Most festivalgoers go into their big weekend anticipating a beautiful heaven of music, friends, food, and no bother at all. It’s not often that everything works out so wonderfully! As a festival organizer, you may affect the mood of your participants via a variety of methods. While it might be more fun to focus on the big items—artists and food, for example—you don’t want to ignore some seemingly “less important” things that can have major consequences later on. Here are some of the top things that everyone hates about festivals, and how you can avoid them at your festival!
Everyone Hates High Prices
The usual festival experience is exorbitantly priced. It’s no wonder that fans are feeling the pinch, with tickets ranging from $200 to well over $500, food and drink often exceeding $10 per item, and a slew of extra fees woven into the experience. In our State of Live market study, 60.1% of fans questioned indicated the high cost of attending festivals was their main complaint, and 78.7% said they would attend more festivals if the tickets were cheaper.
Download: Intellitix State of Live 2017/2018 report
By implementing RFID for cashless into your event, you will not only be able to reduce wait times at the bar (see below…) but also significantly boost spend per client. This will allow you to pass the savings back onto the fans via cheaper tickets or by lowering the cost of concessions on-site.
Everyone Hates Lines
Long wait times are something that everyone hates about festivals and live events. Each event organizer should prioritize reducing wait times as much as possible. Long waits were regarded as the most frustrating festival issue by 58% of those polled in our State of Live study. “I believe most people anticipate lines and don’t mind as long as they seem to be adequately handled. What is less expected are long queues for food, drinks and toilets inside the festival,“ said Jessi, writer for UK festival blog Where’s My Tent?
“This can be a big annoyance. “I’ve been lost when it took a long time in the pub and I couldn’t locate my pals afterwards,” she says. “I’ve seen that events often underestimate the number of facilities required for festivals of different sizes.”
Yet it’s more than simply a downer. Having long wait times at the bar severely hurts your bottom line. The longer it takes to buy your drink, food, merchandise, or ticket, the less cash your event generates. The solution to this vexing festival dilemma is cashless payments. By implementing RFID wristbands, your festival can bring the transaction time down to as little as 10-15 seconds, whilst increasing onsite spending by up to 87%.
Everyone Hates a Lack of Shade
Most festivals take place during the hot summer months, therefore providing appropriate shade for your attendees is essential. Yet, as a festival organizer, you do not need to be concerned about this. Why not collaborate closely with one of your partnering businesses to ensure that they are included into the event in a meaningful manner that will produce good engagement for the brand? Check out the awesome two-story tree house lounge that Somersby Cider put together at the WayHome Music and Arts Festival!
Read: 12 Engaging Brand Activation Ideas to Boost Event Sponsorship
We spoke with Goldenvoice’s activations and logistics expert. Michael Ilves , he described the effectiveness of Vans’ modest activation at Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival. “Vans saw the event and realized there wasn’t enough shade or seats.” So they erected a 50/50 tent, placed some branded seats, and the site was packed all weekend!” Ilves informed Intellitix. If your fans are going to be out strolling, drinking, and dancing in the heat for three days, make sure there are enough of covered or air conditioned locations for them to camp out and recover. It is worthwhile to invest a little more to assure their comfort and safety.
Everyone Hates Gross Bathroom and Shower Facilities
Everyone despises unkempt restroom facilities at festivals. Clean restrooms are unlikely to get you any headlines, but they will demonstrate to your audience that you do not want them to suffer in filth. Comfort and comfort are key to the festival experience, and events that fail to put in a little more effort to maintain the facilities clean will be left behind. You can even turn the bathrooms into an activation like Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival did with their brand sponsor, Kohler.
Bonnaroo is the biggest camping and music event in the United States, held on a farm in rural Tennessee. Guests will get their hands dirty. Kohler installed 474 shower heads at the festival’s ten shower sites in 2016. The company gave guests the chance to win a shower head through on-site giveaways, and amplified their reach online with their Instagram account @kohlershowerparty. This was a genius way to address festival goers pain points while also providing memorable interactions with the brand.
Everyone Hates Getting Lost in the Campsite
If you’ve ever strolled through a field of tents deliriously at 3 a.m., you’ll realize how upsetting it can be. Terrible circumstances like these may be prevented by clearly marking your campground and keeping the paths well-lit. Lightning in a Bottle and Symbiosis do an excellent job of transforming their campground into a mini-city grid, complete with street names and crossroads to aid with navigation.
Snapshot of Lightning in a Bottle festival map.Read: How to Make Volunteers the Lifeblood of Your Festival
Strings of light guided guests across the grounds and served as visual markers, adding to the festival atmosphere. It is critical that signage be visible and sufficient after a long, hard day and night of partying. Alternatively, after nightfall, you may have a campsite full of lost wandering souls.
Related Questions
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What are the negatives of festivals?
Festivals often draw a huge number of people, which might result in excessive traffic and difficulties moving. Health hazards: Celebrating festivals can also lead to health hazards, such as food poisoning from consuming unhygienic street food or the spread of diseases due to overcrowding.
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What are the negative effects of music festivals?
Waste. The most noticeable consequence of music events on the environment is the massive quantity of rubbish they generate. Every festivalgoer can testify to overflowing trash cans, “ground scores” (A.K.A. rubbish), and a blatant disregard for where to throw that beer can or gum wrapper.
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What to expect in music festival?
Music festivals often have many stages, ensuring that there is always something going on. A music festival will most likely have a lot of live music. There will also be food and beverage sellers, as well as kiosks offering festival items. And of course, there will be a lot of people!
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What is the hardest festival to get into?
Summerfest is the world’s most difficult ticket to get, with a five-minute sell-out period (despite the festival selling over 800,000 tickets). Summerfest is a cross-genre arts festival, with big-name performances of country, alternative rock, hip-hop and jazz music.
