Live events pretty much always present unexpected challenges, large or small, and this PAX West was no exception. We were heading to the event to demo music-based action game No Straight Roads for the major crowds of press, influencers and consumers with our friends at Sold Out, when we were suddenly faced with an unexpected emergency the day before the show began.
On Thursday afternoon, a personal emergency pulled our primary NSR spokesperson and project lead out of Seattle. This left us with just one other Sold Out team member available to help manage the NSR booth full-time, and another who had previous obligations and could really only staff the booth at select times. For a four-demo setup in a high traffic area of the show floor, as well as a heavy stream of press and influencer demos to oversee, we desperately needed to identify a backup staffing plan.
Luckily, as we ran point on coordinating the booth, vendors and all other logistics, on top of handling PR outreach, we were fully entrenched in the backend planning and ready to tackle any hurdles along the way. We jumped into action, researching and contacting a range of local and national agencies that coordinate temporary staffers or “brand ambassadors” for major events and conventions. Of course, these agencies typically need more than 24 hours to pull together available staff with relevant experience, especially when a high demand show such as PAX has already siphoned off tons of potential staff. Still, we persisted in seeking out the right agency for our needs in the extremely tight timeframe.
With so little lead time, Friday was out of the question for any agency to provide staffing help, but we were able to secure an agency to get staff locked in for the two busiest show days, Saturday and Sunday. After soldiering through Friday as a primarily two-person show, we were glad to have our temporary staffer come in for the weekend to help manage the ebb and flow of our demo line, educate consumers and hand out fliers. This allowed us to keep our focus on press and influencers, Sold Out to handle Q&As and interviews, and the whole team to corral the endless swaths of PAX attendees.
It was mostly smooth sailing through the weekend, but the next hurdle came on Monday when our lone Wonacott staffer was charged with wrapping up the show solo. Working closely with the PAX show enforcers onsite, we were able to identify some backup to help manage booth crowds, relief for critical breaks, and assistance with necessary booth cleanup once the show wrapped. With the Sold Out team’s help getting as much wrap-up work and instructions prepped before leaving, and the PAX team’s help for the final and after show hours, we were able to run the last few hours of the booth without issue.
Losing our primary NSR spokesperson and PAX liaison at the eleventh hour made for an interesting start to the show, to say the least. But emergencies happen, and something unplanned will always rear its ugly head at a live event – it’s our job to make sure we’re adaptable and able to pull together a successful show and be the dependable rock for our clients, even in the midst of chaos. We worked closely with the Sold Out team onsite (they were totally awesome throughout this) to pull off a fantastic show in spite of the hefty logistic hurdles we faced over the long weekend. If you want to read more about how PAX was a success in spite of these challenges (yay for happy endings!), check out our NSR show recap blog.