Gala events – let there be light!
If you’re an event designer, you’ll know there’s no middle ground when creating a befitting setting for clients. Any marketing professional will tell you that it takes money to make money, and it is no different in the world of live events.
Certainly, making guests feel welcome, no matter how large or small they are in number, will impact greatly on the way they interact with and participate in the event.
Galas are still big business. At Precise, we provide sound, lighting, staging, crew and entertainment for such events all year round. And, no matter where we help stage them, we always see something different, something new and, ultimately, something which gets people talking. Certainly, if you’re in the business of planning gala day events, you’ll need to ensure you have something to offer guests which they’re unlikely to have experienced before if they are to part with their hard earned.
Today, we’ll focus on one element we’re very familiar with – lighting.
There’s no doubting that lighting can be one of the single most important elements for setting the tone of an event. Good lighting is a mood-maker and is multi-talented. It can create intimacy, a grandiose atmosphere or elicit eeriness; pretty much any emotion you want to evoke at an event can be achieved with lights (and a lighting engineer, obviously!).
If you’ve spent money on the best decor, it could go to waste if not lit properly. Similarly, if you’ve booked an awesome band, keeping them illuminated with the house lights and some lacklustre spots will dampen their impact.
If you have to reduce the budget at your next gala event, it is advised not to reduce the lighting. LED lighting is becoming increasingly popular, but should be used sparingly at galas. The colours LED lights produce aren’t always the most flattering and can result in a glow which doesn’t befit the event. That said, a mixture of LED’s for a bit of pizzazz and standard ‘par cans’ and the odd moving head will make your event stand out from the rest.
Let there be light at your next event!