Wine Festival-Avila Beach, CA

Sarah Germain, Jessica McKemie, Priscilla Bernard, Megan Gaschen, Maggie Ryan

RPTA 320 - Special Event Planning

Table of Contents

Section 1: Overview of the Event………………………………….. 3 Section 2: Goals and Objectives…………………………………….. 5 Section 3: SWOT analysis………………………………………………… 6 Section 4: Organizational Chart……………………………………… 7 Section 5: Design Process………………………………………………..7 Section 6: Planning Process……………………………………………..10 Section 7: Finance and Budget………………………………………..14 Section 8:Coordination Process………………………………………. 17 Section 9: Risk Management…………………………………………… 19 Section 10: Event Evaluation…………………………………………. 23 Section 11:Learning Outcomes………………………………………. 24 Section 12: Appendix……………………………………………………… 26

Section 1: Overview of the event

Our event company will be planning the Avila Beach Wine Festival at the Avila Beach Golf Resort. This Festival will have the largest selection of wine from wine regions around California. We believe there is a need to have a wine event on the Central Coast of California that offers wines from all over California. The central coast has many wine events but there are not many that offer such a variety of California wines. We hope to have around 60 wineries from all over California participate in this event. Some of the top wineries that will be attending this festival are:

• Brego Winery-Mendocino, CA • Beckmen Winery-Santa Barbra, CA • Justin Winery- Paso Robles, CA • Opus One- Oakville, CA • Bogie Vineyards- Lodie, CA

Avila Beach was selected based on its growing popularity on the central

coast. The Avila Beach Golf Resort is a beautiful location for this wine festival. It is perfectly located on central coast for attendees anywhere from San Diego

to San Francisco to attend. The venue can hold up to 3,500 people and our goal is to sale 2,600 ticket to this event.

Our company hopes to enhance the image and reputation of the Avila Valley Golf Resort as well as the wine industry on the Central Coast. By hosting wineries from all over California we will be able to increase and expand the market while improving the profitability of the businesses that attend our Wine Festival.

Avila Valley Wine Festival Goals and Objectives

1. To be an important central coast festival of wine 2. To entertain, enrich and educate audiences of great wine 3. To promote wine around California as well as the Central Coast 4. To draw thousands of residents and tourists to Avila Valley Golf Resort and promote SLO country as a great place to live, work and visit The doors of the event will start at 12 p.m. Participants will be handed small, plastic wine glasses to sample the 60 wineries wines. The event will have a live band and wrap up around 6 p.m. Shuttles will be provided to transport participants to and from Avila Beach Golf Resort.

Section 2: How you conducted research to identify the goals and objectives

Research was conducted to identify the goals and objectives of our

Avila Valley Wine Festival by looking up past festivals to see what worked and what didn’t. Looking at the history of previous wine festivals strongly helped the development of our event taking place on the Central Coast.

Our team researched wine festivals held on the central coast and found that there are many. However, we could not find any wine festivals on the central coast that offered a variety of wines throughout California. With that information, we decided to hold a wine festival and invite 250 wineries throughout California. In 2012 there was around 4000 wineries in California and we believe we can get 60 of those wineries to come to our event.

Section 3: SWOT analysis of the event

Strengths beautiful location, demand for wine on the Central Coast and in California, lots of sponsors, accessible for all people, many volunteers, lots of media coverage, time of the event

Weaknesses location only has one road in and out, because it’s 21 and older our event lacks a family atmosphere,

Opportunities promoting Avila as a tourist destination, expanding variety of wines, creating connections for future events/sponsors, boost Avila Beach local economy from tourists

Threats food and alcohol positioning, high alcohol consumption, potential violence, wineries not attending or coming late, wineries running out of wine, dehydration, underage drinking, injuries

Section 4: Organizational chart of the event

Section 5: Design process for the event

Anticipation: Anticipation to the event will include Facebook

countdowns, e-mail countdowns, and statuses and posts through social media to alert people that the event is approaching. Our website we will also have countdowns and news updates to alert people to buy tickets and that the event is approaching.

Arrival: On the way to Avila there will be plenty of signage to alert participants they are going the right way. Directional signs, banners, and parking signs will direct participants to where to go. We will also have staff directing cars in and out of the parking lot to have efficient parking. It is also important to note, that the area between the parking lot and entrance will have plenty of signage to guide participants to the entrance so they know exactly where to go. When participants approach the entrance of the festival ticket collectors will greet with a warm welcome.

Atmosphere: Once inside the event, the live music will be playing and participants can walk around, collect their wine glasses, and start sampling the 60 wineries. There will be men and women porter potties

on site, cooling tents (if necessary), security, plenty of seating for people drinking as well as designated drivers.

