Event Lighting – Tips on Creating the Right Atmosphere

Event lighting is crucial for creating the right atmosphere and ensuring that your event goes smoothly. A disorganized, poorly lit event will not be enjoyable, and the role of lighting in an event cannot be understated. This is why event planners and Orlando audio visual companies take great pain to plan out lighting arrangements. 

Proper lighting can draw focus to the most vital sections of the event, set the right atmosphere, and create the desired mood.

The following tips will help you create the right atmosphere for your event: 

Tips on Creating the Right Atmosphere

Lighting Basics

Lighting is vital in creating the perfect event atmosphere, so do not skimp on this element during your planning. It’s crucial to avoid white fluorescent lights that are overly bright and harsh. Instead, go for warm and more gentle lighting effects.

You might even want to consider using remote lights that you can dim and brighten accordingly. Controlling the lights this way is excellent for getting people to focus and drawing their attention.

If you have a stage at the venue, arrange for theatrical lights for your stage to direct people’s focus, especially when you have a speech or presentation going on.

When it comes to lighting, nothing beats natural lighting if you can get it at your venue. Natural lighting is bright, cheery, and uplifting without being too harsh.

Lighting for Trade Shows

Don’t feel like you have to resort to harsh fluorescent lights for your trade show. While that is the traditional practice, you should avoid it as it is unpleasant and can cause discomfort to your attendees. If your aim is for people to stay longer to engage with the various trade booths, go for warmer ambient lights, which will make people feel more at ease.

Also, ensure that each trade booth has adequate lighting of its own. Play with warm lights or theatrical lights for the various booths to draw people’s attention towards those areas.

Adequate Lighting

This may seem obvious, but many event organizers tend to forget about lighting, resulting in a poorly lit event. Many times, organizers then try to compensate with additional light sources or music unsuccessfully.

To avoid this issue, always remember to organize enough lighting for your venue and event. For small events or venues, you may only need some uplighting, but larger corporate events will require more building lights and brighter lights that can cover the whole area. 

Complement Existing Lighting

When planning your event, ensure that you take into account any existing lighting in the venue. For example, you do not want to choose bright colors or party lights if there is already bright light from windows and building lights, as this will create a clash of color and style with your chosen decorating scheme. 

Consider asking the venue for some advice, as they will likely know what lighting would be best suited to the area. Or they could give you some sound advice on choosing lighting that does not clash with existing light sources.

Highlight High Traffic Areas

Make sure you know where the expected high traffic areas will be at your event so you can arrange for those areas to be well lit. The atmosphere can be affected if these popular, high-traffic areas are not lit well or positioned to obstruct movement around the entire venue. 

If people cannot move around easily, they will not have a good time, which can lead to them leaving the event early. To avoid this issue, make sure that any high traffic areas are lit well enough for people to move around freely without bumping into obstacles or tripping over cables.

Conclusion

Event planning is all about creating the right atmosphere for your guests, and lighting is vital. No matter what your lighting arrangements are, don’t forget to do a test run. Test your lighting to get the exact effect you want, and be sure to work closely with photographers or videographers so they’ll get to have a site visit and know how to work with the lighting you’ve arranged.