Focus Group Questions

1. The competitions have been seen by some as being unimaginative and poorly promoted. Have you considered going the route of more “hand-on” competitions in the vein of (but not copying) Download’s competition where entrants had to get the logo into the most prominent position they could?

Melvin agreed that people should come up with good competition ideas, which will be put forward to Festival Republic for consideration.

2. Can you outline any plans you may have to improve communication between Festival Republic and your customers?

Melvin agreed that communication could be much higher, to web users and those without the internet alike. FR will investigate ways to improve this, such as having a single point of contact (PR?) between attendees and FR. FR contact details to be made more readily available.

3. Non-lineup announcements tend to be made very late and are generally unhelpful, eg., Maps being available, Ferry Times, Stage times and things non line-up related, could this be looked into?

A good point and easy to resolve. We implement information sent with tickets that refers people to the website for a downloadable information pack. It will be downloadable from the net as there is only so much you can fit in every envelope.

4. Can there be a set opening time that FR stick to open the site, to avoid crushing, rushing? Also due to vast amounts of people can FR look into the crowding issue on Wednesday / Thursday?

Entry times vary as FR aim for a 5pm deadline, however if the site and teams are ready before this they will let us in. With regards to stampedes at opening times at the box office entrance and queue confusion, FR will look into separating the box office queue and entrance queue. He will look into using Rivermead somehow for this, to keep the box office and entrance queues separate.

5. Many people would like to know the headliners and a few other top bands a few days before the ticket sale, to allow time to arrange with friends who is going and who is buying tickets etc. Is this possible next year?

At no time does Festival Republic with-hold band announcements. It takes a long time for Festival Republic to get the confirmation, even when bands have self confirmed FR cannot publish this information until they have confirmation. When they know, we know.

6. Can we have the lock-up / smaller stages get some announcements with the first line up?

The reason that this is difficult for Festival Republic to do is because they book bands on the main stage first, the smaller stages last, it’s just the best and easiest way to work it. Its not that they just aren’t giving you information on these stages, but that they are not quite there with sorting it out so early on.

7. Many people would like to know the headliners and a few other top bands a few days before the ticket sale, to allow time to arrange with friends who is going and who is buying tickets etc. Is this possible next year?

This is not something that can be a guaranteed change, but FR will look into it, and see what can be done.

8. For the benefit of those who cannot make the festival, do you have any intention of showing a webcast of the main stage?

Festival Republic will look into this, but this coverage would need to be agreed with bands before they could do this, because it is breach of the artists performance right on their performance. Sometimes a Record Label will want to use footage on DVD’s / Albums and so some will not grant permissions to webcast. Melvin also said that whilst some festivals book bands on the proviso that they sign over performance rights to the organisers, it is not something that he believes in and will book a band regardless of their stance on this issue. It will however be looked into.

9. It has been noted that Download provided downloadable content in the form of bands sets. Is this something that FR has ever looked into or intends to implement in the future?

BBC provides coverage, however the publicity last year was poor. A meeting has already been arranged with the head of online content for BBC to discuss ways of improving this. But the same points apply from question 7 regarding performance rights.

10. Are you ever going to directly tackle the problem of ticket touting?

The only way to stop touting is to have a government act, which has been discussed with the previous culture secretary, but to no avail. Festival Republic has another meeting with the new culture secretary lined up to discuss the options to try and stop it/reduce it. Football ticket touting is illegal; however it still happens outside the venues, which shows that a government act is only successful to some extent.

Photo ID as Glastonbury is not a route that FR wants to go down with Reading (If you register for a Glastonbury ticket you still only have a 1 in 4 chance of getting a ticket). Some form of profit capping may help. No more than a 10% increase would take out the profit element. This could apply to eBay sales, as they can remove any over the odds listings. This will all be discussed at Melvin’s next meeting with the new culture secretary.

11. Would you consider implementing an extra pre-sale for repeat attendees a few days before general release, for those of us who can’t afford tickets right after the festival, but who are loyal to the festival?

This was something that had not been thought about before, and FR felt it was a valid point to have risen. This year we will see two sets of presale tickets for 2009, one straight after the festival, and then another batch between October and Christmas. The batches will be around 15,000 tickets each pre-sale.

12. A lot of people believe that a better more in depth guide provided with tickets would benefit the festivals attendees, Glastonbury have a fine guide for all attendees that gives people more of the information that they need! Could we see this happen in the future?

See answer from question 3

13. The free velcro wristbands with the line-up on (2004 possibly?) were a fantastic idea, and many people would love to know if that will make a comeback?

