within the Riverina, as well as in Abury Wodonga will promote the Taste Riverina Festival and encourage people to visit the region in October. The campaign will include interviews with event operators and consumer competitions.

E-newsletters E-newsletters are distributed on a regular basis from June–October.

Collateral Pull-up banners, posters, and promotional flags will be placed in various locations across the region.

Public relations We’re continuously working with media to promote Taste Riverina to a national audience via newspapers, magazine, radio and TV.

3. Register your event

3.1 EVENT CRITERIA

In order to maintain the quality of the Festival, your event must meet the following criteria:

1. Your event must take place between Friday 29 September and Tuesday 31 October 2017.2. Your event must complement Taste Riverina’s vision and values. 3. Your event must feature products that are grown or produced in the Riverina.4. Your event must be held within one of the following Local Government Areas: Carrathool, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Griffith, Junee, Leeton, Lockhart,

Murrumbidgee, Narrandera, Snowy Valleys and Temora.5. You agree to promote your own event as well as the Taste Riverina Festival

as a whole. We will send you a Taste Riverina logo, please use it on all your event collateral.

6. You agree to collect relevant data from your event attendees and respond to our online survey by Sunday 12 November 2017 (please refer to the survey template in the appendix).

The Taste Riverina Festival Committee reserves the right to decline events if they don’t meet the above criteria. If you have any concerns, please contact us as soon as possible so we can work together to have your event included this year.

If your event is part of another festival, please only register the component events relevant to Taste Riverina. Other festival may advertise in the program but may not be included as a Taste Riverina event.

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If your event is repeated several times throughout October, you only pay the chosen investment level once (e.g. weekly farmers market). However, if you register a number of different events, the first three events will be charged the full amount of the chosen investment option, the fourth and fifth event will be charged at 50% and any additional events can be registered at no additional cost (e.g. a number of different cooking classes).

3.3 EVENT REGISTRATION DEADLINES

In order to have your event listed in the printed program, you will need to register between late May and Sunday 02 July 2017 at 11.59pm. This will give us enough time to design and print the program for distribution in late August.

You may cancel your event at any time and will receive a full refund if you cancel by Sunday 02 July 2017. No refunds will be given if cancellations are made after this date

You can still register an event until 31 August 2017 and it will be included in all digital promotion according to your chosen investment option.

3.2 MARKETING OPTIONS

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BASIC INTERMEDIATE PREMIUM

Website listing

Event details + 500 characters + photo

Event details + 500 characters + photo

Event details + 500 characters + photo

Printed program

Event details + 50 characters

Event details + 150 characters + logo

Event details + 250 characters + photo

E-newsletter – Event listing + photo

Event listing + photo

Social media – Bundled post Bundled post +

standalone post

Website Homepage feature

– – Photo and link to event listing

Other – –Preferential feature in paid advertising and

PR as relevant

$75 $180 $280

NB. All prices exclude GST.

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3.4 TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

Event organisation• Get creative with your event, try something new and showcase your point of

difference. RDA Riverina has developed a Riverina Food Directory which includes regional growers, producers and restaurants and you’re encouraged to contact anyone on this list to collaborate and organise an event together: www.rdariverina.org.au/community.aspx.

• When choosing a date for your event, be aware of other big events in your area. Check the Taste Riverina website for other events already registered, or speak to your local Visitor Information Centre to find out what else is happening.

• Choose a date, time and venue and stick to it. We are able to change details on the website, however some people will simply rely on the information printed in the event program without checking for updates online.

• Make sure to check with your Council about rules and regulation of holding an event in your local government area, e.g. DA applications, safety regulations etc. You can find the right contact person in your area at the end of this document, they are happy to help you with any questions you might have.

Event registration• Think of an interesting, quirky, fun or unusual name for your event so that it will catch

people’s attention! The event description should be engaging, telling people what your event is all about and what they can experience. Try to also name some local products or producers your event features.

