Festival Hack Day - BBC6 Music

Summary of the Event...

Friday 20th February 2015, 9:30am till 4pm the next day!!! 

Located at The Core, Newcastle University, Newcastle, Students and local tech based SME's attended and partners included BBC 6 Music, Generator, Newcastle University.

AIM: To produce an app that would develop their festival ideas into web and mobile apps to trial at the event. From creating personal line ups, to finding friends, learning more about the bands performing live and sharing unique festival stories – the creators at Festival Hack Day will have an open brief to look at all elements of the live music experience.team

So where do skignz fit in?

We decided to take part as one of the regions Tech based SME's, but we felt as the skignz technology platform which we have been developing over the last few years. 

skignz provides any festival with a significantly enhanced user experience, introduces fresh new tech and helps in areas where problems have only been present in the past.

  

We felt it would be unfair to 'enter skignz' so what we did was provide the 'hackers' with some code that they could include in their own app ideas that would launch the skignz tech. So we developed an onsite demo for each of the hackers to access, giving them an understand of what skignz is capable of then we encouraged them to set up their own accounts, so when they launched the skignz browser from their apps they would have meaningful content.

              

Many congratulations must go to the awesome OrangeBus team as they were overall winners with the best Hack!

Check out the story of the hack on their storify feed:
https://storify.com/orangebus/orange-bus-follow-the-music-and-win?utm_source=orangebus.co.uk&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_i0KTL&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter

What did some of the participants say?:

Take a look at the below links all connected with the event. Lots of feedback, insight and musing about the whole event:

Hugh Rawlinsons Blog Post:

http://blog.soundwave.com/bbc-6-music-festival-hack-day/

Newcastle University:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/hour-festival-hack-day-announced-as-part-of-the-6-music-festival-on-tyneside

M Magazine:
http://www.m-magazine.co.uk/news/6-music-festival-host-hack-day/

OrangeBus:
http://www.orangebus.co.uk/en/blog/orange-bus-follow-the-music

If you would like to know more about Generator NE

http://www.generator.org.uk/

For more information on BBC Radio 6 Music festival then please take a look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e8qbj5

Check out the Gallery below for some further images through the eyes of skignz:

 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Make your festival fun not a task!

skignz knows that each year, thousands of people attend festivals to have an awesome time and see some of their favourite acts. However you want that festival to be fun, not a struggle to find your friends, find the bar, know where the toilets are and so many other activities that many people find to be a drone when attending a festival.

So we decided to get a personal point of view from a 22 year old student who went to a festival earlier this year and realised just how many struggles there was during the whole event whilst trying to have a good time. 

"I attended a festival earlier this year in Milton Keynes called EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival). The event was meant to be a two day weekend which was better this year as it meant I could see more of my favourite acts on each day rather than being crammed all into one. However this got changed and it became a one day event. This didn’t bother me as much because I could still see some of my favourite acts although two of them would be playing at the same time on different stages which meant I had to choose between the two of them. I didn’t like this because it was a hard choice and I wasn’t sure what to do. 

Before I went to EDC I got to see who would be playing on what stage and when. However I didn’t take note of this so when I got there I forgot who was playing when and where on what stage. I could have found out but by the time I had searched around looking I would have missed out DJ’s that I wanted to see. So in the end I had to just decide to stay where I was and just randomly come across DJ’s that were playing close to the stage where I was near! 

After being there for a few hours and having quite a few drinks already (plus on the coach down – bottle of vodka between two never a good idea!) things started to get a bit “confusing” so to say. Things that I needed to do became a struggle. To start off with going to the bar and back constantly was a real task, having to make my way out of the crowd then back again to find where my friend was. 

This was okay at time as there was only two of us so near the beginning of the festival we went the bar together then back again to find a spot to wait for an act to play. However as the day went on, we had a good spot and didn’t want to lose it. So we decided to go the bar one at a time. Well this didn’t go to plan as you can imagine! 

