Author: Amazing News Editor

Amazing Tents director Steve Haddrell celebrates nearly 30 years with WOMAD

Thursday 19 February 2015 by Amazing News Editor

The World of Music, Arts and Dance festival, also known as WOMAD, celebrates its 33rd birthday this year, but there’s another important landmark that everyone at Amazing Tents will soon be celebrating.

In 2016, Amazing Tents director Steve Haddrell will be marking an impressive 30 years involvement with WOMAD, which remains one of the most exciting and diverse music festivals in the world since its inception.

Steve started working with the WOMAD team back in 1986 and was full time Production Director for 14 years between 1990 and 2004. He was lucky enough to be centrally involved in organising WOMAD festivals all over the world, as well as in the UK. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a country that Steve hadn’t visited as part of his duties, from France, Sicily, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Spain and Portugal to the USA, Canary Islands and even Sri Lanka and Singapore.

After all of his travels, Steve returns year after year to undertake Site Management at the main UK event – WOMAD at Charlton Park, which in 2015 takes place between 24th and 26th July. He has many fantastic memories from his work with the festival, which included liaising with suppliers and local authorities to make sure the event was built on time, but his lasting impression of 30 years with WOMAD is, in his own words:

“Being with such amazing musicians from all over the world when they are off stage. Seeing the spontaneous interaction, in hotels, buses and planes, between diverse artists from many different countries and witnessing the fact that music really is an international language.”

WOMAD – looking back to its roots

WOMAD was founded by progressive rock superstar Peter Gabriel back in 1980 and took place for the very first time in 19282 with acts such as Echo & The Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Beat and of course, Peter Gabriel, on the bill. The festival has now travelled all over the world and entertained over a million music lovers, whilst all the time communicating a strong ethos – to embrace inspiring music and passionate musicians from all over the world, and to communicate without boundaries through movement and music.

Amazing Tents and WOMAD – a lasting partnership

Steve isn’t the only one with a strong and lasting connection with WOMAD, an event that has touched so many people’s lives across the world. Amazing Tents and in particular, its SaddleSpan tents, are a regular fixture at WOMAD Charlton Park each year. In fact, we’ve recently confirmed that the SaddleSpan S5000 event tent will once again be sheltering artists and providing amazing acoustics on the Charlie Gillett stage in summer 2015. You can also keep your eyes peeled for SaddleSpan stage covers and tents at many other UK music festivals.

So, here’s to another fantastic summer of inspiring world music, and for Steve, many more years with one of the world’s most exciting, boundary-breaking music festivals.

 

 

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Conference layout – tips for a professional, successful event

Friday 13 February 2015 by Amazing News Editor

When you start to plan a conference and you’ve just booked your venue, you are often faced with a huge empty space. It’s your job to come up with a space-efficient layout to fit in as many delegates as possible, but whilst also facilitating the objectives of the event –  for example, getting delegates to engage with speakers and each other.

This can be a daunting task, but we’ve come up with some useful tips that could make conference planners’ lives a little easier.

Facilities

Before you can start to plan any other part of the layout for your event, you need to see how much space you have to work with. You might think that the footprint of your event tent will determine the total square footage, but this doesn’t include the space taken up by facilities. Mark off space for toilets and washrooms, cloakrooms and hospitality spaces (i.e. food preparation areas) first, then see what you have left. It would be a mistake to try to squeeze facilities in afterwards, as your event could end up being cramped or the layout not working at all.

Seating styles

This is one of the biggest layout decisions any conference planner will need to make. There are lots of seating styles to choose from, such as:

  • Theatre. A simple style of seating where everyone faces forward, allowing you to get the maximum seat capacity in the space but not allowing any table space for note-taking or consumption of food and drink. You must also remember to leave aisles for access, and bear in mind that this isn’t the best layout for audience interaction or engagement (especially with the back rows).