These bands were something sponsored by Orange I think, and Melvin was most shocked at the popularity of them! He was also surprised to hear that the neck guides were flimsy and easily breakable. Velcro Line Up / Information wristbands will be looked into.

14. Has a price been chosen for the Programme yet, last year it was £8, which a lot of people believe is already pricey?

Prices of programmes defiantly won’t rise. Unofficial merchandise being sold outside was raised, and only official merchandise is sold on the site, anything off site is not genuine and reminded people to ensure that the person they buy their programme from has an official sellers badge on show. This once again goes hand in hand with Question two, regarding more information to be given prior to the festival.

15. Are there plans for more signposting from the station to the festival site as each year you get new people that have never been before and have no indication where to go?

There will be more signs now this has been raised.

16. Are funds gained from the sale of car park tickets ploughed back into subsidising coach travel? If not, what are the reasons for not doing this, as it would make a very positive green statement?

Parking is only £2 per car, and this does not get put into coaches, instead this goes to environmental campaigns. On a side note FR were unaware until recently that there is a shuttle bus service, which was free and poorly advertised and underused. FR will work to make more people aware of this.

17. It has been suggested that car parking spaces do not tally with the amount of parking passes sold? Is this something that you are aware of / have noticed?

Car parking does not get oversold.

18. It was mentioned that with such large car parks it’s easy to lose your car, and if there could be some signage and car park sectioning. FR was more than happy to implement this.

Coach Questions were all covered at the same time.

FR has allot of liaison with National Express and See Ticket coach providers. There is a holding car park for the coaches and there should be a reduction in delays. A complaints page on the website will be set up for feedback on these subjects.

19. From white to the campsite via ferry is still an issue and a lot of attendees that had to use this service say they were much worse in 2007 than 2006. It may have been due to more cars parking in white due to the flooding, however this should have been addressed at the time it was realised there was an issue! Are there any changes to the ferries organisation this year?

Against popular belief, the figures show that the queues were shorter for the ferry boats than previous years. It’s something that they are constantly looking to improve year on year. An even better solution is a temporary bridge across the river to eliminate the need for ferries at all that has been discussed for the last two years so hopefully we will see it in the not too distant future.

20. Why has orange car parking been moved to white this year?

Festival Republic have to consistently consider the town of reading and its residents and white car park diverts the traffic from the town.

21. Are the site move rumours true?

FR acquired half the land in 2005 and the other half in 2007, so no site move is on the cards. If it the site changed it wouldn’t be the Reading festival!

22. Is FR in any position to discuss with train companies the possibility of discounts for the event. Is this something you would be interested in doing?

23. There sometimes seems to be a problem with works happening on some train routes right on top of Reading Festival, which can sometimes greatly affect people’s journey to / from site! We appreciate that this is probably down to it being a bank holiday weekend, but do you communicate with network rail etc to try and minimise the disruption at times when most festival goers are travelling, like Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Monday early afternoon?

Festival Republic have limited to no influence on the train companies. Train companies are not interested in offering reductions and if anything would like to see prices duringn festival weekend increase. Totally out of FR control.

24. Last year was a slight disaster with the confusion over opening times, when you could arrive with what tickets and information sent out with tickets being far from clear. We would like to request that Festival Republic communicate this information to higher degree on the website and the forums and ensure that the ticket sellers do not exacerbate the situation with confusing / wrong information!

25. We would also request that the times of the site opening, what tickets are available are more clearly communicated! The Thursday to Sunday tickets it appears were not successful mainly due to poor communication and misinformation with the tickets, is this something that Festival Republic could monitor this year?

There will be NO return of the Friday to Sunday tickets. The reason behind this was to try and stagger the traffic in and around Reading, to reduce the impact on local residents. Also see answer to question 3.

26. There appears to be a ticket swapping situation which is common practice to get unlimited numbers of non-ticket holders into the campsite (which does happen), and we can only speculate as to their reasons for wanting to be in the campsites…. Would it be possible to get given wristbands on entry? Logistically this would potentially be a much better solution to the crowds and queues currently witnessed at wristband exchange at the moment? Each entrance would have a wristband exchange to go through, while queues will obviously be inevitable during the busiest times, we envisage that majority of the time a steady flow through this set up would be seen and would be much favourable?

Did not realise this was a problem, and will look into how to resolve this. Numerous points were raised including having to exchange your ticket for a wristband on entry, but FR are unsure of what route they would like to take on this, but will give the situation careful consideration.

