Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, known as ‘La Fête nationale du Québec’, is a revered and vibrant celebration deeply ingrained in the cultural heritage of Quebec. This annual celebration traces its roots back to the early days of New France when French settlers established a strong presence in the region. Over time, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day has evolved into a festive holiday that honors Quebec’s unique culture and heritage. On this day you will find various parades, concerts, and firework displays.
Planning a memorable Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day event requires careful organization and attention to detail. As an event organizer, you want to create an unforgettable event that has all the components to properly capture the spirit of Quebec’s rich cultural heritage.
Find out how to organize a successful Saint-Jean-Baptiste event !
Summary
1. Set Event Goals and Theme
The first step in the planning process is to clearly define the vision you have for your event. Determine what type of event you want to host and consider your target audience and their preferences. Whichever one it is you’re aiming for, whether it’s families, tourists, or local residents, knowing will help you narrow down your choice of venue, activities, and entertainment.
Collaborating with various local organizations, community groups, and artists will help infuse your event with some authentic Quebecois elements. Once you’ve set clear goals and objectives and you’ve decided on your theme, you can start planning the rest.
Having an idea of what you want your event to be will help you in establishing a budget for it, whether that be a large sum or close to nothing.
Find out how to procure funding here.
2. Secure the Perfect Venue
Selecting the right venue is crucial for your Saint-Jean-Baptiste event. Look for an event that can accommodate your expected attendance and which offers suitable facilities and space for the activities you have planned.
Whether your event is held indoors or outdoors, ensure the venue has the necessary permits and permissions from local authorities. If you opt for an indoor venue, consider factors like parking availability, accessibility for those that will attend, and the capacity to create a festive atmosphere through the use of decorations and lighting.
3. Curate Engaging Performances and Activities
To create an immersive experience for attendees, it is important to curate a diverse range of engaging activities and performances. Consider the following:
- Organize a Quebecois music showcase featuring local artists and musicians
- Provide interactive workshops to learn more about Quebec’s cultural traditions such as maple syrup tasting or folk dance lessons
- Incorporate family activities like face painting, games, and crafts
- Look into organizing a raffle to add some fun to your event
- Encourage participation by organizing contests with prizes that showcase Quebec’s rich culture
Remember to include entertainment that can cater to the different demographics and preferences to ensure that all attendees feel included and engaged throughout your Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day event.
4. Implement Effective Promotion Strategies and Ticketing
Promotion
Attracting attendees to your event depends largely on the way you promote it. Make sure to leverage both the traditional marketing channels as well as the more recent digital marketing channels in order to spread the word in a broad manner.
Create a website, a mini-site, or a landing page where visitors can easily access all relevant content and essential updates regarding your event as it is a great way to promote it. This website or landing page can include details such as the event date, the time, the location, and even highlights of the event. If this is a recurring event, you can add reviews and pictures from the past event.
Utilize social media platforms to create a buzz around your event by posting interactive content through the use of polls, and hashtag. Continuing with this idea, you could even reach out and collaborate with influential personalities on the promotion of your Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day event, a marketing strategy which has proven to be very successful.
Ticketing
Implement an efficient and effective ticketing system software that offers a user-friendly interface. Having a simple and intuitive interface will simplify the ticketing process and enhance the overall experience for both the attendees and event organizers. In that end, choosing to use an online ticketing software and registration system will be the best bet as it not only provides you with an easy-to-use platform but also provides real-time reporting and analytic capabilities to track ticket sales and customer data.
5. Ensure Smooth Operations and Attendee Experience
Access Control
In order to ensure that everything goes smoothly in terms of the entry experience as well as delivering an exceptional experience for those in attendance, make sure all staff are knowledgeable and properly trained before the day of the event.
Choosing the appropriate access control technology is crucial for a seamless entry experience. Consider options such as RFID wristbands or cards, QR codes, or barcodes. Not only are they secure, and less prone to being misplaced or lost, they also save time for attendees and staff all while allowing the organizers to gather real-time data of the event.
Once that is done, your team will need the necessary equipment for access control. If you’re expecting a larger crowd, renting access control boxes could be the option for you. Mobile access control devices can also be used.
And if renting doesn’t feel like the right thing for you, there is always the option of turning your own mobile device into an access control device by using an app!
Want to learn more? Click here.
Attendee Experience
To enhance the attendee experience at your Saint-Jean-Baptiste event, prioritize high quality customer service and support. Here are a few more tips to ensure that attendees leave your Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day event satisfied.
- Utilize gathered data
Assuming that you have used an online ticketing and registration software, you can use the data gathered throughout the ticketing process in order to tailor your event based on attendees’ preferences, and demographic information.
- Set up information points
Ensure that a team of knowledgeable staff are on site and are ready to assist attendees with any inquiries, concerns, or questions that may arise. This can be done using clearly marked information booths or help desks.
- Encourage attendee feedback
Encourage those that attend to give their feedback through surveys or social media interactions in order to gather insights for future improvements for the next event. If you decide to send your guests a thank you email once your event is over, you can take advantage of the opportunity and send a feedback form along with it.
Weezevent offers interesting solutions for organizers of Saint-Jean-Baptiste events, including online registration, access control, cashless payment and marketing and CRM tools to help you every step of the way!
