What Is A Community Event And What Are The Benefits
According to Law Insider, a community event means:
“An event hosted by a collaborative workspace and accessible to start-up tenant or member businesses, without charge or with nominal charge, organized to support an innovation ecosystem, as defined in section 21 of P.L.2020, c.156 (C.34:1B-289), at the collaborative workspace, including, but not limited to, events such as meet-ups, speaker series, and office hours for lawyers, accountants, consultants, or investors.”
As an event management company, we plan and manage all types of community events, from residential activations that aim to engage their local audience, to full-scale festivals for the public and touring community initiatives such as our Ice Cream Dash!
What is a Community Event?
You have all heard of a community event, but they may mean different things to different people. Primarily they are all about people, gathering the locals, public and visitors for an event that often celebrates an occasion or anniversary.
They can also be initiatives to engage the local communities, for BIDs, town centres, local councils and brands looking to connect on a deeper level with their community audiences.
As event managers, we run all kinds of community events for all kinds of communities and groups.
These types of events can include:
- Brand activations in public spaces
- Parades
- Concerts in parks or other public domains
- Public Awareness events
- Fairs and Festivals
- Reward events
- Street parties
- Council run events
These events are often exciting, interactive and family based, with lots of socialisation and opportunities for sharing moments.
This in turn can benefit community relations, creating a deeper connection with brands, companies and local businesses.
Key Characteristics of a Community Event
There are some key characteristics of a community event as follows:
- Hosted in a public space with access
- Open or free to the public (mostly)
- Organised for the benefit of a specific group or larger community.
The Benefits of Hosting a Community Event
Whether you’re planning a corporate community event to give back to your customers, or perhaps you’re part of a County Council group looking to engage with the local community. There are many reasons to consider booking a community event.
Fostering a Sense of Belonging
Creating an emotional connection between individuals and their environments as well as brands and people.
Boosting Local Economy and Business
Local businesses will often see a huge increase in sales during community events due to high footfall.
Improved Relationships Between Organisations and the Community
Creating value is essential amongst councils and their public, community events can show their commitment in supporting engagement in local areas.
Building Brand Awareness
Corporate community events offer brands a platform for exposure and the chance to build authenticity and trust with their audiences.
Social Media Engagement
Community events boost online engagement, bringing awareness through sharing digitally across all ages and platforms.
3 Different Types Of Community Events
Every year, we organise numerous community events for various companies, brands, and county councils, benefiting communities and bringing smiles to many faces.
Below are 3 types of community events we have organised.
1. Corporate
Corporate community events are run for companies and businesses who want to give back to their clients and customers.
These can include lots of different elements such as entertainment, food and more.
It allows them to build good relationships with these customers and clients. Creating a good brand impression as well as thanking them for their custom.
Many of our corporate clients will use social media as a way of shouting about these community events and getting as many people involved as possible.
Furthermore, by creating an online presence on social media, they create a positive social engagement around their brand and community events.
Simple Life Corporate Community Event
An excellent example of this is the recent Simple Life Homes ice cream dash events we organised and managed.
We were approached by Simple Life to create community events for all of their tenants and act as an ice breaker activity in which they could build relationships with one another.
One summer event for Simple Life Homes was an ice cream dash in which we branded an ice cream van with bespoke company signage and custom van wrapping designs.
Excitingly, we then toured around the country visiting Simple Life Homes’ estates, handing out free ice cream to all of the tenants.
A unique aspect of this community event was colouring the ice cream to match Simple Life Homes’ brand colour. This was a great way of creating an on-brand and delicious product to hand out to the community.
Over a week period, we visited 48 different sites and handed out ice creams to over 2,500 households. This has come to be a community event, the Simple Life tenants know and love. It is a great way of them all getting together and enjoying a delicious treat for free (Pugs included!)
2. BID Community
BID or Business Improvement District is another very common option we work with when planning community events.
These events are run by a business-led board and are very heavily community-focused, prioritising the opinions of the local businesses.
