September 18, 2016

 

      I am currently volunteering at the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival taking place September 30 through October 2, in Columbia, Missouri. This is the tenth annual music festival focusing on the genres of roots, blues, gospel, country, folk, bluegrass, rock, and soul. The fest will also offer meals from local eateries, so those attending will get a taste of Columbia's finest food. 

      My partner, Andrea, and I are in charge of the Platinum Pigs. This is the VIP experience for those who want the ultimate 'royalty treatment' during the three day fest. Those who purchase a ticket will get exclusive privileges such as backstage tours and artist meet-and-greets. As a volunteer I have to know about everything going on around the fest including what food is available, the art around the fest, and the bands that will be playing. My focus, however, will be to know what band or artist is performing, what time they will be on, and what stage they will be on in addition to having knowledge about each artist's sound so I can properly answer questions that festival goers may have. 

      Andrea and I are currently gathering information and putting together a detailed document of each artist for the festival. 

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September 29, 2016; The Day Before

 

      My partner, Andrea, and I are working closely as we plan and complete our prep work for the three-day fest. Most of this happened months prior to this weekend, but this week we had back-to-back meetings for security, overall guidelines and VIP specific tasks. There has been a lot to take in. 

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Friday September 30, 2016; Day 1

 

      Hectic. That one word sums up the entire eleven-hour day. We started by putting together the rest of our “swag bags” for our VIP ticket holders. The "swag bags" are filled with extra treats for our VIP that were donated by local businesses. Once the bags were filled and taken up to the parking lot, our Platinum Pigs (VIP), started arriving. Andrea and I began to shuttle them via our own private golf carts to the festival grounds. This continued for hours. By the time we got our last VIP to the grounds, our first arrivals were done for the day and needed a ride back to their vehicle. I thought I may get time to listen to some of the music after dropping off the VIP for the day, but that was not the case. The gates opened at 4:30 and closed at 11:30. In that time Andrea and I never left the seats of our carts. Our only task all day was to shuttle the VIP from their vehicle to the fest and back when they were done. And

that is exactly what we did. 

      I didn’t have the best idea of what I was doing all day, and I didn’t have specifics. From my point of view I was just handed the keys and told to go for it. Since I am not from Columbia and have never been to Stephens Lake Park, where the festival was held, I was lost. At the end of the night, two of our Platinum Pigs wanted to be dropped off at the Uber stand that was set up for festival goers who didn't want to, or couldn't drive home. Knowing it was my job to handle the VIP, I picked them up and soon after realized I didn’t know where the Uber stand was. We ended up in the right area, but not until after asking multiple people which way to turn to get there. 

      After all of our Platinum Pigs were back to their vehicles for the night, Andrea and I cleaned up so we could be prepared for day two. 

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Saturday October 1, 2016; Day 2

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      Knowing where everything was after running around the first day, today went much smoother, and I had some free time to use my VIP pass and watch some of the artists perform.

      At 2:45p I got a radio call from Andrea. I needed to run up to the command center to send out an e-mail blast while she sent out texts and a GroupMe message to our Platinum Pigs letting them know their backstage tour was in 20 minutes. Our VIP had been asking all day when the tour was going to take place, but the best answer we could give them was "as soon as we know, we will let you know." As inconvenient as this was for everyone, we had the biggest turnout of VIP for the tour that there ever has been according to our RNB coordinator. 

      After an exciting 15-hour day, we dropped off our carts and left for the night. Today went so much better than yesterday and getting to watch some of my favorite artists perform was icing on the cake. I’m eager to see what tomorrow brings.  

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Sunday October 2, 2016; Day 3

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      We were exhausted from very little food and even less sleep within the course of the past two days, but awoke excited for another day, though this would be the last day we got to spend with our ‘Piggies,’ who we had grown very close to. 

      When the grounds opened at 11:30, we started shuttling our favorite people in and quickly turned around for our meet and greet with artist Paul Thorn in the artist hospitality tent. The day was going really well until I had to be taken to the ER after cutting my finger open. Thankfully I was only away from the festivities for an hour and a half. All stitched up and ready to go, I made it back just in time to get our VIP to the artist hospitality tent for the second time. This round was with The Avett Brothers. The band was late, but when they arrived our VIP had so much fun. I was tasked with taking personal pictures with cell phones as each of them talked to the band. It was fun getting to see them enjoy each other’s company. 

      At the end of the night, Grace Potter closed down one stage and everyone headed over to the second stage to see The Avett Brothers. After they finished their encore, the race back to the parking lot began. Only having two golf carts to shuttle all of our VIP was difficult. We could only take ten people back to their vehicles at a time so Andrea called in a backup cart. With three in operation, it was much quicker getting all of the Platinum Pigs to their destination. However, dropping off the people we had grown close to all weekend was bittersweet. 

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October 3, 2016; The day after

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      I woke up with more than twenty notifications from GroupMe and Facebook on my phone. Most were from our Platinum Pigs telling everyone what a great time they had all weekend and how they can’t wait for next year. Facebook friend requests have been popping up all day along with e-mails asking if the dates for next year's fest had already been determined. I laughed at those.

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Thoughts

 

      I had such a good time throughout the weekend and won’t forget what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown as a person. Finding out what I’m good at and what I need to improve upon will help me tremendously in the future. 

      If I had to choose the biggest perk from my weekend with Roots N Blues, it wouldn’t be getting to see the very talented artists, but getting to build amazing relationships with those that I had the privilege of getting to work with. I am talking about the Roots N Blues staff and of course, our Platinum Pigs. 

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Post-fest

 

      Andrea and I sent out a survey for our VIP to participate in. So far the responses we have received have been nothing but positive. We have also sent out thank-you cards to those businesses that donated items to our swag bags.

 

What I learned

 

So much! 

• Communication – We were each in charge of keeping up with one another to make sure communication stayed open and clear.

• Trust – I had to trust that my partner was there for me, and she had to trust that I was there for her.

• Organization – A must. Artist hospitality was not organized when it came to getting The Avett Brothers to the meet and greet on time, which cut into our Platinum Pig’s plans.

• Responsibility – We were responsible for all of our VIP and had to get them to where they needed to be, on time.

• Respect and care – Many non-VIP ticket holders were asking for rides on the carts throughout the weekend that I had to politely turn down because I was already on my way to pick up Platinum Pigs, who paid for the rides when they purchased their tickets. Then there were a couple times I wasn't busy with picking up or dropping off VIP and saw someone that seemed to be having a difficult time getting up the hill in the park. In cases like this, I offered a ride.

• Level-headed – There were two incidences over the weekend where I had to explain to extremely upset festival goers that I was driving a VIP cart and could not give them a ride to their parking spots. 

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Additional findings

 

• Many people must be involved in order for each day run efficiently.

• If you relate to customers and get to know them, any event will run smoother.

• You may have a job description, but expect to do more. I was in charge of VIP, but I also had to help security keep the festival safe. We were all connected through a common goal.

• Sometimes you have to work against the clock. Taking shortcuts in carts was something I learned very early on in order to get back and forth to the parking lot during busy times. 

• Things won’t go as planned, so it is important to know what is going on at all times and be prepared.