Post on 18-Aug-2020
Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Alex Metcalfe - Information and Education Manager
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Contents
What is the purpose of this document? Why is this happening?
Who is this document for?
p
2
Festival, approach and message
p
3
The space, site plan and photos (also see Appendix 1, pg16)
p
3 - 4
Branding
p 5 - 6
Marketing, communications and social media
p
7
Learning and discovery programme review - what worked well and what
could be improved
p
7 - 10
General observations: 10
- Exposure 10
- Volunteers 11
- Diversity & Inclusion 11 - 12
- Sourcing beer, ingredients, materials and resources p p
12 - 13
Where do we go from here?
13
- Resources and logistics
13 - 14
- Budgets
14
- Experts 14
- Potential activities p p
15
Appendix 1 Photos
17
Appendix 2 Information, Education and Training & Events: business planning
aims and objectives for 2019/2020
20
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
What is the purpose of this document?
This report provides a review of the first pilot learning and discovery space at a large CAMRA
festival. The report covers what happened, the ideas behind it, what worked well, what could
have been done better. Recommendations are provided for scaling it to other festivals and for
supporting volunteers to deliver such activities in the future. The report is not exhaustive and is
meant to stimulate discussion on further educational activities at other festivals. This is the first of
a potential series of reports on future pilots pending feedback on how useful this report proves to
be.
Why is this happening?
CAMRA’s revitalisation process resulted in an amendment to our Articles of Association:
• Article 2 d) to play a leading role in the provision of information, education and training to
all those with an interest in beer, cider and perry of any type
Article 2 d) is the main driver and key performance indicator for the campaign’s information,
education and training activity. It is necessarily broad, cross functional and requiring collaboration
across CAMRA HQ business units, committees and throughout the regional branch networks. It
determines that CAMRA works to improve, re-frame and develop CAMRA activity that provides
information and education on beer, cider, perry and pubs and develop or facilitate training that
specifically relates to article 2 d) and not training at CAMRA in its wider sense.
Who is this document for?
Anyone invested in supporting the delivery of learning opportunities to festival attendees e.g.:
• NE Members
• Regional Directors
• Beer Festival Organisers
• Beer Festival Bar Managers
• Beer Festival Membership Manager
• Beer Festival Volunteer Manager
• Beer festival / branch social media and press/publicity officers.
• Branch magazine editors
Events – Information Education & Training (IET) Business Planning Objectives
The pilot learning and discovery area at MBCF was the first milestone in fulfillment of IET
business planning aims and objectives for 2019/2020 relating to HQ Events team led and
supported activities. The pilot was co-developed with the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
(MBCF) working party, the Head of Events and her team. See the appendix for more details of
the specific business planning aims and objectives.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Manchester Beer and Cider Festival (MBCF)
MBCF was identified as an ideal festival with which to partner with to develop the first festival
learning and discovery space. This was due to MBCF being a larger festival offering a diverse
range of beer styles, brewers, and methods of dispense. Manchester was also attractive due to
potential exposure of our new educational stance to a wide-ranging demographic.
The Information and Education manager approached the Regional Director and key festival
organisers directly to discuss the concept of the learning space. Face to face and email
discussions clarified the approach in concert with the Head of Events and reassured the festival
working party of the scope and message of the intended activities. The Learning and Discovery
(L&D) programme at MBCF reflected ideas and themes discussed and developed with the
festival organisers, CAMRA members, members of the trade and HQ staff. These ideas were
also discussed with the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and outlined within the IET business
plan for 2019.
The approach - Informal learning | technically accurate | unbiased information
The intent of the pilot L&D space was to recognise the value of ad-hoc and informal learning
opportunities by programming activities that festival goers could approach and engage with at
their leisure, beginning and ending their participation whenever they felt like it. The hope was that
such informal learning opportunities would attract a wider variety of people with a diverse range
of learning styles than a purely formal (sit down, ticketed) offer might. It is intended that informal
learning activities complement the formal learning events currently programmed at festivals by
acting as a conduit to those events. Achieving this by increasing awareness of the formal
learning opportunities at festivals, developing people’s confidence, tasting and drinking skills in
proximity to promotional materials and festival programmes.