 

  • Classroom. Everyone faces the speaker in this layout and audience members have trestle tables for note-taking and food and drink. Due to the tables and the need for access aisles, bear in mind that seat capacity is reduced with this layout. It is, however, popularly used for conferences, lectures and training events.

 

  • U-shape or horseshoe. This layout does take up quite a bit of space, but it is ideal for seminars and discussions where discussion and interaction between speakers and delegates  is important. If you were taking a ‘zoning’ approach to your layout, made easier by the modular configuration of event venues like SaddleSpan tents, this seating arrangement could be placed in its own dedicated area.

Creating dedicated ‘zones’

One of the best ways to plan a large space, such as that of a SaddleSpan conference marquee seating up to 1,700 people, is to break it up into dedicated zones. This allows your event to perform many functions at once, without the space becoming cluttered and confusing for delegates. For example, the main body of the conference tent could be used for keynote speakers, providing seating for the largest number of people. In a separate ‘zone’, there could be a dedicated seminar/discussion space, whilst another module of the tent could be dedicated to networking and socialising.

Breakout spaces

Whilst it is important to create stimulating and efficient environments for your delegates, you must also provide them with space to relax, socialise and get refreshments. A few comfortable chairs won’t suffice – you need to provide a dedicated space away from the main action of the conference.

 

 

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8 essential dos and don’ts for hosting corporate events

Friday 06 February 2015 by Amazing News Editor

 

The success of a corporate event not only hangs on things like key speakers, attendance, or an impressive venue. It’s often the way that guests are treated and looked after that they tend to remember, whether a good or bad experience. If hosting and hospitality levels are exceptional, guests leave feeling just that little bit special, and of course – they tell everyone they know about their experience, as well as coming back to the event year after year.

If you’ve got all the other details for your event sorted – an amazing event tent, renowned celebrity speakers and a full list of positive RSVPs – it’s now time to think about your hosting style. Here are some essential dos and don’ts to remember:

  1. Do get more help than you think you’ll need. It’s far better to have more stewards directing people to their seats and answering questions than not enough, so over-estimated when it comes to staffing.

 

  1. Don’t forget that you’re a brand representative. Your whole team needs to remember that you are representing the brand at all times during your event, so speak positively and confidently about it when talking to guests and especially journalists.

 

  1. Do mingle and break the ice. Part of your job as the host of an event is to introduce people to other people, to facilitate networking, so make sure you work the room and don’t talk to the same people all day.

 

  1. Don’t appear too stressed. You might have a lot to do, but you can’t be running about the event tent looking stressed and tired. Stay calm, appear relaxed and you’re more likely to stay organised and focused.

 

  1. Do keep the objectives of the event in mind. You need to ensure that your guests are comfortable and having a good time, but everything you do should still be with the objectives of the event – i.e. getting customers to engage with new products, networking, team building – in mind. Otherwise, you’re just hosting a very expensive cocktail party.

 

  1. Don’t be afraid to delegate. You can’t do absolutely everything yourself, which is why you’ll have a team to help you. Make good use of them and you’ll be able to manage the smooth running of the event efficiently.

 

  1. Do prepare answers to FAQs in advance. Guests will want to know things like where the toilets are, what the schedule for the event is, how to navigate their way around the event venue and other basic questions – make sure you know these answers or you could damage the professional image of the event.

 

  1. Don’t forget to smile! If you want your guest to have a good time, you need to look like you’re enjoying yourself too. Besides, you’re a brand or company representative as well as a host, so you need to present a positive and upbeat image to guests and members of the press.

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SaddleSpan stage covers confirmed for Charlie Gillett stage at WOMAD 2015

Wednesday 28 January 2015 by Amazing News Editor

Amazing Tents is proud to announce that the SaddleSpan S5000 will once again be the stage cover for the BBC Radio 3 Charlie Gillett stage at WOMAD 2015 festival.

Many internationally renowned artists have performed under the S5000’s protective roof in previous years, including last year’s extensive line-up. 2014’s festival saw Caci Vorba, Yaaba Funk, 9 Bach, Elemotho, Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boys, Cigdem Aslan and The Chair all take to the Charlie Gillett stage.

