Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Next Singapore Idol?



Singapore Idol 2009 Audition

Singapore Idol 2009 Auditions was held at The Cathay on Saturday, 6th June 2009 from 8am-6pm. However, most of the contestants were there the day before so that they could be the first few to be auditioned. Though they were early, the barricades were only ready at 8pm for contestants and supporters to queue up. I was there at around 9.30pm on Friday night, and the queue was pretty long already. At around 9.30pm, the numbers of contestants were already more than 154.

As the night goes by, the numbers of contestant increases. At 12 a.m., the Team decide to distribute the number tags to the contestants due to the overwhelming response. However, only 400 number tags were distributed. Those who received the tags were able to leave the place or stay at the queue and required to return back by 7am. The next contestants after the 400th, need to continue queuing, the traditional way.

On Saturday itself, the queue keeps on increasing. There were too many responses that eventually, another audition had to take place the next day. It was reported that there were more than 4,000 people turned up on both days.



Mechanics of the Event

This audition is opened to the public. Contestants need to be a Singaporean or a member of Permanent Residence. Only contestants aged between 16-32 years are allowed to go for the audition.

Contestants were requested to register online first before coming down for the audition. Online registration was opened 1 May 2009. Singapore Idol Team needs to have records of the participants so that the actual registration process will be faster and convenient.

Since the audition is opened to the public, it is hard to gauge the number of contestants coming. And as mentioned above, more than 4,000 people turned up on both Saturday and Sunday.



Stakeholder for the Event

Stakeholder for this event looks into Singapore Idol Team. There are different department involved. However, during the audition, I only realise a number of the departments turned up. There is the IT department which went down to set up the laptop and printer used for the registration counter.


The Marketing department was also there to see the turnout of the audition as well as the Vice President too.

The Publicity department was there too to make live report. They were there to interview contestants as well as supporters around. They came along with the Production department where the technical team were required. They need them to record the interviews and the surroundings of the event which will be useful for the show.

Security department was there too. Security guards were also used to control the crowds as well as ensuring the proper queue for the auditions. The guards were there the day before the event due to contestants and supporters who overnight for the event. Additionally the guard are able to look around the event so that nothing went wrong like missing laptops or arguments among contestants.



Purpose

The purpose of this event is to look out for the next Singapore Idol. I believed, Singapore Idol Team had achieved their purpose. They were able to find a group of potential singers. While queuing up, I could hear contestants who can sing well.

At the same time, the purpose of this event is to draw more public attention to watch local reality show like Singapore Idol. Thus, choosing prime location like Singapore’s shopping district is able to attract more passerby.

The Team will be able to draw more public to watch their reality show. Sticker on glass that consist the picture of all the three judges as well as the two hosts was installed main entrance of The Cathay. As a result, many shoppers are able to see the sticker and aware of the upcoming Singapore Idol 2009.





The Cathay as Location

In my perception, the reason why The Cathay was chosen is due to its movie theatre. The Cathay has a total 8 movie theatres. Movie theatre is able to hold high number of capacity. It is also a suitable place for a close or private audition.

And I believed that the reasons why The Cathay agreed to conduct the event there is that they are able to promote their mall. Public recognised The Cathay as an entertainment shopping centre where they can watch movies. By agreeing to conduct the audition there, it will create buzz among the public. Public will come down to support their friends and families or come down to look at the audition. This draws them to the mall and allows them to walk around. As a results, public are able to exposed to the different retail stores available there and familiarise with the stores there.

Since the queue was located in front of The Cathay main entrance which faced the main roads, it can also attract passerby who do not know about Singapore Idol Audition. They will wonder why there is a huge amount of people gathering around The Cathay and approach The Cathay to see what is going on.


The tenants inside The Cathay had the advantages of generating high sales from Friday to Sunday. 7-Eleven being one of the tenants there are able to generate high sales. 7-Eleven is a 24-hour convenience store. It was the only store opened for the contestants and supporters to shop.

Besides that, Starbucks took the opportunity to get awareness from the people there. One of their workers walked around to introduce new flavour of their drinks. They are able to let a huge amount of possible customers to try the flavour and thus, increasing their awareness and sales too.





Best Practices

One of the best practices was using the barricades. The barricades were used to represent the queuing line for the contestants that had signed up for Singapore Idol Audition. If there were no barricades, the queue will look messy and people can just jump queue. Thus, a bad situation can occur.

Another best practice was using the movie theatres. The movie theatres were used for the contestant holding area and audition room. Using movie theatre as the holding area is a good idea because the theatre is able to hold many contestants. Also, it allow contestants to enjoy the cool room rather than standing at the hot sun. Besides that, it is also a good idea to use the theatre for audition room. This is because the room is echo to provide a better sound quality. This allowed the Team members to select the good singers.

Additionally, another best practice would include giving out of the first 400 number tags. The Team had decided to give out number tag the first 00 contestants when they saw they the good response. This is to shorten the queue and provide enough space for other contestants.



Critics

Even though the audition queue was located in front of The Cathay main entrance and at the same time facing the main roads, the area is actually quite small compared to the previous Singapore Idol Audition which took place at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Cathay Cineleisure Orchard used to have a huge field beside the mall where the queue was located.

Since it is a small area, the Singapore Idol Team and Cathay Organisations were not able to place many barricades. Thus, it was insufficient to have long queue of contestants. Due to this issue and as mentioned above, I guessed they had decided to give out number tag for the first 500 contestants.

My cousin, one of Singapore Idol Audition contestant number 154, commented that the registration process was very slow. They were requested to be there by 7a.m., however, she was only registered at 10a.m. This shows that the Singapore Idol Team is not efficient.



Recommendation

Instead of doing it on first come basis when queuing up, the team should do it on first come basis when they registered online. This means, that a group of contestants will get their time slot for audition when they registered online. This will be much more convenient for registration process and for the contestants too. Contestant can gauge the time they should come and queue.




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