The six Criteria being reviewed is as follows: -

1 Value for money

• How much was the price for a “full pass” when compared to other similar festivals and did this offer value for money? The price for a super early bird full pass was £80.00 + £2.50 booking fee. For a UK dance festival this is the average price for a super early bird ticket and represents good value for money compared to on the door price of £140.00
• Did the “full pass” offer value for money when compared to the event offering as per the program/timetable? Yes £80.00 represented great value for money for the full pass which allowed access to a range of workshops mainly Bachata/Kizomba (choice of 3 workshops at any time) throughout the weekend as well as access to the outdoor afternoon social.
• Any extra charges for “preparty” or “afterparty” and did these extra charges represent value for money? Not applicable - There was no preparty or Afterparty at this festival

Overall score for value for money is 9

2 Event Venue

• How was the Room temperature/air conditioning of the event venue? Daytime Workshop room temperature was kept cool by air conditioning, Evening parties Kizomba and Urban Kiz room were kept cool by air conditioning. Bachata room evening party Friday and Sunday was an average/slightly warm temperature with the air conditioning on full blast. On Saturday night party was hot/warm with the air conditioning on full blast. The Bachata room had air con and fans on all nights but as there were so many people dancing on the Saturday this inevitably led to a hot/warm bachata room as so many people were dancing.
• How was the quality of flooring at the event venue? Floorplates of very good quality were used in all 3 dance rooms as well as the floor for the outside floor for the social, all the floor plates remained intact throughout the event. This is the 1^st time since hosting bachakiz since 2015 that it actually rained at various times throughout the weekend. To enable the outdoor afternoon social, the organiser but a makeshift roof over the outside flooring so dancers could still dance even if it rained which was really impressive.
• How was the proximity to nearby hotels / shops / restaurants etc. from the event venue? The venue is within 15-25 mins walking distance from other cheaper hotels, a few fast-food shops at the East midlands airport and within 25 min walk from a service station so a good variety of food outlets and alternative accommodation.

 

It has been noted that the venue Leonardo hotel (formerly Jury’s inn) is in a very good location next to East Midlands airport which makes it easily accessible by road, rail and air which the venue is within close proximity to other hotels and eateries with the added bonus of a outdoor area for the afternoon social which are the advantages of using this venue which we as participants take for granted. The disadvantages of the venue is that the size of the main dancefloor (for the bachata room) is small considering Bachakiz has grown from strength to strength over the years from 2015 to 2023 and the numbers now attending the festival are so many especially during the evening parties that the bachata room on Friday and Saturday night were so crowded there wasn’t as much space to dance which most dances would ideally like. However, closing a larger venue would possibly mean more expensive hiring fees which in turn means higher entry prices for participants, and losing some of the positive points about the Leonardo hotel mentioned above so is a balancing act when decide which venue to use for the best result.

Overall score for event venue 9.5 – credit for effort due to the organiser going the extra mile by putting a makeshift roof over the outdoor flooring which was a nice surprise as many people though outdoor social was weather permitting.

3 Music quality (during the party)

• Was a Fair mix of music played of what would be expected by an “average” dancer compared to the festival theme? A fair mix and range of bachata music was played at the 3 party nights with 1 salsa track played after every 10 bachata tracks in the bachata room. The kizomba and urban kiz rooms had their own specific style of music. The DJs in the bachata and kizomba rooms would rotate every hour to provide a good balance and mix of music to be played through the night by different dj’s. This, would have been in line with your average bachata dancer expectation of a festival
• Any significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting? There were no significant technical issues which resulted in long periods of waiting.

