EM: Beyond the actual event management, what else are you doing these days?
LG: My primary contribution on most live productions is serving as the A1/front of house engineer, but I’ve produced or consulted for live events and live recordings for a number of clients– some paid and some not, depending on the depth of my involvement. I’ve also overseen music departments, held auditions and hired musicians for churches, done church sound system installations and maintenance, and taught sound engineering classes to church volunteers and engineers. In those roles I tend to end up consulting or advising on the other areas of production within the church.
EM: For churches considering a big event with a big name, what’s the best way to get the ball rolling?
LG: Making sure there’s someone in place on staff or a freelancer who knows the ins and outs of the music industry. Find someone that has a great reputation who won’t mind assisting you wherever you have a need. It doesn’t have to be a permanent position, but it must be someone you can trust.
This person will save you a lot of headaches and possibly a lot of money as well. He or she can look over riders, explain industry jargon and expectations, give you the right questions to ask, point you to the right companies and people to ensure your artist’s experience is a great one so they’ll want to return and will speak well of you to other artists.
The next thing a church needs to consider and must determine is the budget for the event. Knowing this ahead of time will let you know if you can even go any further with an artist. Depending on what the requirements are for compensation, you may still be able to negotiate a combination of a base payment along with offering an opportunity for them to sell their wares as well.
The main issue involves knowing what you can and cannot do before you make that call. You don’t want to be unprepared where you get all excited and wide-eyed agreeing to something that you can’t follow through with. This will only hurt your ministry’s name and waste your time as well as that of the artist. Establish that “Do Not Go Beyond” line ahead of time. You may be able to afford them in the future, and at least for now, you know what it will take and can prepare for it.
EM: What aspects of large events are most often overlooked or entirely mishandled?
LG: Even if the tech side is covered, there still tends to be understaffing. Many churches try to host a show without the proper number of personnel to ensure the event sets up and tears down in a timely fashion. Staffing is an expensive aspect because hiring experienced and talented personnel isn’t cheap.
What people sometimes fail to realize is that staffing properly shows professionalism, ensures your staff has a better and easier event, helps you prevent injuries, keeps everyone fresh and energetic, and helps provide a stress-free environment for your artists because things work and start on time (i.e., sound checks).
The money you save may actually cost you the event the next time or even your reputation because of an injury, breach of contract or people refusing to work for you. If any of these things happen, how much did you really save? There must be a long-view perspective when making the decision to produce live events.