On a windswept and rainy island off the west coast of Ireland three priests, a housekeeper and a whole host of other characters, each more eccentric than the last, make up the cast of the classic nineties sitcom ‘Father Ted’.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more niche concept for a show than the surreal adventures of Father Ted, Father Dougal and Father Jack but it’s still incredibly popular and many of the episodes have become cult classics.  I’m sure that most of us can readily fire off a couple of choice quotes, whether it’s Father Dougal being dopey, or Father Jack turning the air blue.

Like all great art and literature (fair enough, I’m reaching a bit here), Father Ted holds up a mirror to our own situations.  Here’s our list of top tips for event organisers from the Craggy Island parochial house:

Be consistent with your message and your brand

Mrs Doyle: “You’ll have some tea… are you sure you don’t want any? Aw go on, you’ll have some. Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on GO ON!”

Develop and define a key proposition for your event and communicate it consistently to your audience.  For a new event, it’s important to research your market and ensure your event is right for that audience.

Mrs Doyle knows priests like tea; she doesn’t confuse matters by offering them coffee. It’s also key to ensure that, throughout your marketing and customer touchpoints, you remain true to and consistent with your original vision.  To ensure your brand remains consistent, Eventbrite lets you create an event booking page that blends seamlessly with your own brand.

Unlike Mrs Doyle though, it’s best to use a range of marketing and communication channels to ensure you engage with your audience in the right way and at the best time.

Dream big but set realistic expectations

Father Ted: “God Almighty, that’s going to cost a fortune to fix. Where are we going to get the money? Think, Dougal, how can we raise some money? Yes, I know. Aha! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Dougal: “I think so, Ted. But now wait, I’m not sure…. I mean, it is a big step and where are we going to get the guns?”
Ted: “What are you talking about?”
Dougal: “Oh, wait a minute now – actually I might have been thinking about something different…”
Ted: “You thought we were going to rob a bank, didn’t you?”
Dougal: “I did, yeah.”
Ted: “Well, Dougal, this isn’t a Bruce Willis film. I was thinking more along the lines of a raffle.”

It’s great to have a vivid imagination when it comes to the creation of events.  Making them memorable means that they’ll have a larger ripple effect and reach a broader audience. However, you also need to set realistic expectations. Maybe you need to park that light show and fireworks finale as your budget only allows for one sparkler.

Once you have established your budget, focus on how you will get people to your event. You might dream that people will magically turn up because you think it’s a great event, but you need to get the word out. Here are some easy social media tips to help get and increase attendees.

• Create the perfect hashtag for your event
• Create great content and interesting updates that keep people engaged with your event
• Use your registration page and Eventbrite’s free promotional tools to drive sharing and increase reach
• Capitalise on real-time registration data to streamline your marketing activities

Keep a cool head

Bishop Len Brennan: “Get me on the first plane back to Ireland! NOW!”

It’s easy to lose your temper when the pressure is on – we’ve all been there!

Nothing is more stressful than a flood of people descending upon your event whilst you and your team try to find and check off their names from your reams of sheets. Our blood pressure is rising at the thought!

To avoid that unnecessary stress the Eventbrite Neon app enables event staff to instantly verify tickets right at the gate, allowing for shorter lines and quicker entry. Neon turns your phone into a ticket scanner that displays in real time how many tickets you have sold and how many people have already checked in across all entrances.

It means more control for you and a happier attendee which means a great event experience for everyone!

Ensure you’re in full control of your finances

Father Ted: “That money was just resting in my account!”

Father Ted ended up on Craggy Island because he had stolen money from the church. This line of wisdom reminds us that the fun ends when it comes to money, and no cheap excuse will change that. Always treat money that isn’t yours with respect.

Deal with refund requests promptly and, where applicable, pay the money back as soon as you can. Choose a ticketing company like Eventbrite that allows you to do all that easily from a single place. Be wary of ticketing services that use your money from your ticket sales to finance their business while you’re waiting for cash flow.

Problems will occur; keep them in perspective

Father Ted: “These are small, but the ones out there are far away.”

Father Ted’s famous optical insight reminds us of perspective. Sure, the caterer is late, the power is down and your headline act just lost her voice. But do not despair. See the bigger picture. Everything will be fine in the end as long as you don’t give up. Get out there, find alternatives, call for help and fix what can be fixed. Everything will be grand.

Use data to generate actionable insights about your attendees

Dougal: “I’m not good at judging the size of crowds, but I’d say there’s about 17 million of them out there”

It’s always handy to know more about your guests. For fire regulations, capacity planning and of course to convince sponsors that you can attract just the right audience for their product or service.

So make sure to use Eventbrite’s custom questions for each attendee – this allows you to gather information such as dietary requirements, what’s important to them about your event, or what size T-shirt they want.

Combined with our in depth analytics features and the Neon entry manager app to track who has and hasn’t arrived yet, and you can have an incredibly accurate picture of your attendees at any point in the event lifecycle.

So, they’re our top quotes from Father Ted on event management. What are your favourite Father Ted quotes? (Even if they’ve got nothing to do with event organising, we’d just love to have a laugh at them with you!)