The final objective was to increase awareness of the charity in attendees to make it more likely for them to donate again in future as positive and appropriate event association has been shown to lead to increased purchase behaviour (Close et.al., 2006). Further, understanding of the cause helps develop an emotional connection to the charity and this should lead to a better and more memorable experience (Beard and Wilson, 2013).
Despite branded t-shirts buckets and plenty of plugging from the MC, unfortunately this was the area that the event failed in, with some attendees commenting that they did not know much about the charity.
The representative from the charity's board was not able to attend due to illness so he couldn't give a short speech about what the charity does. This was not helped by a lack of signage about the charity and poor briefing of the MC, so the lack of representation was not made up for.
Contingency planning in the form of information leaflets on the tables and proper briefing of event staff would have avoided this eventuality (Silvers, 2008). Properly conveying the beneficial work of the charity is important to today’s audiences as trust in organisations across the board had dropped in recent years meaning people are more cautious when giving away their money (Nichols, 2004).
Despite its failings the event undoubtedly delivered on its main aim of raising money and the happiness of the attendees could be said to be the second most, if not equally as, important because this will ensure they speak positively about the experience and therefore the charity afterwards.
Objective 3:
Raise awareness