In February, tens of thousands of fans gathered to share their passion for trance music in Jaarbeurs. This year too, Armin van Buuren's annual 'party' was a great success. Over 35,000 visitors from as many as 100 different countries, went wild to their favourite music. The organisers tell us how they manage to make such a big event successful every year and how to grow with the growth of your event.
The main show in the Netherlands
For 12 years, Dennis de Bruin (COO of events agency ALDA) has been involved in organising A State Of Trance. The event, which originally started as a celebration of every 50th radio broadcast of the same name by Armin van Buuren, has since become a worldwide tour. As the DJ's roots are in the Netherlands, the main show also takes place here. And with success: every year, thousands of fans from all over the world travel to Jaarbeurs to attend the show. How did that work out? He tips us three of his secrets.
Tip 1: Choose a mega-central location
Although the events agency can also hire the Ziggo Dome or Ahoy, ALDA deliberately chooses Jaarbeurs. 'When we started the first big event in the Netherlands years ago, we attracted around 4,000 visitors,' says De Bruin. 'We had all kinds of venues, from the Maassilo in Rotterdam to the Brabanthallen in Den Bosch. But we kept growing out of space, now we need a venue that can welcome more thirty-five thousand people. And let's face it: Jaarbeurs is a top venue in terms of layout as well as accessibility. It is in a mega-central location with good roads and the train stops right in front of the door'.
Tip 2: Create something familiar for fans
Thanks to the move to a larger venue, A State of Trance was able to grow significantly. Not only did the event scale up from 20,000 visitors to 35,000 fans, but Jaarbeurs also became a 'house of show' for our visitors.
De Bruin: 'A State of Trance is not just another festival or event, it is a fan-based community event. Our fans are all closely involved with each other and the response to our communications is tremendously high. We have a loyal target group and more than half of the visitors come back every year. So you have to do something for these people. That is why, for instance, we created special meeting areas and five music rooms where people could meet to catch up. And visitors experience a live radio broadcast in Jaarbeurs, where Armin van Buuren can be followed for 12 hours.'
Tip 3: Think ahead
That an organising agency evaluates the event is nothing new. ALDA goes a step further and does this even before the event starts. A smart trick to get ahead of any problems. De Bruin: 'Beforehand, we ask visitors some questions. Think: how do you get to the venue, what time do you arrive? Do you buy a locker in advance or arrange it at the time itself? That way we can measure where the peak moments are and how busy it gets somewhere. Together with Jaarbeurs, we look at how we can guide this large group of people as smoothly as possible, without creating long queues.'
The last edition was another huge success. Not only did the cooperation with Jaarbeurs go almost flawlessly, the fans were again delighted with their home base in Utrecht. A good sign according to De Bruin: 'In 2021 will be Armin's thousandth edition. For now, we assume it will be in Jaarbeurs again, but I'm not making any real statements about it yet. What I can promise is that we are working on something big. This will be a very special celebration!'
