‘Blood, sweat, and tears’ to organise Fieldays

Most Waikato residents have experienced Fieldays, but how many have considered what goes into organising it?

The Southern Hemisphere’s largest agricultural event spans four days, in which around 1000 exhibitors display their wares over 42 hectares and more than 125,000 visitors are expected.

Fieldays makes up around 80 per cent of manager of Mystery Creek events Vanessa Richmond’s workload, and she acknowledges it is a huge undertaking.

“It can be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.”

Step one is deciding on the Fieldays Premier Feature theme which is “topical,” “hot,” and will capture potential attendees’ interest, so key players in the agricultural sector are called in for a brainstorming session.

Then the focus moves to the exhibitors, and sites are highly sought-after.

Reserve site-holders make up around 70 per cent of exhibitors, and they can secure their spot  in July, while the general ballot opens in December.

“From July, we’re locked in for the next year,” said Richmond. “Our sitemap is already out, and where we have space for complementary activities, like competitions, and sub-events, and demonstrations.”

Richmond and her team of around eight are responsible for all that, and have brainstorming meetings to develop their ideas.

“The one person who is responsible for Kiwi’s Best Kitchen, for example, is like ‘hey, I need a celebrity chef.’ And we all sit down there and talk about every celebrity chef that we’ve seen on tv in the last year, and what we thought of them,” said Richmond.

Finding the right idea and the right way to make it a reality can take ten minutes, or hours.

Because Richmond’s management role often takes her away from day-to-day Fieldays planning, she works closely with the man who she says has a “bird’s eye view”: event executive Michael Hall.

Hall got a taste of Fieldays organising events like last year’s opening ceremony and cocktail functions, but has learnt a lot this time around.

He said his new role involved a bit of everything, and he was keeping a close eye on a multi-part spreadsheet which tracks what needs to be done.

“We have a final goal and then we have all the steps along the way planned out with dates, so we try to hit each of those so that we’re staying on top of everything as we’re getting closer to the event.”

Two specialists work spend all year getting the exhibitors sorted.

“They have the map and the exhibit sites, and they liaise with the customers constantly,” said Richmond.

Other team members organise events leading up to and within Fieldays.

Event technician Wai Taimai had been working on activities like Rural Bachelor of the Year and the Kiwi’s Best Kitchen area, and was looking forward to her first Fieldays as part of the team.

When it rolls around, approximately 150 volunteers will pitch in to help with tasks like the courier service, car parking, and food and beverage service.

“The 30-odd staff who have planned, and developed, and run the event throughout the year -unfortunately, we don’t have enough arms and legs, so that manpower is just invaluable,” said Richmond.

She finds it difficult to pick the best part of being involved in Fieldays, but loves seeing it come together on day one.

It’s chaotic, she said, but in a good way because everyone is buzzed, busy, and keen to make the most of Fieldays.

“When it’s come together and you see it in action, it’s kind of indescribable. That’s when you get the goosebumps.”