13 - 15 NOVEMBER 2015Ettington Chase Conference Centre

Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 7NZ

AGENDA

FESTIVAL ORGANISERSASSOCIATION OF

AFO CONFERENCE 2015

Time Event Venue

5 - 8pm Registration

8pm New Festivals Welcome Bronte A chance for new (to AFO) festivals to say hello.

Host - Steve Heap Gen. Sec. AFO

8.15pm A Festival Story... Wordsworth 1 Stratford Upon Avon Music Festival

Speaker - Tim Raistrick Chairmain, Stratford Upon Avon Music Festival

Chair - Dave Watmore Crawley Folk & Real Ale Festival, The Hawth

9pm Friday Showcase Bronte Sponsored by Music PEI, EFDSS, trac See page 12

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Time Event Venue

9am Registration

10am Agendas, Notes and Systems Bronte An introduction to help you understand your way around Conference.

Chair - Joe Heap Towersey Festival

10.10am Welcome Bronte Steve Heap

Friday 13 November

Saturday 14 November

Cashing In, Cashing Out

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Time Event Venue

10.20am - One2Ones 4.50pm Sign up at Registration and then meet at the One2One meeting point nearby.

Paula Hawthorne La Playa Insurance Services - Your insurance questions answered

10.20 - Session A - How Many Stewards Does it Take Wordsworth 1 11.30am to Change a …? Exploring how to recruit, train and retain a great volunteer team

Speakers - Sam Albrow - Seed Event Solutions Catherine Burke - Purbeck Valley Folk Festival

Chair - Sue Torres Wicked Events

10.20 - Session B - How to Deal With Wordsworth 211.30am Customer Complaints Listening and reacting to customers is perhaps one of the most important things we can do in our planning cycle. How do others deal with complaints and feedback? You can’t just ignore it!

Speakers - Oliver Wortley - Principal Hayley Conference Centres Dave Watmore - The Hawth Theatre James Shepard - Larmer Tree Festival

Chair - Bob Adams

10.20 - Session C - Cashless Festivals Bronte11.30am Will we see a festival future with no cash? Cashless systems are becoming ever popular. But can they work for smaller events and how reliable are they for traders, bars and other outlets?

Speakers - Steve Jenner - PlayPass Duncan Francis - Trumin / Yoti Mark Laurie - Director, National Caterers Association

Chair - Andy Stafford - Chippenham Folk Festival

11.30am Tea / Coffee Break Probably the best networking opportunity in the world!

11.50am - Session D - Get Connected - Save time, Bronte 12.45pm Hassle and Hundreds of Pounds. NCASS - CONNECT. A fresh approach to finding exciting and high quality catering for your Festival.

Speakers - Mark Laurie (Chair) - National Caterers Association Bob Fox - National Caterers Association Rachel Mason - Cherwell District Council

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AFO Conference 2015 Saturday 14 November continued

Time Event Venue

11.50am - Session E - And the Lastest is… Wordsworth 112.50pm Latest news on issues raised through the year and still ongoing including PRS, Business Rates, Purple Guide, Trading at Events and more..

Speakers - Jim Winship - Business Rates, Purple Guide Joseph Harrison - Market trading at festivals

Chair - Steve Heap - APPG for events, PRS

11.50am - Session F - ‘Forwarding:’ Tech Specs Wordsworth 2 12.50pm and Riders What should you expect from an agent in terms of advance information and what should you be ready for at the gig? It’s no good waiting till the day to read the paperwork.

Speakers - Lisa Whytock - Active Events David Agnew - The Met, Bury Ben Hylands - Inspired Artists Agency

Chair - Joe Heap Towersey Festival

12.50pm Lunch

2.20 - Introduction to festival Apps. Bronte2.30pm David Jacobs - Festyvent

2.30 - Session G - CAN? Festivals save the planet Bronte3.45pm A presentation of the AFO Green Manifesto and the “Show Must (NB late Go On” report and summary. The very latest initiatives and finishing time) ideas on re-cycling, fuel efficiency, green issues and talking waste with audiences and stakeholders.

Speakers - Chris Johnson (Chair) - Powerful Thinking / Shambala Livvy Drake - Environmental Consultant, Kambe Events Ed Cook - Resource Futures

2.30 - Session H - Setting your price right. Wordsworth 1 3.35pm How do you decide on your ticket price? Making your budget add up is not the right answer. Does it represent value? Have you done your research on touring gig prices? Are Artist fees driving your prices sky high?

