Sylvester
Happy Rebels Festival: Sign of Union
Sylvester|
7 September 2024

Thor Park in Genk was the vibrant setting for the second edition of the Happy Rebels festival for employees of HR service group House of HR, which took place from 6 to 8 September 2024. This large-scale team building event, organised by production company Sylvester, brought together more than 3,000 team members from all over Europe to thank them for their daily efforts and to focus on their employer branding.


After the first edition in Eindhoven in 2022, the Happy Rebels festival now took place in the centrally located Genk. This year, Sylvester brought the festival symbol to life by turning the Happy Rebel into a mysterious mascot in the run-up to the event. He revealed his identity, being Dutch actor, presenter and dancer Jan Kooijman, at the start of the festival and then took on the role of host. This added an extra dimension of mystery and release for the audience.


The CEOs of the various PowerHouses kicked off the festival with a joint act, fully directed by Sylvester. This was followed by performances by, among others, 2-unlimited, Allemaal het kan & Average Rob, Compact Disk Dummies, Laureen, Claptone, Bizkit Park, Christoff, Joyhauser and Jeugd van Tegenwoordig. A varied program with something for everyone. Each PowerHouse also brought its own stage act, varying from karaoke to DJ sets and even a performance with rocking Kiss guitars.


Both Sylvester and House of HR are committed to sustainability, so when planning the event, everything was carefully considered to keep the ecological footprint within limits. This included using reusable cups and sourcing ingredients from local farmers.

Like the big festival organizers, Sylvester worked hard to organize a sustainable event together with the client. This ranged from using reusable cups, sorting waste streams to using local suppliers, caterers and workers. For example, on the festival days themselves we employed more than 160 employees from the immediate region. – Amaury Dewilde, Sylvester, Project Director Events.


During the preparation of this grand event, Sylvester faced several challenges. It started in the pitch phase with a grand, multifaceted and complex briefing from the client: bringing together more than 3000 employees from more than 50 subsidiaries for one big staff party. In addition, an already sophisticated booking system was further personalized, because there were so many different combinations possible in terms of attendance, sleeping place and transportation.


Bringing together all our Happy Rebels ensures that we receive people from all corners of Europe. Then you can’t organize an event for one day. We ask people to travel far and spend their weekend on this so we have to make sure that we are fully organized from Friday to Sunday, and that for everyone’s preference. Free on a completely built from scratch camping with a tent or camper but also at a hotel. The more options, the more complex. For us it was the second edition so the briefing clearly stated: help us keep this puzzle as simple as possible. It remains one of the biggest challenges of the project but the platform that we were able to further personalize with Sylvester for our event is one to build on for the future. – Victoria Hemelaer, House of HR, Chief Marketing Officer.


The Happy Rebels Festival 2024 was a great success and created the connection that House of HR was looking for. The participants showed how they translate their motto “work hard, play hard” into practice.


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