27. Different coloured wristbands (or an extra wristband) for over 18s have been suggested. Only people with this band may get served at the onsite bars, this would result in people over 18 not having to take ID into the main arena and will reduce the need for on site staff to ask for ID. Whilst you have no control over outside vendors (specifically of the ones on Richfield Ave as opposed to shops), you can let them know this information for if they DO choose to try and only sell to over 18s, what are your views on this?

It was agreed that even with mixed views on the over 18 band, a voluntary extra over 18 wrist band will more than likely go ahead this year.

28. What is the reasoning behind Early Entry? Could early entry be stopped and people allowed to come on Wednesday as they please or to sell less early entry passes?

Local residents would much prefer to see a Friday to Sunday only festival, as the festival is a disruption too them. Having early entry tickets rather than a Wednesday to Monday ticket makes it slightly better and more acceptable for the residents. But Festival Republic do have to stick to a limited number of early entry tickets, as part of their license conditions.

29. Once again an issue that gets raised year after year, is the fact that day ticket holders have unrestricted access to the campsites. Overcrowding is a big problem in most of the campsites, and it increases the threat to people’s unattended belongings from theft. Will Festival Republic ever consider clamping down on day ticket holders having access to the campsites?

Day ticket sales this year have been reduced by between 60 – 70%, and have been transferred to weekend ones (not Friday to Sunday … proper weekend ones THANK GOD). Two new fields will be opened up for camping to improve space. Also a new fencing system will be put in place to stop people breaking in. We will also see more security monitoring the perimeter too

The issue of Gas Canisters was raised and FR was keen on making aerosol can exchanges more inviting. I.e. more instant win prizes rather than one big prize. They are open to suggestions on how this could be improved, so if you have any post them here.

30. Are there any more tickets?

There will also NOT be a second batch of tickets this year. Licensing laws state that Festival Republic cannot advertised that there will be tickets / Early entry for sale at the on site box office. This doesn’t mean there isnt any, so if you do decide to find out if there is or not ….. remember its not guaranteed and you have to be there early!

31. Could there be more entertainment available on Wednesday and Thursday. Leeds has some entertainment on Thursday night around the campsite. There is entertainment at the Rivermead on Thursday but that is over 18’s and has an entry fee? A karaoke tent, Guitar hero gaming, sumo fighting, computer gaming stations, grafitti workshops, giant twister etc?

Entertainment is a no go for Wednesday night. However more Thursday night entertainment is possible (Guitar Hero was mentioned, and will be looked into).

32. Would Festival Republic consider a re-assessment of the prices charged for food and drink. £2 for a bottle of water is ridiculously expensive when you should be promoting drinking plenty of water so as people don’t get dehydrated. £3.30 for a pint is also ludicrous, would it be possible for you to negotiate a price decrease with vendors? I think a lot of people would be satisfied if it was only water that was negotiated to a more reasonable cost as a start!

Food prices are very high and rarely constant throughout the site - one place had jumbo hot dogs for £3 on Friday and then £3.50 on sat…and chip prices had gone up between those days too. How much influence does Festival Republic have over the food prices and is there room for negotiation on these prices?

There should be standard prices over the site, and these will be made available on the website, if any trader is seen selling food over the top price advertised byy Festival Republic you should report it. They will see if water rates can be reduced, and more tap water points to be made available.

33. The standard procedure for bringing water into the arena needs assessing; some stewards have no idea, others gave conflicting info, resulting in attendees being afforded different rules and becoming frustrated!

Festival Republic will provide both attendees and staff, the same information sheet, on what can be brought into the arena, to avoid as much confusion and inconsistency as last year.

34. We would like to see the rules on taking things into the arena communicated more clearly! Maybe included on a Festival Republic produced fact sheet that is sent out with EVERY ticket?

See answer to question 3

35. It was mentioned that people have seen traders using the same utensils for meat and vegetarian options without cleaning them. A definite no and very unfair!

Festival Republic agreed that this is a very valid point, and should be reported if witnessed, it was also agreed that more information should be made available on who to complain to. There will be more stewards in the arena for this, and again this goes will also benefit from question two’s answer.

36. More variety and healthier options have also been requested as there is still very little choice in food at Reading. Would Festival Republic research alternative vendors who would provide alternative / healthier options than burgers and chips?

Will look into, but this is a minority group who would like this change. Will see how feasible it will be. But the majority of attendees do want the good old burger and chips.

37. Since the sponsorship from Carling has ceased, would Festival Republic be willing to look into providing a more varied selection of beer / lager to include Real Ale and Vegetarian options?

