Events and festivals case studies

Emma Wadee, Project Manager, explains how early recruitment and strong community engagement led to over 1,500 applications for just 300 volunteer roles. She highlights the importance of accessibility, ensuring people of all ages and backgrounds could take part, and outlines how partnerships with local charities provided additional support through buddy systems.

If you’re planning an event, this video offers valuable insights into creating a volunteer programme that is inclusive, engaging and impactful, from recruitment and communication to welfare and retention.

Stephen O’Neill, Event Operations Lead, explains how early planning was essential to identifying key roles, addressing skills gaps, and securing specialist expertise across production, site management and health and safety.

He discusses the importance of early procurement in the fast-paced and agile nature of the events industry, and how engaging contractors early and offering clear, transparent briefs is vital.

The video also offers insights into the importance of professional networks and relationships and strong partnerships when delivering collaborative, multi-agency events.

This video looks at how early workforce planning and securing specialist expertise across areas such as production, site management and health and safety were essential to delivering a complex event.

From managing scope and maintaining budget control to embedding a positive and inclusive team culture, Stephen and Emma discuss how keeping clear objectives at the centre of decision-making helped the event stay aligned to the original vision and ensured a high-quality experience.

Hear how a strong and collaborative core team helped deliver one of north-east Scotland’s largest maritime events.