The message
The message communicated to all participants at MBCF was that this was the first of many
CAMRA educational activities seeking to help people learn more about beer, cider and perry at
festivals and within the branch network. We are providing technically accurate and unbiased
information so people, wherever they are on their drinker’s journey, can feel more confident
navigating their favourite drinks.
The space: 3m x 3m (ish)
It was hoped that the space might have been open, allowing people to enter. The practicalities of
positioning a six-foot bar and ensuring compliance with MBCF festival health and safety policy
meant that a continuation of the neighbouring bar front was essential. This would probably be a
consideration at any festival. However, the way the area was set out was more appropriate given
the small space available (about 3m x 3m) and avoided people feeling trapped or hemmed in,
particularly as the space in front of the area got busy, often 2-3 people deep, which could be
claustrophobic for some. If, at future events, the L&D space is afforded a larger area or
positioned differently it could provide space for people to enter and mill about. Careful planning
and clear communication with(in) the festival working party could help open up the bar line to be
more inviting without people feeling that a major commitment is required to join in.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
The space at MBCF was fronted by the six-foot bar and CAMRA branded crates. The bar was
branded with a black CAMRA table cloth. Dispense methods on the bar were a single CAMRA
branded hand pump and a Lindr unit. Beneath the bar was a small cooling unit and saddle cooler
for the cask, the cask itself, a waste sack for tasting cups and a slops bin. The keg was hidden
between the L&D area and the neighbouring bar behind a pop-up banner.
Beer tasting activities were advertised via mini blackboards sat on the bar whilst the crates were
topped with a display of hops and malts in glass jars sat in baskets. Participants were invited to
handle, smell and/or taste the brewing ingredients in addition to reading/taking promotional and
education materials donated by the British Association of Hop Growers, the Maltsters Association
of Great Britain and Charles Faram Hop Merchants. Being positioned next to a bar and next to
the entrance worked well. There was plenty of room and a natural flow of people in front of the
space. This position made it feel like a normal part of the festival activity rather than set apart.
Site plan of Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Branding
As mentioned, the hand pump and bar were CAMRA branded. In addition, the space was framed
by a large 3m wide fabric backdrop featuring the below design (proofed and amended by Nick
Boley for technical accuracy). It isn’t meant to represent all beer brewing processes rather an
example of a modern brewing process featuring a wooden cask as a nod to traditional
conditioning and dispense. The logo and fonts all comply with current branding guidelines.
The infographic representation of the brewing process was created by CAMRA’s design partner
Mulberry. This infographic met the design requirements provided by the Information and
Education manager and agreed with TAG which will be reflected in further, entry level resources
due to be developed for the new CAMRA website, publications, and further materials for
distribution at festivals etc. This style is very contemporary and a format that those from the
millennial and below generations are accustomed to using to communicate and access concepts
and ideas.
The L&D section of the printed MBCF programme also adhered to current corporate branding
and was developed by a/the Deputy Organiser at MBCF.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Branding: Why Learning and Discovery?
At first glance these words might seem a bit fluffy or even infantile when placed in the context of
a beer festival. However, campaigning organisations often choose to carefully avoid the use of
any words that may have negative connotations when communicating to an external audience
about their educational activities. A brief rationale follows:
• The L & D space did not have a set name before the programme for MBCF had to go to
print at which time ‘education zone’ was being used.
• In the future it would be useful to avoid words like education or teaching when
programming informal learning activities at festivals and communicating them to an
external audience. Some words can act as powerful barriers to participation. Not
everyone had a great time at school and they probably don’t want to be reminded of it at a
beer festival.
• Learning and Discovery is the title of the educational area of the new CAMRA website (in
development) and this is reflected in the title wording of the backdrop design. Learning
and discovery are positive words that reflect our ethos of self-directed learning where
people can dip in and out of activities as they wish. It all adds up to something that
appears joined up and well thought out, even if people don’t realise that’s what they
appreciate about it.
