Issue 37 February 2010 £4.75 Warning over alcohol brand sponsorship By Christina Eccles ORGANISERS should think carefully about forming advertising and spon- sorship agreements with alcohol brands, an expert has warned. Professor Gerard Hastings claims although advertisers are prevented from promoting themselves directly at young people, they are finding ways round this by sponsoring and advertising their brands at festivals – he claims many of which are attend- ed by a young audience influenced by what they see at these events. He has produced a study looking at how alcohol advertising influences the behaviour of the people it is tar- geted at and he said organisers should think of the moral implica- tions of being associated with brands, even if sponsorship would bring in valuable revenue. He said: “Organisers should think very carefully. It is very nice for them to get money to run their festivals, but it is coming at a cost. If festivals are joining up with alcohol compa- nies, they are becoming part of the effort to promote the product. “The problems we have when peo- ple drink too much could be serious issues at festivals. If organisers feel there is an issue with young people drinking too much, do they want to be part of that process?” The report also explored some of the ways alcohol advertising – which is worth about £800m per year – is making itself attractive to festivalgo- ers. Brands such as Carling have forged strong partnerships with festi- vals and the brand was headline sponsor of Reading and Leeds until 2007 – renaming the event, the Carling Weekend. The report said Carling took particular interest in the fact the event was the ‘first choice for the festival virgin’ and capitalised on that by offering branded tents and free cans of beer to festivalgoers. Professor Hastings added by appearing at festivals, brands can benefit from the appeal of the acts on and get their brand associated with that. He added: “There is the implica- tion that an event wouldn’t happen without their support and the bands somehow endorse the product. Organisers should think about the consequences.” The Main Event approached Carling’s owner Molson Coors but the company declined to comment. ■ Is it right for organisers to expose young festivalgoers to alcohol brands even if sponsorship brings money to the event? Send your comments to [email protected]A guide to greener events A NEW guide has been pub- lished which gives organisers a helping hand on how to make their events more sus- tainable. It has been written by Meegan Jones – who has worked as a sustainability manager for Festival Republic on Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. It helps festivals who want to become green to know where to start and the steps they need to take. Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide includes case studies and examples from festivals around the world including: ■ Big Green Gathering ■ Glastonbury ■ Camden Green Fair ■ Latitude ■ Reading It also looks at key aspects of how organisers can under- stand and manage the impact of events of any type and scale and includes discussion on energy, zero emissions options, carbon manage- ment, water and waste. A never-before-seen Ice Queen was the star attrac- tion at Newcastle’s New Year’s Eve Winter Carnival. The puppet – along with two other carnival queens – was paraded through the streets as producers Walk the Plank raised icy temperatures in the city. Producer Liz Pugh said: “The whole event was very good natured and there was a real willingness from spectators to come out and support what was hap- pening. We managed to get some of that carnival heat out onto the streets.” Picture: Karen Wright ■ Full story Page 8 The Main Event is the official magazine of the National Outdoor Events Association
Transcript
Issue 37 February 2010 £4.75
Warning overalcohol brandsponsorshipBy Christina Eccles
ORGANISERS should think carefullyabout forming advertising and spon-sorship agreements with alcoholbrands, an expert has warned.
Professor Gerard Hastings claimsalthough advertisers are preventedfrom promoting themselves directlyat young people, they are findingways round this by sponsoring andadvertising their brands at festivals –he claims many of which are attend-ed by a young audience influencedby what they see at these events.
He has produced a study looking athow alcohol advertising influencesthe behaviour of the people it is tar-geted at and he said organisersshould think of the moral implica-tions of being associated withbrands, even if sponsorship wouldbring in valuable revenue.
He said: “Organisers should thinkvery carefully. It is very nice for themto get money to run their festivals,but it is coming at a cost. If festivalsare joining up with alcohol compa-nies, they are becoming part of theeffort to promote the product.
“The problems we have when peo-ple drink too much could be seriousissues at festivals. If organisers feelthere is an issue with young peopledrinking too much, do they want to
be part of that process?”The report also explored some of
the ways alcohol advertising – whichis worth about £800m per year – ismaking itself attractive to festivalgo-ers. Brands such as Carling haveforged strong partnerships with festi-vals and the brand was headlinesponsor of Reading and Leeds until2007 – renaming the event, theCarling Weekend. The report saidCarling took particular interest in thefact the event was the ‘first choice forthe festival virgin’ and capitalised onthat by offering branded tents andfree cans of beer to festivalgoers.
