Month: June 2016

Festival tips for fun in a field!

Thursday 30 June 2016 by Amazing News Editor

As we spring into summer, more and more festivals are featuring in our calendar. We’ve got a busy season ahead installing Saddlespans at events across the country. Whatever the size of your festival, a SaddleSpan can be used as a stage cover, bar or to create a funky corporate area. Organising a festival is a momentous task and having the right people and experts on board helps to spread the load. Read on to find out our top tips to create fun in a field, whatever size of festival you’re planning.

  • Ah, the glorious British summer. The fashion welly is essential at most festivals, except those ones we work on in more arid climes. Fortunately, our SaddleSpans can give audience cover come rain or shine. And they’re built to resist winds of up to 70mph, meaning they’re an ideal choice whatever the weather.
  • It’s all about the money, money, money! You’ve so much to do with the budget you have, it’s good to know that the opaque fabric of our tents offers a fantastic blank canvas allowing you to create spectacular effects with fantastic light projections and gobos. It’s both easy to do and easy on the pocket.
  • Enabling everyone to see what’s going on can make the difference between happy punters or dissatisfied customers. Our structures offer good view lines for an audience of up to 5,000 festival goers.
  • Issues such as noise complaints, legal restrictions, licencing, access and litter can cause festival organisers a real headache. So it’s good to know that our SaddleSpans come with as little hassle as possible as they’re quick to install with a typical build time of 4-5 hours, and safe to build as there’s no working at height required. And there’s no plant or power required when installing, meaning you can focus on last minute preparations elsewhere!
  • You’ll need to cater for all sorts of festival goers, and sometimes this can mean supplying a corporate area. We’ve got it covered – use one of our SaddleSpans to provide their own version of a ‘banging’ environment!
  • Be flexible and expect the unexpected. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow – literally if there’s a month’s worth of rain in a weekend. Prepare for all eventualities by liaising with expert suppliers such as ourselves, meaning you can take time to put your wellingtons up and enjoy it.

If you’d like to talk to Amazing Tents about helping you create an awesome event, give us a call on +44 (0)1453 861 131 or email us at enquiries@amazingtent.co.uk

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Creating THE go-to graduation event

Tuesday 07 June 2016 by Amazing News Editor

Being responsible for organising one of the memorable nights of the year for your fellow students is one of the most stressful yet rewarding things you can do in your final year at university – apart from your exams! The Graduation Ball is a night which many look forward to for months, a celebration of years of hard work and hopefully a night to remember!

We’ve put together a few top tips to help you create a night to remember, based on our years of organising balls for different colleges and universities. If you’ve opted for a tent to add drama, a sense of occasion and to provide a unique venue, here’s our advice:

The team: Having the right people around you can make all the difference. Choose supporters who will actually do, not just talk the talk. Allocate roles and responsibilities early on and be realistic about your timescales and demands. Use specialists where you can – drawing on our years of experience will help you put on an amazing event. And finally, always try to have a different team who will not attend the ball so are fresh and alert to be on hand to oversee the dismantle the following day.

Timescales: Check in advance when you’ll be able to let the crew in to start rigging the tent. You’ll need to have a realistic idea of the build and de-rig schedule. We often find that colleges want to reduce the impact of the ball on the day-to-day running of the college and therefore the scheduling for the build (SaddleSpan or marquee/stage/lighting & sound/fairground rides and so) is tight.

Decoration: Tent decoration can be expensive – choose a semi-tensile structure that can take projections, gobos, light shows for maximum effect at minimal cost.

Access: Vehicle movement in and out of the site is a different matter to a schedule which may look perfect on paper. If you’re bringing in stages, structures, loos and furniture, you need to be aware they are delivered in vans and lorries or on large trailers. Is there room for them to manoeuvre on site (does the car park need to be cleared of cars for example). Check whether the entrance gates wide enough and whether there is a weight limit or bridge which may cause problems.

Lawns: Tents are sometimes required to be built on ancient, beautiful and delicate lawns – sacred turf – so provision needs to be made during the build and dismantle to protect this with boards or trackway. Can the grass be driven on? Is there a plan of the underground services such as gas or water pipes? Can the area be staked or will the structure need to be anchored down with ballast of some sort (which always adds to the cost)? Liaise with the groundsmen – they’ve seen it all before. If it rains will grass entrances get muddy? Will guests be wearing stiletto heels – how soft is the ground? Maybe give out heel protectors?

It’s all about the bass: Fabric structures are not sound proof. No tent fabric is capable of significantly attenuating sound levels produced from within. These days, however, sound can be controlled very accurately with modern audio technology by computerised mapping and positioning of the sound projection (i.e. the positioning and direction of speakers). Check with the college about sound limits and whether a licence is required.

The morning after the night before: Many balls end at 6am in the morning and then the crews come in to start dismantling the lights, sound, stage and so on. However, after a wonderful night’s entertainment, some revellers can be reluctant to leave the venue and gentle persuasion is required. Don’t forget the litter crews to clear the ground.

And finally… don’t forget to try and relax on the night. Enjoy it yourself!

If you are thinking of organising a university ball or party and would like to speak to us about providing a fantastic venue, give us a call on 01453 861 131 or email enquiries@amazingtent.co.uk

Are you on the organising committee for the 2017 graduation ball? Bookmark our blog page for more updates, hints and tips over the next year. Planning ahead will result in the greatest choice of our tents, so get in touch early!

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