Flyers, Folders and Fair-Weather Queues: Sizing Up Event Print in the Highlands

Every Highland event reaches the same fork in the road. The hall is booked, the pipe band has confirmed, and someone produces a spreadsheet with a tab called ‘publicity’. Then comes the question: do we print A5 flyers, an A4 programme, or a folded poster? And how many?

There is no single right answer, but there is a reliable way to get close. The format should follow the job the piece of paper has to do, and the quantity should follow the distribution route rather than a hopeful guess. That is as true for a village ceilidh in Strathpeffer as it is for a craft fair in Inverness city centre.

Start with the hand, not the software

A5 is the pocket format. It fits in a jacket, a back jeans pocket, a glovebox, and the little plastic holder by a community noticeboard. It is cheap to print, light to post, and easy for a volunteer to hand out at the door. For a coffee morning, a book sale, a small market or a one-night gig, A5 is often the sensible default.

A4 earns its place when there is more to read. Programmes, timetables, trader lists, sponsor panels and maps all want space. A4 folded to A5 gives you four pages without the cost of a bound booklet. A4 flyers can work for information-dense events, but they are less likely to be carried home and more likely to be folded badly into a raincoat.

Folded posters sit somewhere between signage and takeaway. An A3 sheet folded to A4 can go through a letterbox, pin up flat on a board, and still carry a large headline. For window displays, a true poster — A3 or A2 — does a different job again. It is not really a flyer. It is a shout.

The format follows the job

Think in three categories: notice, keep, and sell.

A notice needs one clear message, a date, a place and a way to find out more. A5, bold type, no clutter. A keep piece — a programme, a trail leaflet, a schedule — can carry detail and should be comfortable to hold and read. A sell piece — a sponsor pack, a trader application, a fundraising sheet — needs to look organised and leave room for writing.

Paper stock matters less than people think, but it is not irrelevant. A 130–170gsm uncoated stock feels good in the hand, takes pen marks and copes with a bit of folding. Gloss looks smart on a table but is miserable to write on and can flare under hall lights. If the piece is going to be pinned outside, plan for damp and wind; if it is going to be kept, choose something that does not feel like a supermarket receipt.

Counting without guessing

The common mistake is to print for the best-case crowd. The second common mistake is to print for the best-case crowd and then leave half the boxes in a garage.

Start with a realistic attendance figure, not a dream. Then estimate how many people will take a piece of paper. For a local community event, 15–25% of attendees might pick one up. For a tourist-heavy market, the rate can be lower because people are already carrying bags, maps and half a cinnamon bun. For a seated concert with a printed programme, you may sell or hand out one per two or three people.

Then add your distribution route. If you are putting flyers into 40 shops, halls and cafes, you need enough for those piles plus a reserve. If you are only handing them out at the door, you need far fewer. A simple formula helps:

expected attendance × pickup rate + distribution stacks + 10% spares.

That last figure is important. Ten per cent is a sensible buffer. Thirty per cent is usually a storage problem with a print bill attached.

For many Highland community events, 150–300 A5 flyers is a useful first run. A craft fair with a wider draw might want 400–600. A games day with a big footfall could justify 800–1,200, but only if there is a genuine plan for getting them into hands. Programmes are different: print to a number you can sell or hand out confidently, and keep a small office copy for the file.

If you are unsure, print in two waves. A smaller first run gets the message out early. A top-up run closer to the date can respond to actual demand. It is usually cheaper to reprint a short run than to store boxes you never open.

Make a route, not a pile

Distribution is where event print succeeds or fails. A leaflet in a locked vestibule is landfill with extra steps.

Map the places where your people already go: community halls, libraries, leisure centres, cafés, independent shops, garden centres, bus stops, the Co-op noticeboard, the reception at the campsite. Ask before you leave a stack. A phone call or a quick email saves a lot of goodwill. Keep a simple list with names, dates and how many you left.

In Inverness, a city-centre route can cover the High Street, the Victorian Market, the library, the bus station and a handful of cafés. Around the town, think in spokes: Beauly, Dingwall, Nairn, Aviemore, the Black Isle, Loch Ness-side. One volunteer doing a loop on a Tuesday can be more effective than a maildrop that reaches every house but persuades nobody.

Stagger the drops. Get posters up three to four weeks out. Put flyers into cafes and halls two to three weeks out. Do a final refresh about ten days before, especially at venues where piles disappear or turn into confetti. Keep a PDF on the event website and social pages for people who prefer a screen, but do not assume that replaces the paper. In rural areas, the paper often travels further than the broadband.

A pre-print checklist that saves money and waste

Before you send anything to press, run through this list:

• What is this piece for — notice, keep or sell?
• Who is it for, and where will they pick it up?
• What is the single most important line?
• Have dates, times, prices and venue names been checked by someone who is not the designer?
• Are Gaelic names and phrases spelled correctly, with a second pair of eyes?
• Is the font size comfortable for older readers?
• Does the QR code work from a printed proof, not just a screen?
• Is there a fallback web address or phone number?
• Have you chosen a standard size and a sensible stock?
• Do you know who is distributing it, where and when?
• Is there a plan for leftovers — reuse, recycle, or keep for next time?
• Have you asked the printer about turnaround before the committee meeting where everything gets approved?

That last point is not a joke. Print schedules are usually fine until a committee decides to change the headline on a Thursday for an event on Saturday.

The budget bit

Money tends to go on quantity when it should go on clarity. A sharp A5 with a strong headline and a working web address will outperform a cluttered A4 every time. Standard sizes, one or two ink colours if the design allows, and a single print run across several pieces can all bring costs down.

Torna Press Inverness sees a lot of event print come through the door. The jobs that work best are not the ones with the biggest boxes. They are the ones where the organiser knows what the paper is meant to do, how many pairs of hands will carry it, and where it will be by the night of the event. Print is not a guessing game. It is a route.