Update – Go Lean Commentary
When it rains, it pours!
Event planners put on 2 events in the Bahamas this past weekend where things went from ‘bad to worse’ … fast. See the details in these news articles:
Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival opening event in Freeport experienced poor turn-out, 1/10th the support of previous years – This commentary had related how the flawed decision-making for the 2017 event called for a postponement of the event, but then the government rescinded and returned to the original dates, except for in Freeport where they did delay the event 1 week, for this past weekend (April 28/29). Instead of the usual 5,000 in attendance, the numbers reported in near 500.- Fyre Festival Chaos In Exuma – The inaugural music event, dubbed the Fyre (diverse spelling of the word “fire”) Festival went up in flames, at the expense of the Bahamas brand/image. This event was an “Epic Fail” with media outlets internationally jumping on the pile in lambasting Bahamas Tourism officials and event planning. This event priced ticket and travel packages up to $12,000 for the April 28 – 30th weekend and all the country has to show for it now is a “Black Eye” – see Appendix VIDEO’s below.
Fyre Festival Organisers Apologise And Praise Bahamian Government – An old adage relates that “you do not get a 2nd chance for a first impression”. Yet still, the Fyre Festival organizers plan to do the heavy-lifting to reboot their unique music festival event; only this time, they will do it in the US. This means no chance for redemption for the Bahamas. See the press statement here:
“Then something amazing happened: venues, bands, and people started contacting us and said they’d do anything to make this festival a reality and how they wanted to help. The support from the musical community has been overwhelming and we couldn’t be more humbled or inspired by this experience. People were rooting for us after the worst day we’ve ever had as a company. After speaking with our potential partners, we have decided to add more seasoned event experts to the 2018 Fyre Festival, which will take place at a United States beach venue.”
As noted in these published reports, the Bahamas is getting slammed in the international press and on social media. This is a consequence of the emergence of New Media, the world of Internet & Communications Technology (ICT), where one celebrity – dubbed “influencers” – may have millions of followers.
On the surface, onlookers consider Event Tourism to be so easy, but truth be told, it requires heavy-lifting. It requires the coordination of the economic, security and governing engines of a society. This was the declaration from this previous blog-commentary from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. The assessment was that touristic events appear to be lucrative, but there was so much heavy-lifting involved with an implementation, that unless there was a whole-souled commitment by the full community, it would be very hard to find success; chaos ensues.
The movement behind the Go Lean book has repeatedly related that there is a need for new stewardship of the Caribbean tourism apparatus. The world has changed. There is no longer the need for tourism stewards to just “rub shoulders” with travel agents, but rather, now they must write computer programming code, optimize Search Engines and execute events with technocratic deliveries.
Out with the old, in with the new.
This previous blog-commentary (from September 15, 2015) related these details:
The book Go Lean…Caribbean calls for the elevation of Caribbean society, to re-focus, re-boot, and optimize all the engines of commerce so as to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. The category of “play” covers the full scope of tourism, which is the primary economic driver for our Caribbean region; the book estimates 80 million visitors among the region. (Since that number includes cruise passengers that may visit multiple Caribbean islands on one itinerary, each port is counted separately; without cruise passengers, a figure of 68 – 69 million is perhaps more accurate).
This commentary is a consideration of tourism, not travel. Tourism is a subset of the travel eco-system, so any Agent of Change in the world of travel must be carefully considered on tourism, on Caribbean tourism. …
The Go Lean book considers these Agents of Change (Page 57) that have dynamically affected the Caribbean economic eco-systems:
- Technology
- Globalization
- Aging Diaspora
- Climate Change
This first one, technology, has had a most shocking effect on this travel/tourism industry. We can conclude that the days of [Travel Agent] Thomas Cook are over. It is no longer convenient for tourism industry stakeholders (transportation lines, resort properties, etc.) to acquiesce to travel agents; they are no longer needed to find passengers-guests-travelers-tourists.
(The industry for travel agents has now effectively disappeared [in importance]).
Technology, the Internet-Communications-Technology (ICT) in particular has furnished alternative and better options for travel enterprises to find passengers-guests-travelers-tourists…. Travel agents are now inconsequential….