No chance. It’s not suitable for Reading festival, it’s hard to change barrels so often, it’s hard to clean the equipment! Beers that will be available instead of Carling will be Tubourg / Carlsberg and Gaymers. They are going to look into a vegetarian option.

38. Will there still be a cold-beer swap service this year?

For some completely unfathomable reason they did not realise it was so popular …….. a 12p can of warm flat lager for a nice cold can of still fizzy branded lager ……. Whats there in that not to be popular about , so they will look into getting it back.

39. It has been requested that more videos are shown on the screens and that all bands are shown, which would include implementing screens for the stages that don’t currently have them. They were also not active until late afternoon. Why?

FR agrees the video confessions were fab and will see what can be done to get that back. As for videos not starting until late afternoon, this is because of a staffing issue, BBC basically take their lunch breaks all at the same time K . Lock-up and X stage are going to get screens and a camera crew this year aswell.

40. Would Festival Republic consider separating the Dance / Lock Up tent and creating 2 individual tents / stages? If this is not an option what are the possibilities of the Dance Stage being available for more than one day and / or to be open til later?

More dance would lead to the “watering down” of acts. Ultimately Festival Republic may struggle to fill the bill. There is also the issue of whom the artists feel “at home” playing to. At Creamfields for example they are guaranteed to draw an audeicne because of the strict genre of the festival whereas Leeds is different.

41. Both the Radio one and lock-up tents last year got busy very quickly, are there any plans to increase the size of these tents?

Radio one tent will be bigger. Introducing stage will be the same size, and the bands are chosen by local radio stations. Nokia Rock up and Play probably won’t happen this year.

Radio One tent will also see the second barrier following its size increase. The second barrier will also return to the main stage.

42. Can we change the Alternative Stage back to Comedy?

Alternative stage back to comedy, and will close at around 8-9pm and hopefully re-open about 12am, as the comedy tent is likely to be under used between 9 and 12 due to headliners being on. Bigger acts won’t be booked, as few comedians enjoy performing in the festival environment.

43. Would Festival Republic look into using a separate entrance / exit for day ticket holders to that used by weekend attendees?

This can be done, but it would mean having the same system for going into the arena as leaving, which may cause more congestion. It’s not favoured.

44. There seems to be a problem with the gents (more so than the women’s) toilets in the main arena, especially the urinals, which just end up located in massive puddles of urine that eventually seeps all over where you have to queue for the cubicled toilets! One solution would be to introduce more long drops and less of the cubicled toilets. They are great for the first day, then they are more minging than the long drops, and that’s saying something!

More urinals are to be made available in the arena.

45. Better checks in/out of the main arena are seriously needed – We appreciate it’s a tough job with 100,000 people all trying to get in / out of the Main Arena, but the stewards on the gates barely check out wristbands, and more than once tugged people’s friendship bracelets and said ‘ok’ K?

Will look into tighter checks on wrist bands.

46. What precautions have been put in place to prevent a repeat of the flooded/swampy fields of 07?

Festival Republic have installed extra drainage but if the weather is bad and flooding re-occurs FR are limited to what they can do about that other than more drainage which they have done.

47. Obviously you are aware that day ticket holders regularly camp, sometimes for the entire weekend. It is a fact that this happens at the expense of weekend ticket holders, in the form of far less space, more crime etc. If you don’t intend to put in measures to completely stop this from happening in the first place, what other measures do you intend to implement to combat this?

See answer to question 29.

48. Can you give us a definitive reason for the attempted gazebo ban? The reasoning that it results in more camping space is flawed at best, and is born out by the fact that when gazebos were taken down by security (forcibly, and often without the owners being present), the surrounding tents weren’t moved?

Asked us if it saved space – we all said it was a bloody stupid, pointless and infuriating idea – idea scraped!

49. It has been suggested that the metal pathways could do with being a bit wider, what is your stance on this?

FR will consider widening the metal pathways, especially G4.

50. Is it possible to have toilets erected in Cow Lane?

There are toilets in cow lane, by Green entrance and by red entrance.

51. There should be more food stalls available in the campsites, spread over each campsite area. Is this something that could be implemented?

Will look into positioning more food stalls in / around the camp sites.

52. More signposting in the campsites are needed to show nearest loos, water, stalls, funfair, man wash, silent disco and arena, placed high enough to be safe from being moved but also large enough for people to still read.

53. Can you implement large maps at the entrance and around the campsites (maybe where the hubs are located) to show where you are and where the other campsite areas are? Once you are lost all hope of finding your tent fades pretty quickly with no real visible assistance to get your bearings?