Professor Hastings added byappearing at festivals, brands canbenefit from the appeal of the acts onand get their brand associated withthat. He added: “There is the implica-tion that an event wouldn’t happenwithout their support and the bandssomehow endorse the product.Organisers should think about theconsequences.”
The Main Event approachedCarling’s owner Molson Coors but thecompany declined to comment.� Is it right for organisers to exposeyoung festivalgoers to alcohol brandseven if sponsorship brings money tothe event? Send your comments [email protected]
A guide togreenereventsA NEW guide has been pub-lished which gives organisersa helping hand on how tomake their events more sus-tainable.
It has been written byMeegan Jones – who hasworked as a sustainabilitymanager for Festival Republicon Glastonbury, Reading andLeeds.
It helps festivals who wantto become green to knowwhere to start and the stepsthey need to take.
Sustainable EventManagement: A PracticalGuide includes case studiesand examples from festivalsaround the world including:� Big Green Gathering� Glastonbury� Camden Green Fair� Latitude� Reading
It also looks at key aspectsof how organisers can under-stand and manage the impactof events of any type andscale and includes discussionon energy, zero emissionsoptions, carbon manage-ment, water and waste.A never-before-seen Ice Queen was the star attrac-
tion at Newcastle’s New Year’s Eve Winter Carnival.The puppet – along with two other carnival queens– was paraded through the streets as producersWalk the Plank raised icy temperatures in the city.Producer Liz Pugh said: “The whole event was verygood natured and there was a real willingness fromspectators to come out and support what was hap-pening. We managed to get some of that carnivalheat out onto the streets.” Picture: Karen Wright� Full story Page 8
The Main Event is the official magazine of the National Outdoor Events
Temporary Structures Pages 16-17Training and recruitment Page 19
Classified Page 23
NOEA Pages 20&21
Local authority spotlight Pages 14&15
‘The dream isthat the whole
of Bath becomesfunny’ Page 9
1. EDUCATION, Education,Education: Many events profes-sionals are now seeking a formalqualification to complement theirpractical experience and improveon skills and knowledge. Build onyour existing relationship withyour employer and ask for theirsupport in your event manage-ment training. Approach themwith a realistic plan and offer thenew event management skills youdevelop as a great return for theirinvestment. Courses should pro-vide a good grounding not only increative areas and ideas, but inpractical areas such as event oper-ations, budgeting, project manage-ment and risk management.
2. Keep up-to-date: In recent years,areas such as project management,information technology and riskmanagement have revolutionisedmany of the systems used to suc-cessfully manage events. Currently,it is sustainable development andgreen practices and in the next fewyears we can expect to see anincreasing emphasis on economicsustainability and the ability todeliver quality events on modestbudgets.It is also important to keep an eyeon what is currently happeningoverseas. Industry associationsprovide opportunities for network-ing with colleagues and interna-tional forums for the discussionand exchange of new knowledgeand developments.
3. Get online: Going green is morethan saving trees, budgets, andreducing carbon footprints. Getonline and look for ways to make iteasier to engage with your eventaudience. Every attendee andexhibitor has a public voice –Twitter, Facebook, etc – that canturn a small incident into a catas-trophe or a nice event into the bestever. By being engaged and nurtur-ing the communications going onin the background, you canencourage event participants tohelp sell and promote your event.
4. Location, Location, Location:Basing yourself in the right loca-tion is crucial. Consider whereevents are truly booming such as
Edinburgh. The city has a world-wide reputation for events, and isestimated to bring in revenues ofover £200m each year.
5. Go the extra mile: Events have toprovide not only quality, efficiencyand innovation but also a memo-rable experience that will differen-tiate them. With many events com-peting for similar audiences, youneed to ensure yours stands outfrom the crowd. Invest time inresearching event supplier compa-nies for the latest quirky, engagingand unusual ideas that will addthat extra sparkle to your event.� Paul is former director of theEdinburgh Festival Fringe and alsolectures in event management atEdinburgh Napier University.