• CAMRA takes a regular bashing from certain quarters, for holding various stances about
those things we care about the most: traditional brewing techniques, ingredients and
processes, heritage, conditioning and dispense. If we assume a posturing, know-it-all
stance whilst trying to help people learn about beer (cider and perry), the wider audience
we need to engage will be turned off and won’t want to listen to the core messages we
need to get across; to promote why we think cask is fantastic, to ensure a thriving future
for cask. Learning and discovery suggests that we are learning alongside people rather
than preaching at them.
• Framing fun, hands on, informal learning activities under Learning and Discovery where
cask is placed alongside other methods of dispense, demonstrates our openness and
confidence about our stance on cask. If we signal that we are happy and relaxed to
discuss and experience cask with people then they in turn are more likely to be happy
and relaxed when learning about it with us. This is an ideal state in which to take onboard
information and wander off pro-CAMRA and pro-joining up. Especially if a membership
stand is placed next door!
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Marketing & communications
MBCF communications and marketing volunteers were engaged as the L&D space was
developed ensuring that the itinerary for the space was included in the official programme and
therefore reached exposure via any social media posts or web pages featuring the programme.
Preparation time ran from mid-November to late January. Time was therefore lost to the
Christmas break. Further lead-in time for awareness raising by the HQ Communications team
and festival Communications volunteers would have been preferable.
Despite the time constraints the CAMRA HQ Communications team developed a comprehensive
communications plan for the L&D space including: regular social media content throughout the
event, a press release and local radio coverage. Festival Volunteers developed a very smart
looking full-page programme design
Social media
Positive posts, featuring photos of happy smiling people from a range of genders, ages and
backgrounds, smelling, tasting and chatting at your L&D space are social media marketing gold.
Factoring this into planning an L&D space is going to be essential in drawing people in day after
day. This has to be keyed into official (Volunteer & HQ) festival comm’s. If there is a trade day at
your festival then ad-hoc photo op’s tagging popular and prominent twitter/facebook/instagram
using members of the trade (e.g. brewers) would be useful in spreading the word. This is more
easily facilitated if you have members of the trade staffing the stall during your L&D programme.
It worked a treat at MBCF with Beatnikz Republic Brewing Co. who retweeted social media
coverage as did other attending brewers. The HQ Communications team are there to support you
particularly if you are underconfident about this or lacking a communications officer.
Programme:
23rd - The listening session for trade and members / brewing ingredients
What worked well?
Professional and home brewers, maltsters, bloggers, scientists, pub owners, (individual and
small chain), bar staff and members all responded very positively to the education area for the
following reasons (from observations and verbal responses):
• Being asked to recommend activities for helping people to learn more about beer.
• 21 anonymous feedback forms were completed all of which provided constructive or
positive responses and recommendations
• The simple fact that CAMRA was trying to help people learn about beer and doing it in an
unbiased manner
• That CAMRA was helping people learning about the provenance of beer through
interaction with brewing ingredients.
• Free samples.
• Trades people and boffins engaging with CAMRA members and young people in front of
the stand stimulated knowledge sharing, networking and made it more of an attractive
proposition.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
What didn’t work well? What Could be better?
There were no specifically negative or unproductive developments during the trade/member day.
• The brewing and beer world is very much invested in the twitterverse. A concerted effort,
working with HQ and Festival Communications teams to engage with that when
promoting trade day events at festivals further ahead of time would probably attract more
attention.
• With professional and home brewers, maltsters etc on hand there is nowhere to hide
regarding the quality of ingredients being presented to the festival going public.
Emphasising this to partners donating or supplying brewing ingredients could ensure the
best experience for festival goers. At MBCF brewers and maltsters identified which
samples could have been fresher and even offered to help supply them in the future.
24th - The brewer guided cask and keg tasting / brewing ingredients
What worked well?
• Beatnikz Republic Brewing Co. supplied a cask and keg of their Kentucky Riot Stout.
• Brewer James Hardwick from Beatnikz Republic staffed the area all day from 12:00 -
18:45 (an extra 45 mins than programmed due to demand)
• Compostable tasting cups were laid out on two trays on the bar, one tray for each
dispense method. Participants were invited to take one cup from each tray and to taste
both. Due to a high turnover the samples were not stood for more than a few minutes at a
time. We tried to keep dispensing as fast as possible to try and get the temperature to
equal out between cask and keg. This wasn’t easy due to fast turnover.