The stage is named after the celebrated British radio presenter and musicologist who died in 2010 following a highly successful career promoting world music (and, incidentally, discovering legendary bands such as Ian Dury and Dire Straits).

What to expect at WOMAD 2015

The organisers of this year’s world music festival, held in Charlton Park in the Wiltshire town of Malmesbury, are so far keeping the details of the 2015 line-up under their hats.

Tickets are now on sale for the summer event, but the only act confirmed so far is the Australian blues singer-songwriter C.W Stoneking. We eagerly await more line-up news, but at least the S5000 is primed and ready for a bumper selection of talented world musicians. Around 40,000 music fans are expected on each day of the event, taking place on the last weekend of July, so if you’re one of them – look out for the SaddleSpan stage cover. You should be able to spot it by its unique ‘saddle’ shape.

Why are SaddleSpan tents so popularly used as stage covers?

There are quite a lot of reasons why so many of the UK’s top festivals, music and performance events make use of SaddleSpan S5000 tents as stage covers.

The first of these is obvious – the tent’s unique shape makes it the perfect frame for a live performance act. It shelters acts and crew from the elements, specially designed to withstand winds of up to 60mph, and provides the audience with the ideal focal point. It is also perfect for rigging lighting, sound and other effects –whilst still retaining a very modern, almost futuristic look. You could even go so far as to say that the S5000 is stylish, especially when branded with festival colours, logos or lighting effects.

The SaddleSpan S5000 is also very versatile, which is perhaps why so many festivals – including WOMAD – choose it. It comes in a canopy form, where both ends are open, and a canopy configuration, where a back wall is added. It can also be enclosed, when it instantly becomes a large marquee suitable for all kinds of special events. As well as being modular, so you can connect it to other SaddleSpan configurations, the stage cover is also safe and easy to build, saving festival organisers some valuable installation time.

Just as importantly – audiences seem to love the SaddleSpan stage covers, which get a fantastic reaction every time they grace a festival field during the day or when night falls. Long may it continue!

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How to get married virtually anywhere (with the help of an event tent)

Monday 19 January 2015 by Amazing News Editor

While some couples still prefer a traditional wedding, held in a church or country house, there is a growing trend for getting married in more unusual places. People get hitched atop mountains, in local forests, aboard boats, in public parks, in zoos and safari parks, on beaches and in hundreds of other wacky and wonderful destinations.

If you’re the adventurous type and this sounds like your sort of wedding, you’ll need to do a bit more planning than the average wedding organiser. The reason for this is that there are lots more factors conspiring to potentially spoil your day, from terrible weather to problems with car parking and transport for your guests.

Here’s our guide to overcoming all obstacles and getting married virtually anywhere…

Get permission

The very first thing to do before you start planning any of the finer details is to find out whether you are actually allowed to get married there or not. Each venue will have different rules and regulations relating to everything from wedding licenses to consumption of alcohol. Some are licensed for weddings, but most won’t be – so you might need to plan an official ceremony at the registry office later on. You’ll also need to get in touch with your local council to find out about their rules, permits and regulations for weddings in public places.

Get a roof over your head

If there is no building of any kind at your dream wedding destination, you’ll need to sort out some form of shelter. Even if you hold your wedding at the height of summer, it could still rain and spoil your day. How much shelter you think you need is up to you, whether it’s a large marquee for emergencies or a full event tent to hold your whole wedding in. The beauty of an event tent or marquee is that it can be popped up virtually anywhere, as long as there is enough space and the owner of the land gives you permission. It’s your key to holding a wedding virtually anywhere!

Umbrellas, blankets and sun cream at the ready!

To pull off an outdoor wedding in a venue that is not normally equipped for such events, you need to be one step ahead of the weather. Be prepared with umbrellas, blankets and warm clothing for bad weather (along with sensible shoes!) and sun cream and parasols just in case it’s a very hot day. Think of the comfort of your guests, and take steps to make sure everyone is warm, dry and having a great time.

