No phone service, hand in the air, yelling out names…we’ve all been there at some point. Finding your friends at a festival can be quite a buzz kill.

To prevent you from losing your voice (save them for encores), here are some tips to help ease the task of meeting up amongst the masses of people at a music festival. With the second weekend of Coachella coming up, these tips should come in handy.

At Rothbury 2009

Set common meeting places at each stage – Sometimes it’s easier to set up specific meeting spots at each stage. Designate key landmarks for meet up spots (i.e. left of sound booth, nearby art installation, 5^th tent pillar, etc…).

Have a flag or prop to hold up in the air – Having a flag or prop hovering above the masses makes it easy for your crew to find or follow you. Think of it as being the pied piper to some ragetastic fun. Your prop can be anything you can think of. Get creative; we’ve seen flags, stuffed animals, umbrellas, and even blow up dolls! Keep in mind your marker will be difficult to spot once it gets dark. So, find something that can illuminate your beacon (glow sticks, EL wire, led lights).

Rothbury 2009

Send out smart text messages – Let’s face it, while you’re in mid rage mode, the last thing you will want to do is try to read and send a text. If you for some miraculous reason have that coveted one bar on your cell phone, send a smart text message by designating a specific spot and time to meet up. This eliminates the hassle of playing text tag.

There’s an app for that – In today’s tech savvy world, there’s pretty much an app for any need. For those with an iPhone, Tentfinder is an app where you can geographically set a point on a map and the app will guide you back to your spot via GPS. Use it to mark your campsite, favorite beer garden, or the KROQ tent (granted this festival is cool enough to have one). Check out the tentfinder site for more info.  Now all I need is an app finding the shortest booze line (developers take notice).

Heres a quick demo reel about TentFinder.

http://youtu.be/Y0xoG8vdyDg