Rewards for Volunteering
Free entry
Each volunteer who works 1 full shift receives 1 free ticket to the festival for the day of volunteering + 2 free tickets for friends + a meal voucher
Each volunteer who works 2 shifts or more receives 1 weekend ticket to the festival + 4 free tickets for friends + a meal voucher + a few ‘gifts’ from the ‘free gifts stall’ to say thankyou.
All free tickets for volunteers will be emailed out to volunteers directly within 1 week prior to the event.
Meal voucher
Each volunteer who works a shift receives 1 free meal voucher that can be levied against the price of a meal from one of our listed caterers, mentioned on the meal voucher. (Not all caterers at the event will accept tokens)
Cancellations
Cancellations are to be avoided if possible, as the event is run by a small team and volunteers are important to the smooth running of the show on the day. However, should cancellations be unavoidable, please take responsibility in letting the Volunteer Manager know in good time before the event and finding someone to take your place if you can. Roles will be pre-assigned and any no-shows will leave gaps for what are often important roles.
Travelling to the venue
For volunteers arriving when the event is open, please use the main visitor entrance and show your pass to the gate staff.
For volunteers arriving before the event is open (early morning shifts) please use Gate L. Directions are included in the drop down menu below:
The venue's full address for Gate H (Green Zone) is: Gate H, Olympia London, Olympia Way, London, W14 8UX The venue's full address for Gate L (Yellow Zone) is: Gate L, Olympia London, Olympia Way, London, W14 8UX (Gate L is also directly opposite The Beaconsfield, 24 Blythe Rd, London W14 0HA) The venue's full address for the main visitor entrance is: Grand Hall, Olympia Way, London, W14 8UX Please check Transport for London for any updates re: travel on the weekend of the event / set up: https://tfl.gov.uk Here is a map showing shows the zones and Gates - Traffic directions will change before the event however. 
We recommend that you don’t drive to the venue – but if you need to, please note we don’t have parking available for volunteers. Parking is available to be pre-booked through Olympia (see below) but we can’t guarantee availability if not booked in advance, nor availability of street parking.
Parking is not included in the stall prices – this needs to be booked separately by stallholders, and in advance.
Olympia London is undergoing some development changes, so the car park from previous years has moved, but is still very close to the venue. See this image:
Full parking information and booking can be completed in advance of the event on Olympia London website here.
For other parking options nearby, follow the link here.
Event Opening Hours
Saturday 10am – 6pm
Sunday 10am – 5pm
Entrance for Volunteers
Before event opens: Gate L. Note: it is safest not to arrive for the first shift until 9am on Saturday, as before then vehicles could still be driving within Gate L – traders and contractors will still be getting ready for the event.
During opening hours: via the main visitor entrance on Olympia Way (into Olympia Grand Hall)
Facilities at the venue
There will be x3 Cash Machines available in the Grand Hall, on the Ground Floor. One is located to the left of Coe’s Bakery, one to the right of Eighteen 86 and one to the left of Live Well.
A NatWest cash point machine is located on Olympia Way, opposite Kensington (Olympia) station. This is close by to the visitor entrance of the Grand Hall.
Branches of major banks with ATM’s can be found on Kensington High Street.
Barclays
208 Kensington High Street
W8 7RJ
t: 0845 755 5555
w: barclays.co.uk
HSBC
92 Kensington High Street
W8 4SH
t: 0845 740 4404
w: hsbc.co.uk
Lloyd’s Bank
112-114 Kensington High Street
W8 4SN
t: 0845 300 0000
w: lloydsbank.com
Natwest
55 Kensington High Street
W8 5ED
t: 0845 303 0955
w: natwest.com
A cloakroom is located on the Ground Floor (right by Coe's Artisan Bakery - top right of the floor plan)
There is a small charge per item stored.
The Cloakroom will be open from 9:30am until 6:30pm Saturday; and 9:30am until 5:30pm Sunday.
Toilets are available throughout the venue. Please refer to the floor plan for locations.
The First Aid area of the show is next to the Vegan Business Tribe Live area, shown on the floor plan in the top right of the ground floor. (Visitors turn right as they come in the entrance)
The venue provides emergency first aid assistance to anyone who needs it. Please contact the nearest security personnel or the Public Information Desk for help. Alternatively, there are first aid rooms on the ground floor – see floor plan here for the location of the first aid rooms. (Top-right of the floor plan, accessible via the Vegan Business Tribe Live area, and at the bottom left of the ground floor there is a stairwell marked out for First Aid aswell)
If you believe an ambulance needs to be called, please ensure that this request is directed to the venue’s emergency control room on 020 7598 2666. The staff’s knowledge of the venue and directions for the ambulance could save vital time.
For non-emergency calls, please use (020 7598) 2411.
Bins
There will be ample rubbish bins for clearing out rubbish.