Consider access

You might think it’s the most romantic idea ever to get married in the middle of a lake or in a treehouse, but some of your guests might not agree. You need to consider things like local parking and transport links as well as access for disabled and elderly guests. Plan out everything as if you were a guest yourself, even down to walking the route from the car park to the venue to check for potential hazards and problems. Also – don’t forget to plan access for all of your suppliers, from the caterers and musicians to the team setting up your event tent.

Come up with a Plan B

There’s more chance of something going wrong with an unconventional wedding, compared to one held in a traditional venue. This means you’ll need a Plan B, or to be more accurate, lots of Plan Bs. It may not be fun, but you need to imagine absolutely everything that could potentially go wrong on your big day and come up with a plan to avoid or resolve it. You might not need any of your back-up plans, but it’s reassuring to know that you’re ready for anything.

Watch out for the wind

The wind can ruin the best-planned of outdoor weddings, from blowing up bridesmaids dresses to blowing away the marquee. You need to prepare for it by ensuring every event tent or structure is properly secured, that dresses aren’t made of light, overly flimsy material, plenty of hairspray is used to secure hairstyles and that nothing can be blown away.

Can everyone hear you?

If you’re holding your event in a busy, noisy public place or in an exposed outdoor location with the wind rushing around, your guests may struggle to hear what’s going on. Make sure everything from vows to the best man’s speech can be clearly heard with a proper sound system.

Keep decorations simple

When your wedding isn’t held in a traditional venue, one that is set up for weddings, you’ll need to do a lot of the decorating and styling yourself. You can make life a lot easier on yourself by sticking to simple, portable decorations – i.e. candles and flowers – and keeping your theme low-key. However, if you’re having the whole wedding in an event tent, you can be a bit more elaborate with the decorations, or you can keep things simple by doing all of your decorating with lighting. If your wedding is held in a public place, such as a local park, you could arrange for the grass to be freshly mown and the flower beds tidied up before the big day.

Choose suppliers with experience in unusual weddings

This will be a huge help, as caterers, photographers, musicians and florists who have supplied weddings in unconventional locations won’t be fazed by the challenge. They may even come up with great practical ideas to help plan the day. The same goes for the venue – if you choose a location that has hosted at least one wedding before, you’ll find the whole process a lot easier.

Ultimately, it’s not impossible to hold a wedding in a really unusual location and for the day to run smoothly – but you will need to put in the work and do some thorough planning to make it a success. Good luck!

 

 

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The most-anticipated festivals of 2015 – which are you most looking forward to?

Monday 12 January 2015 by Amazing News Editor

If you’re a fan of live music, you’ll undoubtedly have started off the New Year planning out which music festivals you’ll be attending in 2015. It’s looking set to be an exciting year for live music, with lots of highlights and headline acts to look forward to.

At Amazing Tent, we’re also excited about 2015’s thrilling festival line-up, especially as we’ll be popping up our fantastic stage covers, event tents and marquees at many of the summer’s biggest music events. Look out for our distinctive SaddleSpan tents – you can’t miss them!

Here are our highlights of 2015 festivals:

  • Glastonbury Festival. The annual Glastonbury music festival at Worthy Farm is always a highly anticipated event in the festival calendar, and 2015 is no different. Along with confirmed headliners such as Lionel Richie, making his UK festival debut this summer, acts such as David Bowie and the Foo Fighters are also hotly tipped to perform. The festival is also planning another UK first – an appearance by His Holiness the Dalai Lama!

 

  • Download Festival. If you’re a fan of rock and metal and you like your acts legendary, this summer’s Download Festival at Donington Park will absolutely blow your mind. Confirmed headliners so far include Slipknot, Kiss and Muse, with lots of others still to be announced.

 

  • Reading and Leeds Festivals. Organisers may be keeping details of the full line-up under their hats, but the one announcement they have made is pretty exciting – rock gods Metallica (along with the supremely talented Jamie-T) will definitely be headlining!

