Diversifying Music Festival Site Services and Content.

Any sizeable music festival will always focus on the artist line-up and promoting confirmed bookings as this is what drives ticket sales. In addition to artists booked organisers also strive to offer different content and services for festival-goers. What are the key offerings organisers can consider to diversify experiences for festival-goers.

Festival organisers build their site infrastructure to serve the thousands of festival-goers by providing zones for camping and accommodation, toilets and bathrooms and food and beverages. However, many festival-goers also like to take a break from the music and relax and enjoy other services whilst on-site. What can organisers consider when creating new and interesting zones on the festival site that will prove popular with festival-goers?

Specialist Food and Beverage Vendors. 
Aside from the usual burger and fries' offerings organisers are being more discerning when considering vendor applications. It is now common practice to accept more applications from vendors who can offer alternative foods with vegan or vegetarian menus. It may be beneficial to focus on trending foods and create specific sub-zones or markets that focus on specialist foods and beverages. A craft beer zone or food with an Asian or Caribbean menu selection can prove popular attractions.

Wellness Services. 
Most festivals have always offered massage and yoga zones but it's worth expanding this to include other aspects of wellness. Consider accepting pitch applications from anyone offering holistic treatments, meditation or fitness related classes. Wellness has always been a popular attraction at music festivals as they provide the ideal environment to chill out and re-energise. 

Art and Creative Markets. 
The creation of zones dedicated to the creative arts can be popular with artisan and specialist artists. This could include showing pre-prepared installations or the creation of works in real time during the live festival dates. Vendors can offer works for sale or offer classes and demonstrations for festival-goers to experience too.

Talks Panels and Workshops. 
Participative workshops and panel talks can be popular at some festivals but can be difficult to organise in an environment that is noisy and bustling with activity. Organisers would have to select topics carefully to ensure they are relevant and appealing. Current trending topics may include sustainability and climate change which have featured high in media coverage this year.

When organisers decide to expand and diversify what they offer to festival-goers it needs to be relevant to the festival and its theme. There should be a link to the event’s ethos and if they have a synergistic impact that’s even better. Offering a wide variety of specialist alternatives and interesting services in addition to the music can make the festival more attractive and increase ticket sales.

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 including a dedicated vendor management module. 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.

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