• Over 1000 people participated in the dual dispense tasting over this and succeeding
days.
• Small samples. People couldn’t finish too much beer alongside their one or two full pints
in their possession. This lengthened the sampling activity over three days rather than the
one day featured in the programme. This should probably become the norm due to how
much it drew people in.
• We reassured people that they weren’t expected to recite Shakespearean level tasting
notes (unless they were able to) but simply to explore the flavours, mouth feel and
differences they were experiencing between the two samples. Only after they had done
this did we confirm which was cask and which was keg. We repeatedly stated that we
campaign on the superiority of cask and yet acknowledge that it is down to personal taste,
that we love cask but were trying to help people make their own mind up about it. This
approach surprised and impressed a lot of people, warmed their attitude to CAMRA, cask
beer and in several cases their membership status.
• There was an incredible diversity in people’s palettes and their ability to discern a wide
range of flavours and physical characteristics in the tasting samples. This stimulated
conversation and engagement between festival goers
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
• The interactive brewing ingredients display very much complemented the brewer guided
tasting as it enabled the brewer to move from the pump to malts and hops and to talk
about those ingredients which contributed to the flavour profile of the beer.
• Having someone, a brewer, with genuine, first-hand knowledge of beer who was not ‘of or
from CAMRA’ reinforced the building of trust with participants and our credence as simply
trying to help people learn.
• The attitude, very much shared between the brewer, CAMRA staff and volunteers behind
the L&D bar was to support people to feel more confident about themselves and to go
beyond guessing which was which method of dispense. We encouraged people to build
their vocabulary, even a little, drawing out each tasting until they had tried to answer
some of the following kinds of questions: What flavours are you tasting? Why is it
different? Why do you prefer what you prefer? etc
Very, very rough approximations from observation:
• About 75% of participants could identify which dispense method was used for each
sample. Self-professed seasoned cask drinkers did not always guess correctly.
• About 70% of people preferred cask with 30% preferring keg.
• Most people, even though they had a preference, identified that they would drink and
enjoy their non-preferred method of dispense at particular times of year depending on the
season or social setting. That means that many keg drinkers did enjoy cask which, to
some extent, reinforces the value of engaging them.
• These sorts of statistics could be recorded more rigorously, providing there is enough
staffing capacity at future festivals.
What could be improved?
• Despite having 15 hops varieties and 6 malts available to smell, touch and taste it
genuinely felt that, particularly with the hops, if we could have presented more varieties it
would have been of greater educational value. It was inevitable that people would
highlight that we didn’t have various varieties however, the same names kept popping up
and it would be worth doing a social media poll to identify those varieties people feel it
would be best to include. The selection presented at MBCF was not chosen with such
rigour.
• As we were tasting a dark beer (stout) a fair few people who preferred lighter styles were
not able to participate. If feasible the tasting could be done in parallel between two
contrasting styles, light and dark to offer a choice. Or on alternating days.
• There were several suggestions from bar staff at the festival to add another dispense to
mix it up e.g. steel/ally cask/keg/wood cask or keykeg etc.
• The samples could have been cooled to more of an equal temperature. This will no doubt
be of greater importance as these activities expand and there is increasing compliance
with the 2017 CAMRA AGM motion regarding a 14c temperature threshold when
monitoring cooling.
• A bin in front of the area so participants can dispose of their own tasting cups. Volunteers
could therefore avoid handling them for health and hygiene reasons.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
25th/26th - Brewing ingredients / Dr Julian South from the MAGB / Campaigns and Books
team members attending
What worked well?
• Continuing the cask and keg tasting, (without the brewer) beyond the one day it was
initially programmed for. It really helped maintain high levels of interest through-out.
• Continuing to support people learning about hops, malts and brewing
• Providing the Campaigns team with an opportunity to raise awareness about the Save
Our Pubs Campaign through face to face engagement and distributing leaflets.
