I've looked through all the searches I can on here, but havent really come up much so I figured I would start a new thread. Really have had a great time getting to know people though craft beer over the years and at this point would like to create a formal event or two for fun or charity. Done a lot of reading and have come across some good check lists and articles, but wanted to bounce a couple of questions off someone that's had experience. Come on BA'ers who's planned a formal beer event and lived to tell about?
I've never done a beer festival before, which sounds like quite the undertaking. If you have experience with large-scale event organizing, enough initial capital and contacts in the local beer community, I'm sure it could be done though. I used to do a comparatively small annual fundraiser for a small nonprofit that was a "beer and chocolate" tasting. We'd get an indoor space donated that comfortably held at least 100 people. Also would find a low-cost band or DJ. Got three types of chocolate donated by a local chocolate company. And then three beers -- over the years a mix of kegs and bottles. Would try to engage the brewers in picking one that matched well with one of the chocolates. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. We'd sell tickets that included one tasting-sized pour of each of the three beers, and then one full-sized pour. Would mark them as we went on the tickets. Recruited usually two liscensed servers to do the pouring and hand out the beers; checking IDs as needed, too. We'd then let people buy extra pours as the beer allowed. Didn't get a ton of sales that way, but a little. Had volunteers checking tickets at the door, and cleaning as we went. Did a little program in the middle. Kept the whole thing to two hours so nobody got too drunk. But had envelopes at the door in case people wanted to make extra donations as they imbibed. Wasn't a huge money maker, but we did volunteer recognition things there, too. And we got to introduce people to some cool local breweries. As you might imagine, making sure we sold enough tickets was the main work of the whole thing. In addition to electronic sales, we'd have volunteers with the nonprofit hawking them to friends. Probably got most sales that way.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I am a bit nervous about the size of the undertaking, but from the number of different events I have been involved with thus far, it is mostly about attention to details and having the right interest from both volunteers and guests to pull it off. I am thinking if I could do an event with 100-150 people that would be a great success and has me only mildly concerned lol. So kudos to you for pulling that off on an annual basis! My initial thoughts would be to hold it somewhere with the proper beer license already so as to be able to serve under that and not have to apply for an individual/one-time permit. This I guess is where my biggest questions lie; alcohol laws. Did you consult with a lawyer on this for the one you set up? If I was serving pours of bud light from a keg that the bar already purchased, I figure this is a non-issue. But my concerns come in with attempting to bring in offerings from non-local breweries and direct buys from the breweries themselves. I know this is a bit getting ahead of myself, but I was also thinking if I change venues and charities, or at least rotate them, but put on a consistently good event, it would help spread the word as I would be growing the number of vested parties with each new venue. It sounds like you always benefited the same cause, but did you have any drawbacks to the new venues? Beyond coordinating on a new playing field each time? Do you have any "I can't believe we didn't think of that" moments that really stand out in your memory?
You indicate that you searched this forum for past discussions but didn't come up with much. Maybe you just paged backwards without using the search engine, but I recall one or two threads on the topic that raised all kinds of obstacles/issues that you'd have to work out to put on a festival. (I think state licensing was involved, so it can get complex.) Maybe what I found will be the same as the threads that you found, but here's a link to my search. (It looks like there are two threads back in 2013 and 2012 that could be what I'm recalling. I did not read them to verify that.) I also noticed a thread on the best ways to put together a program booklet. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...&t=post&o=date&g=1&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=39 Anyways, see if these threads might be helpful. I think you are biting off more than your initial post seems to imply. Good luck.
I've volunteered at a few, and I can tell you that organization is key. You'll want capable and experienced people handling things so not everyone is answering to one over-stressed person. Be prepared to delegate and deflect all sorts of questions to other people who have answers. You'll need social media folk to get the word out, because an empty festival is a sad festival (and a real financial loss). And you will need lots and lots of ice. Seriously. So much ice.
Didn't consult a lawyer. In restrospect, how we sold tickets might have been an issue -- but we either did it at a bar or used liscensed caterers / servers who checked IDs when in other venues, so the serving part was definitely koscher. I always viewed it as a typical nonprofit fundraiser with alcohol rather than a public beer sales event. I'm sure the laws vary from state to state and maybe even county to county, though. If you're doing an actual beer festival, probably prudent to get solid legal advice on that -- and liability insurance, too.
