Let's imagine for a second that you would organise your own private festival. What would be the first step for you? Creating your line up? Finding a big enough place? Polling potential music lovers who would be interested in your event? Setting up your financial limits? Designing the visuals? This is what every event organiser goes through.
Hardhouse Family festival H-1
Thomas, a Frenchie, recently hosted his own hardstyle festival. Along with his team the HardHouse Family counting Kevin and Solene, one of our Gigstarter team members, organised a music gathering, when all major restrictions were lifted. Thomas, who previously worked in the event industry, gave us some tips and tricks on how to create a mini festival. Whether you opt for a small event made up with 3 Djs and 50 guests or a bigger one with more than 200 people, same basic rules apply.
First things first
'Find the right place'. Once, you have the idea of the number of people you would like to invite, you can start your research. It can be a venue, your grand parents' garden, a rental house, wherever you would be authorized to throw a party without getting complaints from the neighbors. 'Then, I will imagine a line up and start contacting my DJ friends. Nowadays, DJs do not have many bookings coming in as festivals are on hold, so it's easier to find good DJs eager to play again.' And if you need help to create your line up, browse the Gigstarter catalogue full of musicians and DJs from any musical genre.
Tips & Tricks
After finding a spot, building up your budget, comes the creative part. Kick off with the visual design, artwork, think about the atmosphere you want your guests to dive into.
'Analyse the party place, find out the positive and weak points such as the forbidden areas for the public. Delimit entry and exit zones for the participants, the chill out area, the stage, the toilets, the dancing area.'
'Create the WoW effect. Yes, live events are about emotions. Make people happy, surprise them. For our private party, for example, we offered each guest a free drink called Flugels at the entrance. An astonishing show includes lights, great sound system all over the place, fireworks and a theme decor.'
'Get your team ready. It's important to get the help from friends and people you trust and assign each volunteer a given task. For the DJ gear, lights and sound system, do not hesitate to contact local event services. You can rent for instance a 10 kilo sound system for 350€ but it depends on several features. The only thing: take care of it as if they were your babies!'
Hardhouse Family festival
Changes in event organisation due to COVID-19
'Due to COVID-19, a lot changed. In particular, health security, so each guest must have at least a negative PCR test. I would advise communicating well before the event about the requirements for entry and the possible options from the green pass. You shouldn't forget that it has also been more than a year since your guests had their last party or festival, so some people may drink too much. It means that you have to be even more vigilant of people surrounding us.'
What should not be neglected?
1.The venue
'If you are renting a house or a venue, make sure that the owners are aware of the number of guests and the sound level. It is also important to check the proximity to neighbours, if any. Of course, I would recommend a remote place, where there is a car park and a kind of campsite.'
2.The audience & djs
'The "wow" effect, as I mentioned previously. We also have to take care of our DJs, who haven't played in front of an audience for a long time either. We have to get the crowd going, bring in pyrotechnics, so that the audience and the DJs can rediscover the sensations of yesteryear. The proximity between the public, the guests and the organisers so that everyone has a good time and feels at home.'
You now have some smart tools to organise your homemade festival, so when do we meet & party?
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