Activity: The main activity of the event is people sampling wine from all over California while enjoying local food and beautiful Avila Beach. While there, we want our participants to enjoy live music, food, wine, and the location. As well as having a photographer around the event to take photographs.

Appetite: Local food vendors from San Luis Obispo counties farmers market will be providing the appetite portion of our event. Food will include cheese, bread, fruit, tasty treats such as ice cream and ices, sandwiches, and hamburgers and hotdogs. We want to provide easy food that is easy and fast to order where participants can get their food quickly and efficiently. We want lines and crowding to be minimal around food vendors.

Amenity: Plastic wine glasses and photographs taken throughout the event will be available for participants to take home at the end.

In order to create a sustainable event we will implement specific strategies. For example, all participants get one plastic wine glass for to use throughout the day. They can take the glass home with them as an amenity or recycle it at the end of the event. Throughout the event there will be recycling, glass, and trash bins for participants to throw their trash away. Since our event is in the daytime, light usage is at a minimum. Only vendors and the live music will need to have electricity at the event.

A professional photographer will be taking pictures throughout the event. The photos being taken at the event will be uploaded online to save paper and ink. Participants can order the photos if they plan on having them printed out.

Section 6: Planning process for the event including a complete t imeline

9 months out:

• Perform needs assessment • Create meeting objectives • Draft event overview

• Determine wineries and vendors that will be at event. • Submit RFP’s to Avila Beach Golf Resort venue • Research third party vendors including:

o Website developers o Sound engineers o Lighting Schedule o Ticketing and registration o Rental companies: Tents, chairs, tables, booths, etc.

• Draft initial marketing materials including: o Website o Sponsorship pitch o Press releases o Media pitch (including social media platforms)

• Draft event budget 6 months out:

• Finalize venue(Avila Beach Golf Resort) contract • Finalize sponsorship packages and begin contacting potential

sponsors • Start promoting event/ marketing • Find printing a company to print marketing materials • Finalize and launch website/ Facebook • Secure third party vendors • Plan out the venue design for day of event • Finalize how many tents you need to rent

5 months out:

• Maintain contact and communication with venue • Update Website • Contact wineries and vendors to make sure they have all the

information needed for the event. • Pick up marketing materials from printing company • Start taking brochure to local businesses such as wineries, wine

shops, cheese shops, coffee shops, and restaurants • Finalize event agenda • Continue communication with sponsors • Finalize music for event • Send out press releases to the media

One month before event:

• Meet with third party vendors and Avila Beach Golf Resort

• Finalize sponsor booths and keep in communication • Communicate with wineries to make sure they have everything

they need • Continue advertising on social media and the radio • Post promotional video on website • Finalize how many booth tents you need to rent • Find volunteers

Week of event:

• Communicate with sponsors, vendors, volunteers, and wineries • Hold Risk Management meeting with key stakeholders to identify

and treat risks that are foreseeable at the event • Continue to update website • Post exciting news about the wine festival on social media • Finalize layout of the day of event • Have rental companies set up booths, tents • Email staff and volunteers about what their specific tasks will be at

event and what is needed from them Night before event:

• Set up tents with furniture, tables, bars, and chairs • Set up the decor • Set up registration booths

Day of event:

7 am:

• Make sure all power sources work • Finish touching up on decor and set up of booths and tents • Make sure water stations are being set up

8 am:

• Staff meeting: go over agenda for event, the layout, and logistics 9 am:

• Safety meeting: go over all safety issues with vendors and volunteers about standards and rules

• Once safety meeting adjourns, staff may continue to finish setting up event

10 am:

• Volunteer meeting: go over the volunteer agenda, pass out packets for each volunteer that has all the information they need

• Once volunteer meeting adjourns, volunteers report to stations 11 am:

• Final Inspections: walk entire event site and note any last minute corrections that must be made to ensure the safety of guests

12 pm:

• Event begins! • Tickets are collected at the gates, wristbands are put on each

guest, and wine cups are given to each guest • If tickets are available still, more tickets will be sold at the door

and will stop being sold after one hour • All food and wine vendors are open for business • First live band begins

1 pm:

• Ticket sales end, though security and a couple of staff members stay at the gates for people coming and going

• Announcement is made about the raffle and where to submit your name

2 pm:

• First band ends, second band does soundcheck and then begins 3 pm:

• Continued announcements about the different food vendors and wineries that are available, and encouragement to get photos taken

4 pm:

• Raffle winners are announced • Second band ends and final band does soundcheck and then begins

