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Summary of lessons learnt during field survey [2 October to 4 October]
Sunday, October 5, 2008, 5:58 PM
Intents / Aims:- Understand the expectations and returns of the sponsors.
- Find out how attendees felt about the event as a whole through a consumer's point of view.
Observations & issues: - The event was split up into two different grounds; the air-conditioned tent and the non air-conditioned booths. With the hot weather in Singapore, naturally, people will crowd inside the tent with air-condition. All of the performances are live inside the air-conditioned tent too, which poses as a disadvantage to the booths outside of the tent. Although they provided live feed of the performances on a large screen, the area outside of the tent is still very quiet. It will be better if the performances inside the tent can be moved out of it. Due to the fact that the tent is enclosed, the music tends to be louder. It is very difficult to have a decent conversation when the music / live band performances starts. When the performance is outdoor, it also creates a very lively atmosphere, and the air-conditioned tent can be used as a comfortable and relaxing environment for networking and chilling out.
- Because the event is about beer, people pay to come in to drink. There are many people who drank too much and got drunk, resulting in them vomiting all over the place. After the first night, the place started to stink; this showed a lack of cleanliness to maintain the place and also leaving a bad impression on the event. Who wants to drink in a place that smells so badly? More toilets will have to be built inside the event - when the attendees are feeling unwell or nauseous, the toilet will be nearby. This can reduce the odor of the vomiting from drinking too much.
- Despite AMEX being a very well-known brand, it is still blocked by another booth of Tiger Beer. This strategy hinders AMEX's expectations of wanting to acquire more brand exposure. If the location of the booth cannot be changed, AMEX can move their promotional balloon out onto a more prominent area where people can see. The promotional balloon was originally placed beside their booth; since their booth is 'hidden', the balloon will also be hidden as well. Moving the balloon out onto a more prominent spot will enable attendees to know about their brand's existence in the event, and seek them out if they want to.
- The time limit by the organizer is a huge limitation for us. We are supposed to complete all of our survey forms within the first night. The organizer's concern is that if we break up our survey into several days, it may disturb the attendees. What would have been better done would be to attach the survey forms into the program catalogue when giving out to the attendees. Attendees can then fill up the form as and when they like it. As for the sponsors, if only we can have a mini-interview with all the sponsors and talk about their experience. Maybe when all the sponsors sit together and comment on something, some of the comments may trigger another sponsor's response, through this we may be able to get more information.
Analysis of issues: - The organizer probably had a mindset that outside the tent when people can drink and smoke at the same time, it is a good time for various businessmen to get together and talk. This provided a small business opportunity through their smoking time. However, this also poses another problem: what if some attendees does not like to smoke or dislike being a passive smoker?
- The space inside the event is very limited. If more toilets are built, there will not be enough space for attendees to network outside the tent which is much quieter than inside the tent. With the event being a corporate event, business opportunities are very crucial to their purpose of attending. And also, the toilet is only a small distance away from the event entrance.
- AMEX's booth being hidden behind the event is probably so that they can network in a quieter environment. It could also be that AMEX's purpose of being at the event is not just for brand exposure, they may be looking for business opportunities. Considering that, it may be better that their booth is quieter.
- Other than our team, Singapore Tourism Board also have a team of surveyors to conduct a 11-pages survey regarding the whole GP season with SBF as a fringe event under it. Our concern was also that, with another team of surveyors, the attendees may feel pressurized or disturbed that their night of enjoyment is ruined by so many surveys.
Insights / reflections: - Although we have a time limit to complete our survey, our team did our best to finish all of our survey forms within that night.
- The experience of talking to the sponsors was priceless, of course. We got to approach them and understand their stand on the event etc.
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