Behind the Curtain of Big Events in Indonesia
By: Septania W
Tags: Event Planning, Entertainment, Work Experience, Portfolio, Employer Branding

Disclaimer: This is one of my Employer Branding articles when I was working in LOKET (Gojek Entertainment Group). This article originally published at Life at Gojek Medium as a part of internal communication.

Courtesy of LOKET

Hey, have you attended the Closing Ceremony of Asian Games? Or, were you part of the hype on the latest We The Fest music festival? Had a good time in GIIAS, perhaps? Yeah, we know, it was all lit!

However, have you ever wondered what really is happening behind the curtain of those big events?

Behind every event, there is a great story. It is not just a flowery quote you may have seen on Tumblr (rip). Well, it really happens. So many impacts in there.

Let’s take Asian Games 2018 as the case. It is the most talked-about event in Asia, even in the other side of the world. We were proud to be chosen as the host and we were all crazy about it.

Taken place in Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) area for two weeks, so many great impacts happened around it. Here are the most obvious;

The vendors

Imagine thousands of people gathered in one place with hungry tummy and thirst. Sure they will find any food and drink vendor around them. Also, those who sell souvenirs and raincoats.

The parking area

Round and round in the parking lot is kind of a mandatory ritual every time we attend an event, frankly speaking. Therefore, many people who lived around the venue seeing that problem as an opportunity. Those who own spacious parking lot are willing to rent it. Such an additional cash for them, eh?

Last but not least, our beloved driver partners

If they usually get a few orders per day, on Asian Games it doubled. Many people now prefer to use the online transportation, especially when they are attending an event.

According to the Greater Jakarta Transportation Body (BPTJ), there were 13 million motorcycles and 4.4 million cars in Jakarta in 2015. Meanwhile, there were 2.12 million trips being made daily from the city’s outskirts to Jakarta.

It relates to the second point when it is so hard to search a parking space, especially on an event, so people are just using the online transportation.

Well, that kind of business almost happened in every big event, especially in a concert of an artist who people are longing for.

“Not only is a large-scale event giving impacts for the creator, but also for the micro-economy around the venue, starting from hotels, food vendors, even parking lots business.” — Edy Sulistyo, CEO of LOKET

For certain people, the crowd may drives bitterness, but for event creators, it is a sign of success.

Courtesy of LOKET

Indeed, every success event has its own behind the scenes, including its challenges and key success. Having said that, success takes more than just execution. Event creator surely must extremely be prepared to face all the challenges that will inevitably come forward during the event creating process.

However, who is event creator? Event creator is you. Event creator is us. Everyone can be an event creator because almost any kind of gathering is an event as long as it has the creator and audiences. One job to be done by an event creator is to make a successful event.

We’ve mentioned before that everyone could be an event creator, but do you know what it takes to hold a successful event? Here are three points you should pay attention to;

1. Draw the crowd

Courtesy of LOKET

A high interest level in your event does not equate to the outstanding ticket sales, and the number of people who actually showed-up will differ greatly. There could be a case where you have an overwhelming number of people who did the RSVP, but 30 minutes before your event begins the venue is still half-empty. Especially if it is free. That is why attendance is sure a good gauge to evaluate the success of every event, as attendees are the main ingredient.

2. Less fraud, less scalping

Courtesy of LOKET

Scalping and ticket fraud can also lead to sold-out tickets with empty seats because not every ticket purchased by the ticket scalper is resold. One of the measurements of a successful event is the least level of fraud and ticket scalping. Which connected to the point above when an event can draw the actual crowd.

3. Best experience

Courtesy of LOKET

An amazing experience is truly what creates satisfied audiences and then a successful event. The more audiences’ satisfaction an event can get, the more encouragement for them to return in the future events. It is about creating a memorable one that will leave them wanting more.

There are three golden keys to measure success of an event; A high attendance level, less fraud and less scalping in the ticketing management, and being the topic that everyone is talking about.” — Anniza R. Joenoes, Head of Enterprise Business

To cater those three points, there is the technology which introduced by LOKET for the entertainment industry. It is now the backbone of many ticket management operations for big events in Indonesia.

Courtesy of LOKET

Over the past five years, the revolution of ticket management service in LOKET has been rapid. Since then, many features available within those services. No wonder almost 85% of big events in Indonesia had trusted LOKET to handle the ticket management and cashless transaction in their events, one of those is Asian Games 2018.

LOKET is still committing to revolutionize the entertainment industry and always improving the positive impact through technology. Now, LOKET will make another success story once again in Asian Para Games 2018.