In an increasingly competitive industry, events professionals will need to go that extra milethis year to ensure they stand out. Here festival and event management guru Paul Gudginshares his top five tips for excelling in events ...
Guru Paul on how to excelin event management
Paul Gudgin
Firm secures five-year deal at MurrayfieldG4S EVENTS has agreed a five-yearcontract to provide Scottish rugbywith security and stewarding servicesat Murrayfield, Scotland’s nationalrugby stadium.
The contract means the companywill provide up to 470 staff per event to international rugby fixturesand high profile concerts held at the
stadium. Services include crowd manage-
ment, provision of hospitality stew-ards, turnstile management, carparking, response teams and stadiumsafety stewards.
Managing director Mark Hamiltonsaid: “Scottish Rugby’s long termcommitment to our services enables
us to offer a bespoke stewarding andsecurity programme to the organisa-tion.
“We can recruit new staff with confidence from the local area, in the knowledge that we can offer them long term jobprospects and development opportunities.”
03 26/1/10 15:37 Page 1
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By Christina Eccles
ONE of Scotland’s most popular festi-vals is using technology to helpattract a new audience to the event.
The Wickerman Festival, whichtakes place in Dumfries andGalloway, has revamped its website toattract more visitors and has alsolaunched a competition to find asoundtrack for a television advertis-ing campaign – with the winning actgetting a slot to perform at the festi-val.
The website has expanded its onlinefeatures to include an online TVchannel – Wickervision – where visi-tors to the site can watch video clipsof the festival and get a taste of theWickerman experience before theyarrive at the event.
The site also contains ideas ofthings to do in the surrounding area,which festival director Sid Ambrosesaid is useful for helping festivalgoersto plan a longer break.
He told The Main Event that havinga website is essential for the festival,but to attract people back to it, thesite has to be as good as possible –and additions such as Wickervisionhelp with that.
He said: “Last year a lot of peopledidn’t go abroad and instead came tofestivals for a ‘staycation’.
“The website shows people whatthe festival is all about but also showsother activities they can do in thearea.
“We want to try and make their visitas fun and action-packed as possible,especially as a large percentage of ouraudience bring kids.”
As the festival is very much a family-orientated event, organisers are tak-
ing steps this year to improve theexperience for those who bring chil-dren – but also for those who don’t.
More work is being done on thecampsites to divide them into sec-tions for festivalgoers who may wantto stay up later and for those whohave families with them who maywant a quieter experience.
Sid added the festival is also tryingto increase the range of activitieswhich are non-music orientated tocater for all sections of theWickerman’s audience.
Organisers inbid to attractnew audience
Sid Ambrose
A South Yorkshire leisure centre is branching out into the events market with an ambi-tious programme for 2010. Among the acts lined up to perform at Barnsley venue TheMetrodome is chart topper Tinchy Stryder who will be appearing there in April. To find outhow the Metrodome is transforming its sports hall into an events space for the concert,see next issue of The Main Event.
Oxford transforms historicvenues for jazz festivalsSOME of Oxford’s most popular andhistoric venues are being trans-formed into exciting performancespaces as part of this year’s OxfordJazz Festival.
Venues including the newly refur-bished Ashmolean Museum and theBodleian Library are being used forthe event, which takes place in thecity over Easter weekend in April.
The festival was set up last yearafter founder Max Mason decided tostage an event which combined hislove of jazz with a way to boosttourism in Oxfordshire.
He explained: “Oxford has 9m visi-tors per year but there is not a festivalto keep them in town. The festival is away of retaining people in Oxford andgiving them a staycation.
“Events provide an exciting back-drop for tourists visiting the city andthe festival gives them a reason to
come back on an annual basis.”Working in such unusual venues,
which are not normally used to holdevents, could prove complex fororganisers but Max said that the keyto success is finding out which artistswould match well with each setting.
He added: “It is an unusual thingbut it’s not too difficult if you find thetypes of acts which are most suitablefor each venue.”
The festival attracted about 4,000people last year and organisers arehoping for a similar audience thisyear.
Max said that even without spon-sorship last year, the festival man-aged to break even through ticketprices – and after increasing thenumber of venues it is using, he ishoping for even greater success thisyear.
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05 Fiesta 28/1/10 15:16 Page 1
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WORKING closely with organ-isers Unique Events and theemergency services, G4S’ staffwere on hand to ensure visi-tors to Edinburgh city centreon New Year’s Eve had a good,and most importantly secureevening.