Speakers - Matt Bartlett - Midnight Mango Joe Heap - Towersey Festival

Chair - Neil Pearson - EFDSS

5

Time Event Venue

2.30 - Session I - The Flooded Social Media Wordsworth 2 3.35pm With Social Media platforms growing all the time and new ones popping up, how do you stand out from the crowd? Where to spend and what to spend on, best use of your time, outsourcing and more

Speakers - Andrew Johnson - Excite Digital Laraine Penson - Arts Marketing Association

Chair - Tom Povey - Shrewsbury Folk Festival

3.35pm Tea / Coffee Break

4 - 5pm Session J - WOW! The Site Looks Great Wordsworth 1 Take a look at how your site looks. Your festival starts as soon as people arrive so make sure it creates the right atmosphere from the off. Simple things can make a huge difference.

Speakers - Kathy Mowatt - Towersey Festival Rowan Hoban - Just So Festival PLUS films from Cloud 9 and Boomtown

Chair - Chris Pentney - Sharper Than

4 - 5pm Session K - Ticket Sales Made Easy Wordsworth 2 With so much choice on who and how to sell you tickets, which way do you go? Booking fees, percentage and upselling.

Speakers - Simon Roberts - Eventbrite Amar Chauhan - Unaticket Christopher Glaba- Skiddle

Chair - Dave Watmore - The Hawth

4 - 5pm Session L - Getting on with the Media Bronte What is your relationship like with your local paper, national press and radio station? Are you mutually beneficial? Remember they need news! And don’t forget the Industry coverage you could be getting to build a profile.

Speakers - Jo Cunningham - PR & Communications Manager, Shrewsbury Folk Festival Colin Irwin - Freelance Writer Caroline Clift - StandOut Will Banks - BBC Oxford

Chair - TBC

Time Event Venue

5.05 - The AFO Interview Bronte 5.50pm Andy Kershaw; renowned presenter and DJ talks to Colin Irwin (Mojo Magazine writer and freelance music journalist) about music and the changing festival scene.

Interviewer - Colin Irwin

5.50 - Session M - Are you sure you know what Wordsworth 16.30pm you paid for? Steve leads a discussion with organisers to investigate the contractors that cost serious money and their respective values and varying costs. This year - First Aid, Security, Police and Fire.

Chair - Steve Heap - AFO and Event Industry Forum

5.50 - Happy Hour with ID&C Bar 6.50pm Come and share a drink with one of our Conference Sponsors and see how they can help you…

An introduction (and drink) with ID&C

6.30 - 9pm Buffet Dinner - included in your Delegate fee Join us for a world food buffet and continue to network into the showcases.

8.30pm Saturday Showcase Bronte Sponsored by AVLS See page 14

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AFO Conference 2015 Saturday 14 November continued

7

Time Event Venue

10am Registration

10.40am Welcome Back Bronte A catch up on what not to miss today!

Joe Heap

10.45am - FREE Money for your festival! Bronte 11 MyEvent Vision has money to give to great new event ideas and projects.

Speaker - Alistair Turner - My Event Vision Managing Director, EIGHT PR & Marketing

11 - Intro to Festival Finance Bronte 11.15am A short introduction to all you need to know about financial issues around Festivals. VAT, budgeting, cashflow… join Simon on one of the Round Table Drop in’s

Speaker - Simon Diegan - Marlow Financial Services

11.20 - Round Table Drop In’s Wordsworth 11pm (With thanks to Blokefest for the idea) Three tables for informal chats and advice on the nuts and bolts of keeping your festival above board and afloat.

Table 1 - Company Structures - CIC, Charity, Ltd?

Table 2 - Finance - VAT, Budgets, Invoices and Legal Financial Obligations

Table 3 - Legal Issues and Licensing

Speakers - Erica Crump - Bates Wells & Braithwaite Tom Pratt - Bates Wells & Braithwaite Simon Diegan - Marlow Financial Services Jon Payne - Horsey Lightly Fynn

11.20 - Session N - Camping Options = Bronte 12.15am New Income Streams Tent hire, glamping, even caravan rental, all provide your customers great options and you with much needed new income streams.

Speakers - Susanne Millychip - Pitch Village Complete Caravan Services Roger Brett - Camel Camp

Chair - TBC

Sunday 15 November

8

Time Event Venue

11.20 - Session O - Staffing Your Future Wordsworth 2 12.15pm Meet some of the leading Universities who offer Event Management Courses. What can they and their graduates offer? Bring youth and energy to your event and give students valuable work experience and insight

Speakers - Teresa Moore - University of Buckinghamshire Olivia Ramsbottom - Derby University With ‘live’ examples from events course students

Chair - Dave Watmore - The Hawth

12.15pm - Tea / Coffee and Last Session, Network 1pm and Chat Session P - What do you need from AFO? Bronte The AFO continues to grow and looks to better service its members in this digital era. Come and join Steve and other long standing AFO members and supporters for a chat about AFO’s future and tell us what you need from AFO to better support your work.

Chair - Steve Heap

AFO Conference 2015 Sunday 15 November continued