Here are 3 top tips from the team at rEVENTS Academy to ensure that you can successfully recruit volunteers and manage them in the most effective way (to ensure you keep them engaged and retain them for next year!).

Collaboration builds the benefits a community receives from its events - and makes the job lighter for event organisers!

Our new normal demands a new way of thinking.

Have you considered what a boutique version of your mass gathering event could look like?

No more gold, silver and bronze sponsorship tiers, please!

It’s strategic and well thought out partnership models that will garner support for events.

Now is the time to prepare your projects for grant applications that will be announced in coming months, whether your project relates to infrastructure, marketing, training for your committee, hiring performers or consultants or equipment, or planning how you will revitalise your event post-COVID.

During the current ban on physical gatherings, some event organisers who want to continue to engage their audiences are taking the brave step to take their event, or elements of their event, online.

Brave, because running an online event is not the same as running a physical event. A bowl of noodles and a laptop at home is a long way from an annual festival that people look forward to all year - and while people are happy to pay for real world events, they may well be less likely to want to pay for online events.

During this crisis time for the events sector remember to look after your community - your loyal advocates, attendees, and fan tribe (even when all you want to do is dig a big hole and escape the world!) 

Here we share inspiring case studies from around the world where creativity and passion is allowing events to maintain enthusiasm, connection and loyalty with their community.

REVENTS Academy and regional tourism consultancy TIlma Group ran a survey of Australian event managers to ascertain what support Australian events and festivals will need to survive the cancellation or postponement of their event required by the long COVID-19 ban on public gatherings. 

We’ve created a series of Regional Event Master Class webinars for 2020 designed to improve your ability to cope with the challenges that come from running a regional event.

Is your event struggling to attract repeat visitors?

Do visitors come to your event once and then cross it off their bucket list? 

Attracting repeat visitors is one thing but creating loyal advocates for your event is something else. It is something that all events should strive for.

From strategy to risk management and event marketing to budgeting, the Queensland events guide is loaded with useful content suitable for regional events across Australia

Tulip Time, Bowral NSW: 

The reinvigoration of a long-standing festival by introducing professional event expertise and intensive Local Government support.

Is your regional event sustainable?

Has it outgrown the capability of its volunteer workforce?

Does it struggle to break even financially?

Here are 7 ways to ensure your event’s viability

Parkes Elvis Festival:

How a festival successfully transitioned from a volunteer-managed community event into a regional hallmark festival run by Local Government.

Grampians Grape Escape: 

What a regional festival can achieve by investing in professional event resources and collaborating with Local Government to drive results:

42% increase in ticket sales in one year!

Regional events face complex challenges that impact their sustainability and success.

Here are our top tips on how to address them.

Case study:

How South Burnett Regional Council used rEVENTS Academy to help build the capacity of the region's event committees.

Create NSW's Creating New Income Toolkit is a practical guide on how to generate revenue, equally useful for events as for the artists it was written for.

The guide covers philanthropy, sponsorship, crowdfunding and new product development, itemising the steps needed to develop and grow these income streams.

A survey of regional and rural events throughout Australia was conducted in September 2018 to provide us with a better understanding of what their main challenges and opportunities are.

With close to 40 responses, the sample size provides some interesting insights and trends.

Regional events are dying due to a declining volunteer workforce.

I read this ABC News article with a great fear that we will continue to lose many of the great regional and rural events that drive visitation into their communities - rural communities that don’t often have any other tourism attractions or leisure-based experiences to create this economic and social impact.