How to put on a gig: Top tips from the Unistage team

Whether you just want to enjoy some live music, or you’re looking to create a great community event or fundraiser, the experience of a live gig is unbeatable. While the thought of arranging an event like this yourself may seem overwhelming, if you follow our event management steps, there’s really very little that can go wrong.

Step one – Decide on a date and venue

Think about your event and target audience and use this to determine the day you hold your gig, as well as the time and venue. Consider school sports halls, local leisure centres and nearby music venues, all of which should have the acoustics you’re looking for.

Step two – Make sure you’re clued up on legalities and health and safety regulations

Making sure your event is safe and well thought out is very important. You should find out the legal capacity of your chosen venue and make sure you don’t over book, understand the closing times of the venue and potential impact on residents and make sure safety barriers and first aiders are on hand on-the-day.

Step three – Get some help

Carrying all the responsibility on your own shoulders can make the process of putting on a live event a bit of a nightmare. Don’t be afraid to recruit volunteers and delegate tasks such as ticket management, running of the bar / food stalls and on-the-day audience management.

Step four – Choose your staging

Perhaps one of the most important factors to consider is the staging. Housing your musicians for the night, you want your staging to be safe, secure and highly flexible. Choosing staging from a reputable provider, like Unistage, is key.

Don’t forget that your staging also needs to accommodate all the band’s equipment – such as instruments, lighting and the PA. It’s also important to consider safety and smooth transitions. Access steps or slopes are hugely important, especially in dark venues. They also allow smooth transitions from one set to the next.

Our staging is simple to set up and take down and can suit all requirements. The modular staging we provide can be slotted together in any number of ways, which means you can easily customise the stage design to your space.

Step five – Add those all-important final touches

Transform the setting with wow-factor sound and lighting, a must for a professionally run event. As these two elements play a huge role in making the night a success it’s well worth getting in an expert to help you get it right.

Call us today on 01254 680 575 to find out how you can use our staging at your next event. We’ll be able to talk you through our community and commercial staging products and suggest ways you can use our staging to make your next event a success!

Do you have any other tips for hosting a live music event? We’d love to hear your words of wisdom! Leave your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @Unistage