Organising a Fete - Top 6 Mistakes to Avoid

Here we take a look at the 6 biggest mistakes a fete committee can make.

1. Not Enough Promotion

Unfortunately it’s not a matter of ‘organise it and they will come’. Promoting your event is crucial to its success and you cannot just rely on one method, you need to flood the market with information long before the big day.

Starting with a ‘Save the Date’, it’s necessary to harness the entire school community to get the word out at every opportunity possible, because it doesn’t matter how well you have planned, or how brilliant your stalls are if you don’t have any customers.

Check out Chapter 13 for ways to promote your event.

2. Not Having a Point of Difference

There are fetes and festivals on most weekends, especially towards the end of the year. Why should people go to yours? What makes yours different or better? Decide what it is and make that the hook of your event: are you celebrating a special anniversary, is everything sustainable or recycled, does it celebrate the local area, is it a twilight event or winter solstice?

There are plenty of other ideas in the pages that follow and once you have your ‘hook’ you can use it for everything from branding and marketing to choosing stalls and entertainment.

3. Choosing the Wrong Venue

From being too cramped in a location to rattling around in another, neither scenario provides a fun vibe. You need to make it easy for people to get to - and around - your event. Think carefully about the weather and what options you have should the weather turn too wet or windy or hot. If you’re expecting large crowds, be wary of choosing a location that’s far away from public transport or where there is insufficient parking.

Once there, guests will want to be comfortable with plenty of shade, seating and toilets. Stalls need to be sufficiently spaced so there is room to browse, but close enough together so that stallholders don’t languish in dark corners of the school where they can’t be found. Ensure there is separation between loud and noisy games and rides, food stalls, market stalls, seating areas and stages/entertainment.

Often the primary decision is whether to hold your event in its entirety on the school oval and other outside areas or if you want to take advantage of indoor spaces such as classrooms and undercover areas.

4. Wasting Your Volunteers Time

Volunteers are the lifeblood of all organisations.  How many potential volunteers sit on their hands after a bad volunteering experience? Perhaps they put their hand up for a simple task but ended up working many more hours than they committed to.  Or worse, where they were happy to help but ended up sitting around for hours as no one had organised enough work for them.  Your volunteer’s time is valuable – make every second count!

5. Over-ordering

The number one profit-killer of any fundraiser is leftover stock. In an ideal world, you’ll run out of everything five minutes before it ends. There are ways to minimise this risk, so read on!

6. Being Too Expensive

It’s important to raise money for your event, but you don’t want to be left with lots of leftover, unsold stock and you don’t want your visitors to feel like they haven’t received value for money. . You might raise lots of money this year, but next year they won’t be back and they won’t bring their friends.

Now let’s make sure your event is a success!

Next chapter >> Set a Goal