Hey all,

I'm considering setting up a large party with 1850 people. I've got the venue and financials sorted. Lighting and sound, bouncers and DJ, that's all doable. Basically it all boils down to can I sell more than 1000 tickets? For this I was wondering if you can stop and think for a second - any thoughts at all are welcome.

In particular, can you tell me:

- How can I make the event UNIQUE
- how can I sell large volumes of tickets
- tips on advertising?

Thanks for posting.

Get a bouncy castle, everyone loves bouncy castles (I'm serious).

It's a risk, you reckon you can sell over 1000 tickets?

Get a Wii and if possible Wii fit so you can see girls shake their ass on the hoola hoop game. (Im serious I did this to see one target shake her ass)

4 controllers vs 1850 people? hmm

Well i'm not sure about selling tickets, party wise unless your reputable everyone expects to go for free. Especially that large of a scale of party.

Okay I didnt really read how many people were possibly going to be at the party but would you still agree that a Wii is a really good add-on to a house party?

Real advice

As for advertising I would suggest making the party noticed on facebook as well as making some flyers, putting up posters, and advertising on forums http://www.dontstayin.com/ . Heck if you advertise on this forum you might get a few guys if you're lucky.

Hooka bar?

If you live near a college, go there and drop off flyers at fraternity houses, sorority houses, and at communal billboards.

In addition, you can "hire your own guns" to pass out flyers at popular clubs and venues advertising the party.

a 1000 tickets is probably way out of your league bro, since you're asking the question here.

I'm in my 3rd year of a study relating to event management, it's really not that easy to market a party that is not mindblowlingly unique and get 1000 people.

Now I don't have any suggestions for you because I use them for parties that my projectgroup hosts, but you should probably reconsider the scale of the party. Is this your first big party? If so, you should start off small. And by small I mean 100-300 people.

Big parties dont just appear out of nowhere, they are usually a concept that started off as a small party, but that has a lot of followers and a steady group of people coming to them.

Thanks for the responses guys, both the funny and serious ones!
Haha, true that Trix, you're very right. Bouncy castles rock, although I almost suffocated in one (try being on top of a big one when the air's being blown out; actually, don't, you might die).

I think I can sell over 1000...otherwise I would not have entertained the idea. I've done quite a few with 850 at the second biggest venue in town, all of them sold out, but at that time I was the president of my college is it was easy; don't get me wrong, I organised everything independently, but I had a ready audience.
Yup, good point. Well it's going to have a brand and a website which will go live in a week tops if I give it the nod. I'm pretty reputable in this town but that's only socially. People would not pay solely because of me. The venue is pretty prestigious though so I think they would understand they need to pay for that shit. Tickets there are usually £25.
Haha. Mate I do agree about the Wii for a house party. That and guitar hero/rock band - SICK.

Anyway...

Yes, facebook is a given, it will link to the main website. I probably won't advertise on this forum because it will only get 2 or 3 people tops. Flyers and posters I will only do a few of as I need to convert groups, high-impact conversion.
YES. This was one of the things I had in mind. I have a separate phone for standard girls so you can be sure I'll be rinsing that. I was hoping someone would say this . I need to use the snowball effect to get the girls on my walky talky to get their girls to get their girls etc.
YES. This was the other main thing I had in mind! I need to convert whole institutions; I have no intention of marketing to individuals, as fliers and things do. Convert groups and get conformity effects.
Very good and pragmatic advice. Thanks for that. You're right. I think it's too presumptuous of you to say 1000 is out of my league, but, normally, that presumption would be correct. This is not my first big party. I have a history of putting on large-scale events, but most of them have been in association with institutions. The largest independent one I guess was only just less than 300.

Your last paragraph helped a lot.

I will post my strategy in the next post...

COSTS
Venue (incl ticketing, online advertising, bouncers, back house staff, bar etc): £3000
Lighting + Sound: £1000
Entertainment: £2500
Marketing: £2500

REVENUE
1850 tickets at £10 each = £18500 revenue
Realistically, aim for 1200 tickets sold = £12000.
I don't mind if I incur a small loss or just break even; I'm building a brand as the event will be under a brand name. That way every next event will get easier.

UNIQUENESS
This is what I was hoping to get some help from you guys from. I haven't hit the spot on this yet. Some general details though:

-Will be mainly for students.
-Will be end of student exams i.e. June/August time (note: this sure as hell does not mean I have spare time)
-Will be black-tie, or at least formal ball-wear.

MARKETING
Well, this is it, this is what it all comes down to. My strategy is to convert whole groups of people at a time (this has always been my strategy in previous events);

-Unique point - haven't figured this out yet. Maybe a well-known DJ? Not good enough...
-Convert colleges. I have key contacts in the two largest sixth form colleges, both netting ~4000 students. Should be able to get 1000 from here.
-Fringe colleges net ~4000. Should be able to get about 500 from here.
-Special guests (i.e. from my sarging and phone list): 100, + their friends = 200.
-The next 6 months of sarging I'll get loads of people to come. That's a further 100.

TBH, in the two months leading up to it I can just sarge the shit out of the town and get so many people to come. Being a PUA is truly like having some special powers or something.

The usual way to make a party unique is location. I mean when I first moved into halls, me and my room-mates found a tiny 3 foot high basement for storage and we arranged a party in there.

But if you location sorted; then maybe you could try themeing it in an interesting way? Pyjama party, or have people get a discount on drinks if they are in their underwear.. plenty of things you could do that way.

Outside of that; how long do you have till the event.

Marketing wise do you guys have Fraternities and Sororities?

If you have a theme get some promotors dressed in the theme handing out leaflets.

Good luck and best wishes

Universities are filled with many, many different social groups. Seek out the leader of all the big social groups, offer him/her a free ticket and maybe a free drink coupon or something.

Now that they have a free ticket and some other perks (make them feel like a VIP so they will look special in front of their friends) they will most likley go to your party. Sense their the leader of their social circle their friends will naturally want to come too. Bingo, you now just made money off all their friends.

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you can hire promoters- students are willing to do that. Post your ad on craiglist and say that you are looking for hard working people to sell your tickets for the party. When somebody sells one ticket, give him percent of a sale.

Hope it helps.