Advise for traders
If traders have specific questions relating to waste disposal, or event-specific queries, it's best that either you (in a roaming role or off duty) find a VegfestUK staff member who's available, or instruct that trader to find someone from the VegfestUK team so we can help them as best as possible. But the following information is up to date and relevant to all traders.
Recycling
Olympia London recycles or reuses all waste. Certain items are separated on site:
- large quantities of paper,
- glass,
- plastics,
- wood (without nails) and
- flat-packed cardboard.
Please separate these items from your general stand waste for collection.
Cooking oils
All cooking oils need to be removed from the venue in sealed containers. There are no facilities on site for cooking oil disposal.
Leftover stand materials after the show
The tenancy period of the show for exhibitors ends at 8pm on Sunday. Any stand materials not collected by that time will be disposed of.
Exhibitors and their contractors must remove excessive or hazardous waste at the end of the show, otherwise charges will be incurred.
Excessive Waste
Excessive waste is defined as:
- literature (of any amount);
- stand fitting material;
- pallets;
- material packaging; and
- quantities of unsold stock or ‘give-aways’.
Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste is classified by the 2005 Hazardous Waste Regulations as:
- light bulbs and fluorescent tubes;
- electrical equipment and fittings;
- gloss and emulsion paint and their containers;
- cooking oils and their containers;
- aerosols both full or empty;
- oils and lubricants; and
- oily rags.
Food Waste
We are working with City Harvest (on stall KH4) to help dispose of edible food waste. For non-edible food waste there will be bins specific to this available to traders.
Contingency measures
Should you be taking care of a certain featured area (e.g. talks / cookery demos) and you need some help with AV, please contact our AV technicians on site. Contact details of our AV support team at the event will be made available to you at the event. Heckling of speakers / performers is rare but it could happen. In the case of heckling of a speaker / performer during a talk / cookery demo / performance, you should inform a VegfestUK staff member as well as security straight away. If you can, please explain to the crowd that as organisers we will not tolerate any heckling of our guest speakers, and unless the heckling stops immediately, the performance will be terminated and the guest speaker / performer will leave. All lost property should be handed to the venue’s cloakrooms. If you are a victim of theft or damage, please report this to your nearest security personnel or steward. The organisers, however, cannot be held responsible for the loss or damage to your property. Contact email for lost property post-event: [email protected] VegfestUK is a family-friendly event with audience including families with children, and on occasions children will be separated from their parents during the event. A full policy on dealing with children looking for missing parents / parents looking for missing children will be communicated to all staff and volunteers before the event.
Security
Security is provided for the show from 7am on Friday until 10pm on Sunday.
Please take account of the following security advice from the venue:
- Please make sure to wear your hi-viz jackets for identification as volunteers when you are on duty.
- Please make sure to sign out at the Volunteers Desk after you have finished your shift(s), so that we know that you are off duty and are therefore no longer under our supervision.
- Take home any valuable items each night.
- Please be aware of possible terrorist activities and the fact that we are right in a busy area of London. If you notice anyone behaving suspiciously, tampering with equipment, or any unattended bags or parcels please report this to security or a member of the VegfestUK team immediately.
Vegan Policy
This is a 100% vegan event, so please make sure not to bring any animal products into the venue.
Also, as many of our visitors are passionate about the vegan cause, please do not wear any non-vegan apparels at the event. This includes leather, fur, silk & wool. Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.
Should you be unsure about any issues to do with being vegan or not, please contact the VegfestUK office in advance for clarification.
Other Policies
Volunteers
No volunteers are permitted to drink any amount of alcohol while or before working a shift at the event. Only after hi-viz jackets are returned and you have signed out for the day will you have relinquished your responsibilities as a volunteer / temporary staff member.
Visitors
Excessive alcohol consumption will not be tolerated by the organisers and the following points show the initial policy that will be used by the organisers with regards to the sale and consumption of alcohol at the event:
- Any persons posing as a potential threat or otherwise to members of the public, staff, exhibitors etc will be removed from the event site by qualified security personnel.
- Security will be briefed to monitor crowd behaviour and identify any persons who appear to be intoxicated and whose behaviour may cause offence or harm to other patrons.
- We do not tolerate bad language or aggressive behaviour from the public (occasional) or exhibitors (very rare but has happened in the past).
- If you encounter anyone displaying unruly/abusive behaviour, please ask your colleagues or neighbouring exhibitor to alert a member of the event organising team (security, stewards), and we will assist if required.
- Please note that exhibitors are advised to stay calm at all times when dealing with the public, with moderate language in the very unlikely event of a hostile encounter.
- There will be CCTV operational on site, and those displaying aggressive behaviour will be swiftly expelled from the venue, and readmittance may be refused.
- In the case of this being from an exhibitor, no refunds may be issued.
Further queries
Contact [email protected] for any further queries on volunteering.