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3.
Strategy
Jo is regularly engaged to undertake strategic planning to guide the development of emerging events or to review and reimagine existing events.
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Benefits of a Strategic Plan
A strategic plan provides a road map for event professionals and committees to follow when planning and delivering their event. It outlines a clear vision, goals, objectives, target markets, along with along with strategic priorities and measurable targets.
Aware of the practical challenges faced by regional events, Jo understands the need for strategic plans to be aspirational but also achievable. Jo’s stakeholder connections, hands-on practical experience and knowledge of festival and major event delivery allows her to provide the (often missing) ‘how to’ as part of the plan.
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Review of Established Events
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Jo also specialises in the review of existing events, particularly those that have plateaued and may need to refresh their strategic direction.
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Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, Ipswich Festival, South Bank's Regional Flavours and Scenic Rim's Eat Local Week are just a few of Queensland's regionally significant events that Jo has reshaped, reinvented and reimagined on behalf of her clients.
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Please contact Jo if you would like to discuss the development of a strategic plan for your event.
Case Study: Regional Flavours
In 2014/15 Jo Jordan was engaged by Brisbane Marketing to undertake a review of South Bank Parkland’s year-round event and marketing operations, inclusive of the review of Regional Flavours, Brisbane’s signature annual food event.
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The Regional Flavours review largely focussed on resourcing and cost efficiencies, improvement on event quality, and stronger industry and South East Queensland producer alignments. Under Jo’s direction a new delivery model was developed and a benchmark was set for future Regional Flavours.
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Described by Matt Preston from Network Ten’s MasterChef as “the best food event in Australia”, the 2015 Festival attracted a record attendance of 85,000 reflecting an uplift of 13% with 20% of visitors travelling from interstate for the two-day event across eight activation locations.
95% of visitors were satisfied with the event and 97% rated the quality of the event very high and were likely to recommend Regional Flavours to others. More than $1.2 million was raised in cash and in-kind partnerships.
Case Study: Ipswich Festival
In the role of City Events Manager at Ipswich City Council, one of Jo’s key portfolios was the reimagining of the former Ipswich Festival into SPARK Ipswich. A new festival vision and format was needed to reengage the interest of the Ipswich community, to increase visitation, economic and cultural return, and to generate positive media coverage.
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Jo worked closely with industry bodies, the arts community, business and community stakeholders and media and marketing specialists to develop a new, bold vision for the City’s festival – one that strongly reflected the people, places and culture of Ipswich.
In addition to significant consultation, this process involved analysing former Ipswich Festivals and benchmarking with other SEQ festivals to inform the event strategy that was ultimately developed.
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The new vision succeeded in generating increased community participation and attendance and attracted unprecedented investment from Queensland Government along with strong corporate support.
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2021 SPARK Ipswich was described by Ipswich City Council and the community as a ‘phenomenal success’ and the foundation has now been laid for future festivals.
