#fanstaff

At the Atlanta Motor Speedway located in Hampton, GA I worked alongside the staff and crew of Beware Presents and for the back to back shows on the Weekend of the 9th for Umphreys McGee. Both went off smoothly only with minor bumps on Saturday night; if you consider a tornado warning over the Atlanta Motor Speedway as "minor"! I worked as a Social Distancing Ambassador as well as at the Box Office. At the Box Office we would greet guests and check their tickets for sections, rows, and seating to find their specific location. Additionally, we would check for an additional passenger and communicate key information for all concert attendees to follow for a safe and fun experience! The check in process was wrapped up by 7:30 on Friday night on schedule; Saturday night's was completed at 9:00 due to the inclement weather. Guests were understanding of the new rules required to allow the performance to happen and just overall enthusiastic to have the chance to get groovy with it!

As a Social Distancing Ambassador, I had the best seats in the house...while walking around. I was responsible for making sure everyone's masks were on when out of their vehicles, groups of 6+ return to their original spaces, and that cars weren't blinding anyone behind them. People were respectful and smart when confronted about safety protocols and procedures regarding social distancing. Thankfully, the show end time was extended to make up for the tornado warning. 

As for the layout, the sections were broken up by 5. The sections started with Ultra Premium, Premium, A, B and finally C. Ultra Premium had the best seats in the house,  right in front of Umphrey’s. The sound quality was great from the ultra-premier seats back to section C. While guests had to stay in their spots, they could still travel to the restrooms located perpendicular to the stage on each row. What about the merch?!?!? Well with the smart thinking by the promoters, they implemented QR codes on all the porta potties so people could look and prepare merch to be picked up from the store! Keeping it as efficient and social distanced as possible!

The best part of working the event was being on a diverse and unique team! I worked with Pace who travelled from Athens. Through his WET connections, he found out about the event and headed down to his parents’ house which was a short commute to the event. A gifted guitarist with a rich performance history, Pace was among the individuals who offered up their spare time to support the industry!

Adriane, the box office manager from the Buckhead Theatre, worked alongside me at the Box Office. We talked about the challenges our industry faced and how the future was uncertain. That said, we both worked our tails off and welcomed guests with a smile behind our masks!  This was his 2nd weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and he showed me the ropes and how to get people checked in. 

Overall, as someone who works in hospitality and has seen the impact that COVID has had on our entertainment industry, the music scene is making its way back.  Events of all categories are starting to return and fans have been itching to return. The important thing is to be responsible and smart. With business coming back and opportunities to get involved, I am thankful that WET connected me with this great group! Everyone was jamming out and Umphrey's played one hell of a show!

I began my FestiVOL certification process in January 2020 and was immediately fascinated to learn the behind the scenes of working with festival producers, department heads, and workers to help run a smooth event. 

Every week for six weeks, myself and a handful of other certificate seekers logged onto Zoom for a virtual lesson with Amy Eckles- the CEO and founder of the Work Exchange Team and FestiVOL program. 

Our classes were interesting and packed full of information. During our lessons, we were taught how to use the FestiVOL software to generate applications and create worker schedules, expectations for managing our team on-site, as well as the history of the Work Exchange Team and some amazing stories from Amy’s long history of working in the festival industry. At the end of our lessons, we were finally able to put what we had learned to the test: scheduling real employees to work Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival in March.

I found the software to be incredibly user friendly and was extremely eager to put what I had learned to the test at my first real event. 

We arrived at Okeechobee on Tuesday, March 3rd and were some of the first people inside the staff camping area. All around us, production was working to finish setting up the event before attendees began arriving. There’s something truly magical about being on-site at a festival before anyone has arrived and I was excited to experience the friendships and memories that would no doubt be created over the weekend. Being part of the team that helps to create those moments for people is hands down one of the best feelings in the world. 

On Tuesday night, the management team met Amy at her Airbnb to touch base and go over what our schedule of events would look like for the weekend. There were a total of eight people on the Okeechobee management team, including two other FestiVOL certificate seekers like myself. We were split into two shifts and responsible for managing around 125 workers. 

Our workers began arriving on Thursday and we spent most of the day getting them checked in, verifying their I-9’s and other payroll documents were in order, and directing them to their staff camping location. Almost everyone was camping in the section directly in front of the Work Exchange Headquarters. This made it incredibly easy for them to clock-in each day, as well as creating an environment where they could get to know each other and hang-out outside of their shifts.

Once the event began, the management team was primarily responsible for clocking workers in and transporting them via golf cart around the festival grounds to their respective departments. At Okeechobee, some of the departments we were responsible for staffing were Catering, Artist Relations, ADA, Shower Pods, Ground Control (health and safety team), VIP, Info Hubs, Toll Booths, and Event Water Solutions. We would also regularly check-in with these departments to get feedback or provide additional support when needed. When scheduling our staff, we always make sure to plan around their top artist they want to see and also work hard to schedule friends together when requested. 

For the management team, our shifts were from 6am-3pm or 3pm-10pm. Whether we had the morning or the night shift would change each day, so everyone had more than enough time to check out the festival as an attendee and catch sets. Over the course of the weekend, I saw Caspa, Bassnectar, Lotus, Tipper, LSDream, Mumford & Sons, Griz, and Subtronics, among others. We were also provided with vendor coupons which could be used at any of the food trucks throughout the festival. 

By the end of the event, the family atmosphere of the Work Exchange Team was undeniable and I felt extremely lucky to have gotten to know so many of our workers on a personal level. I’m still very close with many of the people I met at Okeechobee and I couldn’t be more grateful for the friendships that the community has brought to me.

As we deal with the current realities of Covid-19 and it’s subsequent cancellation of events, I can’t help but look back on Okeechobee Festival and feel overwhelmingly appreciative that I had the opportunity to work there. 

Until next time Okeechobee.