The much-loved Bournemouth 7s returned with two exciting new sports added to the line-up for 2023: cheerleading and basketball. Noise Management Company, Acoustecc, was back too, building community engagement and reassuring residents at Bournemouth 7s, May 26th-28th, 2023.
Bournemouth 7s attracted 30,000 young revellers for a Bank Holiday weekend of music and sport. In addition to the new cheerleading and basketball competitions, the rugby, netball, hockey, dodgeball and fitness tournaments were competitive to a very high standard, along with over 100 artists across 12 festival arenas adding to the party.
For 2023 the organisers introduced an enhanced noise compliance process, implemented by Acoustecc. Any issues raised were directly reported to Sophia Livett, Director of Acoustecc, and event control to ensure that they are addressed quickly and effectively. The goal was to maintain the highest standards when it came to the safety and comfort of guests and local residents.
This was the first year in his new role as Managing Director, Bournemouth 7s, Paul Ashurst, who said:
‘Our team has been amazing in introducing new elements to our event and comfortably managing the few challenges that cropped up this year.
“I’m delighted by our creative developments to make this festival look the best ever. We put lots of effort into creating Instagrammable moments, now so popular at festivals, so it’s been a real plus to extend our reach and fun to engage the audience.
“I really enjoyed working with Sophia. We set out to be amazing and have a great working relationship, which helps to engage our festival with the community. That takes all the pressure from me thinking about it. If there’s any sort of noise question or issue it’s dealt with immediately. She’s very professional in her approach and I recommend her particularly and her business Acoustecc in general.”
Sophia Livett has worked with the Symphotech Group since 2018, progressing quickly to run the Acoustecc division, which has more than tripled in size. Sophia enthuses:
“Paul (Ashurst) and [predecessor] Craig (Mathie) have always been great at customer engagement. They’ve been running Bournemouth 7s for many years. With such a varied site combining sports and music, they couldn’t always stay on top of noise management aspects.
“They have a fantastic audio company called AudioFeed that can do noise monitoring, but they found that running ten stages, it was challenging to manage all locations and liaise with the council officials. We work closely with them and they’re superbly responsive.
“Part of our brief was ensuring effective communication between all parties. It’s one of our three C’s. Communicate, Collaborate and Commit, and we apply all of those to make this project a success.
“We took that on, spoke with the council, developed a system to engage with the residents, which has got us to a nice point where everyone’s on the same page, it really eases tensions all around. So making sure that everyone can collaborate.
“Sports audiences are very different compared to just a music festival. The atmosphere is completely different – it makes me feel like I’m 18 again. There’s a unique blend of sports and it’s got a real team environment, which makes this one of my favourite events to work on, I love how everyone comes together. It’s such a different event because it has that support element as the teams are from an event background and the sporting background, they manage all of this and learn from each other.
“The sustainability of the festival is at the forefront and will ensure the festival continues running for years to come, as it is very strong, and I hope we are part of that journey.
“You can see a real development with everybody talking to everybody. There is a hierarchy, but they are so lovely and I always enjoy seeing the team here. Bournemouth 7s is fantastic and we’re committed to its ongoing journey.”
