Morphe is a beauty retailer specialising in makeup, brush sets and eye shadow palettes. They were founded in the US, where they have 21 stores. Morphe stores are typically located in large indoor shopping malls. As each new store opens Morphe organises a store opening event. Now with stores in the UK, Morphe were keen to organise store opening events in partnership with their ‘influencers’. Morphe wanted to run such an event at their new Bullring Store in Birmingham. They presented their event plans to the Bullring and Grand Central Shopping Mall management team: who were not happy with them and refused to sanction the event on their land – suggesting that the Morphe events team needed to get some professional event health and safety advice. I got a call. Some event safety consultancy was required.
So how did I help?
UK Regulations around the planning and delivery of large public events requires a very high degree of rigour and the completion of a lot of necessary paperwork. The paperwork in question are Event Management Plans and Risk Assessments. The aim of these plans is outline how you intend to protect the health, safety and welfare of those people attending your event as well as employees, contractors and sub-contractors working at your event. These plans are thoroughly examined by the relevant authorities and when deemed suitable and sufficient your event is given the green light. The Moprhe events team had never been asked for such detailed plans before for their US store opening events. Being very familiar with this world I set about helping them plan and deliver a safe event with all the required paperwork and plans
After spending time being briefed by the Morphe Retail Manager about the peculiarities of a Store opening event, I created a bespoke event health and safety workshop to which, all their events staff were invited. The workshop covered all the key subject areas contained in an Event Management Plan and Event Risk Assessment. Examples of some of the areas I covered included the event build-up and break- down, emergency evacuation plans, audience management, security, influencer management, first aid, event stewards, venue evaluation, toilets, electrical works and platforms…to name but a few.
Once we had completed the workshop, I then worked alongside the Retail Manager (designated Bullring Store Opening event manager) to help her produce all the required plans and assessments. During this process I fed back comments, made suggestions to ensure that any third parties were going to be happy with the plans we were putting in place. I also needed to ensure that all her key staff really did understand what we were trying to achieve and why it mattered.
The Result
One unbelievably successful event with an estimated audience of 21,000: unheard of for this type of event. Whilst the numbers were in excess of anything expected all the pre-event planning meetings and contingency plans ensured it was a busy, often challenging but extremely successful and safe event.
For their part The Bullring were very pleased with the very comprehensive nature of the plans and importantly that they were acted upon during the setup, event and break down phases.
The outcome
The Retail Manager and her events team now know what it takes to plan and deliver these types of events in the UK. They have the skills and confidence to produce the Event Management Plans and Risk Assessments that are indeed, fit for purpose. The Moprhe team feel happy to tackle any kind of store event including no doubt some very high-profile new store opening events, as new stores are opened in the UK in the coming years.
Need a little event safety advice then check out my Event Safety Consultancy providing Event Safety Plan and Risk Assessment advice and support