The book Go Lean…Caribbean and the underlying movement seeks to re-boot the strategies and tactics of tourism marketing for the entire Caribbean region. The book asserts Caribbean member-states must expand and optimize their tourism outreach but that the requisite investment of the resources (time, talent, treasuries) for this goal may be too big for any one Caribbean member-state … alone. Rather, shifting the responsibility to a region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy will result in greater production and greater accountability. This deputized agency is the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book thereafter introduces the CU and provides a roadmap for its implementation into a Single Market for the Caribbean economy … and tourism marketing.
The goal of the CU is to bring the proper tools and techniques to the Caribbean region to optimize the stewardship of the economic, security and governing engines. The book posits that the economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, with technocratic management and stewardship better than the status quo. While the goal of the roadmap is to pursue a diversification strategy, the reality is that tourism will continue to be the primary economic driver in the region for the foreseeable future. The publisher of the book Go Lean…Caribbean convenes the talents and skill-sets of movers-and-shakers in electronic commerce [and project management] so as to forge the best tools and techniques for this new ICT-based marketing.
Lessons need to be learned from the abominable planning and execution of this weekend’s events. The lesson: Event Tourism is not easy; but still, the heavy-lifting tasks must be mastered. This is the charter of the Go Lean roadmap, to deploy the technocratic administration to optimize Caribbean tourism. The Go Lean specifically details the community ethos that the region needs to adopt to consistently be successful in these types of events, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to ensure successful deployments; see a sample list here:
| Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property | Page 29 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide | Page 31 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds | Page 33 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness | Page 36 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States | Page 45 |
| Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art and Culture of the Caribbean | Page 46 |
| Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy | Page 64 |
| Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Agencies versus Member-State Governments | Page 71 |
| Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Ideal for Events | Page 105 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region | Page 127 |
| Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better | Page 131 |
| Planning – Lessons from Omaha – College World Series Model | Page 138 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism | Page 190 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events | Page 191 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds | Page 192 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage | Page 218 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts | Page 230 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music | Page 231 |
| Appendix – Case Study: Sturgis Summer Festival – By the Numbers | Page 288 |
So now what? There are repercussions and consequences …
Fyre Festival Organizers Sued in $100 Million Fraud, Breach of Contract Suit. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/fyre-festival-organizers-sued-for-fraud-breach-of-contract-w479666
Expect more fallout … legally, socially (butt of the joke), commercially (marketing other events) and maybe too …
… politically, as these events are transpiring only days before the parliamentary elections in the Bahamas on May 10 (2017).
When a community puts all its “eggs in one basket”, as in Caribbean tourism, any failures tied to event planning weighs heavily on the economic output for that society. This is not fair … to the community, to the people that need optimized economic engines to support their livelihood.
The Go Lean roadmap is different … and better.
It seeks to diversify the regional economy to create new jobs – 2.2 million in total, with only 30,000 direct jobs in direct touristic activities; see Go Lean book Page 257.
Yet still, project delivery is very important as an “art and a science”. Applying advanced project management methodologies does help with the execution of event tourism … and many other industrial endeavors.
These issues are not just important for the Bahamas, but instead for the entire Caribbean region, since the economic structure is the same for most of the 30 member-states. The book relates this in the opening overview (Page 3):
The Caribbean has tried, strenuously, over the decades, to diversify their economy away from the mono-industrial trappings of tourism, and yet tourism is still the primary driver of the economy. Prudence dictates that the Caribbean nations expand and optimize their tourism products, but also look for other opportunities for economic expansion. The requisite investment of the resources (time, talent, treasuries) for this goal may be too big for any one Caribbean member-state. Rather, shifting the responsibility to a region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy will result in greater production and greater accountability. This deputized agency is the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).
Now is the time for all stakeholders in the Caribbean – governments, residents, event planners, participants and tourists – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. We can do better; we can make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. This quest is conceivable, believable and achievable. 🙂
Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
Sign the petition to lean-in for the roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
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Appendix VIDEO 1 – Luxury music festival turns to chaos – https://youtu.be/kzRMCEP3OIU
Published on Apr 29, 2017 – Inaugural Fyre Festival in the Bahamas postponed after attendees reported dilapidated accommodations, and top-billed performers pulled out.
To read more: http://cbc.ca/1.4090271
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Appendix VIDEO 2 – Announcing Fyre Festival – https://youtu.be/mz5kY3RsmKo
Published on Jan 12, 2017 – This is the original Promotional Advertising.
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