Thursday, June 16, 2022
Wow, what a week!
It was a long wait for many of us since we were last at Download in 2019, and from your messages pre-event it felt like excitement levels were off the charts!
The weather and festival vibes were everything we'd dreamed of, even if there were a few faces matching the colour of Dogsquad tabards from people who didn't apply the sun cream fast enough! ☀️
So many of you were volunteering with us for the first time after being seasoned Download festival-goers and we hope we've converted you to the Hotbox Dogsquad! 🐶
It was also amazing to see so many solo volunteers making new friendships that we're sure will last for many years to come! 🖤
The feedback we've received so far from the other onsite agencies, festival organisers, zone managers and the public about the Dogsquad team has been brilliant. The festival organisers were over the moon with how the Dogsquad performed and told us that every single one of you they spoke to was smiling, friendly and ready to help. A huge thank you from us for working so hard to make sure everyone at Download Festival had the best time - all the problem solving, hazard reporting and direction giving you did is so appreciated! 🙏
The feedback we've been receiving from you on socials and email about working with Hotbox Events at Download Festival has been wonderful to read! If you enjoyed your week with us and have a few minutes to send over a paragraph or two for our staff and volunteer feedback page...
Please email this to info@hotboxevents.com
Please also attach a photo of you at Download if you can so this can be added to the Hotbox website!
Your feedback is a big help to those thinking of joining us in in future years; giving an idea of what working at a festival with Hotbox Events is like, so please do get in touch if you can!
We're already planning for next year and your suggestions are always taken into consideration; many of which help us to improve both our service to the festival goers and the experience for our staff and volunteers. We’re always up for changing things to improve the volunteer experience – like the change we made on Sunday at Download; asking our Zone Supervisors to sign out their teams ‘in zone’ at the end of shifts as we heard you didn’t like walking back to the compound to sign out 😊
So, if you do have any comments - good or bad - please don't hesitate to get in touch. We realise nothing is perfect so please don't be afraid of having a moan if there is something you'd like us to take into consideration for 2023!
If you're missing Download as much as we are, please keep an eye on our website and socials as our amazing photographers, Kate and Hazel, took hundreds of photos which we'll be uploading soon! 📸
Also, a huge thank you to Ollie, Charlotte, Charlotte, Clare, Connor, Martin, Sam, Zoe, Nik, Steven, Joel, Millie, Molly, Hayley and Peter for letting us interview you on camera! Keep your eyes peeled for them popping up on our socials and website later in the year, as well as on the screens beside the main stage at Download 2023! 🤩
Plus, if you'd like to join us again this summer, we still have spaces available at Latitude Festival, Camp Bestival Dorset, Camp Bestival Shropshire, Reading Festival and Leeds Festival! Dogsquad reunion anyone? 🤘
We're looking forward to welcoming you back to a festival soon! 🎪
To find out more and apply choose the festival you're interested in volunteering at, you'll then find all the info including when you'll need to arrive at the festival, how many volunteer shifts you'll do, how old you need to be to volunteer at festivals, the kind of things you'll get involved with when volunteering and loads more!
As usual, you need to pay a refundable security deposit to volunteer with us this summer.
When volunteering with Hotbox Events you only need to pay 1 deposit to volunteer at as many festivals as you like each summer!
So if you have already paid your deposit for Download Festival you can join us at more festivals without paying again 😊
Deposits are returned within 30 days of the last day of a festival, if you have volunteered with us before your deposit is discounted by 35%. There are no admin fees charged on deposits, so you receive your entire deposit back as long as you complete all of your shifts at the festivals!
Of course, if for any reason a festival does not go ahead, your security deposit will be returned to you in full.
Please remember that we cannot confirm your place until you have paid your deposit!
If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about volunteering, the easiest way is to...
You can connect with us @hotboxevents on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
If you would like to chat with others who have volunteered with us before head to our Facebook Group and Forum
On Facebook and in our Forum you will find new and returning volunteers chatting about what it is like to volunteer at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about volunteering at festivals and making friends with other volunteers!
If you have not volunteered at a festival before and are wondering what it is like, check out some of our staff and volunteer interviews!
In the interviews you will get to hear from volunteers who have joined us talking about how they found their shifts, how they felt they were looked after by the Hotbox team, what it was like volunteering solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year and progressing from a volunteer to staff role, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals!
Another way to see what volunteering is like is to check out some of our festival photos!
In our festival photo galleries, you will find thousands of photos covering our festival volunteering history over the past twenty years!
It's totally normal to be anxious before coming to a festival, particularly if you're volunteering solo! We get hundreds of messages every year from volunteers wanting to join us but nervous about doing it, so we promise you're not alone! We're a very friendly bunch so if there's anything we can do to reduce your anxiety please get in touch! Try joining our Facebook Group to make friends with others before the festival - there are even a few WhatsApp groups that have been set up too!
If you have specific questions about volunteering at festivals try our festival FAQs!
Our festival FAQs are regularly updated and packed full of answers to the questions we are usually asked, plus lots of handy hints and tips about volunteering at festivals.
We usually send an email newsletter about once a month, if you would like to keep up to date you can subscribe!
If you would like to drop us an email it's info@hotboxevents.com
You can reach our office by phone on the numbers below...
Tel: 01252849600 (UK) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
Tel: +441252849600 (International) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