• The Trading and Books team were able to use the L & D area as a base, providing a
reference copy of the GBG and coordinating a book signing event with and author at the
CAMRA shop stand.
What could be improved?
• Not programming in more experts to be on hand such as another brewer
• Unfortunately, Dr Julian South fell ill with flu and couldn’t attend. He is better now and
eager to develop working together with CAMRA.
• Not intentionally programming more beer tastings. We had beer and ran the tastings but it
wasn’t advertised in the programme.
• STAFFING: Not having volunteers to staff the stand. There just happened to be several
of us on days 1 and 2 (brewer, HQ staff and the odd volunteer pitching in ad-hoc).
However, after that the pace was exhausting. Pulling samples, tidying the stand,
engaging people and talking constantly for 6 plus hours is too much for one or even two
people. If the people staffing the stall aren’t well rested and happy to be there then the
experience for festival goers might suffer. It is recommended that there be at least 3-4
trained volunteers on hand per day of a festival to staff a L & D area. This is in addition to
any experts staffing the stall. This would provide cover for breaks. That number could be
flexible for smaller festivals depending on attendance numbers.
General observations
Exposure
Participants included people from: Spain, Italy, Romania, Germany, France, the USA, and Canada.
Although it varies depending on the day, attendees represented members of the trade, brewers,
maltsters, hop merchants, season drinkers, novice drinkers and home brewers. Information about
CAMRA’s work with the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU) could be useful at larger events
as it was often hard to explain what the EBCU is due to language barriers. Does the EBCU produce
multi-lingual leaflets? https://www.ebcu.org/
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Volunteers
There was immense support in the form of pre-festival coordination from the MBCF team, setting up
and ad-hoc staffing (covering quick beaks etc). However, their volunteer force is focused on existing
roles and this will be the case for most festivals. There wasn’t the capacity to spare and training
hadn’t been developed yet. An L& D volunteer role profile is being drafted with the Volunteer
Support Manager, the NE Director for Volunteering and the National Young Members Coordinator. It
is intended that there will be a training session for anyone volunteering at the Cambridge pilot.
Prospective L&D volunteer attributes should include:
• Sociable and engaging
• Diversity aware
• Presentable
• Genuinely interested in helping people learn informally (not looking for a soapbox)
• Able to learn, retain and pass on key CAMRA L&D messages whilst adapting the
approach to their own personality, knowledge and skills.
• Comfortable engaging with people from all walks of life
• Able to recognise people’s level of knowledge and awareness and tailor their approach.
• Confident to demonstrate and talk through ingredients, tastings, brewing and fermenting
processes at an entry level (and above depending on the volunteer) informing people in a
technically accurate and unbiased manner.
• Comfortable being in the throng of the festival and signposting people to the L&D space
• Etc
Ideally, we should endeavour to engage people from a range of communities, backgrounds and
orientations to become L&D volunteers, particularly via the Young Members network. A range of
opinion and research suggested that millennials and young people generally look for meaningful
participation within membership organisations. Supporting others to learn in a fun and fulfilling
manner, as part of a national campaign, embodies the notion of meaningful participation.
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/marketers-learn-participation-brands/1422885
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/marketing-events-to-millennials-ds00/
Diversity & inclusion
Engaging women at MBCF
At MBCF there were several instances where women, approaching the L&D area with men, were
quieter and hung back a little whilst the men seemed at ease being at the fore of interactions about
beer. This appeared to be a practised reflex to that specific social situation. Every time these women
were acknowledged and engaged in the L&D activities this led to positive interactions and learning
experiences with CAMRA. Everyone is different, not everyone will want to engage verbally, from any
gender. Trying to engage them, respectfully, is what counts rather than not doing it at all.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
On the other hand, there were many women, in single sex or mixed groups who demonstrated
varying degrees of knowledge, confidence and awareness about beer. There were many younger
women working in the trade who were; brewing and selling, blogging about and researching beer.
They demonstrated knowledge and confidence about their trade(s). Wouldn’t it be fantastic if more
of them joined CAMRA? The L&D area at MBCF and our informal approach seemed to really appeal
to them over the course of the festival.