The event has been runningfor the past 17 years and G4Shas been involved from thestart – meaning that over theyears, strong relationshipshave been created with part-ners and other suppliers.
Experience and knowledge ofthe event has also been builtup, which has helped the teamcarry out duties including thesafeguarding of entrance andexit points, ticket checking,securing the fireworks sitesand protecting VIP areas.
As a major highlight of thefive-day festival programme,the Hogmanay Street Party
joined together 80,000 visitorsin Princes Street to see in 2010.
And although cutbacks hadled to the number of stagesbeing reduced and capacitycut from 100,000, festivalgoerswere still treated to a musicand fireworks spectacular,including a concert featuringperformances from Madnessand Noisettes.
G4S Events’ operations direc-tor Peter Croy explained: “Theevent is one of the largeststreet parties in the UK. I havebeen involved for the full 17years, as have a lot of otherstaff so there is a lot of experi-ence there.”
One of the most importantparts of the role is acting as aninformation point – especiallywhen it comes to helping festi-valgoers get home safely.
He added: “This is a majorpart of the job – particularly
after the event. Free buses areput on so we make sure crowdsare being pointed in the rightdirection.”
This year was the first in along time that the event wasaffected by snow, which madethe planning even more inter-esting.
“There is always a challenge.We had over 500 staff workingthat night. We also bring up100 G4S staff who are based inManchester and Sheffield. Wethought the weather condi-tions might be an issue withthem getting here but fortu-nately it wasn’t. Our biggestchallenge is to get 80,000 peo-ple through the entrancesbetween 7pm and 11pm whenthey shut. But we have a lot ofexperience working on it andthe template is there. It getstweaked every year but thechanges are very small.”The event attracted 80,000 people
As one of the UK’s largest street parties, Edinburgh’s Hogmanaycelebrations attracted an 80,000 strong crowd. Christina Eccles foundout why providing them with a safe and enjoyable experience was toppriority for security staff.
How security staff lookout for 80,000 revellers
A rare Cold War jet fighter will perform its first UK flying display for almost a decadewhen it appears at this year’s Royal International Air Tattoo. The display will form part ofthe event – which takes place in July at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire – after an agree-ment between the air tattoo organisers and the Romanian Air Force.
Uncertainty is over asPride secures fundingTHE financial future of Pride inBrighton and Hove has been securedthanks to successful fund-raisingevents, cost-cutting measures and ashort-term bridging loan fromBrighton and Hove City Council.
Fund raising efforts netted over£14,000, while cost-cutting measuressaved about £11,000. A loan of£20,000 from Brighton and Hove CityCouncil, along with a commitment topay by one of last year’s sponsors,meant that the potential budgetshortfall was successfully bridged bythe end of last year.
Acting pride chair Robert Clothiersaid: “With our financial positionsecured, any uncertainty about thisyear’s Pride that there may have beenis now over. We are committed toworking with our new productioncompany, Fisher Productions, all ourother contractors, local LGBT busi-nesses and community groups tomake this year’s Pride festival betterthan ever before.
“We have exciting plans for thePride Parade and the main parkevent, which will be announced veryshortly.”
06 26/1/10 15:40 Page 1
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Extra revenueto be used toimprove eventA FESTIVAL in Cumbria is raisingticket prices this year in order to gen-erate extra revenue to improve theevent.
The organisers of Kendal Calling arepreparing to put tickets on sale forthe three-day festival priced at £85,which represents a price increase of£5 per day on last year’s tickets.
But according to promoter BenRobinson, the extra money madefrom ticket sales will allow the teamto make developments to the site andinfrastructure – creating a betterexperience for festivalgoers.
He said: “Logistically, we are lookingat the toilet and litter situation. Ticketprices will be increased by £5 per dayand this increase will go to improvingthe actual event.”
The festival is also doing its bit forcharity by donating a portion of tick-et revenue to the Cumbria FloodFoundation.
Although the site wasn’t directlyaffected by the recent flooding inCumbria, surrounding areas were hit.
But the rain did mean that the festi-val got chance to see how the sitewould cope if it was hit by badweather – and thankfully it held upwell.
