Planning for Great Onsite Customer Service at Music Festivals.

Everyone hopes for the return to a season of music festivals in 2021 but the reality is many organisers have made the decision to bypass next year altogether because of uncertainty. Planning for a music festival can take up to 18 months so event organisers are currently deep in the throes of planning for 2021 and one of the key aspects to plan for is the provision of onsite customer service facilities.  

The provision of customer service facilities on a music festival site covers a multitude of services and requires fine planning to ensure the event goer experience is enhanced. Visitor expectations are set higher every year so the event organisers need to learn from previous festival experience and keep abreast of the latest technology and social consciousness.

Planning for great onsite customer services at a music festival can sometimes be overlooked by organisers who have a tendency to make this a last-minute thought, if that’s the case the visitors will surely notice and that can affect their decision to return to the festival in future years. In the planning process what aspects should the onsite customer service function include? A clearly signposted ‘Customer Information’ facility, (mobile office, kiosk or tent) that is (usually) staffed by event volunteers who are fully briefed and knowledgeable about every aspect of the event. This would include details of:  

• Artist performance running schedules and stage locations.
• The location of key facilities, bathrooms, food and beverage.
• Mobile charging stations locations.
• Drinking water facility locations.
• Where to find medical facilities and first-aiders.
• Assistance with physical maps or the provision of an interactive screen with maps, schedules and other useful information.
• Where and how to report criminal activity.
• The provision of Lost and Found facilities.
• Litter and garbage disposal guidance and locations.
• Detailed Information about access and facilities specifically for disabled event goers. 

In addition, the information centre should have a process in place to handle lost children, (or adults) along with a process and procedures for emergencies for example. If the festival is on a particularly large site it makes sense to not only have a central information centre but smaller kiosks in key locations.

In most instances these customer service information centres are staffed by volunteers and the event organiser should ensure that all staff have been given appropriate training to handle the variety of requests that normally occur including an escalation process for more serious matters and unexpected occurrences. Planning and staff training is the key to providing a great customer service at a multi-day music festival, a good experience will increase the chances of return visitors at future events.

Using an events software management platform like FestivalPro music festival event organisers get all the functionality they need to manage onsite customer service facilities. 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 FestivalPro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features for managing every aspect of volunteers shifts and training schedules with dynamic calendars for changing shifts in real time. Logistics planning for onsite kiosks and other customer service-related facilities can be easily managed using a central location of data accessible by the relevant people.  

Photo by Sascha Hormel from Pexels

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