The aim of running BID community events is to increase traffic and footfall in commercial areas such as town and city centres. Furthermore, our community BID events often work in partnership with county councils to create large-scale engaging events for the whole community to enjoy such as fairs.
Over the years we have worked on multiple BID events including seasonal events for both Christmas and Easter in large city centres.
These have incorporated multiple event services, creating interactive and enjoyable events for the local community.
Newmarket Santa’s Grotto BID Community Events
For this Community Event, we were contacted by Newmarket BID to create a public Christmas event including a Santa’s grotto which was to take place within the town centre.
The whole event was free to the public, including a visit to Father Christmas as well!
Furthermore, Newmarket BID wanted to incorporate this community event into their annual Christmas light switch on. Therefore, as an event management company, we were able to provide everything.
From event production, management, Grotto set design and build, as well as catering, entertainment and a Christmas parade.
We also provided over 1000 gifts to all of the children visiting Father Christmas, mince pies and mulled wine to the community.
A main aspect of any community event is interactivity through performers. Take a look at our Walkabout Entertainment to Enhance Your Community Event
3. Council Run Community Events
Council-run community events are booked by local county councils for various different events throughout the year, bringing the community together. There are many kinds of council-run community events including town fairs, outdoor cinema events, local music festivals and more.
We have worked with several different county councils up and down the UK to come up with bespoke and unique community event concepts.
Every year county councils are allocated an element of money to put back into the community through events.
Unlike corporate and many BID-run events, county council events often contain an element of both free to use/ visit and paid for services.
An example of this could be a community event cinema screening. The county council will pay for the equipment and showing of the film to the community, however, there may be options such as food trucks and rides that guests have to pay for if they would like to use those services.
Council-run community events can also be run in a similar way to BID community events, drawing the local community into town centres and shopping centres to increase footfall and spend within the local community.
Southport Trick or Treat Street community event
Southport trick or treat street is a great example of one of the council-run community events we have created and run.
The county council approached us to create an event that would increase footfall for the town centre over the Halloween period. We came up with a unique concept of a trick or treat street.
For this community event, we built a circular ‘street’ in which children could go around knocking on doors and meeting the characters behind those doors.
The children would then have to solve a riddle, which, if they got it right, would result in a treat, and if they got it wrong, would result in a trick!
Not only did we create and install the whole concept. But we also hired all of the actors, including Zombies, skeletons and monsters, all of which had unique scripts and character profiles.
We also managed and ran the build-up to the 4-day community event on Southport’s social media platforms, building up anticipation for the event.
Things to consider when organising a community event
Often many community events are organised to be non-profit and for benefiting the local community. Therefore, if you’re considering organising a community event, it is really important to have clear goals and intended outcomes from your event.
Just some of the factors you may want to consider are
- How will the event benefit the community?
- How will the event benefit the company or group you’re representing?
- What will make your event stand out?
- Why will people be motivated to attend? Are any permits or approvals required?
- How long will the event last? What are your goals for the event?
- What location will generate the best attendance?
- How will you generate excitement and anticipation before the event?
Once you have answers to these questions, you will be able to gain a clear picture of what your event will look like, as well as the desired outcomes you hope to achieve by running it.
From a business perspective, it will also help you allocate the budget and ensure you gain reward from the community event.
Why Should You Consider Booking a Community Event?
Community events are excellent tools to encourage socialization, promote inclusivity and diversity, and create a sense of belonging.
Whether you are hosting an event for a specific group or a larger community, community events will engage, captivate, and inspire – building loyalty between companies, brands and councils.
These networking opportunities don’t only have to be fun gatherings, they can be platforms to raise awareness and promote a cause that’s associated with the community.
If you’re looking to organise a community event and need an event management company to help plan, produce or manage any aspect, then get in touch today.
Or take a look at our Community Event Services in more detail.
With summer on the horizon, take a look at our summer community events below:
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