Managing a growing community festival
Many volunteers find rapid festival growth difficult to adapt to. Local festivals have experienced (9) ________ rapid growth during the first two decades of the current century that planning can feel very daunting (10) ________ times. Experienced organisers have (11) ________ forward suggestions for managing festivals at a practical local level. One suggestion involves thinking of three venues for an event, rather (12) ________ two. Apparently, many organisers faced (13) ________ cancellations respond by considering two possible alternative nearby venues, but invariably tend to reject both of them. However, thinking instead of three possible locations is a strategy which, according to research, provides a reliable way of finding a location for the cancelled activity. Another strategy advocates learning to avoid fixed patterns in routine planning. Something simple, (14) ________ testing another route to events at (15) ________ once a week, is seen as encouraging confidence when facing sudden uncertainty alone. (16) ________ the simplicity of these ideas, they nevertheless help prepare volunteers mentally to manage major disruption if necessary.