music and arts

The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park

October 14, 2020

The Capricorn Drive-In hosted a four week series of music, film, and performance in Dallas at Fair Park. As part of the #SociallyDistantSummerSeries, the event was held Fridays and Saturdays, from August 28th to September 5th.

Capricorn Drive-In Featured Performers

AhhFugYeahs
Colab
Cure of Paranoia
DJ Don Gentry & Wayward
Fempyre
Infamists & Static Creatures
Lost Arts Legacy
Meach Pango
Skin & Drum Drum Cult

The event had the distinction of being Dallas’s first COVID-19 safe public concert approved by the City of Dallas. It was created to highlight the talent of Texas musicians and performers. The four-week Fair Park event was the culmination of 14 weeks of planning. Great effort was placed on creating a COVID-19 safe, live event experience.

COVID-19 Considerations

To be approved by the City of Dallas, Onstage Systems needed to develop a safety plan with attendee management as priority number one. Onstage Systems created a parking diagram with designated attendee sitting areas following COVID-19 distancing guidelines. Automobiles were spaced 30 feet from the stage with safe, designated sitting areas to the front and left of automobiles. Attendees were encouraged to tailgate from their automobiles or sit in the designated areas on blankets and picnic chairs.

Other considerations included organizing high traffic areas like toilet facilities and coordinating the cleaning crew for high-traffic area sanitization.

Visual Messaging

Part of the safety plan was creating a visual messaging strategy for COVID-19 safety protocols. Informing attendees of the protocols was paramount. The visual messaging solution encouraged attendees to adjust their behaviors to keep live events live and for attendees to be part of the solution. Security at the event also enforced COVID-19 safety protocols.

Backstage Safety

Working crew, bands, and other performers were all temperature checked upon arrival. Additionally, all working crew, bands, and performers were required to wear masks when within 10 feet of others.

Onstage Systems – COVID-Safe Dallas Event Production

Onstage Systems coordinated the event with local bands and the managers of national talent to bring The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park all together. In addition to coordination, Onstage Systems provided video , lighting and audio production. The audio solution for the drive-in event included live public address system sound and the inclusion of an FM transmitter for attendees to listen through their automobile stereos. In addition to live performances, Onstage Systems live-streamed select performances from the event online to virtual audiences.

Onstage Systems is proud to have been a part of bringing live events back to Dallas with the City’s first approved, COVID-19 safe public concert. We would also like to thank our event partners that helped to make The Capricorn Drive-In at Fair Park a success.

About Onstage Systems

Onstage Systems is a full-service event production company committed to creating lasting impressions. From virtual and live corporate events, music festivals and more, we have solutions to transform your ambitious vision into reality.

We offer design, production management, audio, lighting, video, backline, rooftops, and staging to ensure your event runs smoothly so you can enjoy your big moment stress-free. Looking for a non-traditional live event production team? Learn more about Onstage System’s drive-in and virtual event capabilities.

How to Create Successful Virtual Fundraising Events

September 9, 2020

COVID-19 has thrown non-profit fundraising for a loop in 2020. Many not-for-profit organizations that rely on fundraising events to fund their mission are scrambling to move their fundraising online. If you are one of those organizations, take a deep breath. With a little preparation, planning, and the right fundraising event partner, your next virtual fundraiser will be a success.

Tailor Your Fundraiser to Your Audience

One of the secrets to hosting an effective virtual fundraiser is having a well-defined audience. The better defined your event audience the more focused you can make your fundraiser to drawing donations from your audience. The easiest way to accomplish this is to make sure the WHY of your fundraiser is front and center. Don’t get distracted by transitioning to a virtual event. You can find success in this new medium by keeping your organization’s WHY at the center of your event.

Virtual Fundraiser Ideas

With your event’s WHY and target audience at the front of your mind, it’s time to determine what sort of virtual fundraiser will work best. What type of event best suits your audience and allows you to reinforce your event’s WHY? Below are few example types of virtual fundraisers you can run for your event.

Online Auction
Online Class
Online Contest
Online Open Mic
Online Raffle
TED-style Virtual Speaker
Virtual 5k
Virtual Concert or Festival
Virtual Tour
Watch Party

Drive Engagement Through Audience Participation

Without the stimuli of an in-person event your audience may feel disconnected to the content presented. There are many ways to stimulate an interactive connection. One of these ways is by encouraging audience participation. Ideas to add audience participation to your event include creating quiz questions for the audience to answer, operating online polls, or encouraging the audience to submit questions on social media for you to answer during the event.

