A six month series of event planning 90 minute "lunch-n-learn" topics about event planning that drives people crazy.  These are the pain-points that people don't want to admit are challenging your reputation, your knowledge, and your ability to not tear out your hair. We all know them, they keep us up at night.

 

These sessions are designed to address a topic that impacts event production and then gather people who know how to answer the problems, but are rarely asked to create a panel discussion to answer them.  Make sense?  You will have to come to see how it works.

 

We are launching the first one with a topic that we know is important to downtown area event planners.

The topic is EVENTS: How to Close a Street or Parking Lot – Downtown Kalamazoo.

Panelists:

• Street Closures – Matt Ampersee

• Parking Lots – Carissa Greenleaf

• Safety Considerations – Matt Schemenaur

• Application Requirements – Chad Wendt

 

Here is the schedule:

11:30 a.m.           Registration

11:45 a.m.           Panel discussion

12:15 p.m.          Questions and Answers

12:30 p.m.          Instructions on Mapping/Layouts for Planning

 

Panel Topics

• Street Closures – the review of what you consider when approving the closure – what makes you concerned, what makes you thing that an event hasn’t thought it through

• Property Considerations – as part of closing a road and a parking lot – how do you as decision makers determine the financial impact of displacement and lack of access?

• Parking Considerations – explanation about parking, revenue, and displacement of parking access and the impact on businesses for parking numbers and requirements to businesses

• Safety Considerations – traffic, emergency access for first responders, pedestrian traffic flow, alcoholic beverage requirements for MLCC approval by Liquor Detective

• Applications – challenges with creating a map that communicates the needs, the barriers, the impacts, and the ability for other approving departments to review (explanation of the depth and variety of people who have to approve the application for use (even Metro Transit).

 

Our team will then be on the “cue” at 12:30 p.m. to do actual map making and drawing with a series of google maps and boards that take various streets downtown and intersections and allows people in a whiteboard fashion to design a street festival.  The sections that we will be creating for “planning” include: 

• The Pride street format (KVCC, Water, Edwards, Beer Exchange)

• Water Street (Park and Rose) where we hosted the Late Night Food Truck Rallies

• S. Burdick Street by the State Theatre incorporating the parking lot at Cedar/S. Burdick

• Kalamazoo Mall/N. Burdick from Water to Kalamazoo