More signs are defiantly feasible and will be actioned. Maps will also be looked into. Larger maps can be made and put higher up so everyone can read them and navigate around the site more effectively

54. More toilets are required in the campsites (or try new ways and types) - Ladies only areas, Portaloos etc. There were also reports that toilets in white were not emptied as regular as the others, and the rest of the long drops could do with being emptied more regularly as it is?

Festival Republic will look into more toilets and at changing the cleaning schedule around to match low usage times during the days. So it won’t be getting cleaned in the morning when everyone is trying to use them, but will be cleaned when bands are on.

55. MISSING???

56. Would FR consider implementing a communal bon fire in the camps?

No.

57. Showers last year were an issue, not opening on time, not staying open long enough etc.

Festival Republic see no reason why the showers cannot be made 24 hours and will look into implementing this year.

58. Leeds had their security monitored last year, by an outside organisation. Reading could easily benefit from this. Any plans for this to happen this year?

This part of the meeting, went off on a bit of a tangent, and covered all aspects of security, including people telling stories of bad security.

Melvin Benn was shocked and saddened to hear such stories, and I think appreciates that security at the moment just isn’t always do the things that they expect from an organisation brought to the festival to keep us safe.

FR was very open to having an independent organisation to monitor securities performance. It was also suggested and agreed for consideration that an onsite point of contact for us to go to if we are unhappy with what’s happening would be highly beneficial to both organisers and attendees.

59. People have suggested that “first aiders” spend time in the campsites, every second of an accident counts so it’s worth it if someone in need has to wait a few minutes less because there is already a first aider nearby!

Melvin was open to this idea and agreed more first aiders should be placed around the campsites. Hopefully we will see this actioned this year.

60. The medical area had a long waiting time (2 hours plus) Is there any way this could be looked into / reduced?

Having more first aiders should reduce the impact on the first aid tent. Waiting times are to be monitored, more staff to be added, and minor and major injuries to be separated by way of maybe some kind of triage section.

It was also noted that there is only a slight security / police presence in the main arena, is this working?

There will be no change to policing in the arena. FR do not wish to have more police in the arena than they already do. They also only have local police come onto the site, which they see as a positive.

61. Instead of the current set-up for phone charging, how about banks (say 20) of exercise bike driven chargers, as have been seen at other festivals?

Festival Republic will look into greener options of charging phones.

62. Bins should be emptied more frequently, especially around the stalls where they are constantly filled to overflowing! And we should have more of them available in the main arena.

More than happy to provide more bins and have them emptied more regularly.

63. Is the cup deposit scheme being run again?

The cup deposit scheme will certainly be back next year; it had a positive effect on the volume of rubbish and fires in the arena. 96% of cups were returned, and this would be more then welcomed back again. There will be no maximum or minimum returns this year, grab as many as you can! I think the biggest amount in one go was 261 cups J It will also be rolled out this year to include ½ pint cups aswell.

64. It was raised that at a German Festival, the beer was served in half pint, full pint or litre cups that were reusable and looked good! They charged a little extra for your first cup but 1 euro less for getting it refilled! It also meant that people took their cups home as souvenirs, which minimized their cup waste / mess immensely

These are European and only 1/3 of a litre of 1/2 litre sizes are produced and in the UK there is no current cleaning machines for these sizes therefore they all have to be hand washed. They were used at Latitude festival but it is smaller in size and therefore it was more manageable to hand wash them. It is something currently being invested in and there is potential to see them introduced in a few years time but not for this festival!

65. Can you give us any idea of the results of the recycling bags that were given out last year? Did it go down well?

Recycling bags were not very successful, however they will be making a return again this year

66. Would recycling bins be something that could be implemented?

These will be looked into.

67. Food vendors - are they are green as they could be? Do they recycle everything they can? Lots of plastic cutlery! Would Festival Republic consider imposing a recycling clause into contracts, or request that more biodegradable cutlery / utensils are used?

Festival Republic have already made plans to introduce a trial scheme this year, with a few vendors (10-12) trialling wooden cutlery, and recycling all their packaging. The vendors will be aware that they are part of the trial and will be monitored. If this works well, it will be rolled out across all vendors for future years to come.

68. Some European Festivals have travel included in the ticket price, is this something that Festival Republic could implement?

This is not an option, as European festivals that benefit from this get it subsidised by the Government and it is not something subsidised by the organiser. Therefore the chances of our government subsidising our travel to Reading is probably as likely as the moon falling from the sky.