Night of Mayhem = Huge Success

I was just checking this blog and I realized that no one had yet posted about what a huge success "Night of Mayhem" 's inaugural event was. The upstairs of Anduzzi's was packed for the majority of the night and we got incredibly positive feedback. We are going to continue to receive written feedback over the next day or so and then we will hopefully post some pictures and responses we've received in celebration of the event.

Final Updates -Facebook event

As we approach the night of June 4th I, Queen of Behind the Scenes, am having less and less to update about. As Nico and Yui posted Night of Mayhem has begun to pop up on local news sites, we had an ad in the Lawrentian, and the Post Crescent article come out in two days. The minor poster dilemma (concerning advertised drink specials and drinking games at a Lawrence event) and campus center screen posting aside, our advertising campaign was a success. We accomplished everything else we wanted to achieve and more.

Now we are in our final marketing phases before the big event. The facebook event page has officially been launced. If you are reading this, over 21 and live in appleton make sure to check it out. RSVP and then invite all your friends to the event as well. Heck if you are not from Appleton or not 21, but you know people who are 21+ in Appleton make sure to tell them about Night of Mayhem, June 4th at Anduzzi's and tell them to come.

We hope to see all of you there. It's going to be awesome.

June 4th Event Popping Up Online

We submitted our event to local news stations and it looks like it's starting to pop up on their community calendars. First one I've seen is on our local CBS station, WFRV. Click here to check it out.

Update: Searching again I found the event is also up on the Post Crescent, Fox11, and WBAY (local ABC affiliate) websites! We're also looking forward to an article in the Post Crescent this coming Thursday.

Check Out This Week's Lawrentian!

Page 3 of The Lawrentian this week features a large ad for our event!

We have been steadily moving towards finalizing our event, but unfortunately we have ran into a wall. There are some people on campus that are unhappy with the fact that our posters are promoting drinking as a Lawrence University event. This is perfectly reasonable and probably something one of us should have thought about before creating the posters. Now we have to redesign and reprint our posters ASAP and hopefully get some distributed by the end of this week. Nothing ever goes completely smoothly, and last minute obstacles always seem to sneak up when planning large scale events like this. Hopefully we will still be able to get the word out and make this the event that we wanted it to be. Our lesson learned: get people in charge of the organization you are representing in your advertisements to proof read them before printing. We did have Anduzzi's look at them, but forgot about the Lawrence part.

More minor updates

A few small things have gone down over the last couple of days:

- First of all we have officially submitted a press release with the post crescent and will hopefully remain in contact with their entertainment and nightlife sections over the next two weeks.

-We have also listed our event on Fox 11 community online.

- Cheryl Snodgrass finally got back to us, however she seems to busy at the moment to respond to all our questions by email. I will hopefully be talking to her over the phone sometime before the term ends if we can coordinate our schedules.

- It seems that we could not get our poster into circulation on the campus center screens due to the fact that our event takes place off campus. However, we have distributed a large number of teaser posters around campus and if everything remains on schedule the official posters should be distributed tomorrow.

Another advertising update.

I sent an email to Liz Boutelle in communication today to get a .pdf copy of our final poster design. (Two typos were fixed between the version that is posted on our blog and the version that was sent to the printers.) Ideally, we will be able to get this .pdf file and will submit it to be circulated as one of the posters on the screens in the campus center.

Also, I have contacted Kara Patterson at the Appleton Post Crescent about securing an article in their paper. As soon as she replies back, I will post more details about that advertising campaign.

Beyond that, we are in continual discussion about "hype" and "intrigue" campaigns. I talk more about those at this time, but that would ruin the hype and intrigue.

On a final note: Budgets! Our current spending to date is 29 dollars. (Not including Yui's DJ equipment, which we will try to receive some reimbursement for if no further costs are incurred.) I will try to post an updated spread sheet including both our "Pie in the Sky" and "Actual Cost" budgets before the end of the week.

