Learning from lessons pt 1.
Every time I go to write a social media post, or these (you should see the drafts folder…), I’m aware it’s been weeks-months since I last posted and I am horribly tempted to open with something dumb like “man, the last x weeks has been a blur, so busy!!”
Justifications for the choices I’ve made aside, I want to write about the 2022 North Island Championships (NIC). Specifically, the 2022 event in comparison to the 2021 event.
Background; NIC didn’t run in 2020 (covid). In 2019, they were held in Auckland, and there was also a Lower North Island Championships. I don’t remember the specifics around dates or location for that one- we’re at the beginning of my involvement in event management here and I wasn’t paying as much attention.
So we go into 2021 having had no 2020 event, and forgetting all about the fact that in 2019 not everyone came to Auckland. Then we go and decide to host the event in Fielding. Why? Well now, I don’t really have a good answer. But at the time, it was this grand idea that by moving the events around different places we grow exposure and visibility and promote the sport. I think. Anyway the idea started out as this collaboration between Functional Strength and Manawatu Weightlifting and the suggested venue was The Rec Room in Fielding, and away we went.
I had not at this time managed an event in a location/venue I’d never been to. The closest I got was Nationals 2020 in Mount Maunganui, but I was working with others who were in the region for that one and so it was still kind of covered.
I think the issues boiled down to being totally unprepared for what we got, and, not even being able to anticipate the questions that needed to be asked.
We discussed extensively how many entries we though we’d get- this is important as it impacts schedule, and of course the event budget (essentially these events have run cost neutral and all expenses associated with the event need to be met by event income, so knowing probable amount of income from entries is kind of important (equally, please don’t think for a second that entry fees can cover everything. In the events I’ve run they’ve made up between 25-30ish% of the total budget)). We thought best case we’d get 80, which is getting close to the maximum number of people that can be accommodated within a weekend event without pushing into very early mornings or well into the evening.
Long story short we ended up with 161 (note not every single one of these people competed, but that is how many I had to plan for).
I was initially excited for the idea of two competition platforms- it reminded me of the massive events in the USA, symbolised growth, made it all feel like a big deal. It was also the only way we could run this event with this many people. The problem was it also demanded resources I hadn’t anticipated.
To be continued.
