Case Study
Streamlining Decision Making and Communication
Jewell Facilitation and Boomtown Fair

Jewell Facilitation facilitated a two-day team away day for Boomtown Fair to tackle challenges caused by the festival's rapid growth, balancing the need for streamlined operations with the preservation of its unique ethos.
Through group discussions and creative processes we helped them review their vision, improve processes and collaboration, and enabled the team to discover solutions for smoother decision-making and communication.
Participants left motivated and unified, with clearer processes and stronger team dynamics. Many of the improvements were implemented quickly, boosting team morale and efficiency.
The challenge faced by Boomtown Fair
Boomtown Fair was founded in 2009 with a strong ethos and culture of ‘a music festival but not as you know it’. By 2017, Boomtown Fair had expanded to welcome thousands of visitors – all drawn to this very unique festival.
To handle this rapid growth in attendee numbers, the organisation also needed to expand quickly. And while collaboration is key at Boomtown Fair – the organisation works with a flat structure and minimal hierarchy – the expansion of complex site logistics, ticket sales, marketing and management meant that internal communications and operations had become disjointed and difficult.
In order to continue scaling the popular annual festival, the directors decided to revisit the company structure to smooth out decision-making processes and communications. The specific challenge faced by Boomtown Fair was to combine this growth with keeping their original ethos.


Outlining the agenda


Creativity at the heart of the process
Facilitating the discussion
The Commercial Manager, Emma Veitch and Communications Manager, Anna Wade, wanted to run a team Away Day for the entire company to share ideas to improve the internal structure and communications. It was felt that this Away Day should be organised quickly and held in advance of the December launch of the 2018 Boomtown Fair.
To allow both managers to take part in the Away Day, and to ensure that everyone’s voice would be heard, they decided a professional facilitator should be hired. They soon discovered Jewell Facilitation and felt Helene would be the ideal fit to lead their creative team through what was likely to be a challenging process.
The first step of working with Jewell Facilitation was to define the very specific aims of the workshop and organisation overall. The concise and efficient process shone a light on the challenges faced by the Boomtown Fair team and the changes that needed to be discussed. A two-day workshop was outlined, reflecting the creative nature of the organisation, featuring group discussions and practical activities with music themes to capture the festival atmosphere and to ignite and nurture the many ideas and solutions needed.
Impact for the future
Hiring a professional facilitator to smoothly combine the need for solid outcomes with the desire to embrace the creative festival approach proved to be a winning idea with everyone in the organisation.
Helene kept the days flowing, ensuring each core topic was structured with clear objectives for the discussions and skillfully navigating through the complexities of the organisation. Mixing the teams between the group activities brought people together who wouldn’t otherwise work together. The musical thread that runs through the organisation was mirrored by incorporating music and festival themes into the activities. As a result, the team members were able to enjoy two days of pro-actively working together, building relationships and solving companywide issues.
What’s more, the management team was able to see that many aspects of concern were simply the normal symptoms of rapid growth. The open conversations around building and improving the existing organisation structure have since led to a raft of positive changes.
It was possible to implement many of those changes at speed by using one-to-one review sessions to discuss new roles and responsibilities within the team members.


Agreeing some next steps
Where next?
Anecdotal feedback shows people are feeling happy in their jobs again and the teams are communicating effectively after completing the creative workshop challenges together.
Building on the success of the initial Away Days and realising the benefits of bringing in an external facilitator, Boomtown commissioned Jewell Facilitation the following year – both to reflect on the impacts of the original Away Day and to work on some action planning around sustainability for the year ahead.
Testimonial
Helene brings high energy and fun into any discussion
If you are looking for a creative workshop facilitator, then you should use Helene! She’s amazing; she managed to steer forty people through a huge set of company-wide topics and keep the momentum going. Focused conversations meant that everyone felt they were being listened to during the session and everyone left with a clear understanding of the next steps. She brings high energy and fun into any discussion; I would 100% recommend her to others.
Emma Veitch
Commercial Manager, Boomtown Fair
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