As winner of Student Edge's "Predict the Future" Natalie Holland won the chance to be a journalist for a day. Her assignment? To work with Maria Noakes, Features Writer at PerthNow and The Sunday Times, and report on Future Music Festival. Here Maria and Natalie share helpful hints and lessons learned. 

Helpful Hints from Maria Noakes

Get to the festival relatively early (3pm) and try to see as many acts as you can. Take a pen and paper and record everything that happens.

Try not to write a blow by blow account…like ”this happened then that happened”.

Start with the thing you thought was most exciting – maybe one of the headline acts really blew your mind. Write about that then launch into the more general stuff and other bands you saw.

Make it conversational as if you were talking to a friend about it but still make sure to include the facts like how many people attended.

Don’t  say “I” in the review.

Try and see as many bands as possible. It will be hard but maybe go and see half a set of each band and then move onto the next.

If you don’t know the name of a song or don’t catch it’s name just write down a couple of the main lyrics and Google it – you should be able to find the name on the Net.

If you have time listen to a bit of the headlining acts’ tunes so you know what to expect.

Mention the venue – good or bad. Did people like it? Where there any problems with the stages being too close or far away from each other?

Atmosphere. What sort of vibe did you pick up? Were people having fun?

Weather. It’s going to be scorching hot, talk about how that impacts on the crowd. Were people hiding in the shade or still rocking out despite the heat?

General organisation. Was the concert organised well in your opinion. Were the toilets, bar, food easy to access? Did you have to wait in line?

You don’t have to see every band and mention every song they do so don’t stress about that too much. If you miss a band maybe still mention it in your review and just include some history about the group and what stage they played on.

Any significant moments. Were there any standout moments – good or bad. Crowd singing along to Franz Ferdinand or did a band start late.

Maybe speak to the St John’s ambos if you see them and ask about any injuries and heat exhaustion. If you bump into any police maybe ask about any arrests or drugs being confiscated.

Why did you become a journalist?

I sort of fell in to it really. I studied journalism as my minor at uni but never thought I would pursue it. An opportunity opened up for me here at The Sunday Times and I'm really enjoying it.

Most people think being a journalist is a great job, but what is the not-so-glamorous side?

The not so glamour side includes working weekends and sometimes, late nights and early mornings. Like anything you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. When I started out I was writing about the auctions of houses, it was pretty dry and boring.

How should you act when interviewing an artist you admire?

When you interview any one you admire you still need to be professional about it. Don't let your admiration distract you from the interview and asking the tough questions.

What one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you when you had started out?

You need a pretty thick skin to be a journalist and you should be prepared to do anything and everything and work long hours.

At this stage of your career, what are big lessons have you learned on the job?

Sometimes you'll have to do things you feel uncomfortable with - like speaking to friends and relatives who have just lost a loved one. These situations are not much fun but you still need to approach them in a professional manner and with humanity and compassion

7 Lessons Learned by Natalie Holland

1. The first thing I needed to consciously do was to pay attention. The things you take for granted about your surroundings, how things are laid out, accessibility, stages, how the music sounds, what the weather is like. Normally, you would soak it all up, maybe complain or praise it, but if you have to write about it you need to remember more details.

2. Watch as much as you can. There will always be favourite acts that people go to see when hitting up festivals, usually the big ones or headliners, but the local acts or more unique ones can be surprising. The more you see, the more in-depth the review will be.

3. Talk to people. Festival goers, police, paramedics, staff, security. They will all have different experiences of the event and other than providing good facts and figures, it helps when you can write about different perspectives.

4. Be prepared. Know who is on and what times they are playing. It's good to know about the artists, some of their history and what they are doing now. Loading up the iPod with tracks from the performers for a week makes it so much more familiar when they are playing.

5. Deadlines. Future was on a Sunday, and for quite a few journalists, the Monday public holiday was when the reviews and photos had to be in. No sleeping till 2pm for them.

6. Take notes. With so much going on it is hard to remember all of it. Even recording some of the songs on a phone, or annotating photos, jotting down things people have said or artists have shouted can be useful later.

7. Getting background on the event. The artists, the venue, transport, food, water etc. how do they all compare to the festival last year, or to other events at the venue. How was the sound and the weather, how did all that impact the experience?

Overall, the experience added a whole new level to festivals. There is so much that you don't think about as a punter that you have to consider when you are writing about it. I have a lot of respect for the people who are music journalists... and a decent amount of jealousy.

Read Natalie's Review of Future Music Festival.