Nicole Wooldrik is student Hotel and Event Management at Tio Hengelo and is doing her internship at event organiser UDC. Nicole: “I am mainly responsible for the production planning during events such as Dance Valley, Dutch Valley and Beatloverz.”
Nicole: “UDC is the organiser of the most renowned festivals in the Netherlands. Dance Valley, for example, is one of the Netherlands’ oldest festivals. This year, it celebrated its twentieth anniversary and had circa 40,000 visitors. That says a lot about the quality of the festival. UDC is also responsible for Dutch Valley, Ground Zero, Beatloverz and Go Après Ski.”
Event management from A to Z
Nicole works in the production department. Nicole: “We make sure that a festival or party is physically realised. Everything you see during a festival, from the tents and stages to the bars, is arranged by us and we make sure everything is set up properly. I am mainly responsible for the production planning. In other words, I make sure that as much as possible gets built in as little time as possible. I maintain contacts with suppliers, make arrangements about the planning, act as a trouble-shooter during the construction and demolition of the event and when anyone needs anything, I arrange it for them.”
Preparations for Dance Valley
Nicole has first-hand knowledge of how much time and effort it takes to create a production such as the Dance Valley event. Nicole: “We spend the whole year booking artists and arranging the marketing and production. The festival sector is fairly hectic and has a lot of peak times. Sometimes, everything has to get done at the same time, which can be quite stressful. Fortunately, I have great colleagues who are always willing to help. It is awesome to get the chance to be part of this team and to ultimately be able to say that Dance Valley was once again a great success and that I contributed to that.”
Versatile bachelor programme and quick graduation
The Communication course has been helpful for Nicole: “Without communication, you cannot get anything done. Making clear agreements and getting everything on paper, that sort of thing. Event Management is also a very useful subject, although I think I learned most about that field during my internship itself. I chose Tio because they offer a versatile bachelor programme. Although it is called Hotel and Event Management, there is so much more you can do with this programme. On top of that, I was able to complete both my level-4 vocational training course and my bachelor’s degree in just 5.5 years.”
Follow Nicole on LinkedIn.