 

  • Coachella 2015. If you prefer your festivals hot, sunny and star-studded, mark a trip to Coachella festival in California on your calendar for this year. Line-up details have recently been announced, with confirmed acts including White Stripes frontman Jack White, legendary rock band AC DC and hugely popular rapper Drake. You can also expect to see Brit presence in the form of Florence and the Machine, alt-J and Belle & Sebastian.

 

  • Liverpool Sound City. This year’s festival gets the cultural powerhouse that is Liverpool firmly back on the map, as eccentric Oklahoma City band The Flaming Lips have recently been announced as headliners. The Lips will join a fantastic line-up on Liverpool’s Docklands, which also includes Glasgow band Belle & Sebastian.

 

  • Isle of Wight Festival. This year’s line-up for Isle of Wight 2015 is absolutely sizzling, featuring the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Paolo Nutini, The Black Keys, Billy Idol and Pharell Williams. An exciting festival in a beautiful location, this festival is a must-visit for live music fans – don’t miss it!

Whichever of the amazing festivals you head to in 2015, we wish you a fantastic year of live music and festival fun. Don’t forget to look out for Amazing Tent – we might not make it quite as far as California for Coachella but you’ll definitely spot our event tents and stage covers at the UK’s biggest and best festivals. We’ll see you there!

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SaddleSpan tents and Airstream trailers – an amazing combination

Friday 19 December 2014 by Amazing News Editor

If you’re attending a festival, corporate event or perhaps you’re lucky enough to experience the delights of a VIP hospitality space next year, you might spot a gleaming new addition to the standard event tent set-up.

Amazing Tents, specialists in SaddleSpan tents for all kinds of events, has been fortunate enough to acquire a couple of stunning Airstream trailers, direct from the U.S. The trailers, known as ‘Annie’ and ‘Betty’, were imported during 2014 and will now take pride of place alongside SaddleSpans for events in 2015. ‘Betty’ is a 26 foot Airstream Overlander 1967, while ‘Annie’ is slightly older, being a 24 foot Airstream Safari 1960.

These iconic trailers, from Texas and Virginia respectively, will be available as an add-on for event organisers to make use of alongside a range of event tent and marquee configurations.

Like the SaddleSpan, Airstreams are highly versatile as well as making a strong and stylish statement as the centrepiece of an event set-up. They can be customised to feature your branding on the outside, while the interiors can be used as a party space, an area to showcase products, an exclusive VIP hangout or a hospitality suite. If you’ve got an idea for your Airstream, it may well be possible to pull it off.

Airstream – an American icon

The Airstream trailer is known for its distinctive silver shape and rounded aluminium body, a design first used back in 1930. The creator of Airstream was Wally Byam, who created the very first one in the late 1920s in a very primitive form – a Model T chassis and a tent. The vehicle was designed to realise a dream of freedom, the open road and the great outdoors, which, being concepts ingrained in the American consciousness, goes someway to explain the lasting popularity of the Airstream trailer even to this day.

Discovering that the tent and chassis form of his invention wasn’t necessarily very practical, Wally Byam moved on to a more recognisable trailer design. His first big hit was the Torpedo, a bullet shaped trailer, which was briefly successful before the Great Depression and World War II halted production due to lack of demand and a lack of aluminium. However, as the war ended, Byam seized the opportunity to restart his business and developed the Curtis Wright Clipper, a vehicle that is similar in style to the Airstreams in use nowadays.

From the 1950s onwards, the Airstream went from strength to strength. It had more capabilities, became more self-contained and as a result, production of the trailer increased considerably. Byam passed away in 1962, but the Airstream continues to be hugely popular in the U.S. and throughout the world.

101 uses for the versatile Airstream

While many Americans and other holidaymakers from across the globe still use the trailer for recreational purposes, for weekends in the countryside or in the woods with the family, many more unusual uses have been found for the versatile Airstream. Some even choose to make their Airstream a permanent home, the vehicle being spacious and customisable enough to create a comfortable home for adventurous couples and small families.

