Celebrate Double Bay is a 2 day boutique summer festival, a place where Sydney's best restaurants, retailers, and residents come together to celebrate life by the harbour, in style. The event is proudly funded by the NSW Government's Open Street Program, led by Transport for NSW, and hosted by Woollahra Council in partnership with the Bay Street Initiative.
How the Festival Guide Was Used
To support this experience, a digital Festival Guide was introduced as the central wayfinding and information tool for the event—designed to reduce friction, improve engagement, and enhance the overall visitor journey.
Centralised Event Information
The Festival Guide acted as a single source of truth, giving attendees instant access to:
The full event program and performance schedule
A curated directory of food, retail, and market stalls
Interactive maps highlighting stall locations, amenities, road closures, and key zones
This removed uncertainty and allowed visitors to confidently navigate the festival at their own pace.
Intelligent, On-Demand Assistance
An embedded AI chat assistant powered the guide, allowing attendees to ask natural questions such as:
“What’s on for kids right now?”
“Where’s the nearest bathroom?”
“Which stalls are open near me?”
This provided real-time, personalised answers without the need for staff intervention or static signage.
Driving Engagement for Vendors and Sponsors
The guide highlighted vendors and sponsors through dedicated profiles, promotions, and visibility across the app. Vendors were able to showcase offerings and special deals, helping drive foot traffic and discovery throughout the precinct.
Pre-Event
QR codes promoted ahead of the festival encouraged early engagement and planning. Stickers were placed on the pavement around the festival site ahead of the festival so users could scan the QR code find out everything about the festival.
The guide was also deployed to a special domain which was delivered around socially via sms.
All traffic to the guide was tracked through both the systems inbuild analytics as well as google analytics.
Live, and Post-Event Value
During the event, the guide supported navigation and decision-making. The festival map helped individuals understand where specific stalls were located & the guide also highlighted any special events that were occuring so users didnt miss a thing.
Post-event, anonymised analytics provided insights into:
What attendees were searching for
Which stalls and pages received the most interest
Common questions and pain points
These insights offered meaningful feedback for organisers, councils, and sponsors to inform future events.
Conclusion
Celebrate Double Bay demonstrated how a thoughtfully designed digital Festival Guide can elevate a physical event—making it easier to explore, more engaging to attend, and more measurable for organisers. By combining community placemaking with intelligent, accessible technology, the festival delivered a smoother, more connected experience for everyone involved.
If you want to check out the app —> www.doublebay.piperevents.com.au