Overall value for Music quality score 10

4 Workshop offerings

• Did the classes start and finish on time? There was strict time management in place with reminders going round 10 minutes before the end of the lesson to ensure lessons started and finished on time.
• Did the workshops on offer match to what was advertised from the main festival poster? Most workshops on offer were of a bachata or Kizomba majority nature hence the name “Bachakiz” which is what would have been reasonably expected from this festival.
• Did the workshops on offer off a fair balance of what would have been expected from the theme of the festival? Yes, the workshops on offer had a choice of bachata or kizomba or other from any of the 3 workshop choices at any one time so if you were a bachata only or Kizomba only dancer there would be a workshop that would suit you or failing that there was the outdoor afternoon social.
• Were the dance instructors visible to most of the participants during the workshops? i.e. were there any raised platforms or large screens. Bachakiz Nottingham festival was of a small one and the instructors were standing on a raised platform in the centre of the room most of the time, so participants could see them and instructors were visible to most participants.
• Language of the workshops delivered in? All workshops were delivered in English Language

Overall score for workshop offering is 9.5

5 Balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the event

• Was there a balanced ratio of leaders to followers at the festival? There was a good balanced ratio of leaders to followers through the festival with probably slightly more followers at the evening social.
• Were any there any monitoring of ticket sales to enable positive action (such as restricting numbers) to try and keep leaders and follower’s ratio balanced? There was no monitoring of ticket sales to identify leaders and follower’s numbers which could be used to identify large imbalances of numbers and enable the organisers to take positive action from this.

Overall score for leaders to follower’s ratio is 9.5

Note smaller size festivals are especially vulnerable to large imbalances of leader to follower ratio due to the small number of participants attending compared to larger events where imbalances are not felt as significantly as extra leaders/followers are spread and distributed more evenly through the large number of attendees. 

6 Event Transparency

• Was all the information such as timetable/party theme advertised in a timely manner prior to the festival? Yes, Event timetable and 3-night party themes advertised approx. 2 weeks before the festival which gave participants sufficient notice to plan and organise which workshops, they wanted to do and seek clothing for the 3 themed party nights.
• Was there any significant omission of event information that may have changed participant’s mind had this omission of information been know sooner prior to purchasing a festival ticket? Aside of not announcing the key festival artists until only 2 months before the event taking place, there is no other significant omission of event information that may have changed participant’s mind had this omission of information been know sooner prior to purchasing a festival ticket to the best of my knowledge.
• Were there any “hidden charges” an average person wouldn’t have been expected to have paid based on the information available at the time of purchasing a festival ticket. There were no hidden charges to the best of my knowledge.
• Were there any advertised party rooms or advertised workshops withdrawn and did not run in accordance with the advertised festival timetable? There were no advertised workshops or party rooms which were withdrawn and did not run in accordance with the advertised festival timetable.
• Were there any additional rooms party rooms or additional workshops that ran that was not listed on the advertised festival timetable. All advertised workshops and evening party rooms ran in accordance with the advertised festival timetable with no additional rooms party rooms or additional workshops to the best of my knowledge. Although it did rain at times during the Saturday and Sunday the outdoor afternoon social still went ahead as organisers put a makeshift roof over the dancefloor which was great and totally unexpected as most people assumed outdoor social was weather permitting.
• Were there any parts of the festival (other than workshops and evening parties) that didn’t take place but was advertised to take place as per the timetable/ festival program. I am not aware of any other advertised workshop/party as per the timetable / festival timetable which didn't take place.
• Overall value for Event Transparency score 9.5

 

Overall average score is 9.5 ((9+9.5+10+9.5+9.5+9.5)/6) meaning this event Bachakiz Nottingham 2023 festival is overall an outstanding / exceptional event based on my above score on the six different criteria I have scored it.

From my personal experience the best part of the Bachakiz Nottingham festival is the outdoor afternoon SBK social which happens in the outside area in middle of the Leonardo hotel during the middle of summer and is a really nice afternoon especially if it’s sunny and warm. This makes it a really nice dance experience as most other UK festivals don’t have an outdoor afternoon social during the day.

On a final note, from my personal experience, Bachakiz Nottingham festival is probably one of the friendliest dance festivals within the UK with bachata dancers coming from all over the country attending every year for their love of bachata and dance. This is a festival I would personally recommend to anyone to attend weather you are a complete beginner or advance dancer as you will enjoy this event as its held in the centre of the UK in Nottingham, which has one of the best dance communities around ready to welcome you to the dancefloor. You will love the organisers of the Festival, Sol and Laura who are both great entertainers who will keep you laughing for hours and they both know how to throw a really good dance party and dance festival!