Research at events & festivals: economic impact studies and green surveys

A few months ago the news came that the Pink Saturday street party in San Francisco was cancelled for this year. Is that bad news you might think? Well that depends. The last couple of years the event attracted a, let’s say, less ’loving’ crowd. In 2010 someone got killed and the last couple of years there was more violence (fights and abuse). Hence the costs went up and hence the organization’s reason to pull the plug from the event.

Last month, at a networking event, I heard that the street party is back on again. Even more surprising, it is financially backed by the City. The San Francisco LGBT Community Center will organize the event but the City will take responsibility. That is pretty amazing. The city of San Francisco will take financial (and legal?) responsibility for an event that was attended by 50,000 people last year. So if something goes wrong the city is the one who’s responsible? That could be interesting…

So why is the city so keen on getting this event up and running? Pink Saturday is organized in the same weekend as SF Pride. SF Pride attracts around 550,000 people to the city that weekend, 80% of which are out of town visitors. Pink Saturday attracts about 50,000 people to the Castro district, the place where the street party is held. You need to give these people something to do on a Saturday evening. There are not enough (gay) bars in the city to accommodate that number so a street party might just as well be the ideal solution. 48% of the people visiting Pink Saturday said they were visiting from out of town.

In 2009 the cost to organize Pink Saturday were estimated to be between $100,000 and $150,000. Seems like a lot of money? Not really considering what the city got back in return. In a research study from 2014 it was said, “total spending generated by attendees of the Pink Saturday is estimated at $6.0 million.” Total visitor impact on the city’s economy from this event alone is estimated to be $2.7 million. $600,000 is being spent in retail stores, $500,000 at restaurants, and $215,000 on hotel rooms. So there you have it: the city’s reason to make Pink Saturday happen. So this year, it’ll be business as usual I suppose.

It just shows you what research can do for an event, an audience, and for the licensor. Last year I conducted an Economic Impact Study at San Francisco Pride, the same as was done at Pink Saturday. The two-day Pride event has an estimated total impact of almost $360 million on the local economy. $40 million extra in retail, $33 million in restaurants… I’m telling you there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow after all.

Besides economic impact studies there are plenty of other studies that can, and should, take place at events. This summer for example, I’m doing research at music festivals regarding sustainability initiatives.

I want to know what attendees think about the environmental impact of live events in America. Why? Well it astonishes me that when you go to a festival that clearly promotes green initiatives that people still leave behind their rubbish. Bottles, paper, plastic, food, tents… You know that stuff. Why do people do that? Why do people think it’s okay to do that? What motivates them to change their behaviour when at a festival site or campsite? I’m curious to find out more.

With that in mind an online survey was created. Together with A Greener Festival I launched an online survey aimed at American festival audiences. The online survey will run until October 1st.

This summer I’m going to two festivals and conduct surveys on site at Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee and Lightning in a Bottle festival in California. I want to know what we, or rather the festival industry, can do to make it easier for people to ‘go green’ whilst at a festival. I’m looking forward to it because I think the data will be interesting and hopefully will help festival organization to meet the attendee right at that point in the middle where everything is green.

Neil Armstrong once said ‘research is creating new knowledge’. Let’s hope the research conducted at events and festivals this summer gives us new knowledge about event audiences. New insights can improve the festival industry. Who knows we might find a pot of gold or a pot of green gold at the end of the rainbow.

Jarno

Music festivals: such a waste... really?

Leave no trace...

I've just finished a Skype conversation with someone from Sheltercare. Sheltercare is a Belgian company producing sustainable tents for, among others, festival goers. The company is born out of the realisation that so many tents are left behind at festival sites. At European festivals this tent dumping is a real problem.

Pictures of the 2013 edition of Reading Festival in England showing the vast amount of waste left behind at the festival site went viral. Outcry followed but it's pretty much the same at other festivals worldwide. Festival attendees, tired after several days partying, look at their tent and think: it's a cheap tent, I'm tired, and I can't be bothered to break it down and bring it all the way back home. Let's leave it!

Composting, recycling...whatever it is: make it easy for your audience!

The assumption is that the festival will clean it up. After all you paid a lot of money for your ticket so surely they can afford someone to clean it up. You see the same attitude in cinemas. People buy a gallon of coke and a bucket of popcorn. Once the movie has finished people get up and leave the buckets behind making sure Hans & Gretel can use the popcorn on the floor to find their way out of the theatre. After all, you paid for the ticket so someone else can clean your mess. 

But if that is the attitude than surely that attitude changes when people visit a festival organised by a non-profit? Not really. Last year I worked at San Francisco Pride. A not-for-profit organisation that is well known here in the Bay Area. Last year the event welcomed almost one million people. That's a lot of people and also a lot of waste. A lot of waste is created by sponsors handing out gadgets wrapped in plastic or cardboard. The audience likes getting stuff for free so they accept the gadgets. Once they had a good look at it, they throw it away. Not in a bin. Bins are overflowing with waste already anyway. So on the floor it is. It makes the festival site look like a mess (let alone a safety issue). Not what the organisation had in mind and surely also not what a festival attendee wants?!

So is it 'green fatigue'? I guess it comes down to the psychology of the attendees. If something is already a mess you don't feel guilty for littering. After all you didn't start it, you just did what all the others are doing. Right... But still someone started it and must have thought that is was okay to do so. So what can we do to change that attitude? 