5 pm:

• Winery vendors begin shutting down, and officially shut down at 5:30 pm

• An announcement is made about doors closing soon and no more alcohol

• Another announcement is made about shuttles and transportation 6 pm:

• Final announcements, such as thank-you's, are made • Event doors close • Final staff and volunteer meeting, then clean up begins

7 pm- 10 pm:

• Clean up/ tear down

Section 7: Finance and Budget philosophy

Our Finance and budget philosophy represents a profit-oriented

event. Most of our revenue will come from our sponsorships and ticket sales. We would like to make a profit at this years festival in order to

start planning for the next years festival. The profit we will make at this years festival will go towards the next Avila Beach Wine Festival. On page 15 is an example of our budget:

Section 8: Coordination process for the event, including how you will anticipate and resolve problems on si te

During the coordination process of our event there are possible

operational conflicts that may arise. Here are the possibilities and how we will resolve them:

• Medical emergency- We will have emergency crew on site, such as police, security, and EMT, and will have gone over safety procedures with all volunteers, staff, and other important stakeholders.

• Late-arriving vendor(s)- We will have vendors contact information on hand to determine their location.

• Vendor cancellation- We will continue to work with the other vendors that we have and use the space for more tables and chairs. If guests ask about this particular vendor, we will politely inform them that an emergency came up and they were not able to vend.

• Musical bands cancellation- We will have pre-recorded music available to play through our sound system during the time the band was supposed to play.

• Guests arriving too early- We will have staff (including security) and volunteers already on site before the event begins to greet them and inform them that the gates open at 12 pm. Also all staff at the gates will be well-informed about all aspects of the event, so they can answer any questions guests may have. Water will also be available to them.

Section 9: Risk Management Plan

Risk Assessment:

Our event team and venue managers developed a risk management plan to identify foreseeable risk to ensure a safe and enjoyable event. There was a risk-assessment meeting held for all key event stakeholders. Before the meeting, all staff attending the meeting were asked to audit their area and come up with a list foreseeable risk. At this meeting they discussed the list of event risks associated with the event and how they should reduce, control, avoid, or transfer them. Our staff has looked into what types of risk are most likely to happen at a wine festival. They have also researched legal cases involving wine festivals and have concluded that there are twelve risks that we need to evaluate and treat. The staff then put in place a risk management plan for the event that will not only protect our employees and volunteers, but also the attendees by preventing and protecting them from foreseeable risk.

Risk Analysis:

After identifying the types of foreseeable risks that are associated with our event we evaluated our risks by rating scale from 1-5. We rated the likelihood of that the risk would occur and the amount of times it would happen. As seen in table 1 the risks at this event are: drunk driving, parking, dehydration, injury, crimes against people/property, alcohol poisoning, food, financial, trespassing, underage drinking, crowd safety, and weather. This table measures the likelihood of a risk actually taking place and the frequency of the risk.

Table 1: Likelihood of Risk and Frequency of Risk Chart

Risk Recommendations:

After identifying risks associated with the event we will now treat them. In order to treat each of these risks, we will control, reduce, avoid, or transfer the risks. We have created these treatments in order to protect all attendees, employees, and volunteers at our wine festival.

1. Drunk driving is a foreseeable risk. We will reduce this risk we by have parking security and police enforcement onsite. All employees will be sent to Alcoholic Beverage Control meeting, which train employees on how to identify an intoxicated person. 2. Dehydration at our event is considered a “high risk” activity at our event. We will reduce this risk by placing water stations around the entire event. There will also be also have bread and butter stations so people aren’t drinking on empty stomachs. 3. Parking areas will be designated within the event grounds. There are risks involving parking such as car accidents, car theft, and cars hitting pedestrians. In order to reduce risk in our parking lot, we will have automotive insurance.

4. Injury is a foreseeable risk at our event there are many things that can cause injuries. In order to protect our company from any lawsuits brought on by injuries we will inspect, identify, and warn our attendees of anything that would cause injury. 5. We will reduce emergencies by have police, paramedics, and fire fighter onsite. There also will be away to alert all attendees of serious emergency. 6. Alcohol will be served at our event therefore we recognize alcohol poisoning as being a foreseeable and will not only have EMT on site but also police enforcement. We will reduce alcohol related emergencies by getting insurance. 7. Since there will be food vendors at this event there is a possibility of food poisoning and food contaminants. We will transfer this foreseeable risk over to food vendors by having them sign a contract, which transfers the liability. Therefore, each vendor will have to have to bring in their food certificates showing that they are able to serve food. 8. For our event we will collect money for festival tickets online and at the gate. We will reduce financial loss by selecting two employees that will be in charge of on site sales. The two employees will have background checks. We also have will have cash handling procedures. 9. Trespassing will be reduced by posting “No Trespassing” signs on the fencing around the festival. 10. Underage drinking is a foreseeable risk therefore we want to avoid this issue by checking IDs at the entrance and distributing wristbands to show that you twenty-one or older. 11. For crowd safety we will transfer the risk by hiring a security company to manage crowd control. 12. Weather is a foreseeable risk since our event is outdoors. In order to avoid this risk we will host our event on July 23rd.

