Agenda for Yourope's first European Festival Conference announced

Yourope, The European festival association, has revealed the programme for the inaugural European Festival Conference which takes place from December 2-5, 2015 in the Gradonna Mountain Resort, Austria and is dedicated to the interest of festival promoters to meet, exchange, experience and learn. 

The three-day event will include seminars, workshops and discussions and topics include:

- Marketing, sponsorship and communication with four workshops and sessions dedicated to these topics.

- Health and safety: crowd collapse and crowd dynamics, serious weather conditions at festivals and events sustainability at festivals.

- Technical innovation: tools to manage your festival, cashless payments and RFID solutions?.

- Audience and content and booking.

The new event will add to Yourope's ongoing series of events at the ILMC in London, Reeperbahn in Hamburg and EuroSonic in Groningen, In addition to the conference, the event will feature outdoor activities, cocktail receptions and networking dinners and gives "participants the time and space to discuss all the aspects of the festival business in a constructive and positive atmosphe."

Yourope’s Christof Huber said: “There is an increasing number of music conferences, export events and showcase festivals where festival promoters are a target group, but none are fully dedicated to the interest of festival promoters. The EFC is unique as it goes deeper into the topics and it involves the participants in each workshop and session to get the direct knowledge exchange.”

The event is one of two new events: The other is the International Festival Forum which will be held in Lndon on Septenber 30th and October 1st  and aims to be a new global hub for the music festival world, bringing festivals and booking agents together with targeted showcases, networking, Q&As, panels and workshops. Stefan Thanscheidt, MD of FKP Scorpio, will chair a frank discussion about the festival booking process, questioning the role of the local promoter and asking whether loyalty is now a lost word and if its time to rewrite the rulebook; Music Industry lawyer Ben Challis will present 'the top five grievances' that festivals face when dealing with agents, and vice versa, in an attempt to built better understanding on both sides of the fence;  There will be a workshop titled 'Social Media for Festivals' where some very special guests will present a 60-minute workshop on how to get the most from the world of social media, both now and over the next two years; and the keynote will be Solo Agency and isle of Wight Festival boss John Giddings. Confirmed agency showscases from The Agency, X Ray Touring, LPO, Primary Talent, ATC, ITB, Pitch & Smith and Coda.