Who we are and what we do

The following is our official, streamlined elevator pitch:

""We are Night of Mayhem, a small business that focuses on event planning and club promotion. Our goal is to widen and improve community social scenes by reaching untapped markets, creating hype, and playing a mix of popular and new, exciting music. In order to do this we approach small businesses, such as clubs and bars, and for a small commission organize and plan events, establish drink deals, and bring in live music and Djs. We are trained and experienced in the use of a wide variety of light and sound equipment, and are comfortable using whatever equipment any specific establishment may possess. We also have many connections in the Appleton area and may be able to rent and/or borrow equipment to bring into an establishment that lacks those resources."

By Andi Rudd

This past week was definitely a productive week as far as the posters go. I have been in contact with the Anduzzi's manager and we have coordinated to make two separate posters: one marketed toward Lawrence students and one towards downtown customers. By separating these two customer bases, we can advertise a little differently for the exact same event, hopefully making it attractive for everyone. Andduzi's has ordered the ones for downtown and they will show us an electronic copy before they print and distribute them. We have designed the ones for Lawrence as shown on Nico's post, and these should be up sometime this week.

We have also found out that there are a couple other events going on that same night, so it may be a little more difficult to get the large crowd we wanted, but if we get these posters up soon and continue to promote for the next couple weeks, it will most likely give us an advantage.

It's Official

It's been an exciting day for Night of Mayhem. We met with the Communications Department and finalized our poster design. We plan to start distributing the limited text version of the poster (shown above on the right) very soon and the Communications Department will be printing the full version next week (click here to download a PDF of the full poster to share with your friends--spread the word!). Here are some more details of the event as presented on the full poster:

-We will have Beerpong, Flip-Cup, and Quarters tables set up all night

-Drink specials until 10pm: $2 Coors Light and Domestic Bottles and $3 Double Rail Mixers

-Live Hip-Hop by Riddim Koalition 8:30-10pm; The Sambistas 10-10:30pm; DJ UE & DJ Staple 10:30-close

We're very happy with the poster design, which we actually purchased as a template from Fotolia for around $12 and then Liz Boutelle, the Communications Department Art Director, was able to add the text we wanted. We feel it invokes the theme of celebration that we want our party to embody. These posters will hopefully be complemented by the posters Anduzzi's produces and spreads downtown.

[Updated 5/19 with corrected poster images]

Recently I talked to a friend who has been doing some club promoting jobs in New York. It was good to get some advise from somebody that is actually experienced with the sort of thing we are trying to do. There were some things he mentioned that seem helpful for our project:

1. Advertise. Advertise. Advertise. This may be fairly obvious, but he told me the sooner I have the information out there and people talking about it the more likely people will know about it.
2. Use texting. Apparently people respond more to text messaging than e-mails or facebook. Sending out mass texts days before the event or on the day of are apparently good methods of reminding people to come.
3. Drink deals. He said the best way to get people was to charge a certain amount to have an open bar. That way everybody who shows up will stay. Unfortunately, Anduzzi's could not go along with this deal although they did agree to some drink deals.
4. Theme parties. He said for smaller venues theme parties tend to be more successful, but he said we should be fine without a specific theme for a place like Anduzzi's. If we think of something appropriate we will include it in our party, but so far we don't really have a "theme."

Posters and Budgets

In order to keep up with communication and archiving our event planning process accurately, please note the following:

I contacted the communications department about making posters to distribute around campus. When they get back to me with a price estimate, we should meet and discuss whether or not we would like to use their services.

Also, in order to make the left column of our budget proposal more accurate, I am planning to look up the costs of all of our in kind donations tomorrow. Nico and Yui, if you have any info that might help with that, I would really appreciate it. (i.e. how many lights we plan on using and of what varieties.)

Thanks. Let's keep up the good work.

