5 top tips for organising a festival

For many years we’ve seen the ‘festival’ scene grow, whether it be a festival to celebrate a genre of music, vintage vehicles, food and drink, TV shows or something else, there is no question that the popularity of them continues to flourish.

We’ve been fortunate enough to work with lots of festivals across the country supplying marquees to act as temporary homes for bars, catering facilities, entertainment tents and more. Marquees are a great way to ensure the great British Summer and a potential weather turn doesn’t mean nowhere for your visitors to go and they can continue to enjoy themselves.

We know there’s tons involved in planning and setting up festivals so we asked, local festival organiser Zoe Gill to share her 5 Top Tips on organising a festival:

 

1. Location, location, location

Without a doubt location is one of the most important things, it not only needs to be easy to get to and find, but it needs to be accessible too. If you’ve got people camping you really need to find land that is as flat as possible…it doesn’t matter what people say no-one likes camping on a slope!

2. Local authorities

Licensing for an event is SO important, if you’re not sure what type of license your event will need spend time with your local licensing team to make sure you understand what’s needed. Not understanding can mean not just wasted time but money too! Be clear and realistic about what you’re trying to achieve. If there’s lots of local residents it’s likely there will be restrictions applied in terms of live music. Also check the venues previous track record for events as that could have an impact on what you’re wanting to achieve.

3. Visitor safety is the priority

Paperwork and planning can sometimes seem like a pain, but by spending time doing it and making sure your site is safe and that security and first aid teams are available if needed, you will have the confidence that you are providing a safe environment for your visitors.

4. Suppliers

When organising an event (ours is a full weekend) it’s amazing how quickly the costs stack up. Find good local suppliers who are used to doing events like yours, they will have a wealth of knowledge and with strong relationships will do all they can to help ensure your event is a success. Also remember cheapest isn’t always the best choice, we have fantastic suppliers who we’ve worked with for over 5 years, their pricing is superb and their service is second to none!

5. Know your audience!

Promoting your event and it being shared and talked about is what will see people buying tickets and coming through the gate. If you truly understand your potential visitors you will know exactly what they are looking for and enjoy. Remember less is sometimes more!

Zoe is one of the 3 organisers of Devon Dub Fest which will be coming to life for it’s 6^th year in July 2016.

Find out more about our festival marquees.