Kendal Calling moved to the site –Lowther Deer Park – in 2008 afterspending the last few years trying outdifferent locations.
And Ben thinks the event has nowfound its ideal home where it cangrow and develop over the next fewyears.
He added: “We have sorted out the
site for the next three years aftercoming to an agreement with thelandowners.
“The beauty of the site is that it hasgood road links and infrastructure. Itis a good place to expand and grow.
“I think this year should be reallygood. We want to emulate the successof last year and concentrate onadding to the festival experience. Weare really excited.”� How are plans going for your festi-val? Let us know by [email protected] or contact our editorialteam on 01226 734463.
Ben Robinson
A new light installationhas been created inBlackpool, which aims todraw more evening visitors into the town.The centrepiece of theBrilliance installation is sixarches over the town’sBirley Street plus additional lighting podsalong surrounding streets.The Birley Street lightshow – with lights byRobe UK – takes placeevery 10 minutes to a specially composed soundtrack and is designed toencourage visitors to stayin Blackpool into theevening to take advantage of the area’sbars, restaurants andentertainment venues.The scheme was commissioned byBlackpool Council and hasreceived additionalfunding from theNorthwest DevelopmentAgency and the EuropeanRegional DevelopmentFund.
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THOUSANDS of people braved thecold on December 31 to say goodbyeto 2009 and welcome in a newdecade – and producers Walk thePlank were on hand to ensure theevent went off with a bang.
Three carnival queens – including aspecially made ice queen – wereparaded through the city alongsidepuppeteers, dancers and musicians,with the whole event coming to a cli-max with a spectacular fireworks dis-play.
Although the traditional idea of acarnival involves bright colours, exot-ic climates and skimpy costumes,Walk the Plank turned this idea on itshead by designing a carnival proces-sion, which reflected the winter sea-son.
The colours, sound and entertain-ment associated with creating a car-nival atmosphere were all present –but given a twist to suit the freezingtemperatures of Newcastle inDecember.
One of the features of the ice queen
was a built in snow machine – some-thing which actually wasn’t neededwhen the snow started for real.
Producer Liz Pugh explained: “Wethought it would be a good idea totake the traditional summer carnivaland transform it for New Year’s Eve.
“But we had to think how to turnthe flimsy carnival costumes intosomething which would keep partici-pants warm.
“All the ice queen’s attendants hadhats as part of their costumes andthe puppeteers also wore thick cloth-ing.
“We had the challenge of workingoutdoors in minus five degrees sothat had to be worked into the designelements from the start.”
The Winter Carnival was a highlightof NewcastleGateshead’s festivals andevents programme, developed byculture10 and was organised in part-nership with Newcastle City Council.
Walk the Plank has been commis-sioned to work on nine out of the last10 New Year’s Eve celebrations in the
city – but this year the company andpartners involved decided it was timeto do something different, so decid-ed on the winter carnival theme.
As in previous years, the entertain-ment began early afternoon and fin-ished about 6pm with the fireworksdisplay.
And the afternoon start made it apopular choice for families wantingto celebrate the New Year together.
Liz also said that as the companyhad worked on the event before, ithad built up a good working relation-ship with the emergency services,which helped with the smooth run-ning of the carnival.
She added: “We know how busy theemergency services get later in theevening so that means a lot of plan-ning. But we now have an event planthat has been proven. The road clo-sures go in, the parade route is onethat everyone has signed up to andwe can work on the basis that wehave done it before.
“We were really pleased. The whole
event was very good natured andthere was a real willingness fromspectators to come out and supportwhat was happening.
“We managed to get some of that carnival heat out onto thestreets.”
An event on the streets of Newcastle gavethe city a carnival flavour, complete with anever before seen ice queen. ChristinaEccles found out how the partyatmosphere warmed up sub zerotemperatures on New Year’s Eve ...
Carnival hots up chilly Newcastle
EVENT Security Solutions Ltd wasformed in 2007 by a group of securityand crowd management profession-als with the aim of providing clientswith a bespoke service that offershigh quality with good value formoney.
Although the company is relativelyyoung, our collective experiencewithin the company at all levels isvast, encompassing all types ofevents from high profile internationalevents such as the European Jumpingand Dressage Championships andLeeds Festival to smaller shows suchas Worcester Christmas Fayre andBrockelsby Country Fair.
