We produced the first ever NTS Radio Festival last month, and we’re so proud to say it was a raving success (louder at the back please).
But of course, producing a brand-new festival in unknown territory is no easy feat.
We sat down with our Production Director Millie, to find out exactly how herself and the team made it happen…
So, Mills, congratulations on producing the first ever NTS Radio Festival! How did it go?
Everything went so well, thank you! We hadn’t worked in Burgess Park before, so working on a new site and a new festival created a fresh challenge for myself and the team. But of course, we smashed it, and I couldn’t be prouder!
Amazing! So, what exactly were you and The Fair team doing for this one?
We provided the full, 360 package for NTS. So, all the production in terms of budget management, procurement, scheduling, site design for a brand-new location.
Site design is definitely one of my favourite parts of the job – I love planning and predicting the crowd flow around the site. I always make sure to tick all the boxes that would mean if myself, a friend or a colleague were going to that festival, they would have the best time. So, for example, an easily accessible bar, no horrid sound clash, a well-sized area where you can sit down in the sunshine and enjoy some festival food.
We developed multiple versions of the site plan as the promoter’s plans evolved – ensuring we had the correct facilities and made the most of the full location. This included adding bespoke merch three weeks before build which, with the input of the promoter, we designed and built onsite from scratch.
Of course, there were things I moved around when we got there, adding an additional bone yard during the build, adding Heras fencing to hide back-of-house sections. But all-in-all, the flow and crowd split between the two stages worked really well, ensuring a high footfall past the merch tent, bars and traders between the two stages.
We also provided a wide range of safety, operational management and licensing support through our sister agency, We Are OPS.
You can’t get much more exciting than producing a brand-new festival, but I imagine it can present new challenges too…
Working with a promoter you haven’t worked with, in a location you haven’t worked in, is always going to be nerve-wracking. Plus, due to the planning permissions and the event being rolled over from the year before, we only had four days to build the festival, which included quite a hefty stage.
It was a busy weekend for The Fair: we had multiple shows over that weekend and there was a lot happening all over London, which meant there was a shortage of police resources across the weekend. Our OPS team went through rigorous planning with the Met Police to ensure our dispersal plans and security management were water tight to cover anything that may arise onsite.
We had to show we could be totally self-sufficient onsite, which we always are. But it meant our operational management plans were under strict scrutiny. So, we pre-planned a secondary exit to split the crowd flow north and south of the event, and the police were extremely satisfied with our management plans, as well as the way we implemented our dispersal onsite.
Given that crowd psychology leans towards attendees always exiting the way they entered, this was a tricky crowd management plan to pull off. But with clear VMS signs, additional external lighting, redeployment of the searching security, and me shouting into a loud hailer for 30 minutes, we successfully split out crowd egress. A clear and safe site in just 20 minutes!
We received really positive feedback from the Event Liaison Team on our management – a pretty proud moment while working on a brand-new site!
Have you had any feedback from NTS yet?
Yes – the CEO of NTS thanked us for absolutely smashing it yesterday, and said the general audience feedback was also super positive.
You can’t want much more than that!
All-in-all, our hard work paid off, and it worked so well. The sun was shining, the crowd were loving it, and the team were so pleased.
Whether it be new festivals or new spaces, and whatever the genre or style of event, we love taking on new challenges.
To find out more about how we could bring your next idea to life, visit The Fair website.
Images: Nelta Kasparian
