Event type
Festival
At a festival you aren't booking a crew. You're building a rota.
Headcount rule of thumb
Two per gate for entry; for wristbanding, one person per 200 visitors of peak hourly footfall.
In short
Festival staffing is a shift problem rather than a headcount problem: a three-day festival isn't three days of work but six to nine shifts, and the same person cannot cover them all. As a rule of thumb, entry gates need two people per gate, and wristbanding needs one person per two hundred visitors of estimated peak hourly footfall. The critical point is the first two hours after gates open, when a large share of the day's traffic passes through. Under casual employment the statutory day limits also bind: the same worker may do at most five consecutive days in that form.
Who you need, and why
- Entry staff
- Wristbands, ticket checks, exchanges. Gate opening is the peak of the day.
- Security staff
- Crowd management and exits. A licensed profession, not support work.
- Bar staff
- Festival bar: fast, simple, high volume. A different rhythm from a restaurant.
- Support and loaders
- Build and strike. Strike is always more work than you expect.
- Information desk
- Programme, lost property, lost people.
What to decide, and when
6-8 weeks ahead
Draft rota and total headcount, because large numbers cannot be organised in two weeks.
3 weeks ahead
Number of gates, wristband types, security headcount agreed.
1 week ahead
Named shift rota, reserves identified.
Build day
Loaders and support crew, before the first visitor arrives.
What usually goes wrong
- A three-day festival planned as three shifts, and the crew runs out on day two.
- Gate-opening peak estimated from the daily average, and the queue stands for two hours.
- No separate strike crew, and on the last night there's nobody to pack down.
- No reserves, when on a multi-day event a drop-out isn't a possibility but a certainty.
The staff we usually supply for this
Where are you organising it?
Information tailored to the city, with local venues.
Festival
Give us the date and the guest count and you'll have a concrete headcount and price within one working day.
- A real quote within 24 hours
- Replacement guarantee for drop-outs
- No minimum order
- A dedicated coordinator on every booking
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a festival rota?
Two shifts a day, three for longer opening hours, overlapping at the peaks. Gate opening and the start of the main programme are the two load peaks; put the most people there and fewer in between.
What are the day limits for casual work?
With the same employer, at most five consecutive calendar days, fifteen days in a month and a hundred and twenty days in a year. So a larger festival has to rotate its crew, and that has to be planned in advance.
Can you supply security staff too?
Yes, but security work is a licensed activity in Hungary and we handle it separately, not as support work. Headcount is set by venue capacity and regulatory requirements.