In March of last year, Netflix held an edition of TUDUM, its festival, which brought together fans, celebrities, content creators, and influencers at Ibirapuera Park. The event offered fans the opportunity to participate in panels, Q&A sessions, interactive experiences, and see their favorite stars on stage giving small spoilers about the upcoming releases from the biggest streaming platform.
The event occupied the spaces of the Biennial Pavilion, Oca, and a large open area of the park, facing the outdoor stage of the auditorium, whose white wall turned into a huge cinema screen at night. A lot of people circulated through the event, celebrities coming in and out of the venue, in addition to the normal park visitors on a weekend, which as we know, is quite large! So, considering so many challenges, can we say it was a perfect event?
The attractions and all the highlights of the show were managed by Netflix's own team, and they nailed it, as usual. Backstage, another spectacle takes place, but this one is invisible to the public. Here we need to thank the people from 828, especially Iza and Leandro Durand, who are masters in event production and allowed us to make this project, supporting our proposals and bringing others.
We can say that we managed to create a very good experience for the fans. For events like this, especially in environments with large crowds, it is essential to ensure the safety and comfort of the public, but to provide an above-average service and make the event unforgettable for those who were there, it is necessary to do more. It is necessary to take care of all the details and offer MORE than expected.
What are these details? Here are the most important points:
- Security: Even though it was a free event, the event area was delimited and protected from the rest of the park. We closed off an external area of 10,000.00 m² and had a security team with professionals trained to deal with crowds. Access control, searches, and the organization of the queues need to be planned along with an evacuation plan, routes, and emergency exits. The public should know how to enter and exit the event safely.
- Health: Preventively, we set up two medical stations ready to attend to minor health problems and two ambulances prepared to take anyone needing more care to the hospital. The medical stations and ambulances were in a visible location and close to the exits.
- Comfort: This word may give the impression of something superfluous, but comfort is precisely the indispensable "something extra" for the event to be remembered as a success. Issues such as positioning food and beverage areas in shaded areas under the trees, where it is cooler, as well as creating rest areas where the public can sit and relax. Offering bathrooms in more than sufficient quantity and having teams to keep them always clean. To provide more comfort, we created hydration points, where the public had access to fresh and free drinking water.
- Accessibility: Here we are talking about providing means to help people with disabilities, whatever they may be, or even people with mobility difficulties due to age or temporary health condition. In this aspect, to truly welcome this audience with dignity, it is necessary to do much more than laws and regulations require. At TUDUM, we created two elevated platforms, with ramps, so that this audience could watch the show comfortably. We also created a circulation "track" with a type of modular pavement that surrounded the entire event, connecting the accesses, accessible platforms, bathrooms, and food areas. We were happy to see, during the event, many people using these paths, and some people in wheelchairs or crutches moving safely, without worrying about the natural irregularities that exist in parks, with their lawns and tree roots.
Taking care of all these details, along with efficient communication and well-made signage of the spaces, will greatly contribute to the smooth running of any event. In summary, good planning and a good project. Add to that, of course, a good team to produce, set up, and operate the event, and we will have success. This is how the “WOW effect” is made.