• Choose a high quality and appealing photograph for your event to make it stand out on the website and in the printed program.

Marketing• If you have a ticketed event, we recommend selling your tickets via Trybooking.com

or Eventbrite.com.au which gives you the following benefits: • People tend to book earlier and pay upfront

• You don’t need EFTPOS facilities to take bookings

• Easy to keep track of ticket sales and you can manually enter tickets that you sell offline

• People can access your online ticket sales directly from the Taste Riverina website and digital advertising

• You can capture relevant data such as postcodes or email addresses for your own marketing and to complete our event results survey

• You’ll only be charged a low fee which can be included in the ticket price or displayed separately

• Include the Taste Riverina logo and other promotional collateral supplied by us in your own marketing.

• Use #TasteRiverina when promoting your event online to increase online exposure.

• Your staff are the biggest advocates for your event. Make sure they know all about it so they can encourage your customers and other people to attend.

Sustainability It’s best practice for festival and event operators to create more sustainable events. We encourage you to reduce your water and electricity usage wherever possible, recycle your waste, and increase the use of environmental friendly materials, e.g. bamboo instead of plastic cutlery. Any steps you can take to make your event more environmentally friendly are appreciated.

Once your event has been approved, all details entered in this section will be made public.

Step 4: Describe how your event will meet the registration criteria

You will be asked to answer the following three questions so we can assess whether your event is eligible to be part of Taste Riverina:a. How will your event complement Taste Riverina’s vision and values, and feature

products that are grown or produced in the Riverina? (Tip: in this section it is helpful to name specific operators, producers or growers you’re working with.)

b. How are you going to promote your own event and the Taste Riverina Festival in general?

c. How will you collect data about your event that is required for our reporting purposes?

Step 5: Upload your event photo, logo and insurance certificate

You will need to upload a high quality photo (min 120mm x 120mm at 300dpi) for your event and your business logo. You are also required to upload a current public liability insurance certificate.

Step 6: Select relevant categories for your event (choose all that apply)

Eat

Drink

Outdoor

Classes

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3.5 HOW TO REGISTER – STEP-BY-STEP

Click on the ‘Register an event’ button at the bottom of the Taste Riverina website. For better functionality, we recommend using a computer to complete your registration, rather than a tablet or phone.

Step 1: Enter your contact and billing details

These details will only be used so we can communicate with you and send you an invoice, they will not be published anywhere.

Step 2: Choose an investment level for your event

You can choose between the three marketing options outlined on page 5.

Step 3: Enter your event details

You must provide us with the name and date of your event, start and finish times, venue name and location, cost of entry, booking information for ticket sales, your website and Facebook URLs, and a description of your event for the Taste Riverina website and the printed program. (Tip: include an engaging event description here, without mentioning venue, time, date etc. again as these details will automatically be included alongside the description.)

Yenda Centenary Celebrations

Join us this Long Weekend with events and activities to commemorate Yenda turning 100 years old.

The celebrations include food stalls, wine tastings, the launch of the Australian Beer Company Centenary Beer, dinner on Saturday night and bush dance on Sunday.

Sat 01 Oct • 10am-midnight / Sun 02 Oct • 10am-5pm Yenda Memorial Park, Yenda Free event, no booking required

booking info + cost

description

date + time

name of event

venue name + location

Live music

Child friendly

Wheelchair accessible

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Step 7: Agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. “I confirm that I have submitted/will submit all necessary documents associated with holding this event to my local Council. These documents may include Council registrations, DA approval, food safety requirements, risk management plans and workers compensation certificates.”

2. “I will notify the NSW Food Authority about my event under www.foodnotify nsw.gov.au, if required.”

3. “I give permission for my Taste Riverina event to be promoted by all relevant stakeholders.”Step 8: Register another event

You have the option to register another event so you can pay for all events in one purchase and benefit from the discounted registration fee for your fourth and subsequent events. Your contact info and event registration criteria will be copied automatically, however please edit these if necessary.

