We are a national comedy competition looking for a venue to host our year end finals. We require a HUGE comp room ask to accommodate our VIP industry guests (who serve as an incentive for comedians to register and attend). We have the added value for a venue of bringing 16 fully produced professional comedy shows to draw in an audience to the property. This works best with casinos that can then convert those visits into revenue from gaming and food & beverage.
When submitting our RFP, the needs - and more specifically the benefits - of the festival are very difficult to articulate. We generally are either 1) immediately turned down by group sales, or 2) passed along to marketing (who seem to be a stronger point of entry to discuss our event); but we really need many branches of a venue to invest in our event.
My question is whether there are any suggestions on the composition of our RFP that will make it more obvious that it is a multi-departmental entity, rather than just a room block request. I tried to explain our needs in the notes, but even that has lead to a great deal of confusion for venues.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have. I have attached a couple of fact sheets that explain the needs, benefits and economic impact of the festival.
Jason
#SourcingaVenue------------------------------
Jason Rowland
The World Series of Comedy
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