Five tips and tricks you need to know before going to Bluedot Festival
With Bluedot festival just 7 days until launch, our team share our top tips to enjoying everything this one of a kind festival has to offer
You know the usual festival hacks – bring a power pack to keep your phone charged, have a meeting point in case you get separated from your friends, don’t camp down hill of the Portaloos. But Bluedot Festival isn’t like any other, so we have compiled a few extra tips to make the most of the four-day camping events music, science, art, and culture.
1. Find a spot to camp with a great view of the Lovell Telescope.
Bluedot is such a unique festival – where else can you find so many great minds from science and art all together in one site for an entire weekend? But camping under the Lovell Telescope makes the event truly one of a kind. Don’t miss out on waking up to such a spectacular view – spend some time finding the best place to pitch your tent.
Our team had a spectacular view at Bluedot last year
2. Check out the grounds.
Jodrell Bank is a massive site and Bluedot set up lots of areas for the various events. The main area is the Lovell Stage and sits right beneath the incredible Lovell Telescope. There is also the Star Pavillion where you can speak to panels of world-leading researchers, the Launch Pad Zones that are great for kids to get hands on with science and technology, and loads more. Make sure you have a good scout around so you have your bearings when it comes to finding the events you want to attend.
3. Make a list of the events you want to attend.
This one is important – so important that Bluedot have made a handy free smartphone app (Bluedot Festival for both Apple and Android) to help you build your own schedule. You are sure you’ll remember when Blue Planet with the Hallé Orchestra starts on Thursday, but with so much going on you’ll quickly find yourself busy learning lightsaber moves (also, if you think this event is just for the kids, our team will fiercely defend spending 45 minutes acting out Star Wars scenes at this workshop).
Pixies headlining Bluedot 2017 was one of the HIW favourite event last year
4. Check out the DotTalks for some down time.
It’s nice to get some time to sit down and rest between the events you need to be up and about on your feet. DotTalks are a great place to do that – just sit back with a cold drink and enjoy. Whether they are about saving the bumblebees, eliminating malaria, ice and fire in the natural world, ocean exploration, or the secrets of the microscopic world, the DotTalks are packed with interesting presentations on the variety of research behind protecting and understanding our planet.
5. Go to at least one event that wouldn’t usually be your thing.
If you are going to Bluedot mostly because you’re really passionate about live music and can’t wait to see The Chemical Brothers brand new show, why not also try getting into some philosophy and challenging yourself to think about life and the big questions with Richard Dawkins and Jim Al-Khalili. With such a mix of entertainment, it’s a great opportunity to explore new interests.
We tried making some of our own ‘Mito Art’ with Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University’s stall
If you’ve not bought your tickets for Bluedot Festival 2018 yet, weekend and day tickets are still available here. And if you see any of our team out and about around the festival, come and say hello! We are super friendly and love to chat about science and our magazine.
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