I wandered off to the bar to get us some drinks. Thinking all was good, I then decided to head back to where I thought we were stood to give my friend his drinks. This didn’t happen! I l lost him. There was only two of us together so we had no one else to contact. What a nightmare. I did try ringing him but he couldn’t hear his phone in the loud music and crowd so I was now all alone (and even more drunk). Oh no. It then went downhill – literally, from here.

I decided I would just have to wait on my own for a while till I found him. So I thought I needed the toilets, although I didn’t know where these were and I couldn’t be bothered searching around for ages for them, I wanted to get back to the crowd and see the DJ playing that I had gone to watch! 

I then had a brainwave (or what I clearly thought it was at the time), I thought I would just go up this hill of grass and go the toilet around there in a more quiet area. What I didn’t think of what that it had been raining earlier that day and the day before so the grass was already wet. 

Having done what I needed to do I began to struggle to stand up a little, to which I then slipped over where I had just been the toilets and slid down the hill (as you can imagine where I had just had a wee)!. Now this was awful! I felt mucky and dirty and there was no way of cleaning myself. What a mess!

From then I decided to make my way back to the crowd to listen to a few more DJ’s and hopefully meet my friend. (That was a big wish in this crowd!) People were friendly so they did start talking to me however I think it obviously was the friendly drunk talking. Although one girl started talk to which I though she was being quite “overly” friendly with me however I couldn’t tell as I am a friendly chatty person too but I do have a girlfriend at home. 

So when I thought she may be starting to become “too” friendly I told her I had a girlfriend back home. To which she clearly was shocked and disappointed. By this I knew I was in the wrong situation and knew that I needed to find my friend because god damn I knew how much trouble I would be in if my girlfriend found out that to which I thought was a nice friendly girl talking to me was actually trying to make a move on me, I defiantly wouldn’t be getting a happy welcome home!

Then as the night went on I started to search and randomly bumped into my friend which was good for me. We then decided to stay together as we had now by this point been away from each other for a good few hours! This always seems to happen to us at events as well which was becoming more of a regular thing. 

The festival on a whole was a really good time. I did get to see some of my favourite DJ’s who I had gone to see although I didn’t get to see others that I really wanted too as they were on the same time as others and this was a pain that I didn’t know what time and where they were. However from that I enjoyed it loads and would defiantly go back again! EDC 2015 – hopefully Las Vegas this time!'

So now I look back over my time at EDC this year, I found out about skignz and realised just how much I NEEDED it at the event and how much EASIER it would have made my whole time. When I simplify it all down I could have used skignz a lot and knew the whole way around the event. 

For one I could have used skignz to help me know what DJ’s were playing when and where at the event. This way I wouldn’t have had to wait around at time for a DJ I liked to come on and play at a stage where I already was. I could have used skignz to show me where the other stages where and what acts were playing there and at what times. I could have made my struggle a whole load simpler.

Then I could have used skignz for when I lost my friend. Going the bar on my own and saying I will ‘find’ him again in the crowd was never going to happen. If we both had downloaded skignz before we went we could have placed a skign above each of our own heads and connected to each other.

Then that way when I had got the drinks all I had to do was scan my phone across the crowd and I was see the skign above his head and know straight away where he was and I would have been able to find my way back to him as easy as that! Then we would have not lost each other and I would have got into “bad” situations that I really didn’t and shouldn’t have been in! 

Lastly when I think of it my biggest embarrassment and regret was that I didn’t download skignz and skignz up the toilets where they were before I went to EDC. Everyone needs the toilet a lot when they go to any all-day drinking event so really knowing where they are is essential. 

If I had done this and knew where to find them then it would have saved me from falling over in my own urine and save the embarrassment of not looking or smelling too nice and from everyone seeing me like this. 

When I next go to a festival I will defiantly be downloading skignz and setting everything up before I go. I didn’t realise just the potential skignz had and just how much of a great impact it would have on me. I would still have the best time just made a whole load easier so I could enjoy it a lot more and with the people I went with.

I defiantly suggest you download skignz before attending any festival or event as you will see just how much of a great impact it will have on you!”

