5 Common mistakes festival organizers should avoid
- Talk That Festival
- 9 okt 2018
- 4 minuten om te lezen
Planning for a festival is a massive undertaking. It requires time, dedication, strategy, hard work and a lot of data.
With the help of our team, we created a list of some common festival planning mistakes that you may trap with. By sharing them with you, we hope that they’ll provide you some further insight and thinking points to consider for your own festival.
Planning Mistake #1: Lack of Strategic Planning and Communication
Festival organizers sometimes don´t realize the importance of timelines and strategic planning. It’s crucial to establish realistic timelines day by day. This will avoid some future issues.
This not only means developing a roadmap with all of your festival’s milestones but also, the time that it’s going to take to complete them. What date do you need to have your talent secured? When is your lineup going to be released to the public? When do your tickets go on sale? Are you putting any catering? But also, have you thought about the amount of time to complete these tasks? Don´t forget every question that you answer needs to be communicated to your staff.
Communicating with your attendees about event logistics is just as important as keeping them informed with something unexpected happens. Having the right communication strategy will help you manage your attendees’ expectations.
These questions and more usually have an expiration date tied to them. Even if you don’t have all the answers, reassure people that you hear them; you’re working on it, and always stay true to your promises. In short, do what you say you will.
ExtraTip: Make sure that your team has the means to communicate with one another throughout the festival. Whether through the use of hand-held radios, cell phones or creating meeting points along the grounds. Your staff, crew and/or volunteers should always have a person to contact or a place to go if there’s a problem or an emergency.
Planning Mistake #2: No final goal
What does this mean, exactly?
Festivals require a big team to make it possible so, you need to make sure you are all on the same page.
You may have a general idea of what you’d like to accomplish and the format you want to follow for the event. But what about its long term goals? What is your overall vision for the event? What do you want the festival goers to say about your event when they leave? What experience do you want people to take from the festival?
ExtraTip: An important step in planning a successful event is to write objectives or goals for the project. The list of objectives should basically outline what is going to be done, who is going to do it, who will benefit, and what specific results are desired. The list of objectives also is an important evaluation tool that works to measure the event's success.
Planning Mistake #3: Unclear Credential
Consider the types and categories of credentials that will be implemented. This includes the various pass types e.g. backstage passes, artist guest passes, media passes, parking passes and more. And how these passes are going to be distribute on such as laminates, wristbands, paper tickets, etc.
It’s essential to set aside the proper time and resources to communicate what this consists of. You can develop a document you can send around with the specific details to ensure that everyone has the information readily available for when they need to start requesting credentials. Everyone should know exactly which credentials allow them access to which areas of the festival otherwise the person approving the requests is going to have a big job ahead of them trying to re-assign the correct passes rather than just approving them.
ExtraTip: Evaluate the various options that exist and choose the one that best fits for your event. Consider amount of people attending, ecological ways, and type of event, think of a plan B in case plan A is not working.
Planning Mistake #4: Overestimating Your Catering Needs
Consider what meals are available to staff and artists, how those meals are claimed and where the location of your catering tent is going to be. Many events fail to accurately predict the number of meals that need to be served. Oftentimes, staff members use best guesses to estimate these quantities which results in additional expenses for the organization.
ExtraTip: We encourage you and your team to separate your catering queue from the troubleshooting/help station. This helps to keep the line moving for those that are scanning in and have valid meal tickets while anyone with issues can sort them out at another station and then proceed when it is figured out. This prevents frustration for everyone who’s waiting in line behind the individual with the problematic credential. The same concept applies for areas where individuals are picking up wristbands.
Planning Mistake #5: No Backup Plan for When the Internet Goes Down
What are the problems if the internet go down? Simple actions like scanning credentials for catering access or scanning passes can be detrimentally impacted by the loss of internet connectivity. A reliable network structure is vital.
ExtraTip: Create hard copies of your reports, files and any other document(s) you might need on the day of the festival. These will act as backups in case the internet fails. That way, you’ll have the necessary information to keep operations running smoothly.
Sources:
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