Small businesses use Airstreams to travel to fairs and markets to sell their wares, and you’ll often spot the trailers at corporate events, festivals and hospitality spaces in the U.S. You don’t often spot them in the UK, but now that Amazing Tents has flown a couple over, we may be treated to a glimpse of the gleaming aluminium trailer at events next year.

Fun facts you might not know about Airstreams

Over in the U.S, the Airstream is well known as an iconic American vehicle, but we don’t know too much about it in the UK. Here are a few fun facts you might not know about the Airstream, to help you get better introduced:

  1. Early Airstreams could be pulled by a bicycle. Back in the 1940s, the company released publicity photographs that showed one of their Airstream models being pulled solely by a cyclist on an ordinary pushbike, demonstrating just how light that strong Aluminium shell really was.

 

  1. Airstreams were used by NASA. Unfortunately, the Airstream hasn’t been in space, but it has provided transport for astronauts who had. When the Apollo 11 mission returned home, American heroes Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were transported from the space craft to the base in a modified trailer called the Astrovan. The astronauts were quarantined in the trailer until they could be cleared of any space-borne infections, and they were reportedly interviewed by President Nixon through the door of the Astrovan. NASA also used Airstreams to ferry astronauts to and from the launch pad in style all through the 1980s.

 

  1. There was once a miniseries about the Airstream, narrated by Vincent Price. Since the 1950s, Airstream expeditions to far-flung parts of the world have been organised every year. Launched by created Wally Byam, these expeditions were as much about adventure as they were marketing opportunities for the brand. In 1966, a miniseries documenting these expeditions called ‘Around the World Caravan’ was shown on television and bizarrely; it was narrated by famed horror actor Vincent Price.

 

  1. Airstreams nearly became colourful. The trailer is known for its iconic silver look, but it very nearly became colourful. Creator Wally Byam toyed with the idea of creating coloured Airstreams to match the pastel schemes of 1950s cars, but gave up after experimenting on his own model. Thank goodness he did!

 

  1. There was once a “Squarestream”. We know the trailer for its bullet shape and rounded body, but between 1986 and 1991 there was a new square shape introduced to the Airstream lineup. It is still possible to track down the squared-off trailer, which was once banned from the Wally Byam Caravan Club, but die-hard Airstream enthusiasts consider them to be far below the standard set by classic examples of the iconic recreational vehicle.

 

 

 

 

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Big winners at the UK Festival Awards – what’s their secret?

Friday 05 December 2014 by Amazing News Editor

After a hotly-fought contest, the big winners of the 2014 UK Festival Awards have finally been announced. The public voted for their favourite events in a range of categories and the triumphant winners were:

  • Best Major Festival (in association with PlugGo) – Glastonbury
  • Best Small Festival (in association with Heineken) – The Zoo Project
  • Best Dance Event (in association with XL Video) – Creamfields

There was also a prize awarded for the Best Grass Roots Festival, which went to up-and-comer Leopallooza, an event run by four music-loving friends in Cornwall and described as “The Greatest House Party…in a field”.

Winners in other categories

These weren’t the only prizes handed out at the Roundhouse during the ceremony, as a whole heap of other awards in different categories were announced, including:

  • Best Metropolitan Festival – Live at Leeds
  • Best Medium-Sized Festival – We Are FSTVL
  • Best Family Festival – Camp Bestival
  • Best Overseas Festival – Tomorrowland in Belgium
  • Line-Up of the Year – Festival Number 6
  • Headline Performance of the Year – The Libertines at British Summer Time, Hyde Park
  • Best Use of New Technology – The Parklife Weekender
  • Best New Festival – The Secret Festival

Last but not least was the award for Best Toilets, which was proudly accepted by V Festival.  Also honoured at the awards was DJ Rob Da Bank, the founder of 10-year-old event Bestival and the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award. He had very good things to say about the UK festival scene, remarking in a recent article in The Guardian:

“I really think the UK festival market is the best in the world. Great Britain leads the field in festivals, so to be associated with those guys is amazing. I’m proud that Bestival and Camp Bestival and everything else we do is part of that.”

