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What does a typical scouting event look like? And does it make sense to use an event app for such events? This and much more is clarified in this article together with Lucius Schweizer. He is part of the organizing team of the PFF18 EXPLORE- one of the biggest events for scouts in Switzerland.
LineUpr: Hello Lucius. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and the PFF18 EXPLORE personally.
Lucius: Hello. The PFF18 EXPLORE was a festival from scouts for scouts and anyone in Liestal, Switzerland who wanted to come. PFF stands for Pfadi Folk Festival, which takes place at irregular intervals throughout Switzerland and has its origins in England.
I, together with Barbara Hochuli, was responsible for communication.
LineUpr: How much time and work do you spend on the planning of the event on average?
Lucius: The Organizing Committee started to form 3 years ago and we ended up with 17 people in 9 different departments. Then more people joined the different departments. I cannot tell you a definite total number. Only in the communications department, there were finally 25 people.
As I said, we started three years ago. Because it’s an event of the scouts we all work voluntarily in our spare time.
LineUpr: What makes the PFF18 EXPLORE special? What added value do you offer the participants?
Lucius: The PFF combines the values of Scouting in Switzerland with the classic elements of a festival. So the PFF is also a big scout camp. The bars and buildings are provided by Pfaditechnik. There is, like at camp, food that you could pick up with your own dishes and in addition to the onstage programme, there were a lot of typical scout programmes offered, such as campfires.
The great thing is that everyone has a similar background and you can just easily get into a conversation with everyone there. A bit like a very big family party. ?
LineUpr: Who is the typical target audience of your event and how do you reach them? What channels and tools do you use for marketing and presentation?
Lucius: As mentioned above, the classic target group are scouts from 16 years to 30 years. But it is also open to anyone else who is interested (not even scouts) and is at least 16 years old.
Because of the size and the good networking among the scouts, we have limited ourselves to Facebook, internal association advertising and word-of-mouth distribution. Also, we used Instagram and have a homepage that provides those interested with lots of detailed information.
LineUpr: Do you also use printed products to market the event or distribute information locally? If so, which and why?
We were not necessarily looking for a digital solution for our festival.
Lucius: We distributed flyers regionally and throughout Switzerland at various in-house events. The content was a short description and a “save the date”. In Liestal we put up placards and flyers, and during the festival, there was a printed programme in the form of a map. We were also allowed to advertise via the mailing authorities of the Scouts Regional Associations in our border neighbors Germany and France.
LineUpr: How did you first learn about LineUpr and what was the decisive argument for you to use an event app?
Lucius: LineUpr was given to us. We were not necessarily looking for a digital solution for our festival. The possibility to use the offer free of charge and also offline at the event and also the simple configuration and being able to offer an added value to our visitors was then crucial in deciding.
LineUpr: How did you use the app before, during and after the PFF18 EXPLORE?
Lucius: We promoted the app before the event but mainly used it during the festival. It was thought to be complementary to our printed programme. The visitors could there / via the app also look at the entire programme and see more information that did not make it to the printed version. For example, we praised the favorites function and encouraged our visitors to put together their individual festival programme in advance.
LineUpr: How did your visitors react to the app?
Lucius: The app was mainly used by people who found our printed programme too big (it was the size of a map). This alternative was very much appreciated. I think that our printed schedule was used on the campground and the app on the smartphone was used in the area in front of the stages. However, we did not have the capacity to get specific feedback during the festival.
We promoted the app before the event but mainly used it during the festival.
LineUpr: Is there a crazy story about the PFF18 EXPLORE which you would like to share with us?
Lucius: Shortly before the festival a non-scout came up to us with an extraordinary request and in the end, we were allowed to help him make a marriage proposal to his girlfriend, who is a scout.
LineUpr: Thank you, Lucius, for the exclusive interview. Until now, we have never accompanied a scout event with an event app. So thank you for this opportunity. If you would like to know more about Scouting, then visit the homepage or go to Facebook. Optical stimulations are also available on Instagram.
We are already looking forward to accompanying you again next year.