That was a great and funny statement we received from the student who went to Electric Daisy Carnival this year! It sounded like he had an awesome time although really funny. 

skignz is great for everything when it comes to festivals and live events. As you can read from above skignz can be used in many different ways and very useful. It is free to download and very simple to use! You can also use it to help you find where your tent is at a festival as it is very easy to lose it in the big crowd of tents and also to help you find where you parked your car if you drive to the festival!

For further information on Electric Daisy Carnvial please visit their website at http://www.electricdaisycarnival.co.uk/ 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

skignz: Increased Functionality for Users...

skignz has been actively functioning now for over a year so we thought that we would give you a small insight as to how the functionality of the business has increased and how we are working now compared to how we were when we first developed skignz.

skignz has achieved a lot in the previous year and has got many more exciting opportunities to look forward to, so we thought we would share with you just how much we have progressed.

When skignz was first developed we were a start-up company, so everything was basic including the interface and technology behind skignz. A skign that you see now was just very plain, had no design, style or even much added to it. 

                       

The skignz came in a variety of colours, with just a simple box style and two spaces to insert your heading and write a small amount of text. There was not much to a skignz when we first began, so we saw an opportunity for progression to the next stage.
The next part we wanted to focus on was making more room for users to be able to insert more text into their skign. We also were working with Teesside University and other possible brands and needed to create a skignz design for all students on University campuses to use.

                                                                                                       


Since creating and developing the team skignz managed to come up with a wide variety of ideas and ways in which we could change the way that skignz appeared to all users. We wanted to create a simple and fun theme that we could demonstrate to users as ‘your signs in the sky’ – skignz.

Improving the interface of skignz and the way that it looked was a vast step for us, now we could appeal to more, increasing our user and businesses data. We then saw an opportunity to focus on ways to try and reach a wider audience as we wanted skignz to be globally; not just locally.   

Working on our social media to the highest extent we could, we decided to create a video blog post that we could upload to all our social media sites and see how much of a wider audience this would reach. Luckily for us this managed to go very globally reaching people in Las Vegas which lead us to doing business arrangements and now having the success of opening our very own office in Las Vegas and having Nick Vilardell run it from the US. That was one of skignz first MASSIVE step which were a great time for us.

We then gathered that we needed to add more to our skignz platform and create ways in which it would attract more business interest and users. For that we directed ourselves to the brainchild behind the technology of skignz - Gary Baker.

We first considered creating different accounts so that if anyone managed to become a premium user of skignz they could have unlimited amount of skignz to place around wherever they wished to. From this we thought that with having a premium account where any user can place as many skignz as they wished, they would then like the opportunity to be able to create their own skignz, so they wouldn’t just have to use the already pre placed ones and be able to personally design them however they wish, and that is exactly what we did.

Now any user can manage their own skignz on their account and upload whatever one they would like, whether that was to be an original design taken from the internet or creating and design their own. 

The team at skignz have had a lot of fun with creating their own skignz, from placing doughnuts above houses, roasted chickens in cars to even creating themselves as a skignz and casually chilling outside their own home. 

There is a lot of fun to be had with skignz which is what we are all about; we would like users to have a lot of fun whilst finding it practical and useful at the same time, skignz is not just for one practical use, it is practical for anything. Users can even also use skignz to leave greeting messages for someone if it was the birthday or a special occasion was upon arrival, - if two people are newlyweds then someone could leave a great big congratulations skign right outside their house or their wedding venue at the time; what a groovy wedding gift that would be!

skignz has increased its functionality a lot over the past year, from changing the way that skignz works and appears to future deals we have made and companies we have been in discussion with all ready for some great work in the future.

There is a lot more going on which currently is not available, however soon we do wish to be looking at being able to pull in your Facebook profile to your skignz and being able to run your social media that way whilst discovering new people. 

Also how great would it be to be able to have your 'dating profiles' above your head in a skign, so that you could see who is the perfect match for you and just whereabouts your lucky other half is located.