How to Achieve Your Fundraising Goals

With the transition to virtual fundraising many organizations are worried about falling short of their fundraising goals. The first thing you can do to increase your donations is to make sure to follow up on potential attendees and RSVPs. Treat your virtual fundraiser like you are organizing an in-person event.

Another thing is to make sure you choose a donation goal that’s achievable. The silver lining of virtual events is they tend to have lower overhead compared to in-person events. This means you will keep a larger percentage of each donation. This helps to counterbalance the stigma from attendees that they don’t “get as much” out of a virtual event.

The single best advice to avoiding falling short of your fundraising goal is to make it easy to donate. This ensures you capture 100% of the donations people want to make. Make sure to choose a donation avenue that accepts many types of payment. Payment types your want to be prepared to receive include credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, etc.

What Makes for a Successful Online Fundraiser

Planning is the key to online fundraiser success. The earlier you start planning your event, the better. You should begin planning a one-time event at least four weeks before the date. For more complex virtual events, like multi-day simultaneous channel fundraisers start your planning 12 weeks out. Because virtual fundraisers live online, it’s important you create a well-designed event page with registration, agenda, and donation capabilities. Your virtual event also needs to be optimized for mobile. It’s likely a significant percentage of your attendees will be interacting and donating to your fundraiser via phone.

And of course, to ensure your online fundraiser goes smoothly, spend the time to pick out the right platform, tools, and event partner.

Virtual Fundraiser Additional Considerations

Additional considerations for your fundraising event should include event promotion. For your fundraiser to be a success people have to know about it and show up. Get your event information out early and often. You can reach out directly using email, social media, and SMS. You should also create a press release to generate media interest and coverage of your virtual fundraiser.

After the event make sure to follow up and thank attendees for their participation. This is a good time to solicit feedback to improve your next virtual event.

Virtual Fundraiser Example: March for Babies StepUp!

For an example of a large non-profit changing their fundraiser see the March of Dimes, March for Babies StepUp! The March of Dimes annual walkathon “March for Babies” was transformed due to COVID-19 concerns into March for Babies StepUp! The virtual fundraiser allowed participants to track their steps individually through a pedometer phone app. They also created a TikTok dance challenge and hashtags to share individual progress on social media.

Virtual Fundraiser Event Production Partner

Just like producing an in-person fundraiser, there is a lot of technical work that goes into producing virtual events. Virtual fundraising events also have the added difficulty of making sure your fundraiser looks and sounds great over broadcast.

Trust an experienced, virtual event production partner to make your online fundraiser a success. Onstage Systems has 30 years of event production experience, including virtual event and live streaming expertise. Onstage Systems can help you with lighting, stage design, audio, and multi-feed setups.

Onstage Systems Virtual Event Production

See how Onstage Systems can help make your virtual fundraiser a success: Sonic Soul Tribe Virtual Concert. Onstage Systems produced the 12-hour international, virtual concert event. The event included on-location concert production and coordinating remote, international performances over the event’s 12-hour duration.

More Virtual Experiences by Onstage Systems

Boxing Events
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s America Strong Concert
DAS Ultimate Typing Championships
Stitch House Dallas
And More

There is still time to meet your 2020 fundraising goals with a well-planned virtual fundraiser and the right event production partner. Visit HERE to see more of Onstage System’s featured work. Or, CONTACT US to get started with planning your next successful virtual fundraising event.

AV Production and Special Effects for Day for Night Festival

August 5, 2019

day of light houston texas onstage systems audio, visual, backline, special effects, staging, and crowd control.

‘Day for Night’ was a Houston-based art and music festival that celebrated the connections between space, light, sound, and technology. This two-day event featured multiple stages, art installations, and big names in music like Travis Scott, Bjork, Kamasi Washington, and Kaskade.

In 2016, Onstage Systems offered Day for Night a variety of creative solutions for audio, visual, backline, special effects, staging, and crowd control.

day of light houston texas onstage systems concert production event

Audio, Lighting, Staging and More at the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival

June 21, 2019

We just wrapped up the 27th anniversary with the City of Richardson Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival.

Onstage Systems participates in this festival by providing Production Management, Audio, Lighting, Staging, Crowd Control, and Backline services. Every year since 1997, Onstage Systems ventures out to Richardson, TX to be involved in one of the biggest springtime celebrations in the metroplex.