Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Wow, what a week!
The 20th Anniversary of Download Festival was always going to be special and you guys really did make it one to remember!
We had a team of 900 staff and volunteers onsite, making us the largest onsite agency at the festival! It was an awesome mix of seasoned Hotboxers, many of whom have joined us every year since we started at Download back in 2017, plus lots of new volunteers joining us for the first time, and for some their first ever time camping and first time at a festival! Going to a festival on your own for the first time is such a brave thing to do, so you should all be very proud of pushing yourselves out of your comfort zone and trying something new - we hope your festival experience was worth it!
We spoke with so many of you throughout the week who had arrived on their own and instantly made friends with the people camping next to them. This was awesome to hear and we know from past experience many of these will become lifelong friendships! We hope we've converted you to the Hotbox Dogsquad! 🐶
We got involved in so many things at this year's Download above and beyond the usual Dog Squad role, a huge thanks to all the accessible buggy drivers, welfare buggy drivers, egress minibus drivers and AIR Hub team leaders who stepped up to help the event run smoothly! We also had a couple of Mr Honey situations resolved by Dog Squad volunteer/beekeeper Alex! 🐝 With such a large crew at Download it was great to see all of the additional skills you bring from your hobbies and day jobs, and we know the festival organisers really appreciate you helping out in these areas!
A big thank you to our Dog Squad Secret Adventure Special Mission team for being festival guinea pigs and going where no volunteer has gone before! 🤫 We were asked by the festival's security team to help with pass checks at the back of the main stage during the festival, a huge responsibility for Hotbox to get involved with so thank you to all of the Special Mission volunteers for your can-do attitude and professionalism throughout!
The feedback we've received so far from the other onsite agencies, festival organisers, zone managers, security team and the public about the Dogsquad team has blown us away this year. Lots of festival goers have been sharing incredible feedback about the Dog Squad on socials and with the festival organisers which has made its way back to us - the Dog Squad really made a big difference to the experience of so many Download festival goers this year! So again, 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, incident reporting, kit carrying and direction giving you did is so appreciated! 🙏
Your messages to us on socials and email about working with Hotbox Events at Download Festival has been fantastic 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! 😊
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 2024!
If you're missing Download as much as we are, please keep an eye on our website and socials as our amazing photographer, Kate, took hundreds of photos which we'll be uploading soon! 📸
If you accidentally took home one of our tabards, radios, earpieces, radio clips or any other piece of kit, please could we have it back? We spent a lot of money getting brand new Hotbox branded tabards printed just before Download and we know some of these didn't get returned at the festival 😢 If you forgot to hand something in before the end of the festival, please could you post it back to us so we can have it washed and cleaned before Latitude! 🙏
When we first started planning for Hotbox Events merch we had no idea what the reaction would be or if anyone would even buy it, and it's safe to say we've been completely blown away by the reaction! We've loved spotting Hotbox hoodies, t-shirts, tote bags and battle patches out and about around the festival site so a big thank you from us if you grabbed something onsite!
If you didn't manage to get your hands on some, don't worry – we now have an online shop where you can buy all of our Download merch! Use discount code DOGSQUAD23 for free UK delivery until midnight Friday 30th June! 👀
Deposits are returned in full within 30 days of the last day of the last festival you join us at each summer. Deposit returns are sent as cheques to the address in your Hotbox Events PAAM Profile - if you've moved house or changed address since you first signed up to volunteer now is the time to update the address in your PAAM Profile!
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! We'd love to see you again this summer – Dog Squad reunion anyone? 🤘
We can't wait to welcome you back to a festival soon! 🎪
If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about, 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 joined us before head to our Facebook Group and Forum
On Facebook and in our Forum you will find new and returning staff and volunteers chatting about what it is like to join us at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about working at festivals and making new friends!
If you have not joined us 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 those 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 working solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals!
Another way to see what joining us 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 history over the past twenty years!
It's totally normal to be anxious before coming to a festival, particularly if you're coming solo! We get hundreds of messages every year from people 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 joining us 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 working 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
