The Most Common Blunders Made by Music Festival Organisers.

Music festivals very rarely run completely smoothly, and organisers can often cite numerous issues and problems they have encountered in running their festival. What are the most common blunders made by organisers that seem or occur again and again in the music festival sector and how can they be avoided.

Despite common blunders being widely reported by music festival organisers over many years the same mistakes seem to keep re-occurring. Even experienced organisers can get caught out but anyone new to the industry should really try and get a better understanding of these common blunders to eliminate any costly errors. 

Logistics Planning. 
This is an essential part of any music festival and can cause a chaotically organised festival leading to festival-goer complaints and poor artist and vendor feedback. Typical issues encountered are a lack of toilet and bathroom facilities and fresh water supplies. Poor planning in the artist curation process can lead to set and timing conflicts or an overall low-quality line-up. Even with near perfect planning organisers still need to have robust contingency plans in place to allow for artist cancellations, technical equipment failures or other emergencies. 

Financial Planning. 
The downfall of many music festivals is poor financial planning resulting in cash flow headaches and possible cancellation. Organisers need to meticulously plan their expected expanses and financial layout along with expected revenue preferably by month. A good cash flow forecast will indicate how much investment will be required in the planning and implementation phases. It is also worth creating different sales revenue scenarios that take account of expected ticket sales months. Costs and revenue need to be continually monitored so that there are no surprises at any stage. When planning expenses for permits, artist fees, contractors and staff always make estimates as accurate as possible and include a contingency fund as it is common for expenses to spiral out of control. 

Communication. 
The organising team needs to be led by people who are good communicators, this can be difficult for some festival organisers who perhaps focus on artistic curation and are not natural leaders. A well-informed team can increase effective communication amongst staff and volunteers. Good communication with external parties like artists, vendors, contractors, sponsors and festival-goers will make the event more cohesive. Everyone involved in the festival should be fully informed at all times about relevant aspects of the event which helps prevent receiving adverse media attention. 

Security and Safety.
The security and safety of everyone on a festival site should be a priority for organisers and if not effectively managed can lead to accidents and injuries. Equally if there are insufficient medical facilities on site the organisers can be faced with an inability to deal with medical emergencies. In some cases, organisers have been tempted to oversell the number of tickets leading to more festival-goers than the venue has capacity for. This can lead to overcrowding and an overwhelmed security team compromising the event safety. 

Weather Preparation. 
Adverse weather probably has a greater impact on music festivals than any other element because it can be unpredictable. Organisers should have no excuse for being caught out by adverse weather as has been a well-documented festival failure for decades. Good adverse weather preparation and contingency planning can ensure festival-goer safety and ensures the event is not affected by rain, wind or extreme temperatures. 

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering. 

Image by Alexandr96 via Pixabay

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