Video Courtesy of Tony Lara
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Caribbean Dance Festival
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Potential Revenues: |
$$$$$ |
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Revenue Source: |
Attendance fees, silent and live auctions, raffles |
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Advertising: |
Social media, press releases to local newspapers and TV/radio stations, website, signature, all communications |
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Equipment/Supplies: |
Event planning at facility or hotel will be a primary supplier, salsa music, tables for auction items, audio system |
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Partners: |
Salsa, rumba and other Caribbean dance instructors, disc jockey, area businesses, restaurants, corporations, event brochure printer |
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Volunteers Needed: |
Extensive committee structure to handle all aspects of the event |
How It Works:
The music of the Caribbean is as diverse as the 24 countries that make up the region. Each style is a blend of African, European, Indian and native influences, created by the descendants of African slaves. Some of the styles to gain wide popularity outside of the Caribbean include reggae, zouk, salsa, calypso, reggaeton and punta. That richness makes for a festive evening of ‘spicy’ dance from the popular salsa to the more traditional rumba and mombo dances.
In this event, you will be creating an evening in the Caribbean, from the food you serve, to the entertainment and music, to the decor. You can choose to serve the food buffet style, or at festively decorated tables with heaping plates of jerk chicken made with Jamaican jerk spice to tease everyone’s palate. You’ll need a DJ with appropriate music, and several talented salsa and other dance instructors showing their style on the dance floor. After dinner, those same instructors will entice your guests to join in the fun, offering group and private lessons right at the event. During dinner, have the instructors perform in front of the audience.
So now that you have the visual of the event, it’s time to bear down and do the hard work of organizing this extravaganza. From this point on, this event will be like any other gala dinner or ball event – a lot of hard work. Conduct Silent Auctions and Live Auctions (refer to those sections in this book). Lay out a well thought out plan for securing the facility, locking in the DJ’s and dance instructor’s schedules, printing and sending out the invitations, arranging decorations and catering, securing auction items, printing the event flyer, soliciting sponsorships, valet parking, and the endless amount of work it will take to do your version of this event.Ideas to Consider:
If this is a sit-down style meal, arrange for your auctioneer or emcee to do the live auction between dinner dance performances, as that would probably be a great time to draw a lot of high bids from the audience. Perhaps you can arrange for the live auction items to be trips to a Caribbean paradise in Belize, or an exotic Caribbean cruise. You can also notify silent auction winners while dinner is being served, and you can use the event’s seating chart to identify where they are seated. Make sure to collect the winning bid.
In addition to overall event sponsors, consider selling table sponsorships for the 30-50 plus tables that will be available to seat 10 people each. Incorporate the cost of the 10 invitations into the table sponsorships, as that bulk price will ensure that the table is filled by the sponsor – more than likely, their employees or best clients.
Some vendors might even want to sponsor a gift for every attendee as a way to show their appreciation, as well as get their name in front of the attendees. These gift items can be spread out into three sponsorships – a door gift, a table gift, and a seat gift. Think ‘Caribbean’ and you can probably get it sponsored at this type of event.
Source of Idea: Unknown - idea adapted by author from other events.
Questions? Info@FundraisingAlmanac.com
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