‘Exceptional’ response from festival fans to this year’s awards

The winners of each category in the awards, which are now in their 11th successful year, were announced at a special ceremony at the Roundhouse in London on 1st December. A massive 720,000 festival fans cast their votes online in the competition to decide the winners, which organisers say is a huge 25% increase compared to the previous year’s response.

The founder and director of the UK Festival Awards, Steve Jenner, said at the event:

“The response to this year’s awards, not only from fans, but also from more festivals applying to take part than ever before, has been exceptional this year – a positive sign that industry confidence, backed by public passion is surging in 2014.”

 

What’s their secret? Amazing Tents may have something to do with it

At Amazing Tents, we were delighted with the list of big winners at the 2014 UK Festival Awards, as we installed our specialist event tents at not one but all four of the winning festivals in major categories this year, as well as at many of the shortlisted events and previous winners.

At Creamfields, known as the UK’s and perhaps even Europe’s best dance festival, we installed a number of our fantastic SaddleSpan tents. We transformed the hospitality field at the Cheshire event, which was held on Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th August 2014, with our S5000 TriSpan tent, our S5000 Enclosed and our S5000 Concert with its fantastic acoustics. The team were delighted at the results for the event’s VIP guests, and we like to think we played our part in driving Creamfields to victory at the awards this year and perhaps even in 2013 too – when it also scooped the Best Dance Festival Award.

SaddleSpan tents were also spotted at Leopallooza, a small festival in Bude, Cornwall, that Amazing Tents was very proud to support.  During the event, which was held  on Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd August, we installed a SaddleSpan S5000 Concert tent, a structure that is ideal as a stage cover due to its precision designed shape and compact footprint. Well done to the whole hard-working team at Leopallooza for scooping the Grass Roots Festival Award this year, seeing off stiff competition from Green Man, 2000trees, Y Not Festival and the Eden Festival for the prize.

If you’ve previously attended Glastonbury and The Zoo Project, a unique music event set amongst herds of black rhino, Siberian tigers and African elephants in the grounds of Port Lymphe Wild Animal Park, you may also have spotted our distinctive SaddleSpan structures. Amazing Tents has installed at both the winners of the Major and Small Festival prizes in this year’s awards.

Previous winners and shortlisted runners-up

Amazing Tents has also, quite literally, popped up at previous winning festivals, including the hard-rocking festival Download, which scooped the Best Major Festival prize last year, and Latitude, which was voted to have the Best Line-Up in 2013 with acts including Kraftwerk, Bloc Party, Foals, Hot Chip, Alt-J, James Blake and Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs.

In fact, as one of the most trusted providers of event tents, stage covers and large hospitality marquees in the UK, Amazing Tents has made an appearance at lots of the festivals on the shortlist. These included Larmer Tree Festival, T in the Park, Reading & Leeds Festivals, On Blackheath, Isle of Wight Festival, Global Gathering, Truck Festival, BBC Hyde Park Proms and V Festival. We’ve had loads of experience at a huge range of different festivals, putting up our distinctive event tents come rain or shine (very often rain – it is the UK, after all!)

To the shortlisted festivals who didn’t quite hit the big time this year, better luck in 2015! Make sure to look out for our Amazing SaddleSpans at next summer’s hit festivals…

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5 ways to make your event better

Wednesday 26 November 2014 by Amazing News Editor

A successful event can boost sales, brand image and recognition and even make a profit. It can launch a product, get people talking and generate a buzz within your industry.

If you’ve managed to choose a great venue, fill it with the right people and achieve your goals, you should congratulate yourself on a job well done. However, there are lots of ways you can make your event even better, some of which you may not have considered before.

