Are Walkie Talkies Still Relevant for Music Festival Organisers.

Music festival staff and volunteers are often seen constantly using walkie talkies on a festival site. With advancements in mobile device capabilities can organisers ditch walkie talkies in favour of them or do they still have a role to play in music festival organisation. What are the key functions of walkie talkies and how do they compare to mobile device usage.

Walkie talkies have been an essential tool for music festival organisers pre-dating the emergence of mobile device technology. Perhaps there is a legacy issue preventing the move away from their use towards mobile devices? Walkie talkies are available in analogue and digital versions, the latter using the latest technology giving them potentially numerous advantages over a mobile phone. Where are walkie talkies used by festival organisers and why will they continue to be used for the foreseeable future.

Walkie Talkie Uses.
Music festival organisers use walkie talkies because they are a convenient tool that help enhance event safety, efficiency and coordination in a large, loud, congested environment typical of many music festivals. Walkie talkies are great for incident reporting and emergency communications site wide to alert all staff and volunteers about adverse weather, overcrowding or obtaining urgent medical treatment for injured festival-goers. Stage management often relies on walkie talkie communications between production managers, sound and lighting engineers and artist management staff. This ensures the smooth operation of performances and artist changeovers. Organisers also rely on walkie talkies for logistics management that may include gate and security control and deploying waste cleaning teams. In addition, walkie talkies are essential tools for parking and traffic management along with general staff and volunteer coordination.

Walkie Talkie Options, Analogue vs. Digital.
Most organisers now use digital walkie talkies (Digital Radios) for mission critical operations however the older analogue walkie talkies are still relevant for certain roles. Analogue walkie talkies are simpler with a lower cost and typically are used for traffic and parking duties, for example. This is due to their shortcomings, which include audio static and background noise, limited channel availability for multiple conversations, and lack of desirable features like GPS tracking, text messaging, with no encryption capability. The modern digital radios have crystal clear audio along with multiple channel conversation capabilities and an extended battery life often up to 40% longer than a traditional analogue unit. The advanced technology in digital radios usually incorporates features like GPS tracking, text messaging, and secure encryption allowing conversations to remain private.

Walkie Talkies vs Mobile Devices.
The majority of festival organisers still rely on digital radios rather than mobile devices because they allow instant communication at the touch of a button. Command centres can issue messages and announcements to all users at the same time, making them ideal for communicating emergency messages to all staff instantly. Mobile devices rely on strong Wi-Fi services to operate which can be patchy and unreliable on a remote music festival site location. Calls on mobile devices using group conversation apps can be challenging due to potential buffering issues, also, there is no capability to connect with other staff at the touch of a button which can lead to delays. However, many organisers and staff will use mobile devices as a supplementary tool or as a backup communication option should they have issues with their primary digital radio unit. Mobile devices are ideal for non-critical communications like document sharing, which may include artist performance schedule changes and volunteer roster updates. They are also great for logistical and operational administration communications when some users are off site and out of range of the digital radio systems being used.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. 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, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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