Sophie
Understanding the Pros and Cons of hosting your event outdoors.
With 141.5 million visits to outdoor events with a £39.5bn spend off site, it’s easy to understand why outdoor events are very popular in the UK. Whether it’s a music festival, theatre, fairs, shows, recreational or corporate, outdoor events are a great way to bring value to the local community as well as to the organiser. But when organising an outdoor event, there are several considerations that will need to be factored into your planning.
In this post we will be looking at the pros and cons of outdoor event spaces. This will help to understand the implications of hosting the event outdoors and any additional contingencies you will need to put in place to ensure its success.
Pros
Space
The biggest positive about outside venues is the space. You will have far more space to accommodate additional attendees, activities, stall holders, you name it. Indoor venues are often limited on numbers but with outdoor spaces that number is much higher. If you had a music festival in mind, you could have over tens of thousands of attendees whereas finding a venue that large indoors would be difficult.
Versatility
Speaking of the space, versatility is another pro to having an event outdoor. The options are endless when it comes to event layout, theme, decorations, atmosphere and feel. Whatever you imagine, as long as your budget stretches, you can probably create outdoors. A huge stage with PA wings, no problem. A funfair, no worries. Let your imagination run wild with the possibilities.
Cost
Outdoor venues tend to be more cost effective and are more budget friendly than indoor spaces. Parks, fields, and town centres are all options to consider for your outdoor event, as well as country houses parkland and designated show grounds. They are more cost effectives as generally they come without any facilities and have low running costs.
Cons
Weather
This is Britain after all and sadly we still don’t have the luxury of Mediterranean weather, which means hosting an outdoor event leaves you open to the elements. This is by far the biggest draw back of outdoor events, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Contingencies can be put in place to counteract the weather, like marquees, big tops etc to help provide shelter if the worse was to happen. Hedging your bets and going for spring or summer will also help with this.
Access to facilities
Another con of outdoor events is that in some cases, the facilities will be limited. If you’ve hired a field you will need to bring in things like power, water, toilets, fencing etc. If you’ve hired a show ground, there may be some facilities available but likely not enough to cover your needs, so this is something to bear in mind when planning your outdoor event. (link to blog)
Security
Security can also be a con to outdoor events. If you have a large open space, you will need to get additional security, including overnight, to keep your equipment and event site safe. This of course comes at an extra cost so something to be aware of when planning.
Weighing up each of these pros and cons will help you decide if an outdoor venue is right for your event, or if you want to change your event to counteract some of the cons we’ve listed.
