The Festival and Outdoor Events Show (Festout) is returning to Sandown Park, Surrey, for its second outing on 26 – 27 September.

In the lead up to the show, Festout and Access are offering two small-scale companies the chance to win a stand at the show, which will provide valuable exposure to event suppliers and other attendees.

Continuing its theme of supporting grass roots businesses, AAA has run a competition for two new, small companies to win a stand at the show.  Companies qualified for the competition if they were under two years old and had a sales turnover of less than £500,000.

AAA is delighted to announce the 5 shortlisted entries:

Shortlist entry #1: Blox Events

Blox Events are an events solutions company based in the Midlands but with an international outlook. They have a 24/7/365 ‘event emergency hotline’ which clients can ring if there is an issue with their event.

The company puts a strong emphasis on sustainability, which it says is “not a lifestyle or economic trend, but a fundament for strategic planning & management of high quality green events.”

They say that a stand at Festout would “allow us to interface with like-minded professionals, broaden the blox network and increase the efficacy of our emergency hotline.”

Shortlist Entry #2: Krowdthink

Krowdthink is a networking social media company whose Krowd app is designed for public events. It lets users connect with other like-minded people at a venue, show space or festival, displaying those in the area.

Krowdthink emphasises the importance of privacy, and that it does not supply information to third parties. The app is intended to help foster new networking relationships, and also lets delegates provide instant feedback to event organisers.

The company says it can offer “engagement for any crowd, with no setup or configuration required”. Krowd also offers direct contact with the event’s security staff, which can “resolve issues that spoil festival fun, like inappropriate touching in crowds and pickpocketing.”

Shortlist Entry #3: Moonstone Murder Mysteries

Moonstone Murder Mysteries is a South London-based company, which offers live action murder mystery games at events and venues. It uses a combination of scenes performed by actors and audience interaction to engage crowds, who have to guess who they think is the killer at the end.

The company was set up by writer and director Nigel Howells, alongside a small troupe of performers. It offers a selection of established plotlines, as well as bespoke stories that can be crafted for individual clients and events.

The company says it “works ethically as an actors company – everyone is paid a decent proportion of the shows. Ultimately we’re unique because we focus on the fun. Our competitors get too bogged down setting restrictions and rules for their games, but our mission is to take a popular artform and apply as much fun as possible.”

Shortlist Entry #4: ShowShoppa 

ShowShoppa is an e-commerce platform for event organisers to increase year round revenues by leveraging their key assets. It enables selected vendors to sell to an event organiser’s database throughout the year, whilst managing commissions and tools for brand reputation.

ShowShoppa says that a stall at Festout would “help give us the platform to engage with the outdoor festival sector and successfully launch the platform to this market.

“There is no other white labelled ecommerce platform that offers multi-vendor drop shipping with the brand management tools. ShowShoppa is unique and it is being launched to huge acclaim in the event market this year.”

Shortlist Entry #5: YADA Events

YADA Events is a platform that creates an online social community around an event. It connects attendees with each other and the event itself, allowing people to share their perspectives, ideas, commentary and images before, during and after the event.

It also provides event organisers with management capabilities such as ticketing and promotion, data capture and post-event marketing. YADA says that a stall at Festout would be “the industry launch platform for our new suite of exciting features that are currently in development.”

YADA says that their app allows event organisers to market their event to the existing community of YADA users, as well as keep all their contacts and content in one place. The platform is effective for exhibitions and festivals, as well as smaller events like private weddings.

 

The two winners will be announced in August.

To register for Festout, click: here