Event Production students Do It For Real in award-winning venues

Wednesday November 9, 2022

Our students are supporting DHP Family – one of the UK’s leading companies in the entertainment sector – with live and technical events support in their venues: Rock City, The Bodega and Rescue Rooms.

In October, eleven of our students began their work experience placement at DHP Family. The opportunity provides them the chance to put the technical skills they’re learning as part of their course into action.

Putting on a live event production for a concert or gig involves so many skills, from lighting design, to live sound, broadcasting, live event planning, and live video installation and design. Our BSc (Hons) Event Production course puts students in the driving seat, learning hands-on from our Confetti team of experts in real-world live events environments like Rock City, Bodega and Rescue Rooms, through our partnerships with organisations like DHP Family… not to mention our own live events venues Metronome and Confetti X.

By the end of their placement in December, our students will have completed a whopping 460 Do It For Real hours – that’s a heck of a lot of experience for their CV’s!

We caught up with a few students currently on placement, to find out what these opportunities mean to them:

I found it quite inspirational yesterday as there was a female front of house engineer (my first time seeing one in action!) who was showing us how to do some work on the mixing desk during the show! When there wasn’t anything to do, we had a few conversions with the engineers, and they explained their experiences as to how they got to where they are now!” – Becky Winrow, BSc (Hons) Event Production, Year 2

The experience has been a real confidence builder. It’s not as scary as it seems from a distance, once you get hands on in a venue like The Bodega, the training kicks in and it’s suddenly much less terrifying.” – Will Ellson, BSc (Hons) Event Production, Year 2

“The Bodega on Saturday was absolutely amazing. I got involved in the entire process of setting up the stage including ringing out the PA, monitors, setting up DJ decks for the artist. For the actual gig, I was controlling lighting. Bea, the engineer for the evening was so kind and supportive. She was helpful answering questions and getting me involved in all aspects of the gig.” – Kyle Allen, BSc (Hons) Event Production, Year 2

I already had some experience but I was working smaller gigs. This placement is a chance to work in much bigger venues, with better equipment and alongside their professional technicians – we’re picking up a lot learning from them how they do their job.” – Tom Else, BSc (Hons) Event Production, Year 2

Central Production Manager for DHP Family, Sam Joynes has been working with us to provide prior online health and safety venue training and a mixed schedule of opportunities for students to experience real working environments. Sam’s had some really positive things to say about our students:

“So far the students joining us have shown fantastic enthusiasm and a very high level of production knowledge considering their limited experience. We’re hopeful they will see a diverse spectrum of live events across rooms of varying capacities. The process has been rewarding for our staff giving them an opportunity to share their knowledge with individuals who are keen to learn and ready and willing to get their hands dirty!”

Are you interested in being part of events and getting hands on experience as part of your studies? Book onto an Open Day to find out more about all the opportunities on offer here at Confetti.