Here are our top 5 tips to improve your next event:

  1. Live stream your event. It’s amazing how many event organisers don’t do this, but it can have loads of positive effects. For example, those who can’t make it to the event can watch it in real-time, which may make them want to attend next year. It also strengthens your online presence and gets people talking about your event. It’s also cheap and easy to do – so why wouldn’t you do it?

 

  1. Change things up a bit with your venue. If you’ve been holding a successful event year after year, you probably won’t want to change the formula too much. However, your attendees will appreciate something new and different every once in a while. You could try holding it an event tent, for example, or if you already use one, set it up in a completely new location. You could also choose a new theme for the event, or play around with the layout in your venue. Do the planning first and figure out if your new idea will work for your established audience. After all, you want to attract innovative up-and-comers but you don’t want to alienate your regular attendees.

 

  1. Do some pre-event networking. Giving attendees the chance to meet and chat to each other before the event is a great idea, and many big events do it. Attendees don’t even need to physically meet, you can simply set up an online space where they can introduce themselves, share information and importantly – start talking about the event.

 

  1. Streamline your registration process. If you make it as easy as possible for people to register for your event, the more people will do it. More complicated processes tend to be put off and can end up being forgotten, so make it a matter of a few clicks for people to register. Once they have, make sure you follow up on everyone who’s registered to remind them of the event and ensure they actually turn up.

 

  1. Be creative on social media. Don’t simply post the same content, along the lines of ‘the event is coming….’ over and over again – give users something more creative to get excited about. Share pictures of your venue (especially if you’ve booked something unique like an outdoor event tent), announce new guest speakers and other surprises, run competitions and generally, focus on a different angle of the event each time in order to promote it.

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Which is the best SaddleSpan for your event?

Wednesday 19 November 2014 by Amazing News Editor

SaddleSpan tents are fantastic for outdoor events. They are versatile, customisable and offer all the space you need, as well as being simple and quick to erect and put down. All you really need to have a SaddleSpan for your event is enough floor space.

The great thing about this kind of event tent is that it is modular, which means that it can be customised and rebuilt to better suit your needs. There are lots of configurations for the SaddleSpan, some of which can be used in conjunction with each other to create a customised space. The following are among the most popular configurations:

  • S1000 TriSpan – up to 470 square metres and space for up to 940 people, this tent provides a simple but impressively shaped canopy perfect for small sites and easy transportation around the country (making it ideal for roadshows!)
  • S2000 SaddleSpan – up to 250 square metres and space for up to 500 people, popularly used as a stage cover
  • S5000 SaddleSpan – up to 500 square metres and space for up to 800 people, with a choice of canopy, concert and enclosed. Another popular option for festivals and gigs, as the S5000 makes a perfect stage cover.
  • S5000 DuoSpan – up to 900 square metres and space for up to 1,800 people, this tent is essentially two S5000 SaddleSpans connected together
  • S5000 TriSpan – up to 1400 square metres and space for up to 2,800 people, this tent creates a massive marquee which can be completely enclosed or open at all sides, with plenty of space for creating different zones for your event.

If you’re planning an outdoor event in one of these tents, how do you choose the configuration that’s best for you? Here are some tips:

  • Work out how much space you need, and how much you have available. Take into account how many guests you’re expecting, what space you need (i.e. for exhibiting products, for dance floors and bars) and how much flat, even floor space you have at your site. This will give you a rough idea of the size of SaddleSpan you’ll need, or that you can fit in.

 

  • Choose the right tent for the nature of your venue. If your event is music or performance based, the S2000 or S5000 SaddleSpan is the ideal stage cover, providing excellent acoustics and cover for your musicians. However, if you’re holding a corporate event with many different events going on at once, something like the S5000 TriSpan with the option to create many different ‘zones’ would be more suitable.

 

  • Get some expert advice. These tents can be customised and built to suit the needs of your event, so to get the perfect fit it may be best to speak to an expert, such as one of the team at Amazing Tents. Explain your event and your needs and get a better idea of the type of SaddleSpan that fits the bill.

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