It might sound early to some of you, but it has come to that time of the year where it’s the perfect timeframe for Community Centre/MAEC/party planners to start working out the Hari Raya Aidilfitri gatherings. I was a guest artiste at many of these gatherings last year in Singapore, and with my 7 years of party-planning experience (not to mention, a knack to defend local artistes), I have prepared a guideline that I hope you partyplanners out there can read and pass on.
1) Work Early: Start now lah kan. You must have confirmed everything before Ramadhan. Confirm venue, sound system, artistes, payments all before fasting starts. This way, people can plan their Raya schedules, especially the artistes.
2) Tight Budget: If your council or team has a limited budget, and no sponsors, then don’t bother, because a gathering is not one that should be restricted by a ‘tight budget’. And it’s a pathetic excuse to give the artistes when you’re asking for a cheaper rate. Takde duit, jangan buat.
3) Committee: Make a list of all the people involved, and update the list everytime there’s somebody new. You only need 1 meeting to put the event together, and another meeting to confirm the show. Jangan feeling weekly meeting and discuss tak habis habis. No work is done like that. Never give somebody more than 1 task, and never take more than 1 task for yourself. The one in charge for the food, the stage manager and the person at the reception should NOT be the same person.
4) Collaborate between MAECs: There are a few CCs that are near to each other. Pull your resources together. With collective support, you might be able to afford a grander event. The CC that is newer, with ample parking lots, nearing to a train station, and an administration that can disallow basketball games that night wins to host the show.
5) Stupid Names: Riang Ria, Gemalai, Lap Lip Aidilfitri are all stupid names that should have been buried back in the 80s. Go with no-frill names like ‘CC Open House’ or ‘Hari Raya Dinner’ that is friendly to non-Malays who might be interested to come.
4) Duration: Do not go more than 2 hours if it’s an event that serves food. Food will get cold, people will get bored. If there’s no food, make sure there’s alot of performances. Start on time no matter what. The tickets should say “Guests must be seated by __pm” so you start half an hour after that. Everything should end before 11pm. Anything after 11.30pm will be a huge bore, plus all the staff (caterers, cleaners, etc) will want to pack up and go already.
5) Hosts: Get the Anugerah Skrin finalists to host it or actual known hosts, not the friendly guy from your dance group and prepare a good script together with them. Getting a comedian to host the show doesn’t mean your show is in good hands. Do not expect the hosts to know what to do. You must give them the schedule a month ahead, and give them the lists of what to say, and who to thank. NEVER WRITE THESE NOTES DOWN ON THE DAY ITSELF.
4) Performers: If the gathering/dinner does not emphasize on entertainment, then 2-3 artistes are enough. But if ‘party’ is the theme of the night, make sure you get yourself good names and non-stop action. Get yourself a good sound system, and if there’s a band playing, make sure the band work together with the sound equipment people, and not just come and play, and later complain about bad sound. There are plenty of local and Malaysian artistes that you can call for the show. If you don’t enquire about their rates, you will never know. Write to the record labels that you see at the back of their CDs. So if you’re expecting people to pay for the tix to come for the event, the Community Centre’s tarian club is not enough.
5) Do Not Advertise If You Haven’t Confirmed The Artistes: This has happened many times when some big names are used for the promo but the artistes and their managers do not know of it yet. You must at least have them return a confirmation email saying that the date and the payment is confirmed. Nearing the date, secure it with a signed agreement and passing them 50% of the payment.
4) 6 Weeks of Promo: Always give your event at least 6 weeks of promotional time. That means 6 weeks before the event, the tickets, posters, flyers are all out. Make sure you give free tix and invites personally to the members of the press, and get them to RSVP their attendance. They can help list your event and even do coverage if its appropriate.
5) Buffet or Ala-Carte: Go grand, walimatul-urus style. Make sure that everybody is always eating something. No steamboat bullsh!t ok. Nasi beriyani, no less. Lontong; they already had enough during the first day of Raya.
6) VIP and Non-Muslim Guests: It’s 2008 already, don’t make people stand when the VIP arrives, if you really want an MP as a Guest of Honour. You can have a special mention on stage by the hosts to thank their attendance, but sembah-sembah is meant for the Di-Raja. For the benefit of your Non-Muslim Guests, have a bilingual host that switches back to English every now and then. And also mark what’s the dresscode on the invitation: Traditional / Formal so that they don’t come in shorts and slippers, in which THEY SOMETIMES DO. Refuse any entry of people who’s not appropriately dressed. Personally, go without the Guest of Honour unless he is paying for the event.
7) Lucky Draw: If you realllly must have a lucky draw, and you want a few rounds of it to give away all these gifts from sponsors, do each draw between performances, and not all the draws at the end of the event. Nobody wants to wait that long. Get each performer to pull a draw after each item, and the grand prize (if there is one) to be pulled last. Don’t call the VIP on-stage unless the elections are coming soon.
8.) Fashion Show by a Wedding House: THIS IS A BIG NO. NOT AT A RAYA EVENT.
9) Payments: Make all payments before or on the day itself, so when the day is over, you don’t owe anybody anything.
10) Team Work: Never blame each other or the old-fashioned makcik who wanted Jeffridin to appear, to everybody’s dismay. Everything should have been agreed upon up to 2 months before the event, and that nobody can say anything about it after that. If you really need the credit, print out the Menu, with the credit mention included from Show Organizer to Caterer to Stage Manager, with all their contacts there. If your name is not there, then you cannot take credit for it. And if your event isn’t a success, don’t say that you “kena buat orang”. That’s just crap. If you need any help, any enquiries, any advice, please write to me at imran@beats.sg in detail and I’ll help you as much as I can.
Lastly, the official photographer is the last person to leave because make sure you take a picture of the entire committee before you guys leave.