MBCF provided on-site guidance on what and what is not acceptable in terms of behaviour and
about removing barriers to inclusivity.
General Inclusivity
• There were no obvious barriers to participation for people of colour at the MBCF L&D area.
Every day at MBCF saw British and tourist people of colour, of a range of ethnicities, enjoy
the learning opportunities available.
• There is no appropriate or discernible way of identifying people’s sexual orientation in such a
situation. It is therefore difficult to measure engagement and it is as yet unclear what barriers
may be presented by L&D activities to inclusive participation.
• If there are disabled or LBGTQI voices or voices of colour within CAMRA who have thoughts
or contributions to make about inclusivity they should be acknowledged and invited to
influence the development of L&D activities.
In the future, as part of any L&D Volunteer training it should be advised that:
• We employ the same approach and vocabulary with all participants
• If there is a group with a small number of women in it, right down to a couple, why not engage
them in the L&D activities at the earliest opportunity.
• Encourage everyone to vocalise their thoughts and opinions, experiences and tasting
responses. All in a professional manner, adhering to festival volunteer behaviour guidelines
and equality policies e.g. https://mancbeerfest.uk/equality-policy/
• There may be a tendency for female participants to not expect this approach from CAMRA
and it’s vital that we exceed such potentially low expectations by providing reassurance,
through how we engage them, that this is their space too! We are happy to learn from them.
Welcome! Join CAMRA!!
Sourcing beer, ingredients, materials and resources
As stated, the hops, malts and printed materials were donated via negotiation between the
Information and Education manager, the British Hop Association, the Maltsters Association of Great
Britain and Charles Faram Hop Merchants. There was only a small amount of printed materials put
out on the stall and, despite the large attendance at the area over the festival much of the materials
remained at the end. This might indicate that mountains of printed material to become weighed
down by (and perhaps soon to be dumped in a bin) aren’t the way to go.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Rather, a limited amount of printed materials should be made available with the focus being on
engagement, interaction and hands on activities reinforced by reusable backdrops, posters and pop-
up banners depicting educational information and/or repeating slideshows or captioned videos
playing on screens at the stands.
Where do we go from here?
Resources and logistics
• There is currently only one backdrop and one set of resources (stand, brewing ingredients
etc), currently destined for the second pilot at Cambridge Beer Festival: 20 - 25th of May
2019.
• Any dispense and cooling can be handled by local expertise within the festival working party.
• More backdrops and pop-ups will be designed which should enable more than one festival to
run Learning and Discovery areas at the same time.
• The emphasis has so far has been on beer. However, the Information and Education
Manager will be working with the TAG and APPLE etc to develop resources relevant to cider
and perry.
• Beer ingredients for touch, smell and taste activities need to be in the best possible
condition. They can’t be reused indefinitely. Repeated reuse might also present a health and
hygiene hazard. Provision should be made locally for festival goers to be able to get a hop or
some grains of malt in their hands without contaminating the whole container.
• The Information and Education Manager will seek favourable terms from ingredients
suppliers to make up packs for tasting and smelling. Preferably on a fairly regular basis.
• The resources and stand materials, not including the 6-foot bar at MBCF (a local resource)
are on one pallet in the St Albans warehouse. Depending on the size of the festival, future L
& D stand packs, not including bars (yet...), could be 1-3 pallets in size in need of picking
and transporting via the Warehouse team. These would be shrink wrapped back up and sent
back to the warehouse complete after use.
• Printed materials and display graphics to feature on pop-ups and banners will be developed
in collaboration with industry experts, and approved by the Technical Advisory Group. These
will be made available centrally in the medium to long term. They should be stored centrally
for ease of access by other festivals.
• The Cambridge pilot needs to be completed and reviewed. There are several festivals
already expressing an interest in incorporating an L & D space into their programme and site
plans for 2019. The limitations on this are that there is only one Information and Education
Manager with a range of projects in development requiring time and effort and we are still
only one pilot in. So much interest is a great position to be in and the Information and
Education manager will do anything he can to support festivals to host their own Learning
and Discovery spaces in 2019/2020. Email: alex.metcalfe@camra.org.uk to start things off.
