EVENT CASE STUDY

BUCCANEER EVENT PLATFORM:
SUP FEST 2024

Location: Lake District

Event Overview: SUPFEST is a weekend festival run over 3 days with mixed paddle board events and activities, and a rich programme of speakers and entertainment from bands, DJ’s etc over the course of the weekend. Just under 1000 event participants camp on site for 2 nights.

SUPFEST Event Organisers: Lake District Paddle Boarding

SUPFEST Overview:

It’s all about SUP, family, friends, relaxing, camping, live music, adventure presentations and of course SUP races, games and fun competitions.

Established in 2016, SUPFEST is becoming the most go-to event for the paddling community. It takes place every May in Cumbria, the Lake district.

This year’s event is going to be bigger and better, so bring your paddleboard, bring your friends, meets new friends and relax – It’s SUPFEST!

WHAT DID BUCCANEER DO FOR SUPFEST?
PRE EVENT:

The Buccaneer Team worked closely with the SUPFEST team to establish all of the event details: Pre event marketing activity timelines, Event details - Site Location, Event timings, Event scheduling, etc.

Buccaneer has its own event Marketing service – We proactively promote our partner events through our own channels. In fact, it’s one of the most visited pages on our Website all linked back to the platform (circa 6,000 views per month) to ensure a wider spread for ticket sales. The purpose of synchronising with SUPFEST in terms of their pre-event marketing program was to ensure we are promoting the same thing at the same time. We also synchronised our social media activity, as co promoting posts etc. gets a much bigger natural result from social media in terms of reach and interactions.

We set up the core event details for SUPFEST in Buccaneer with profile and landing pages which can be shared out of the platform by anyone viewing the page into any other media such as other websites, email, social media, etc, etc. This becomes the core shop front for the event where event participants as well as sponsors, speakers and event volunteers can visit and connect to it. Links to ticket sales are also added so people visiting the event page in the app can purchase tickets easily. Once they are connected to the Event in the app they are able to see the event schedule (the core timetable for the event of what is happening and where) and the Noticeboard – This is a built-in messaging and comms platform dedicated to the event audience where they can see changes and additions to the programme as well as notices in real time.

As event organisers either make changes to the schedule or post messages into the noticeboard, alerts are sent out to the attendees’ smartphones as push notifications. This works pre-event as well as during the event in real time.

DURING THE EVENT:

All event participants downloaded the app and joined the event via the publicised link, prior to the event or as they arrived on site. They were able to access all of the event information schedule and Noticeboard. Event sponsors got a live channel to make any announcements or promote any offers they had running whilst the event was one.

The event admin team were able to issue general information such as opening times for food and bar as well as event notices such as entertainment and activity on the water.

Unforeseen benefits during the weekend. Event participants were able to shout out important notices such as lost property, lost children and encourage their friends to attend some of the scheduled activities they were enjoying.

The event admin team met each morning to discuss the days’ schedule and ongoing risk assessment and then able to move the schedule around in real time and issue those changes and notices to everyone on site to coordinate timing and manage everyone’s expectation. Safety notices were particularly useful given that due to high rainfall there were times when the river was out of bounds due to fast flowing current.

POST EVENT:

All participants that were connected to the event were able to be messaged, thanked and where applicable, included in marketing lists for future events.

Feedback from participants (mainly positive) was able to be seen. Any queries were able to be addressed and noted / included in lessons learned for future improvement.

Prep for the next one - All of the event participants stay connected to the SUP fest entity in Buccaneer and can receive promotional and engagement comms at any time in the lead into the next event.

By Lake District Paddle Boarding:

· Can you share a specific example of how Buccaneer Sessions made a positive difference to your event?

Ability to message the entire event of schedule changes and help manage safety.

· What features of the app do you find most valuable for your Event?

Messaging facility and scheduling

· How has Buccaneer Sessions helped improve your communication with your audience?

We wouldn’t have been able to communicate effectively without it

· In what ways has the app helped you engage your event audience?

Everyone knew what was happening and when, so people got to do and see the things they wanted to without missing out. Event sponsors and speakers got the best visibility / opportunity to connect with the festival goers

· Has the integration of payment processing and event management made running your event more efficient?

Not used this yet though we plan to use in the in-event payment capability for in event paid sessions such as attending a yoga class and / or massage sessions during our next event.

· How did using Buccaneer Sessions change the way you handle event planning and scheduling?

Just so easy and effective to communicate notices and changes to the schedule. When we made a change, or sent out a notice, everyone connected to the event got a push notification on their phone.

· What do your event participants say about using the app? Have you received any feedback that stood out to you?

Inevitably not everyone wants to download an app but the vast majority of people did and seemed to really use it and get stuck in with the cool active vibe of the weekend. They also permeated the info out to those that didn’t download it and connect. We were able to gauge how people were feeling about the event as well, which meant we could address situations before they went wrong.

· Would you recommend Buccaneer Sessions to other business owners in the action sports industry? Why?

Absolutely, the app was a great asset both pre-event to help manage and advertise the programme as well and managing the event in real time. At an event with nearly 1000 people it is difficult to communicate information and changing timetables effectively. Buccaneer just made it so easy