Every show is big, and every show is different
A showground does not run dozens of small jobs. It runs a few very large ones. A spring festival, a championship dog show, an autumn show, each drawing crowds, each needing a crew of casual staff, and each with its own way of working.
The staffing that held all of it together used to run on manual scheduling and, when word needed to reach the team, letters in the post.
That held up for years. It also turned every show into a fresh scramble, and made planning the next one harder than it should have been.
Three Counties Showground, in Malvern, is a venue and a charity in one. It runs its own calendar of major shows, rents the grounds out to other organisers, and staffs the events that fill them. Four big shows a year set the rhythm, and casual staff are what make them happen.
One ground, very different shows:
- Countrytastic
- RHS Malvern Spring Festival
- Three Counties Championship Dog Show
- Royal Three Counties Show
- Malvern Autumn Show
Getting off paper and getting ahead
The manual way of working had a ceiling, and the showground had reached it. Posting a letter to staff was slow. Building each show’s crew by hand left little room to think about the next one.
In March 2022, Three Counties made the call to run its staffing on one platform instead.
“Before Liveforce, getting the word out to staff could still mean a letter in the post.”
The features that suit a show season
Shift scheduling for casual staff
Each show needs a different crew. Shifts are built and filled from one staff list, so staffing a show no longer starts from a blank page every time.
Availability at a glance
Knowing who was free used to mean asking around. Staff availability is visible up front, so shifts go to the people who can actually work them.
Shifts posted a year ahead
A showground’s year is set well in advance. Shifts for next year’s shows can go up now, giving early clarity on staffing needs and the budget behind them.
Event tagging for each show
One showground, very different shows. Tagging lets the team set specific messages and staffing requests per event, so a dog show and a spring festival are never run the same way.
In-app updates and the Crew App
Staff updates once went out by letter. Now they land in one place, and casual staff pick up shifts, briefings and last-minute changes on their phone through the Crew App. During the big shows, when a plan can move by the hour, that is the difference between a team in step and a team out of the loop.
A platform that flexes with each show
Liveforce gave the showground one place to schedule casual staff, see who was available, and reach the team, set up to suit how a showground actually works. No two shows are staffed the same way, so the platform had to bend to each one rather than force them all into a single mould.
Planning replaced scrambling
The biggest change was timing. Rather than pulling each show’s crew together at the last minute, the team could post shifts well ahead, even for next year’s shows, and see the staffing and budget picture early.
Messages that once went out by post now reach everyone in the app, and each show can be set up around its own needs.
Before and after Liveforce
Before Liveforce
Staff updates sent out by letter and post
Casual staff for each show scheduled by hand
Next year's staffing was hard to picture
Every show handled much the same way
Staff availability was mostly a guess
After Liveforce
Updates reaching everyone through the app
Shifts built and filled from one staff list
Shifts posted a year in advance
Each show tagged and set up to its own needs
Availability visible before shifts go out
The difference
Word gets out in minutes, not days
Less time spent standing each show up
Early clarity on numbers and budgets
A setup that suits the show, not the reverse
The right people booked for each show
A lighter load, and a clearer year ahead
The savings showed up in time and money.
Each show took less admin to stand up. Paying casual staff got simpler too, with hours and staff records in one place rather than scattered across paper and inboxes. And because the staffing was planned rather than guessed, the numbers to budget against were clear months in advance.
Now the showground can post next year’s shifts before this year’s marquees have even come down.
Several seasons on, Liveforce is not the new thing the team is trialling. It is simply part of how the year runs.
The shows still take over the grounds every year. The difference is that Three Counties now walks into each one already knowing the plan.