Step 9: Pay for your event

You will be asked to enter your credit/debit card details to pay for your event(s). Upon successful payment, we’ll email you an event registration confirmation and tax invoice.

Step 10: Review by Committee

The Taste Riverina committee will review your registered event. If your event doesn’t meet the necessary criteria, it may not be accepted for the Taste Riverina Festival. In this case, you’ll receive a full refund.

‘Save for later’ function

If you cannot complete your event registration in one session, you have the option to click the ‘save for later’ button at the bottom of each page during the registration process. This will save the details you have already entered and email you a link that will take you back to your event registration.

4. CONTACT US

If you have any further questions or would like more information, please contact:

Yannika HendessRiverina Regional Tourismmarketingsupport@tasteriverina.com.au0427 630 349

tasteriverina.com.au

facebook.com/TasteRiverina

twitter.com/tasteriverina

instagram.com/tasteriverina

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5. APPENDICES

5.1 EVENT COORDINATOR / CONTACT IN YOUR AREA

Carrathool Shire Council

John Randall, Community Liaison OfficerJRandall@carrathool.nsw.gov.au | 02 6965 1900 | 0427 984 370

Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council

Linda Wiles, Public Relations Officerlinda.wiles@cgrc.nsw.gov.au | 02 6940 2130 | 0409 846 578

Griffith City Council

Karly Sivewright, Events CoordinatorKarly.Sivewright@griffith.nsw.gov.au | 02 6962 8100 | 0417 368 169

Junee Shire Council

Paul O’Brien, Development and Environmental Services Managerpaul.obrien@junee.nsw.gov.au | 02 6924 8100

Leeton Shire Council

Alison Egan, Tourism and Events Coordinatorevents@leeton.nsw.gov.au | 02 6953 6481 | 0448 448 368

Lockhart Shire Council

Jennifer Connor, Tourism and Economic Development Officer JConnor@lockhart.nsw.gov.au | 02 6920 5305

Murrumbidgee Council

Gerrie Carr-MacFie, Economic, Tourism & Community Development Managergerriec@murrumbidgee.nsw.gov.au | 03 5886 1200 | 0418 746 745

Narrandera Shire Council

Ashleigh Harrison, Events Officerashleigh.harrison@narrandera.nsw.gov.au | 02 6959 5547

Snowy Valleys Council

Natasha Borschmann, Tourism Promotion Officernborschmann@snowyvalleys.nsw.gov.au | 02 6948 9195 | 0409 121 558

Temora Shire Council

Amanda Gay, Culture and Community Services Officeragay-mcrone@temora.nsw.gov.au | 02 6980 1111 | 0428 029 184

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5.2 EVENT RESULTS SURVEY 20171. What was the name of your event?

2. Where was your event held?

3. Estimate the total number of visitors that attended your event.

4. What was the average ticket price/entry fee per person? If the event was free, enter '0'.

5. Estimate the average spending per person on other items at your event (e.g. food, drinks, retail).

6. Estimate where visitors to your event came from? (answer fields must add up to 100%).

Your town / city %

Elsewhere in the Riverina %

Other NSW %

ACT %

Victoria %

Other Australia %

Overseas %

18 - 35 year olds without children %

35 - 55 year olds without children %

55+ %

Families with children %

<18 years %

7. Estimate the demographics of your attendees (answer fields must add up to 100%).

$

$

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9. How did people find out about your event? (Tick all that apply)

Male %

Female %

8. Estimate the majority of your attendees (answer fields must add up to 100%).

E-newsletter Facebook Instagram

Printed event program Radio Taste Riverina Website

Visitor Information Centre Word of mouth Other (please specify)

10. Please provide us with some general feedback about your event, including what worked well, what you would do differently in the future and how likely you are to hold an event for Taste Riverina again in 2018.