Festival operations and portable work records
counts.
Run your festival crew, artist intake and live schedule in one place — then give the people who made it happen a verified record of their work.
Ran a real 499-capacity festival in July 2026 — Slipshod Gathering, Lincolnshire.
01The problem
The evidence disappears when the weekend ends.
Rotas live in spreadsheets. Swaps happen in WhatsApp. Artist details arrive through DMs. Crew chiefs remember who was brilliant, but that knowledge rarely leaves the field.
Deposits try to replace the missing trust. They mostly measure who can afford to float the money, not who will turn up.
50%
Volunteer no-show rate at Slipshod in 2025
£130
The deposit for a first-time volunteer with no history to show
Deposits are a tax on missing infrastructure.
02How it works
Here's the whole product in one shift. It goes on the rota, it gets worked and logged as it happens, and it lands on someone's pass as verified history — nothing typed up afterwards, nothing rebuilt.
On the rota
Gate crew
2 of 4 filledFri 10 Jul · 14:00–18:00 · Main entrance
Clash-checked, two slots still open.
Worked
Gate crew
CompleteChecked in 13:52 · Finished 18:04
Logged as it happened — not typed up after.
On the pass
Slipshod Gathering 2026
Gate crew · 4 shifts · 16h
Verified by the festival. Ready for the next one.
03The pilot
Lanyard was not tested in a demo environment. It ran the crew, the artist intake and the public timetable for a 499-capacity independent festival — Scholey Park, Lincolnshire, 10–12 July 2026. Every figure below was recorded by the product itself.
Read the full pilot case study
The 2026 crew, still here on Sunday.
No-shows, year on year
Two operating years, measured two different ways — 2025 counts people, 2026 counts shifts. Practical pilot indicators, not a controlled experiment.
Crew
Lineup and audience
04The product
The rota, the lineup and the work record finally agree.
01 · Workforce
02 · Lineup
Artists already create their own festival profile to populate the timetable. Over time, that becomes a verified history of where they performed. — In development
05Recognition
Shifts done. Signed off. Kept.
Lanyard logs the weekend as it happens — shifts worked, jobs done, a nod from the organiser where it's earned. Your crew choose what shows on their pass and carry it to the next festival. Good work travels. Rough weekends stay where they happened.
A record, not a scoreboard. No points, no leaderboards, nobody ranked against their mate.
The pass · every cell is a verified shift
Wear it on your chest.
06How it is built
Each of these came out of a decision made on site, usually because the alternative had just gone wrong.
One instruction at a time, at a size you can read in daylight with wet hands.
The screens a crew member needs on site stay light enough to load on one bar.
A record of work done, not a game. Nobody is ranked against the person next to them.
Workers approve which positive recognition appears on their portable record. Operational problems stay with the event that recorded them.
07Who is behind it
I spent a decade designing digital products and live experiences. Then I started Slipshod Gathering and found myself running volunteers, artists, passes and schedules through disconnected tools.
Lanyard began as the system I needed in the field. Now I am working with other independent festivals to find out where it removes the most pain.
08Pricing
No per-head fees, no modules, no surprises in September. Workforce, Lineup and the public timetable come together, priced on your event's capacity — one figure per event.
And while Lanyard proves itself, pilot festivals don't pay it. You get the platform and founder-led setup; Alex gets honest feedback from your field.
Per event
2026–27 pilots run free in return for honest feedback while Lanyard is being proved. When it earns its keep, this is what it'll cost.
Build your event first — no account until you want to save it.
09Early access
Tell Lanyard how your event works and it builds the workspace around it — the crew, the lineup, the passes, whatever your weekend actually needs. No sales call to sit through and no account until you want to keep it.
Lanyard is working with a small number of independent UK festivals, so Alex reads every new event before it goes live — and helps you get the first bit set up properly.
Start where it hurts
Pick the messy bit and the builder opens on it. Answer as much or as little as you like — you'll see the workspace take shape before anyone asks you for an email.
Rather talk it through first? Email Alex — he replies personally within 48 hours.
