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Get To Grips with Festival Accreditation Management.

Andy Robertson

Managing ticket and pass accreditation for music festivals is a trending topic in 2022. How can festival organisers get to grips with the management of their accreditation processes to ensure that the right people have the correct access to appropriate zones and areas of a music festival site.


The security and integrity of access control on a music festival site gets more challenging the larger a festival gets. A large-scale music festival may attract hundreds of thousands of festival-goers who have a variety of ticket types from general admittance to VIP along with multi-day or single day access. Electronic ticket QR codes are scanned at entrance gates and this is a fairly straightforward process. For all the backstage zones and other secure areas access also needs to be tightly controlled and accreditation is used to manage this.

Types of Passes. 
There may be thousands of people who need access to specific zones of the festival site. During the build-up phase there will be numerous contractors and delivery drivers along with the festival’s own staff as well as vendors with pitches. As the live dates get closer there will be requirements to gain access to the back stage area for artist’s support crews, engineers and catering staff. During the festival organisers may also have to manage access for hundreds of volunteers and of course the artists booked for performances too.

Assigning Accreditation Credentials. 
Using a system like Festival Pro to manage accreditation for all these various types of passes is essential to saving time and building robust access control. A good accreditation system allows users to assign a specific number of passes or tickets to specific individuals or groups of people like contractors and artists who may also want to obtain guest passes. The onus will be on them to supply the names and details of anyone who will then be assigned an appropriate pass on the system. These accreditation categories can have zoning and time scheduling applied to restrict access to a specific area and time period. All accreditation details can be confirmed on an advance which is the document that all parties will agree to after which electronic passes can be issued containing a QR code to enable access as specified.

Checking Access. 
Using the same handheld scanning technology being used at entrance gates to check festival-goer ticket validity can be used for service entrance gates and access to any restricted zones. The accreditation data is linked to the scanning device enabling real time syncing so that any passes presented can be checked against the predefined pass allocation data.

Having a good accreditation process in place helps to manage large groups and access can be changed on the fly to provide great flexibility. Allowing only accredited individuals into certain zones is essential to maintaining security for the safety of people and to prevent theft of valuable equipment.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics including comprehensive accreditation functionality. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering. 

Andy Robertson
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