Just found this article about opening new bars/clubs. It is very informative and directly relates to our broader project idea.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/startupkits/article41460.html

So this past week we were able to speak with managers of both Luna and Anduzzi's. Overall I think it went pretty well; we were able to secure a venue at Anduzzi's and we are still waiting to hear back from Luna. Both businesses seemed interested in our event seeing as it would bring in a large crowd and hopefully expand their customer base.

One of the biggest disappointments was the fact that we cannot do an 18+ event. Apparently, they have tried things like that in the past and it just ends up with underagers drinking in the bathroom and things of that nature. If police were to see something like that the business could get shut down, so the liability risks are too high.

If Luna also agrees to do the event, our next step is to decide which venue is best for our event and then start working out the specifics.

Nightclub Survey

Hello all,

If anyone who views this blog could take this quick survey about nightclubs and Luna it would be much appreciated and vastly help our project.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TPK3HC6

-Andi

Cheryl Snodgrass and more Advertising work

I sent Cheryl, the event coordinator Tim told us to talk to an email, today asking her a few questions about her business and for some advice on her project. I CC-ed Nico, Yui, and Tim in the email but in case anyone else wants to know what we talked about here are the questions I asked her:

1) How do you typically market yourself? When people ask what you do what do you tell them?

2) Do you have a mission statement? If so what is it?

3) Do you have an overall business plan as an event coordinator? If so, how do you set it up? (Do you set yearly goals for yourself? Do you simply plan each event individually as it comes up? Or do you plan in some other way?)

4) How do you typically approach venues when planning an event? Do you speak with them about planning an event that compliments their business/establishment? Or do you approach them with an event already in mind?

5) Do you typically approach multiple venues with event ideas? If so how do you determine which location will be best for your event?

6) How do you typically advertise your events? How soon before the event do you begin advertising?

7) Considering the fact that your business is based on individual events, how do you ensure that your business is sustained?

When I get answers back from her I'll post them here.

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On the advertising front, we have a few new updates and concerns. If our event happens at Anduzzi's, they have told us that they will print posters for us. If we go with Luna and they will not print posters, we will most likely ask the communications department to make posters for us. I am currently hunting down the bill from a show I just did to see what the approximate costs of those posters would be. Once we have who is paying for posters figured out, we just need to talk a little more about the theme of our event and then we'll get them printed as soon as possible.

As for, articles in the Post-Crescent and Lawrentian...

I will be contacting Cara Patterson as soon as we have our location secured in order to see if we can get in the Post Crescent's Arts and Entertainment section the week before our event. There may be some small fee if we want a larger article, but I'm fairly certain we shouldn't be charged much if anything at all.

I'm also going to talk to Alex this weekend to remind him of our event and make sure we can have a space in the Lawrentian the week of our event as well.

-Andi

Rubik's Cube Party Debrief

I'd like to build off of Yui's post and share my thoughts on the party and how we can learn from that experience to make our event the best it can be.

Lesson 1: DJing is not all fun and games. As Yui said, it was hard to find that balance between well mixed music with smooth transitions linking songs and tracks that people actually want to hear, keeping them on the dance floor. I think the key moving forward will be to better map out songs that mix well together in advance so that we're not under as much pressure during the event. The playlist we create does not have to be set in stone, but it will give us a better guide to keep the energy level high while still accommodating requests.

Lesson 2: Although I may be a bit biased, I think the lighting and general atmosphere was a success. I borrowed several lights from the Theatre Department and we used two strips of lights in the basement dance area located behind the DJ area. These LED strip lights changed with the beat of the music, adding a dynamic, visual component to the audio. Additionally I placed two lights on the second floor to shine out of the building into the Quad to attract attention.

DJ Session

Nico and I DJd a party this past Saturday to practice and get a feel for our main event. One of our goals of this project was to create a club where we would play a lot of music that isn't just the regular pop hits that you hear on the radio every day, if you are one of those people who listen to the radio. One of the problems we ran into at this party was the fact that many people only want to hear music that they are already familiar with. And I guess people only listen to the radio, because we got request after request of Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas. This is going to be a challenge to please the crowd with familiarity and still incorporate other more interesting types of music, but I think it can be done. My goal in the next few weeks is to ask a ton of people what their "go to song(s)" is/are in the club, and then try to incorporate these into some other tracks that I think are less popular but good club music. In order to get input and feedback I am planning to use the internet (possibly facebook) to get responses from as many people as possible. Lesson learned: familiarity is key.

