Quarantined? Here Are Some Ways to Expand Your Event and Festival Knowledge While You Wait It Out

• Mike Hanley
• General
• April 14, 2020

•  Event and Festival Reading
  • General Festival / Event / Career Related
    
    • ESA’s Guide to Reopening – just released on May 11, 2020, “The Reopening Guide addresses health and sanitary issues that event and venue professionals need to consider in order to protect both patrons and workers.  Since there is still insufficient testing, no contact tracing, and no vaccine against COVID-19, this guidance is particularly detailed.  The first edition is tailored to be especially useful for event professionals reopening the smallest events with the fewest resources available to mitigate their risks, since in every municipal reopening plan these will be allowed to reopen first.”
       
    • Creating Enduring Festivals
      
      
      
      
      
    • Event Entertainment and Production
      
      
    • Festival and Events Management (International Focus) – 
      – this is a UK textbook that takes an international approach to explaining festival and event management, with several interesting case studies.
      
    • Backstage Handbook – an “illustrated almanac of technical information”, this book is essential for any theater stage manager, and is quite useful for concert stage managers as well.  Includes sections on knot tying, pictures of stage related tools, shop math, and much more.
      
    • This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring – this book is compact but full of pertinent information on how to best set up a concert and tour, both from the artist side and the promoter / venue side.
      
    • The Realist’s Guide to a Successful Music Career
      – co-written by Joel Cummins from the successful band Umphrey’s McGee, this is a fantastic resource that dives into all aspects of what life is like as an emerging, then touring, musician.  
      
      
  • Leadership Related
    • Dare to Lead
      – if you read one book from this list, make it this one.  A “greatest hits” of sorts from Brene’s previous works, this book is valuable for anyone who’s looking for courageous, empathetic, vulnerable, compassionate leadership goals.  
      
      The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
      – one of two tests I give many of my staff; it helps understand what they best respond to so you can focus your energy in ways that work best for both of you. 
      
      
    • The Four Tendencies –  the second of two tests I give many of my staff; this helps understand how your staff will react to internal and external influences, and how to work best with each type of tendency. 
      
      
    • Talking to Strangers – What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know –  this is a compelling, important read (complete with fascinating case studies) that dives into “an exploration of what goes wrong when we talk to strangers…and how to make those conversations go right.” 
      
      
    • Creating and Motivating A Superior, Loyal Staff
      
      
    • Essentials of Negotiation
      
      
    • Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership
      
      
    • On Emotional Intelligence
      
      

• • Production Related
    • Audio
      • The Ultimate Live Sound Operator’s Handbook – very thorough yet easy to read; also features a DVD to help educate on various sound reinforcement examples, frequencies, and so on.
        
        
        
      • Sound Reinforcement Handbook
        
        
      • The SOS Guide to Live Sound
        
        
        
    • Lighting
      • Concert Lighting (3^rd Edition) – Moody
        – this book (now in its 4th edition), is a comprehensive look at not just lighting but also all aspects of tour life / production.   
        
        
      • The Automated Lighting Programmer’s Handbook
        
        
      • Automated Lighting – Cadena
        
        
      • A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
        
        
        
    • Video
      • Video Production Handbook
        
        
        
    • Rigging
      • Entertainment Rigging for the 21^st Century
        – of all rigging books, this one does the best job explaining not just the usual rigging you see on arena gigs, but also aerialist rigging, counterweight rigging, and other niche forms of suspending people or equipment in the air.  It also has rigging math examples and problems to solve.  
        
        
      • The Arena Riggers Handbook
        
        
        
    • Electricity
      • Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician and Technician  – one of the best (and, truthfully, only) books that focus on power needs for events; this book helps demystify what electricity is, how it’s applied in the events world, and how to best utilize it. 
        
        
      • There Are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings – this quirky yet entertaining book helps shed light on the mysteries surrounding electricity.  You’ll learn to know and love the “Greenies” who want nothing more than to party.  
        
        
        
        
        
  • Safety Related
    • The Unthinkable – Who Survives When Disaster Strikes
      – the case studies in this book will change how you think about disaster planning / human nature forever.  Most compelling for me was the story about the security director for Morgan Stanley that, by nature of adjusting to normal human biases and behavior in disasters, was able to train his company’s 2,000+ staff to virtually all survive the 9/11 attacks at the WTC.   This book is invaluable for anyone in a leadership role at events and festivals. 
      
      
    • The Event Safety Guide– this fantastic compilation of event safety protocols and best practices is long overdue.  Rather than be a how-to book for beginners, this book is designed for on-site use at an event, where you can quickly find elements that pertain to your situation and utilize the information accordingly.
      
      
    • Risk and Hazard Management for Festival and Events
      
      
    • The Crowd Magazine – Crowd Safety Training
      
      
    • OSHA Training – 10 Hour Online Course
    • OSHA Training – 30 Hour Online Course
      Note – there are multiple providers of OSHA training; this is just one option.  The 10 Hour is more for entry-level folks while the 30 Hour is for anyone in a supervisor / managerial role.
      
      
    • WHO – Training – Public Health Preparedness for Mass Gatherings
      Developed for public sector entities, there is still a lot of useful information for anyone involved in planning mass gatherings in this free online training course.  
      
      
    • Mental Health First Aid – a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use issues.
      
      
• Podcasts / Streams  / Channels
  • FestForums COVID-19 Coverage for Events and Festivals (Re-Occurring, Wednesdays at various times)
    
    
  • Backstage Productions Inc – Town Hall update on COVID-19 and our Industry- The Show Must Go On
    
    
  • Event Safety Alliance Podcast
    with over 15 episodes in, these podcasts run the range of rigging explanations, to safer environments for crowds, to how to manage during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 
    
    
  • Intelligent Crowd Solutions Webinars
    
    
  • Show Makers Symposium – “I’m With the Crew” Weekly Webinar; includes many thoughtful episodes that focus on mental health.
    
    
  • How to Monetize Virtual Events Webinar
    
    
  • Tour Mgmt – a series of 101 / beginner videos about tour management, including travel, day of show, budgeting, and more.  
    
    
  • Concert Business Basics – hosted by Jen Kellogg, a series of virtual workshops.  Topics will include: Routing, Tour Budgets, Deal Structures, Settlement, Venues, People and Roles, Ancillary Revenue Streams and more.
    
    
  • Music Minds –  a music industry hub for educational content and resources.   They have done a great job organizing all of the webinars, virtual meetings, and such using a calendar layout. 
    
    
• Tutorial Videos
  • How to Coil a Cable
    
  • Crowd Surge Example – Oasis Concert
    
  • Crowd Surge Example 2 
    
  • Crowd Control Top 5 Videos
    
  • Radio Etiquette – Film Production Focused
    
  • Radio Etiquette – Funny Take On It