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
• Alternative provision: certain organisations and business such as breweries and hop
merchants etc may have the expertise, resources and capacity to help put on a L & D space
at a festival. Some might be inclined to do so free or at low cost. Agreements, branding and
the communication of technical information should be coordinated with the Information and
Education Manager to facilitate consistency and ensure CAMRA’s commitments to education
and campaigning stances are prioritised.
• Not all festivals have the same resources to draw on in terms of cooling and dispense. We
need to explore the feasibility for the centrally stored and distributed L&D space resources
(pallets) to support the highest quality and most consistent methods of dispense and cooling
and blind tastings.
Budget
• At MBCF, the beer ingredients, tasting materials, printed materials, beer etc were paid for via
the limited IET budget. There isn’t enough money in the budget to do all of this for every
festival in perpetuity beyond several pilots. That wouldn’t be financially sustainable and there
are lots of other exciting things in the business plan that will demand resources in the short
term.
• Any festivals wishing to start hosting their own Learning and Development spaces should
start to explore including some budgetary allocation for it.
• Sponsorship could be explored locally to help fund the space. Such opportunities for larger
festivals will be coordinated with working party’s if and when appropriate.
• The beer used for free samples and tastings at MBCF was paid for from the IET budget. This
kind of expense would need to be absorbed by festival budgets in the medium term.
Clarification and approval might be sought from the National Executive or festival business
plan assessors. Whichever is more appropriate.
• Brewers who come to staff the area, to run tastings and other activities may see it as a quid-
pro-quo exchange of beer and expertise for promotional opportunities and public exposure.
Many people at MBCF wanted a pint of the Kentucky Riot on tasting. It is worth, respectfully
approaching brewers via BLO’s and festival working party members to see if they would be
up for making such an exchange. Brewers are either going to be open to or offended by such
a proposition so it’s worth approaching with caution and zero sense of entitlement.
Experts
• Volunteers staffing the L&D area are not expected to be experts. Although some might be
very knowledgeable.
• Programming expert and trusted voices within the drinks, hop/malts, brewing, hospitality
trade sectors is essential for L&D activities at festivals. It takes the pressure off the
volunteers and very much engenders faith in CAMRA’s credence and our sincerity in
committing to help people learn about beer, cider and perry.
•
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
• It is expected that there will be local and regional knowledge about which brewers etc might
be good at this.
• There will be support from the Information and Education Manager to reach experts at a
national level if those contacts don’t exist locally.
There is an Information Technology (IT) and IET project in development which hopes to
develop an expert’s database for people organising branch and festival events. It’s only
embryonic at this stage but, if realised, it could help connect branch members wishing to put
events on in local venues and new audiences wishing to learn about beer with CAMRA. I
could make it easier for festivals to develop a L&D programme.
Potential activities – Suggested by members of TAG, CAMRA HQ, Festival organisers
Volunteers and brewers
• A blind, cask positive, brewery guided, comparative tasting using beer drawn using different
dispense methods (e.g. Steel Cask, Wood Cask, Cask with cask breather, Keg, Key Keg) the
aim being to illustrate why CAMRA & the brewery champion cask.
• A brief walk through of beer styles using typical representations of styles (CBOB entries?)
• Brief beer condition walk-through led by brewers/cellaring guru(s) etc to take the same beer
presented well-kept and poorly. Between properly conditioned cask and “tired” cask
• What to look out for as a consumer. How to give feedback constructively and respectively.
What are your rights?
• Hop & Malt varieties sensory display
• Live brewing, cider pressing, coopering, cask cellaring and stillage demonstrations.
• Hosting podcasters. There are many knowledgeable and inspiring beer podcasters and
bloggers spreading the good word about real ale. Inviting one to a festival Learning and
Discovery space could help reach all kinds of demographics whilst helping people to learn
more about beer beyond the boundaries of a festival.
• A CAMRA branded gazebo unit that can be positioned anywhere.
• Business card/wallet size information cards, depicting positive and negative flavours, similar
to those developed by Cask Marque.
