#workexchangeteam

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Why I’m excited to be an extern for festiVOL™ & WET!

Hey Everyone! My name is Kristin and I’m a junior at Kennesaw State University currently enrolled into the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program. I have a strong passion for everything music, festivals, and entertainment! I’m so excited to be an extern for festiVOL™ and the Work Exchange Team for Spring of 2021! I’m hoping I can learn more about the business, gain knowledge into the festival scene, create cool connections with my team members and if we’re lucky – maybe be able to attend another event this year! While we all know the world is going through a pandemic, I’m just glad we still have platforms like these to be able to talk about music and share experiences. 

One of my favorite music experiences was at Music Midtown in 2018 (pictures shown). Musical guests such as Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy, Khalid, The Aces, and MANY more performed, and it was magical! If I could of one something like WET for music midtown, I would have JUMPED on that opportunity. 

So I could say THIS is why we “Work for music!” To be engulfed into the environment and know that we were a part of the magic for that event! That’s why I’m looking forward to events happening again and I’m sure all of ya’ll are too! 

[willworkformusic]

Work Exchange Team Hits the Road at the Atlanta Motor Speedway

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!

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Okeechobee & FestiVOL Certification Spring 2020

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.

For more information on the FestiVOL certification program, including how to apply, please click here: https://festivol.com/festivol-certified/.

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My Experience as a WET Intern 2018 - Rachel E.

Summer 2018 was definitely a fun one - totally filled with new friends, new experiences, and TONS of music! I started my internship with WET in June and quickly grew to love all of my fellow interns. After our week-long training in Atlanta, we piled up (literally) into two vehicles and drove half of the east coast from Atlanta to Dover, DE for Firefly Music Festival. That ride was where I really got to bond with some of the other interns, and though the only body part I could comfortably move was my toes it was definitely a fun road trip!

 Firefly was an awesome time because we really got involved with the WET team, staff and supervisors alike, and I got to learn a lot about the behind-the-scenes of festival work. I had only ever been to a music festival once, and it was Firefly the year before, so learning everything about festival operations (from the box office and ticketing to catering to media and hospitality, and even the best ways to drive around the backstage areas to get from point A to B) was definitely an incredible experience! And on top of everything else, having a radio and driving the golf carts was definitely a fun perk!

 Electric Forest was a whole different animal. I don’t think any other experience can compare to how amazing Electric Forest was. Our staff doubled in size (so double the friends!) and it was unlike anything I had been to. Since Forest is more into having interactive and artistic elements to their production, there were tons of additional departments our FanStaff were involved in, which meant I got to learn about and work with even more areas of festival life and get a fuller understanding of what really goes into producing a music festival. Having the opportunity to spend two weeks at Electric Forest made the whole experience feel like an adult summer camp – complete with cabins and all!

Fast forward two months and I found myself back with my WET family at Phish’s Curveball which …. was definitely a curveball to say the least. The festival was canceled less than 24 hours before it was supposed to start, so that kind of messed up our game plan. At that point, we had already had a third of our shifts completed and all of our FanStaff checked in. To say the least, this experience definitely taught me how to handle a high-pressure situation and quickly find solutions to problems.

The best part of the summer was definitely bonding with the WET community. Some FanStaff followed us to multiple events, and it was really great to see familiar faces and make friends with the workers. The thing about working with volunteers is that the people who work with us genuinely want to be there providing extra support to the festival, so everyone has a common interest and it’s so easy to connect with other workers. It’s a very refreshing feeling knowing that everyone involved is there out of sheer desire. On top of that, our staff is amazing and I have definitely made some lifelong friends! 

Since that summer, I’ve continued working with the WET team and returned for Suwanee Hulaween festival in October. That was a great time because I got to be more involved with our process of creating the work shifts and scheduling volunteers. I was one of the main points of contact with festival department supervisors, even weeks before the festival started, so it was great to be able to play a larger role with this team and enhance my knowledge of the festival world. Most recently, I’ve been heavily involved in the marketing of our upcoming summer events, as well as brainstorming ways to bring more community and excitement to WET HQ this summer. So get ready, because WET 2019 is coming and it’s gonna be a good one!    

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WET Experience @ Imagine Music Festival 2017

By Phillip (Philo) Jordan

When I first signed up and paid my ticket for Imagine Music Festival through Work Exchange Team, I didn’t know what to expect. Although I had attended festivals before, I had never volunteered. My first shift for WET was Friday night, day one of the festival. When I walked up to the WET tent  asked Amy, the head manager, what I might be doing, “Am I going to be working backstage? I have roadie experience and I’ve done security before…” Unfortunately, I was then placed with the water station crew. I wasn’t upset, I immediately started socializing with the other volunteers. After a few minutes of conversing I was pulled away, Amy says, “You need to come with us.”  I was slightly confused,  “Actually, we pulled you for a special position. Do you know what a PA is? It’s a performer’s assistant. So what you’ll be doing is helping out the performers backstage...does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

After cruising around half of Atlanta Motor Speedway, and going through several gates and guards, we arrived behind the Oceania main stage. Crazy costumes, elaborate makeup, and guys in black Imagine shirts with earpieces and stern looks wrangling it all together.  Performers packed into the tent, changing into their various costumes, two mermaids laid upon the ground on towels, and directly to my right, in a most intimidating display, were two women in full costume on stilts. This was my most impressionable moment at Imagine.

By Day Two of Imagine, I knew exactly what was expected of me. We had less sets to work that night, so Colleen gave me an extended break so I could go see Big Gigantic at the Amazonia venue. By Day Three you could tell everyone had worked with that weekend had come to respect me for my reliability. All the performers kept commenting on how much I had helped them and how difficult it was to find good PAs. I had never experienced such appreciation and fulfillment from a group of people.Colleen even offered me a job as a regular PA because of how impressed she was.As I collected numbers and made connections on social media to stay in touch, I realized it was all coming to a close. You could feel that no one wanted to leave this place they called home for three days. It was disheartening for me that it was ending, but at the same time I felt so lucky to have witnessed the raw energy, dedication, and stamina that it takes to make these festivals function. It’s really quite hard to accurately describe the vibe that you receive from the people who work festivals. They have a stunning sense of purpose that is unwavering. Volunteering through Work Exchange Team was the best decision I made when I decided to go to Imagine. I look forward to joining them again in 2018 so we can make Imagine Music Festival even more phenomenal than last year!

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Worked WET Before?? Anyone with a higher WPL than GA will be Self-Scheduling at #OMF18 this year! Be sure to purchase your Reimbursable Ticket by Jan 31 to qualify. #WETPrivileges #BeenThereWorkedThat #WillWork4Music #WorkExchangeTeam #festiVOL GetWET@: http://ow.ly/Iy7130hkGsF

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Reimbursable Tickets are now onSale for the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival @workexchangeteam ~ !! Purchase by January 31st and enter to WIN 2 VIP Viewing Upgrades !! #WillWorkForMusic #GoSeeLiveMusic #MakingTheMagic Get yours at:: http://ow.ly/WYcC30hiNTR