Last weekend, Emmie Deebo’s show at Robin’s Park was marred by low turnout. The event coincided with several events across the country, including the Blantyre derby, UMP festival and Burning Spear’s concert.Our contributor SANGWANI MDHLULI caught up with events manager and entertainers promotion chief executive officer (CEO) Tonderai Jai Banda to gain insights into the intricacies of event management. Excerpts:
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: My name is Tonderai Jai Banda. I am the CEO of Entertainers Promotion and managing director of Stakeout. I was born into the events industry, where I took over Entertainers Promotion from my father, who has been a veteran promoter and event manager in Malawi for so many years. I officially took over Entertainers Promotion in 2015.
Q: What key factors contribute to successful event planning in entertainment industry?
A: Mostly, the key factors that contribute to a successful event are the venue, choice of artists, advertisements, knowing your audience and identifying companies for sponsorship. It’s important to understand how to sell your product, which is the main artists themselves, do they fit to come and do their own event? Do they have enough of a following to make the event successful? Event planning is a risky business, and not all events are successful. The date and location of the event also matter. You have to check if there’s any competition that weekend, how many events are going on, and who the headliners are for those events. Are they people you can compete with? There are questions that are very important.
Q: What are some common mistakes event managers make when planning events?
A: Choice of artists, venue and gate fee can affect the event. Knowing your target audience in terms of their income and availability is very important choice of advertising platforms matters as well, as you can get the message out there but to the wrong audience. Not knowing your audience is a mistake that any event manager can make.
Q: How can those mistakes be avoided?
A: To avoid such mistakes, get to know your audience and product, understanding what you are selling to people. Is it the right time to sell it? Assess the economic conditions. Remember, last weekend, there were shortages of fuel and so much going on. So, as an event organiser, when you look at your lineup, you need to ask yourself if people will prioritize your event. Will they choose you over others? What makes your event unique? Uniqueness is a crucial factor.
Q: How has event management evolved over the years?
A: Over the years, event management has improved in terms of quality. We’ve hosted a lot of international artists and received positive feedback from them. Whenever they travel to Malawi, we get fewer complaints, even our fellow Malawians are happy to see the setups at these events. So, I would say we are moving in the right direction in terms of the evolution of the event management to the modern way.
Q: What challenges do event managers face in the entertainment industry?
A: I think the biggest challenge is finances. Back in the days, companies would come out and sponsor events with a lot of money. Carlsberg was one of the big companies that sponsored most of these events, but now we don’t see as much the sponsorship from them. We had companies like National Bank of Malawi and Airtel who used to pump in money during events, but they have also gone low with their sponsorship. Secondly is the venue itself. After paying for the venue, the owner may not allow you to sell alcohol or food, insisting to sell that themselves. So, relying solely on ticket sales makes it hard to cover all expenses. For instance, when one pays K15 000 at the door and spend K100 000 inside, the owner benefits more despite you bringing those people to the venue which, maybe, they don’t normally use themselves. n