• Cask and keg tasting guidance that highlights: higher hopping rates for brews intended for
colder keg dispense (to allow hop flavours to cut through) and the more subtle hopping in the
cask version expected to be served warmer. This would be the opposite to presenting cask
and keg versions of the same beer cooled to a similar temperature and having people guess.
This would help people to understand that some beers are deliberately brewed and cooled
differently
• See overleaf for more potential activities...
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Tastings where differences might be pronounced:
• Between sparkled and unsparkled cask (former something that festivals generally can’t offer
over the public bars)
• Between handpump and gravity dispense,
• Between a keg conditioned and brewery conditioned version of the same beer
• Between “bright” and cask conditioned beer
• Between kegs served at say 4 degrees and 8 degrees (not possible with a Lindr but
achievable with a flash cooler fitted with two different lengths of cooling coil).
• People like to touch and feel so maybe have brewing/cider making paraphernalia there too - there are loads of tools and gadgets - modern and historical which could be used, people could even try to guess what they are. You could even link this to a comp or promotion to capture data for follow up at the event.
• Guess the X and win a prize (sponsored by a brewer - crate of beer, brewery tour etc.). Or use the imagery for social media to promote the event, today's mystery object is X want to find out what X is?
• Come on down to the Y festival to find out more at the CAMRA L&D.
o Feature a brewing hero, find out more about X o Highlight on a local brewery, find out more about Y
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Appendix 1
Photos
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Photos
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Photos
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
Appendix 2 – Information Education and Training - Events aims and objectives for informal
learning
CAMRA’s Syllabus Concept
In response to CAMRA’s article 2d of CAMRA’s articles of association CAMRA’s Information,
Education and Training programme will provide personal and professional learning pathways for
members and the general public to develop one or more of CAMRA’s member attributes (MA’s)
Learning and Discovery spaces at festivals exist to help members and non-members gain one or
more of the following attributes via informal activities.
• MA2.1: An understanding: of the ingredients and processes behind the production of
beer, cider and perry from field to glass
• MA2.2: An awareness: of how such processes develop the unique features and
characteristics that distinguish real ales, ciders and perries from seemingly similar
products.
• MA2.3: Confidence: In their ability to discern the condition of beers, ciders and perries
served in on-trade establishments and to demand a higher calibre of brewing, cellaring
and dispensing.
• MA2.4: Literacy:
o in the historic, social and economic importance of pubs, beers, ciders and perries.
o in the regulatory challenges and drivers for CAMRA campaigns
• MA2.5: Advocacy: for pubs, producers and sellers of real ales, ciders and perries and for
CAMRA, its campaigns, aims and objectives
• MA2.6: Accreditation: In established and respected industry training (at levels), building
credence and well-founded authority within the membership via:
o internally provided training supporting MA’s 2.1 - 2.3
o facilitating access to third party training
• MA2.7: Empowered: to act to the best of their abilities as educational ambassadors within
CAMRA volunteer roles
Aim
3.7 To develop and maintain a programme that informs and educates members and the wider
public through targeted activities within established CAMRA festivals
Objective
7. To develop a suite of replicable informal learning opportunities at CAMRA festivals that
educates and informs members and the wider public through targeted content and activities
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Learning and Discovery Pilot: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival
7.1 Deliver a learning area at festivals providing consumers the opportunity to upskill their
knowledge base via a range of ad-hoc (not sit down) informal activities they can join,
leave and learn from at their own pace and that illustrate the value and credence of core
CAMRA definitions and campaign stances.
Milestones
• Develop pilot learning area brief and measures of success ✓/ongoing
• Identify festival(s) to pilot learning area (or elements of it) at and confirm agreement with
them ✓
• Consult Industry stakeholders to identify which elements they could deliver ✓
• Confirm participating stakeholder: industry bodies, brewers etc ✓
• Consult with festival working party/organisers and agree which elements are feasible and
appropriate for pilot (and future) festivals. ✓
• Sign off by internal stakeholders ✓
• Develop and deliver training for education area volunteers – ongoing
• Coordinate and deliver pilot(s) at a whilst gathering feedback – ✓/ongoing
• Evaluate and respond to feedback - ongoing