Millennials are not as green minded as they say they are, according to a 2013 research study from DDB Worldwide. They don't recycle as much as baby boomers for example. But interestingly they do feel that an individual can make a difference. 

Can festivals promote their cleaning activities to an individual rather than a crowd? I think they can. Make it a personal issue! Perhaps they can promote the benefits of their waste program to their audience. How they deal with waste and why they want to reduce the amount of waste collected needs to be communicated. What is it that a festival wants to achieve with their waste management program? A cleaner site, more pleasant environment for attendees, a safer place, sustainable motives? Whatever the goals are they need to be communicated to the audience in easy to understand messages. And for crying out loud make it easy for your attendees to actually do what you want them to do. Your average Joe doesn't know the difference between biodegradable plates, recyclable plates, and those plasticky looking plates. Is that plastic? Don't give them a reason to get 'green fatigue'. 

As far as the audience goes they need to understand that their behaviour has a price tag attached to it. Someone has to pay for cleanup and a festival organisation will recoup the money somewhere; most likely your ticket price. No one likes to sit on a waste dump so try to keep the festival site (relatively) clean. I hope you agree with me so why do you litter when you're at a festival site? Don't tell me you're too wasted (...) to think about it. 

Great green initiative from festivals

So, this summer we'll all pick up the cr*p we've created when at a festival site. We promise to throw everything in the bins provided and we promise to take our tents back home with us so we can reuse them again. And again! Let's start a culture change. Somehow I need to think of the South Koreans who made it to the semi final in the 2002 football World Cup. Huge crowds gathered to watch the game and afterwards they made sure they took all their stuff with them, leaving behind a clean place. So perhaps we need a Korean approach at festivals: a change of culture!  

Over the years festivals have launched initiatives such as 'love your tent', 'leave no trace', and 'pack it in, pack it out'. Great initiatives but the real struggle is to convince the audience to participate. Let's hope 2015 will be the year that we start loving our tent and we pack it in and out so that we don't leave a trace. Please! 

California's drought: water usage at music festivals

California is in a drought. No rain and not enough snow. Hardly any snow fell on the Sierras this winter and, as it is spring already, not a lot more snow is expected. Hence governor Jerry Brown's statement last week that California is more or less running on its water reserves and that we, the residents, need to cut down our water usage. The idea is to cut overall water consumption by 25%. Fair point, I thought. Do-able as well for the Stegeman-Sheard household. 

Me and Lego Movie's good cop/bad cop, when it was still snowing in California

But how bad is it really? California has been in a four year drought. Normally it relies on snowfall in the Sierras and the water coming from that should get the rest of the State through the summer. Besides the lack  of snow it also doesn't really rain in California. Already at the beginning of March I received an email from a ski resort near Lake Tahoe that they were closing for the season. Normally they close at the end of April. Go figure...

Residents will have to rethink how they're using water. That made me wonder how Californian festivals will deal with the drought. It's tricky to come up with an exact figure for water usage per person at a festival. How much water is used depends on where and when an event is taking place. It depends on the weather, the nature of the event, and on the audience. According to research done in 2009 by Stew Denny, a former student of mine, it was estimated that a visitor at Glastonbury Festival (UK) used about 13 liters of water per day. That's almost 3.5 gallons of water per person per day. 

So let's have a quick look at some festivals: Coachella (90,000 visitors per day), Lightning in a Bottle (15,000 visitors), and Bottle Rock (120,000 visitors) are only 3 of the many festivals here in California about to kick off the festival season. That's a lot of water... The key thing is that festivals need to look at how they can minimize their water usage. Lightning in a Bottle actively communicates to its audience their sustainable intentions. Some great ideas have also been implemented at several other festivals here in the USA. From faucet monitors to shower fairies and from dry showers to dishwashing programs, there are some great ideas out there. 

Are festival attendees aware how much water is used at festivals and do they know what happens to 'non drinking water'. You know, the water used at showers, the production  area, the staff kitchen, toilets, food stalls, bars. They all use water or they produce some form of water (sewage for example). It might be a good time for festivals to start creating awareness among their audiences about water usage at festivals.  

Earlier this year The Huffington Post published a story that carried the title 'ecstasy levels spike in rivers near major music festival in Taiwan'. Turns out that traces of xtc, ketamine, and caffeine found their way into the soil and river near the festival site. The effects on local wildlife are yet unknown. Think about that next time you squat behind some bushes. On their website Glastonbury Festival is asking their attendees to please use toilets and not to pee on the ground as it will  increase toxic levels of the water table. So there you have it... potty training done by festivals.

Meanwhile in Belgium they came up with something new. In 2014 Rock Werchter festival in Belgium introduced an onsite water treatment station. Unique in the world! This mobile water treatment unit collects sanitary and other wastewater the festival has produced in a holding basin. Within the basin the water is filtered and separated from the waste. All of it is done in a biological manner. A great initiative! 

My e-book! It covers the subject of water as well... 

This week I've published an e-book. Event Management: Your Environmental Plan. It covers water usage at festivals as well. Coincident? I think not! 

The forecast is for rain tomorrow. Let's hope it actually rains this time... I think we need it.