Modules · Crew & volunteers
A festival runs on people: site crew who build the grounds, volunteers behind the bar, first aid, entrance, tech. This is where you recruit, schedule, brief and look after them.
A glimpse of this module
with sample data, liveCrew & volunteers shares data with Run sheet & the day itself, Food & drink and Festival site per edition. Change one thing and they move with it.
Nineteen modules, one system. Change it here and it stays right everywhere.
What it does
The sign-up form on your site comes straight into the system: name, availability, preferences, festival shirt size. No inbox full of scattered sign-ups.
Site crew build-up, bar, entrance, tech, first aid, runners. Each team with a team captain, a briefing and its own lines in the run sheet.
Shifts per team and per time block. The system shows straight away where the schedule is not yet full, well before it gets tight.
Every volunteer gets their own briefing in advance: where to report, to whom, what to do, what to do in an incident. Short and on the phone.
Whoever is there is checked off. If someone drops out, you see at once which gap it leaves and who is on standby.
Who eats when: crew, volunteers, artists and guests, with diets and meals per group. Plus the bar credit or shirt that comes with a shift. Looking after people is not a side matter, it is the reason they come back.
A festival runs on people: site crew that builds the grounds, volunteers behind the bar and at the entrance, first aid and technical crew. Planning crew and volunteers means recruiting them, rostering them, briefing them and looking after them, and that is more work than it looks. Most organisations start with recruitment: a sign-up form on their own festival site where people pass on their availability and preferences, instead of an inbox full of loose messages.
Then comes the roster. You divide shifts per team and per time block, from build-up to tear-down, and keep an eye on where the roster is not yet full. How many volunteers you need depends on the size and the programme; the first-aid staffing follows the Veldnorm Evenementenzorg, the Dutch event medical-care standard, and your risk profile. Every volunteer gets a short briefing beforehand: where do you report, to whom, and what do you do in an incident. Good care, with catering, bar credit or a shirt, is the reason people come back next year.
Crew and volunteers is one part of festival.productions, the operating system for festivals, and it shares its data with the rest: sign-ups from your festival site flow into the roster, teams appear in the run sheet and crew catering runs along with the hospitality module.
Frequently asked questions
The easiest way in is a sign-up form on your own festival site, where people pass on their name, availability and preferences. Spread the call through your socials, newsletter and local networks, and be clear about what a shift involves and what you get in return. In this system every sign-up comes straight in, so no inbox full of loose messages.
First divide the work into teams, such as build-up, bar, entrance, technical and first aid, and then into shifts per time block. Fill the shifts based on availability and keep track of where the roster is not yet full. Plan generously, because someone always drops out. The crew module shows, per team and time block, exactly where gaps remain, well before it gets tense.
That depends on the size, the programme and the number of bars, entrances and stages; there is no fixed number. So work per team and per shift, and add up what each part needs. First-aid staffing is an exception: it follows the Veldnorm Evenementenzorg (the Dutch event medical-care standard) and your risk profile. The module counts along per team and time block, so you see exactly how many people you are still short.
Give every volunteer a short briefing per team beforehand: where and to whom do you report, what is your task, and what do you do in an incident. Keep it short and make it readable on a phone, because nobody reads long documents. The crew module sends each volunteer the briefing for their own team, linked to their shifts.
Volunteers do not do it for the money, but good care decides whether they come back next year. Think of food and drink during the shift, bar credit, a festival shirt and a clear point of contact. Arrange the catering per group, with attention to diets. In the system the credit or shirt is attached to the shift, and crew catering runs along with the hospitality module.
Work with a check-in per shift, so you see at a glance who is there and who is not yet. If someone drops out, you know straight away which gap it leaves and who is on stand-by. That way you avoid a bar or entrance being left unstaffed. The crew module ticks off attendance and immediately shows the gap a no-show leaves behind.
Everything in one place
In festival.productions, Crew & volunteers feeds straight into Run sheet & the day itself, Food & drink and Festival site per edition. You change it in one place and it stays right everywhere, from the budget to the event day.