My first event role

Following on from my last post, I just wanted to share how my first big event experience went. This year I was allocated the job of being VIP Manager at Future Music Festival, held at Joondalup (HBF Arena). This like I previously mentioned sourcing furniture, food suppliers, toilets and decor as well as much more. At first glance the title VIP Manager sounds awfully glamorous, but it incurred me working approximately 80-90 hours over 6 days straight on site. However I would not change a thing. Except I should have worn more suncream.

Not fully understanding what I was getting myself into, I walked onto the huge site on day 1 where I had to do a safety induction, as yes, I was indeed on an area similar to a construction zone and could very well get injured. I got to don hi-vis gear every day, operate buggies, eat pizza for just about every meal, use a drill, rushed trips to Bunnings and Ikea, have my ear glued to a two-way radio, instruct teams of volunteers, arrange make up and hair stations, co ordinate VIP staff, arrange decorations and furniture lay outs and create spaces where hundreds of people would walk in and out of on the day of Sunday the 1st of March. Something I will always treasure was getting to watch and be an integral part of a team that essentially built a music festival from nothing, and getting to meet so man different individuals, all with different roles and backgrounds come together for a common purpose. I would also like to add that I was 1 of about 3 woman on site for majority of the time (such a male dominated industry).

On the day of Future Music my day started at around 7am (after little sleep the night before) where I had to be there to meet the last of my furniture suppliers and food trucks to bump in before the vehicle ban on site. I was promised a team of 5 volunteers and had 2 actually show up (Gumtree advertisement reliability for you) to help me set both Sunset Club and First Class Lounge up. What made life more difficult is that these areas were at polar opposite ends of the arena from each other. After me believing my brain was going to combust from stress, I managed to get everything set and ready before gates opened at 12 noon and 40 000 people poured through.

My day basically consisted of attempting to resolve any issues that arose and making sure my staff were okay. Whether this be problems such as toilet leakages (multiple toilet leakages), audio tech problems and even to dealing with overly drunken patrons and security issues. Throughout the day my call log had approximately 200 phone calls logged (in-going and out-going)and I didn't get to eat a bite of food or sit down until about 7pm. Both VIP areas were a great success and people filled and enjoyed the spaces throughout the whole day. I believe I got home after 1.30am.

Unfortunately I didn't get to recover the next day as I worked at the Under 18's festival Good Life the next day. Only this time I had less responsibility and was dealing with close to 20 000 juveniles and about 300-400 attempted fence jumpers.