We are looking to take the initial development we have currently done to the next level, through launching a Kick-starter campaign later this September which you can read about here. http://skignzblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/kickstarter-pre-launch-campaign.html

Please keep in touch with skignz and have a read of our current blogs. If you would like to know more then please contact us through our website or through social media using the links below.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz 

Festivals and Outdoor Events- From a Brands Perspective!

Now this one is for all of you brands out there. Every brand and company wants themselves to differ from one another in some way. But what can you have before anyone else does and that meets every customer’s needs and wants. 

It is not always about just advertising to customers, you need to engage with them on a different level. Festivals and outdoor events are a massive experience to people every year as thousands and thousands attend festivals and want to experience different kinds of acts and see them live. However they need to have a full great experience no matter what they do while they are there and have an overall fulfilled time rather than just enjoy seeing the acts live that they enjoy.

This could be ANY Festival in full flow - Standard!

Now ANY Festival in full flow - But Informatively Enhanced!

Let me just tell you and give you a short illustration of what a brand would do from their perspective and how they would go about giving people that best experience they can get at a festival or outside event.

"Hi my name is Sam. I am the manager of a large sports company with HQ in London. I am just giving you an example of what I think should be done to enhance a person’s experience at an outdoor event. Now we know ourselves, well I do anyway that when we go to a festival it can be a right pain when you get lost or you don’t know where to go, when you don’t know where your car is or where your tent is, or even the biggest one losing your friends when you leave them to go get a drink or go to the toilet.

Now I know myself that I want to help people improve on this and come to some solution for it. Look at it from your own perspective first, you're at a festival with your friends. Imagine when you need to find your tent when you go back to it, there are thousands of people with their different coloured tents up so it isn't going to be easy to find yours now is it. 

Could you find your friend(s) amongst this mass crowd?
Its the same at nearly EVERY Live Event you will attend!

That's just a small problem. When you get settled into the event and go to see your favourite act on stage, you will need a drink, some food and the toilet. Making more than one journey is just a pain so you will do it all in one time. However where are those toilets at, including the food and even where to get the drinks from; the main part of your festival experience – drinking!

I want my brand to help others at the festival not just advertise to them. Now advertising at a festival is big for a brand as everyone sees it and it increases their awareness of the brand. However that is just advertising to people, it isn't helping them or engaging with them at a personal level creating a relationship to benefit them and benefit the brand also. 

When you think about it should always be a two way street. When brands advertise they need to make sure that whatever they do or how they are doing it is benefiting the customer and person themselves and also benefiting the brand at the same time. Providing a two way street, is the best form of advertising as it creates a great relationship between two parties – the brand and the customer.

Now when I am thinking about it and how I can help people at a festival to not get lost and to find their friends and their tent when it comes to it I need something really spectacular to really expose my brand at the same time as providing help to others.

That’s why I now tell you about skignz. I have come across this great new technology that puts 'virtual signs in the sky' for people to view and use to navigate where they are going. Now you might think, well how is this going to help a person attending a festival or an outdoor event yet also improve a brand's exposure at the same time...?

Well let me tell you. skignz will help a person at a festival or outdoor event as, when they go to the toilet and leave their friends or to even go to get some food, it will be very hard to even find where each place is at this massive event filled with thousands of people. Then when they try to go back and find where they were previously situated, will be even more difficult in the massive crowd. 

Find your friends in a crowd! Simple as that!

Well if that person and their group of friends who they are attending the event with (they can download the skignz app for free, before they attend the event) they can each set up and place a skign above their head (using their phone GPS/Wifi signal  to keep it located above them!)

Now when a person wanders away from the group, they will be able to just scan the crowd with their mobile (through the skignz App) and they will see that personalised 'virtual sign in the sky' above their friends head; now then can easily find their way back to them without no hassle.

That sounds so simple to use and best of all it is free for everyone to download. Other public skignz can also be set up around the event so that whoever does have the app for when they attend the event they will easily be able to find the toilet, food and drinks service sections so that they won't have to waste time searching about and getting lost then missing the act that they most wished to see at the festival. 

