Community Involvement In Events: Everything you need to know about sourcing local talents for events

One of the goals of every organization is to give back to their local communities. More often than not, we see this in donations, scholarships, funds, or other resources. As an event planner, one way to give back to the community is to involve them in events.

Community involvement is ensuring that your local community participates actively in the activities and decision-making of your event whether it's a community event or not. This article exists to guide you through involving members of the community in events and managing everything this process brings.

Benefits of involving your community at events

There are mutual benefits in community involvement for both the local talents and the event planner. Here are some of the benefits of involving your local community in your events.

Improved cultural relevance

This applies more to certain traditional events that won't be complete without the involvement of the community. Involving people from the community brings a special touch from the culture of the selected venue for the event. It also adds authenticity to the event.

Building trust and gaining more exposure

If you do things the right way, involving a certain community in events can build their trust in your event planning business and bring you more exposure around that region. This happens when your event proposes an opportunity for the community and aligns with their overall goals, you gain recognition from community leaders and local organizations around.

Promoting sustainable actions and cost-savings

With a community's involvement in your event, you are able to test and implement local solutions over modern ones which drives the sustainability of your event. This concept can also be one that aligns with your client's perspective which in turn impresses them.

Choosing local talents like entertainers, DJs, and food vendors can help you save money on these services for your event. They are known to charge and demand less for the same or equivalent quality compared to what you're used to.

Types of local talents to consider

An event that involves a community is incomplete without hiring local talents. Members participation in community events reflects their culture, traditions, and way of doing things in a manner other vendors won't deliver on. In this case, attention to detail in culture matters. Here are some local talents from your community you can consider hiring to make your event successful.

• Musicians and comedians
• Dancers
• Food vendors or local chefs
• Decorators
• Ushers or volunteers
• Photographers and videographers

How to identify and source local talents for your event

After making the decision to involve local talents in your event, where do you find them? Here are some of the best tips you should consider when looking for staff in a community.

Check-in with local community hubs

You typically want to go to a place that directly connects you with these people or gives you information about them. You should consider going to places like local art galleries and studios, restaurants, bars, or any prominent organizations that are deeply involved with the community members to provide more information.

Local fairs or events

If you have time to visit the community you're interested in before the time of your event, you want to check out their community events to get to know the people more. While here, you can ask around for vendor services you wish to hire and then get the contact details of one or two persons.

Check online

These days, everyone is online, and it makes sense because social media now as 63.8% of the world's population now uses social media. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X provide you with search filters that let you get deep into finding people in specific locations. You can directly find these vendors or connect with people who may be able to share their details with you.

When reaching out to vendors online, ensure that your profile contains information about you and your business to prove your credibility.

Partnering with community leaders

Who knows a community more than its leaders? Community leaders act as a bridge between the people and external opportunities like you are presenting so this way you get access to the top talents in that community.

In addition to accessing the top talent for your community event, you also get more information on the best practices for making your event successful in that region.

Contracting and managing local talents

So you've found your ideal vendors, what's next now? Well, you want to create a map of how you'll work with these vendors and how to make the collaboration successful. Here are some key steps you want to take at this stage.

• Set expectations: You have to be clear to your selected vendor about the desired outcome from their efforts. This will be the best time to bring up your inspiration for making the event a blast. You'll also have to communicate payment the timeline with them effectively including when they'll start setting up and if there will be any rehearsals.
• Settle legal matters: This will involve drafting and presenting a contract containing information about the expected deliverable, payment, permits, insurance, and specific guidelines that should be followed.
• Briefing: You need to have a meeting with your different vendors to remind them of the deliverables and timelines and also set up a collaboration pattern among all of them. You'll also address any general guidelines you want them all to follow and this can include etiquette in interacting with guests and dress codes if applicable.
• Communication expectation: Ensuring that you have a communication standard in place and that these vendors are aware of them is very important. If you do weekly reminders and check-ins with them, then you should let them know and be familiar with their preferred method of communication.

Promoting local talents at your events

We rise only by lifting others. To promote local talents at your community event, you can make a special announcement mid-way stating that the amazing services being enjoyed by the guests were made possible by the help of the local talents.

In addition to this, you can make a small section at your events where guests can meet up with the people at your event.

Social media features are also something you can use to promote local talents at our event. Using specific hashtags and adding these people as collaborators on your posts goes a long way.

Conclusion

Involving communities at your events, especially at community events is a great way to boost social transformation, offer opportunities to community members, implement sustainable practices, and boost the credibility of your business.

This article has highlighted the benefits of getting a community involved in your event, how to get local talents involved, and the process to working with these talents for your community event.

In search of the best local talents, GoldnLilies provides a medium to connect with the best local vendors across Nigeria.