Puntering versus working festivals
I am notoriously bad at switching off when I’m not at work. I think as an events professional, it’s hard to switch off. No, this is not some form of an award. Every time I attend a concert, a sporting event, or just any other major event as a patron, I somehow always go into event manager mode. Is this normal? Do you do the same?
I’m always keen to learn and start to notice how the event managers and the companies set up their events. How smooth were the ticket processing queues? Where are the water stations? What could be done better? Not that anyone asked me, but I slowly tinker away, so that one day, I know the things that I’ve learnt and can implement them.
Initially, my friends would ask me to just sit in my corner because they were sick of hearing my non-stop commentary about how good something was or how it could have been done better, or how I would approach this. Now, they’ve given up on that, and they humour me. Hey Mili, how much would <insert artist’s name> have cost to put this show on? Or how would <insert event name> have come together? To me, it’s like a kid being in a candy store. Once the adrenaline has died down, I chill out and enjoy the show.
Managing a festival is hard. When you’re so ingrained in working at events, it’s hard not to go into resolution mode. My mind, on the other hand, goes 0 – 100 really quick. I start imagining that it’s my festival we are at, and how the day would unfold. This was, however, not the point of the blog. At this point, I don’t even remember what I was writing about. Yes, it was about switching your personality when you’re working a festival versus when you’re a patron.
How do you switch off and just enjoy the show when you’ve gone to an event with tickets?
Until next time,
Mili