These branded/sponsored skignz provide the audience with Real Time Live Information!

Now you know how this will benefit a person at a festival or outdoor event you may think well how will it benefit me by using another company’s technology and enhance the acknowledgement of my brand. 


Well let me tell you how...

The best place to get your brand noticed by a wide range of audience is at these huge events where there are thousands of people who will take notice of your brand there.

Then in the future they will associate the skignz technology or that particular festival / outdoor event with your brand. Now through that brand noticing that a person needs help and how can they go the extra mile to help them shows that customer, that you are taking care of them no matter where they are and seeing to their every needs and wants in that very moment. 

Through getting my brand associated with this new piece of great technology, whenever anyone uses it, they will know that my brand is associated with this and just how much it helped them at that festival/outdoor event. 

Now let's just think of the recognition that has created for my brand! Not just at that event but into the future too. It has also provided that company and piece of technology with wider recognition. Everyone will also be more the wiser about that company and what it offers.

Now through my brand, using the new innovative skignz technology, this doesn't just help the brand at a festival, my brand can use this to create an advantage on any of my competitors who do not use skignz – We will be the only ones! It can always be used to enhance a customer’s experience no matter when, not just at the initial festival.

I read once a customer’s point of view in a statement that said: “A company that takes the time to create a more personal relationship with me instantly gets me attention and my loyalty to that brand, as they are not just advertising to me, they are looking to help me in any way they can and take time to create that personal relationship with me”.

Well that everyone, is what my brand is all about and what skignz is all about. So have a think about it and just how much using skignz can help benefit your brand and help you pass on that benefit to your customer’s, thus creating that more personal relationship which is what we are all looking to achieve". 

If you would like to read more on skignz if you are thinking about wanting this great technology within your company and use it to enhance your brand, then please follow the links below and have a read of the company; Even watch a few videos to see just how great and innovative the technology is!

www.skignz.com 

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

Have you ever got lost at a festival or concert?

The summer is rapidly approaching, the clocks have 'jumped forward' and we are now officially into 'British Summer Time' 2014.

The Famous Glastonbury Festival during the summer of 2013

You will hear the songs that define this year specifically for you, in your future memories. Years to come from now, you will hear a song/tune that will take you back to a specific time and place during the summer of 2014!

Many of you will get these memories from attending Festivals, Concerts, Live Events....

Let us set the scene....

You go to a festival this year and you have arrived after what for most is a long journey in a packed up the car/camper. You are shepherded into a farmers field to park your vehicle amongst the tens of thousands of others. 

Parking in farmers fields

Then comes the carrying of all of your kit, to where you pitch your tent or if your lucky enough a Yurt!

Or a Yurt? They all look the same!

Sea of tents! Which one is mine?

Skipping forward past putting up the tent and getting yourself settled in you grab a drink and go for a look around, find out what's going on and where?

You find a a stage with a artist playing you like and you settle in, relax with a drink to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the music.

Sound perfect? This to most is the usual journey each of the millions of people will make this summer to attend the wonderful festivals on offer.

Now you have sat and enjoyed this artist for a while and you fancy another drink or how about something to eat? 

Enjoying the music, the surroundings and the ambience!

Where are the refreshment stands? In fact where are the toilets as you don't fancy making two trips! As with the majority of people, finding the refreshments and toilets is one thing! But finding your way back to where your friends are! Now thats a whole new level of stress and hassle!

Going through your mind is no doubt a few or all of the following:

- How will you get back to where you where? 

- How do you find your friend(s)? The proverbial 'needle in a haystack'! 

Unless your friends are 9ft tall and everybody else is under 5ft tall, you are going to struggle! Add in the feeling you get after a couple of drinks and your orienteering skills are not the sharpest they have ever been!

Is there a solution? Other than carrying around a massive sign or a flag saying 'I am here!' 

What happens if everybody does the same thing, you are all right back to where you started, looking for a 'Needle in a Haystack' springs to mind.