Honestly I didn’t notice the “I’m hosting a beer festival” thread you are referencing from 2013 but it does seem like it has some good info. Thanks for pointing that one out amongst all the others. And I have already accepted it will be a ton of work. I just have an absolute blast connecting and talking with craft beer enthusiasts already and yet at the same time introducing people to craft beer for the first time. Been to enough festivals already with friends to have a general idea of what people do and don’t like about them. Figure it’ll Be a few months of stress and loss of sleep, but for that one day, for a couple of hours, I’d be so proud to see it all come together. Also, seems like you were pretty active in some of the past festival threads. If there’s anything else you can think of I would love to hear it.
Thanks for the feedback. Volunteered at a couple of events as well and probably my personal pet peeve is asking someone “in charge” what we should be doing and they don’t know either. I get it happens, but I think the detailed organization and well defined roles for everyone would help with that. I am hoping that between my efforts, the venue, the charity and the breweries involved we would be able to grab a decent amount of attention for it. I am concerned that while everyone I talk to tells me it’s a great idea, when it comes to putting down cold hard cash for it, that could very quickly change. I read through the brewers guild festival planning guide and they were talking about going through hundreds of pounds of ice an hour......crazy!
Grew up in an insurance agent’s house so I’ve heard a hundred times over about carrying the right liability insurance, setting up LLC etc lol. What has you second guessing the legality of how you sold the tickets? It seems these days everyone sells tickets and just says you won’t be permitted without valid photo ID at the time of the event.
The thing about attendance is that it's never predictable, especially for a first time event. Sometimes you've over prepared and no one's there. Sometimes it's a shit ton of people, and it seems like you'll never catch up. Numbered tickets help with this, but unless you're sold out in advance, you never know how many day-of-purchase tickets to prepare for. I was recently at a lovely but woefully under-attended fest where the participants outnumbered the guests. It was great for networking with new breweries and eating lots of free cheese, but I felt bad for all the hard working folk who obviously lost money hosting the event. It seems that lack of word-of-mouth and high ticket prices killed the event entirely. I'd guess that pricing low enough to get people in the door is important, but don't price so low that you get a bunch of cheap drunks. Another thing to consider is bathroom options. Lines form quickly and port-a-potties suck. Being able to wash hands is critical, especially for pourers. (One fest I worked had no hand wash options for beer vendors, so very ewww. Luckily I knew a nearby restaurant to hit up but most others didn't bother.) The more I think of things, the more I don't envy you. I knew a few people who tried to plan an event and it failed miserably because no one wanted to participate in fear of looking bad in the end. These things sound fun but are a lot of work! Good luck to you, man.
Yeah, I think leaving an open number to where we could get a mad rush on unexpected guests would be a bad thing for my sanity and for everyone involved with my hypothetical event. I think I would like to cap the tickets at 100-150 tops. At 150 if I'm doing my math right, we could ensure a couple of 2oz tasters for everyone out of a sixtel. Plus as I mentioned before an event of this size would for me be a huge personal success right now while still scaring me just enough to keep me sharp! Plus, I think having a fixed number of participants and beers at each event and only possibly changing the venue will help with a lot of the issues I see come up. That way we keep exclusivity to hopefully have people wanting to attend and can dial in the event each time. If the crowd and number of beers stay the same, everything from volunteers to ice requirements to bathrooms and food service just becomes a dialing in process. Now obviously no two would be the same, but a lot of the unknowns would quickly work themselves out. I think.... On the under-attended event, what kind of prices were they charging do you remember? And any ideas on why they were charging so much (trying to bring in too many special beers, over did it on food, too much entertainment)? Just curious cause I think some of the fests I've been to have felt like just a money grab, I couldnt see how or why the ticket prices were as high as they were. Whereas others I've been to have ranged on the more expensive side of things but you can tell were aimed at the die hard crowds. Merch, special beer and food privileges etc. while not being for everyone, I can see how this would fit in the overall marketing plan. I do think a number of events now a days are falling into that purgatory of not being very well defined. It seems as if they think they can just through readily distributed beers in buckets of ice in a local gymnasium and it'll sell out. I've tried to really define my idea on 4 areas I think I would want to see in a festival; 1. Crowd. Like or similarly minded people. eg Dark Lord Day you know is going to be packed with pretty hard core enthusiasts that may also like heavy metal. Very little in the way of first timers there (unless they are muling lol) 2. Venue. Drinking good beer is great, drinking good beer in an impressive location is better. Firestone Walker Invitational 3. Beer. Let people know what they are in for. Modern times festival of Dankness, FOBAB, etc. 4. Entertainment. This one kind of depends on the beer. If you are looking to have people ticking whales all day, you know its going to be a crowd that is only worried about the beer and the band on stage is going to be ignored. But if it is supposed to be an event to help introduce new comers to the craft beer world, have something else going on so they have the choice or trying a bunch of different things or just enjoying a good beer with friends. RE: the bathrooms. Did they really not even have hand sanitizer options next to the bathrooms? It's hard for me to see how they missed this. I mean even in the call to rent the port a poties, how was that rep not like "Awesome you need 8 units on the 12th. Now did you guys also want to include the hand washing stations?" event planner, "Nah, were serving barrel aged beers, the 12% abv should be enough to kill the germs." Lol Wow might have gotten a little long winded there. Anyways, thanks for the well wishes and all the feedback you've given @kool-aid its been super helpful. This is really helping me figure out just how big of a hill i have to climb. If by some snowballs chance this all works out and I find myself trying to put on an event in Vermont, you're my first call for Volunteer Chairman!