Advertising Update and Music Feedback

So far I have not been very lucky finding someone to create a poster for us. I'm going to keep looking for a few days. Otherwise I'll just design posters myself. I am a girl of many talents after all.

Hopefully, I can get design work done a.s.a.p., and then once the date and location is determined we'll tag that on, print, and distribute.

Once we figure out liability and insurance stuff, and lock the location and date in place, I'll email Cara Patterson at the Post Crescent, as well as talk to Alex Schaaf about getting us into The Lawrentian.

Also, just so you know I got mixed feed back on the music at the Rubik's cube party. I'd like to meet and talk more about any feed back you received. What times work for you two in the next couple of days? (If you'd like I could try to get a few people that gave feedback there as well, so we ask them more about specifics.)

~Andi

Liability and Insurance off Campus

In order to find out the details of liability issues regarding off campus activities, I got in touch with Curt Lauderdale, Assistant Dean of Students for Campus Life. Apparently, most places that rent out their spaces such as Liberty Hall have their own insurance that covers all of the events that take place in their building. Businesses that are open to the public such as Anduzzi's or Luna are also most likely to have insurance that covers them in case of any accidents. When people like us are organizing an event in such places, the business will present some sort of contract that will be signed by both sides. If we are able to agree on a date and event, the business will then present this contract, which we will then bring to the Campus Life office so that somebody who is authorized to sign such documents will read and hopefully sign it. As long as we aren't planning on doing something extraordinarily dangerous we should be fine. But first we must convince the business to go through with our plans and be willing to host our event. Next step: negotiate with businesses.

Scouting the Competition: Luna Lounge

Luna Lounge is probably the closest match to our nightclub vision that Appleton currently has to offer. One of the larger spaces on College Ave., Luna has a bar/lounge area leading to a large sunken dance floor equipped with a DJ booth, stage, and some lighting. This is one of our top picks to host our one night event at the end of the term. Here's how Luna is marketing themselves on MySpace:

"Welcome to the...... Hottest new nightclub to join downtown Appleton. Intensify your downtown experience with Luna Lounge's sophisticated twist on the night life scene. Sleek describes our design, Intensity describes our vibe and Sexy.... well, that's where you come in. Here you'll find an energetic bar staff that can't wait to get the party started! Luna has 2 bars full of some of the newest and hottest labels around. And don't miss out on one of the largest dance floors downtown has to offer, including music videos that can be viewed from anywhere in the bar. And it only gets better with our nightly drink specials. Get your weekend started off right on Thursdays with our $10.00 all u can drink special! Fridays and Saturdays showcase class and sophistication with $4.00 shots of PATRON!! Thats right $4.00!! Birthday specials always in effect, stop by and let us get your special night started right. Don't forget to ask about V.I.P specials and bottle service. So what are you waiting for? We're open Thursday through Saturday at 7pm until the lights come on! And it only gets better with our nightly drink specials. Ladies pack the place on Thursdays with $1 rails and domestics all night long! Fridays showcase class and sophistication with free champagne from 9 to 11. Birthday specials always in effect, stop by and let us get your special night started right. Don't forget to ask about V.I.P specials and bottle service. So what are you waiting for? We're open Thursday through Saturday at 7pm until the lights come on."

Welcome

A project of the Entrepreneurship in the Arts & Society course at Lawrence University, this blog will capture the successes and failures of Andi, Nico, and Yui as they attempt to create the premier nightclub of Appleton, WI. Stay tuned for our latest ideas, hurdles, and event details. We want to hear from you too--so, please feel free to share your ideas through comments to make this enterprise the best it can be.