Insurances for event:

• Automotive Liability

• Cancellation

• Comprehensive general liability insurance

• Director’s and officers liability

• Earthquake

• Key Person insurance

• Rain

• Workers’ compensation

• Disability

• Errors and omissions

Section 10: Evaluation process for the event, including your formative and summative procedures for comprehensive

evaluation

This event was designed to bring together people from the area of

San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero and other cities throughout California to taste the many different wines from wineries throughout California. Also to enjoy all of the beauty that Avila Beach has to offer including; live entertainment and sunshine, fresh air, the beach and a variety of food and delicious wines. A process of planning the event was to create a list procedures to follow in-case of an emergency i.e. fire, evacuation, dehydration, alcohol poisoning, underage drinking, etc. Each staff member was given a pamphlet with instructions on what steps to take if an incident does occur. Before the event all staff and volunteers went through a mandatory orientation that informed them of these procedures and we created groups with leaders to be in-charge of starting the procedures. Fortunately none of the procedures had to be used because the event went smoothly. Although the security did have to escort some underage participants out of the facility. Other than that incident the event went smoothly.

Throughout the event the participants were able to engage in tasting wine from all over California, listen to live bands and mingle with other participants. There also was a raffle for a chance to win some fun prizes consisting of wine, a Napa Valley trip for two, a Spa retreat and other fun activities.

Some of the feedback we received from the participants were that they really enjoyed the event and had a great time with friends and family. Also, to have more sitting areas and more areas with shade since it is during the summer time.

Although the event was overall a success there are still some changes we would like to make. For instance next year we would like to involved more wineries and have a higher goal of ticket sales. Also add more activities to participate in like a corn hole toss and involve more

local vendors like including a bike tour tent where participants can sign up for a bike tour for the following day.

Section 11: Your learning outcomes from the event development process

Our learning outcomes from the event development process include: Understanding the Creation of a Site Plan

- understand the relationship of a site selection and the wine festivals goals and objectives

- understand the relationship of site planning to security and access control - understand safety issues related to site planning Development of a set-up and teardown schedule

- understand the relationship between various operational elements - understand the process of creating schedules and timelines Contracting Services - understand which services should be contracted out - understand the basics of a contract and the development of a standard contract format Management of Contracted Services

- understand the need to be familiar with basic fundamentals of any contracted services business such as electrical, waste, recyclables Key Elements of Insurance - understand basic insurance terminology - understand the various types of coverage and limits available - understand the basics of both issuing and receiving additional insured certificates - understand the process involved in a claim being made Basics of Risk Management

- understand the necessity of specific risk management plans, procedures and personnel - understand the process of creating a risk management conscious culture within our wine festival - understand the establishment of positive partnerships with professional/regulatory personnel and agencies

Relationship Building Skills - understand the wide variety of people involved in any type of event production

- understanding the need to relate to people at all levels of other organizations - understand the need to be ethical, professional, fair and consistent in all dealings

- understand the relative importance of event/festival to the people being dealt with - understand specialized skills needed when dealing with event sponsors Security and Crowd Control - understand the basic elements of security and crowd control - understand the establishment of positive working relationships with regulatory agencies - understand the process of securing event perimeters and gating

- understand standard prohibited items and bag searches Contingency Planning - understand fundamental contingency plan requirements: communication, designated leadership, specialized supplies and equipment

- understand basic security and safety related issues and potential contingency planning - understand weather related contingency planning - understand the creation of a site evacuation plan Traffic Management - understand the need to focus on event access and public parking

- understand key parking requirements and securing necessary capacity

- understand basic mass transit options Leadership Outcomes - understand the role of the operations director in event leadership

- understand the distinction between administration/organization and leadership - understand the need to develop a conscious, natural and effective leadership style

Section 12: Event appendices, including photos, invitations, or other collateral material supporting your event concept

- Avilal Beach Golf Resort

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Below are the types of tents that will be used for our wineries.

Resource: http://www.slobrewer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/2007_Avila_Beer_Festival_004.JPG