I was part of a crew who ran the food tent at a festival of say almost 10,000 people in one city block. Its incredibly hard and respect to all who pull it off.
The prices were 45 for regular attendance and 75 for VIP (extra rare beers and VIP food access). VIP was reasonable-ish for the value (those were some very nice bottle pours available) but the 45 was just a bit much considering it only included one beer pour and you had to buy more tickets to drink more of the very well curated and varied beer selection. If 45 bucks meant all you can drink, or at least a reasonable amount of beer tickets, it would have been a different story. Location was very very nice, outdoors in a pretty park on a lovely warm day, and it doesn't seem like it would have been that expensive to host there either. I'm looking forward to next year's event but I'm hoping they may fix a few of the issues overall. Thankfully this wasn't the hand-washing problem place, though their rent-a-sink did fail halfway through. No, that other event was a very very popular and often sold-out fest where I know for a fact that many of the most sought-after beers were poured by dirty hands. Ugh. I also know that in the past, they've had bathrooms with sinks available for pourers before the fest began. The port-a-potties did have sanitizers but most of those were empty, too. Not cool. It sounds like the ones I've worked had a lot more beers, vendors, and complications than the one you're starting with, which goes in your favor. Starting small allows you to work up without as many problems. Typically you'd be working with just one distributor so they should be able to handle the beer-related issues. Also, switching venues over a few times will get you an idea of which is best suited to your needs, and then you can stick with the most successful if you find one that works out really well. I'd recommend having comment cards available as well, because you can get good insight into what people really want and what will bring them back. Also, I'd love to help out if you're in the area Believe it or not, most places I've worked haven't taken me very seriously and haven't given much opportunity despite my overanalysis and excess of ideas. As a result, I just let them make mistakes I could have fixed without taking the blame and enjoy all the beer anyway. Good luck and let us know how everything turns out!
Honestly the best experience would be working for one or volunteering at one. On the job training get to the point, and you might even get a little pay to learn what you are getting in to.
Keep it small and focused. I have been involved with and around some seminal events here in North Carolina. One was very ambitious and really trying to be everything for everyone, and to be a true money maker. This event ran for a couple of years as a single event, then went bi-annual in two major cities. I was small a wholesaler, trying to build brands across a broad region and new to the entire notion of big beer events. The promoters wanted free beer for their profit and their staff. I had no budget for this, nor did my suppliers, but they promised the returns of exposure would be exceptional. I was always skeptical, participated for maybe two years under these terms, and realized it was a big loser. I became a dis-advocate for these events. A few years later, I became involved with an event in my hometown, with a good friend and great customer that was principal sponsor for a big Summertime festival in association with a local radio station that has proved to be a continued annual success story. The event was/is a fundraiser, pays the wholesalers, resides in a great venue, and while being a crazy ass beer festival, is a damned good one. Bite off what you can chew- and pay for- line up reliable sponsors, find a great cause to support, and develop relationships with like-minded brewers and breweries. The big wholesalers are important in making any big event successful, but by going small and efficient, everyone wins.
A little bit of pay and a bunch of free beer, networking, and knowledge? Win/win in my book. And if you're a guy, you may even be taken seriously. Heh.
