Garlic Festival & Borderfest: Making People Matter

Ed Struzik, an IBM guy by day and a Gilroy Garlic Festival 2008 President, is an awesome speaker. He mingled with the audience, encouraged questions throughout his presentation, and virtually demanded we interact with him. The festival is 16 30 years old, far outlasting the typical festival life cycle of 3-5 years, as told to us earlier today by Dan McConnell. One of the key ingredients, one that was not in place in the beginning, is the combination of support for and accountability by the volunteers and the sponsors.

Imagine, a waiting list to volunteer at the festival. In my world, that is nearly unheard of! Imagine, being a primary fundraising event for nonprofit organizations, and turning away a $25,000 sponsorship from Gillette.

Yet those very restrictions are part of what guide the event. It comes from valuing several components:

• The time and energy of the volunteers
• The time and energy of the volunteer organizers
• The money and attention of the sponsors
• The time and attention of the attendees

Volunteer Secrets
Ed presented this quadrant of attributes that helps them manage their volunteers by matching them with the best fitting tasks and by weeding out those who really aren't up to the task, this year.

Typical Sponsorship
Last year, Calphalon paid $15,000 to provide the pans for two cooking demo's and branded shopping bags at the merchandise booth. Calphalon also included a 10% coupon to the nearby kitchen outlet store, Result: They saw a four-fold increase in foot traffic and sales "went through the roof."

UPDATE: Ed has shared his presentation and tells me that all speaker slides will be available from HTA here after the seminar series has ended.
Download the Gilroy Garlic Festival Power Point slides. (PPT; 912 KB) Mahalo nui, Ed.

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Joe Vera, CEO of Borderfest, says his event does not pay for any city services; instead they have built a strong partnership with the local community. They have over 1000 volunteers, many who come back year after year. "We give them ownership."

• They feature a different country every year. WOrk in advance with the local schools to develop a curriculum so the kids learn in advance, then experience it in person, and, telling their parents and aunties and uncles too.
• Volunteers go to training twice a year. "We want the volunteers to hear the same things we are hearing as we plan the event."
• Signage is very controlled and specific, so we keep the experience for the attendees in sync with the brand.
• Got to be creative and do things differently. "I'm always traveling with a camera to take pictures of ideas that we can implement."
• Give back to the community: $5.2 million impact on the community this year.

Joe's made his presentation available on line here. Awesome Joe! Mahalo.

Tourism: Festivals are Powerful Economical Tools

Dan McConnell DDB Worldwide just spoke here at the Hawaii Tourism Authority Festivals and Events conference I am attending (and twittering and blogging too.)

"Upgrading your web site" is only about 10% of what the internet has to offer today. Yet many of our Hawaii web sites are still web 1.0, not 2.0. So that means we have a long ways to go together to compete effectively. Our speaker also teaches at the University of Washington and encourages CEO's to embrace blogging and social media. Dan's company gets it: the most recent blog post is featured on the home page.

Festivals make your marketing dollars go farther.
We are planning an unconference, Podcamp and Wordcamp combined, that we hope to use to bring together the tech leaders from around the world and connect them with locals to share culture and knowledge. We hope the local business and tourism community will collaborate with us to showcase our beautiful state and akamai kama'aina.

The following points help tell us the full story, as festivals and events draw visitors while the internet is the key player in making it happen.

Secret Draws: Beaches, Outdoor Locations, and Information

• Outside the mainland, beach/resorts are the most popular destinations
• Outdoor venues by far the most popular
• Travelers want local culture; what is a community all about?

What more can I say? We have this here in Hawaii, best in class.

Beach Walks has proven this over and over again. People come by searching for Hawaii and they return over and over again because we share a slice of real life - good and bad weather, local people (not just celebrities), local sites (not just perfectly staged sunsets.)

The Internet is Where It's At. Where Are You At?

• The internet is the most influential method of travel planning; can't play it up enough.
• Most travel planning self-serve online.
• Cable and internet are very important to 25-44 year-old group
• 70% of online users also watch TV while online.
• Internet spend increased over 18% from 06 to 07.

Yet we in Hawaii are behind the curve. How many of our tourism, PR, communications, and advertising execs blog or podcast or twitter? Virtually none. (Please LMK if you do and I don't know about it! I want to give you free buzz and free hugs.)

This conference did have online payment and registration, but no other internet follow-up. There could have been follow-up to attendees, reminders or links to maps and parking info, a listing of attendees so we can network with each other, post questions for the speakers, etc.

On-site, no mention of web site resources for the conference. Power point slides were printed and enclosed in our packets which is very helpful to have; however most will be ʻōpala by 6 pm today. They could be posted on online for wider distribution, archival access, for sharing virally, and to practice sustainable green best practices.

Where is money being spent?

• Festivals and events get about 10% of the total marketing spend
• Traditional advertising dollars going down; cable specialty shows garnering higher rates by delivering a targeted audience.
• Outdoor is the million dollar baby; spending is increasing; people like to get messages while they are outdoors.

Dan's final advice? "Be local, think global. Concentrate on the internet."
Since there are no sessions today focused on building internet skills and awareness for the attendees, I hereby offer my skills as a trainer. If you are in tourism and want to attend a program to see how the internet on steroids can help you, please contact me! I will organize it and guarantee you will leave ready to blow your kids' minds about how tech savvy you became.

The time is now. You can learn to use these tools. I personally guarantee it.