The solutions has arrived and does not require you to carry anything more than what you walk around with in your pocket everyday - a smartphone or tablet.

Lets go back to the point where you're stood looking for the refreshments stand and toilets. Now open up your smartphone/tablet and click on the skignz App! 

Now 'Pan' your phone around as if you were videoing the crowd!

skignz: Increasing & Enghancing the Environment around you!

As you do this and as if by magic, little 'virtual signs' will appear above the toilets and the refreshment stand. Pan further to see who's coming on stage next? Use the pinch on your phone to Zoom in and out on each skign, press the skign on your screen, a short press activates some relevant content, a longer press reveals how far away that actual skign is located!

How about downloading a discounted album of the artist on stage right in that moment, press the 'album cover skign' above the stage and in one or two quick clicks and its delivered to your device - there and then!

So back to your little mission to get a drink and something to eat, visit the toilet while you are there. 

You have used skignz to find each of these locations. 

This type of skignz can been provided by the festivals producers or their sponsors to help you find your way around the festival and make your life easier, while enhancing the whole experience.

Where are my friends? Its like trying to find a 'Needle in a Haystack!'.

Now you have been to the toilet, bought your food and drink and you want to find your friends? 

This is where skignz really becomes your best buddy! 

Hold up the phone again and pan across the crowd and you will see 'skignz' above each of your friends heads! You will only see theres because like with other social media channels you are only linked to people you know or want linked to you!

Now if they have a great big skignz above their head - is that not the easiest way to find them EVER? Theirs and your personal skignz will have a picture of you, your name and a little comment - like a 'Tweet' or 'Facebook status update' on their skignz!

Not only can I find my friends, but also each one is personalised to them!

We at skignz though want to make finding ANYTHING! Easier...! 

So we have included in the free to download App, the ability to 'drop a skignz or arrow' over your car (remember the thing you arrived in and parked in a sea of cars in a farmers field a few hours earlier - you will need that to get home!).

Also your FREE account will let you drop another one over your tent/yurt etc... (remember a few hours ago, after parking the car and carrying your backpack and tent, the thing you then spent an hour trying to build that only has 3 poles and a few pieces of canvas, but its your 'home' for the next few days!).

So now, not only do you know where you parked (ready for quick exit to beat the traffic), where your tent is? (so you can find it, in the middle of the night amongst the ocean of other temporary canvas structures) where the toilets showers and whose playing on what stage and at what time... download their music at offer price, right to you handset, even where the charging points are so your phone does not go dead! 

How much of an improved festival experience is that?

Festivals, Concerts and Live events are the easiest place in the world to get lost & lose your friends!

You dont have to worry about getting lost, finding anywhere specific, losing your friends? skignz is not only helpful, insightful and interactive, is also great as a safety device. 

Getting lost is a horrible feeling, losing your friends and wandering around aimlessly for hours is no fun, after all you came with your mates to have a good time - mostly together, because an experience shared, is so much more than one you experience on your own!

So why not download the skignz app if you are going to a festival, concert or other live event? Even if the venue has not heard about skignz or got their event environment skignzed up! 

Why only see this?

Get your copy of skignz now: 

www.skignz.com/download

You can do it yourselves between you and your friends! even if you only use it to find each other when you get lost, find your tent or car! 

Surely thats gotta be worth 10 secs of your time download a simple little app that could be the coolest thing on your phone this summer! It certainly will be for those people when they get lost and they will!

Enjoy this summer, enjoy the festivals, concerts and other live events, but enjoy it more, knowing you have a little app on your phone that can help you navigate around a strange place, find your friends and find your transport home, cos if you don't find that, you won't get to go to anymore events this summer!

When you can see & experience this...!

Bring on the summer of 2014 - When you hear the new Calvin Harris song 'Summer' and you and your friends have all downloaded skignz to see what its like?

We are sure from now on you will remember the summer of 2014 as the 1st year that you used skignz!

Get your copy of skignz now: 

www.skignz.com/download