Our philosophy is to provide ourclients with trained, quality person-nel that are handpicked to suit theirevent or venue.
We recognise that a steward orsecurity person who does a very goodjob at a music concert is not neces-sarily suited to an event such as atrade exhibition.
This is achieved by working closelywith the client, listening to what theywant, our experience and not over-stretching the company resources.
All our personnel are vetted usingBritish Standard 7858:2006 as thebench mark. This ensures we have a10-year history, giving peace of mindto our clients.
Additionally they will be qualified inor working towards an NVQ level 2 inSpectator Safety, this includes per-sonnel who hold licences in accor-dance with the Private SecurityIndustry Act 2001. This is the baselevel, we then have a number of con-tinuation courses, such as customercare, first aid to name but a few.
As a company we have no desire to‘rule the world’. Our aim is to becomerenowned as a supplier of high quali-ty services that retains the personaltouch. To paraphrase an old adage,‘size doesn’t matter, it’s the qualitythat counts’.
‘It’s the quality that counts’
08 26/1/10 15:42 Page 1
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THE Bath Comedy Festival will bebigger and better this year afterorganisers decided to expand theoutdoor element of the event.
After a successful first event lastyear, the festival will begin againon April Fools’ Day – presentingcomedy to residents and visitors toBath in a variety of venues andpublic spaces.
One of the most popular parts ofthe festival is outdoor street the-atre and after forming a partner-ship at last year’s event with TheNatural Theatre Company, it issomething organisers are keen togrow.
Organiser Alex Timms said:“Street theatre creates a lot ofmagic moments and we are work-ing with the local council and citycentre management to create lotsof performance spaces.
“Bath is a World Heritage Citywith some wonderful public areas,which are ideal for performances,and a backdrop of beautiful archi-tecture.”
As well as the return of TheNatural Theatre Company, the fes-tival is also working with studentsfrom Bath Spa University, who willalso be performing street theatrearound the city which exploresBath’s rich heritage.
Local retailers are also beingencouraged to get involved in thecomedy theme by creating funnyshop window displays.
And Alex told The Main Eventthat as the booking period for per-formers is well underway and thefinishing touches are being addedto the event, he is looking forwardto the festival getting started.
He added: “We had a brilliantcomedy festival last year and weare working to make it even biggerand better this year.
“We are involving more peopleand have some wonderful actsperforming and an eclectic mix ofentertainment.
“The dream is that during theperiod of the festival, the whole ofBath becomes funny.”
The Natural Theatre Company will performing in outdoor spaces around Bath
‘Dream is that the wholeof Bath becomes funny’
Organisersare urged topull togetherBy Christina Eccles
FESTIVALS should pull together andhelp each other out by sharingknowledge and ideas, it has beenclaimed.
Ben Turner – co founder of theAssociation of Independent Festivals– thinks that organisers should notfeel worried by competition andshould get to know people who workon rival events, who may have usefulskills which could benefit their event.
The association formed just over ayear ago and has already attractedover 20 members from some of theUK’s leading independent festivals,including Creamfields, Bestival andSecret Garden Party.
And Ben told The Main Event thatby joining forces, the association hasgiven the independent sector a voiceand a platform to come together andshare their experiences of runningmajor events.
He said: “We very much welcomeeducating festivals and nobody feelsthreatened by helping other events.
Not everybody on the board wants toget bigger. Some are comfortablewhere they are.
“We have got a job to educate aboutwhat we are doing and I feel we are ina stronger position now – we have avoice.”
But the association also has a strongmoral code and was forced to sus-pend one of its members – the BloomFestival – after it emerged its organis-ers still owed festivalgoers refundsfrom last year’s cancelled event.
Ben added: “We carry a strict codeof practice. The festival chose not totake our advice and we have sus-pended them indefinitely until theycan show festivalgoers have beenrefunded.”
Initiatives which the Association ofIndependent Festivals has beenworking on include leading discus-sions with PRS over a special ratebeing installed at festivals and a taskforce set up in conjunction withsecurity companies to tackle camp-site crime at AIF member events.
09 26/1/10 15:43 Page 1
2 10 TECHNOLOGY
WIRELESS technology has becomeincreasingly popular because of theflexibility it gives to organisers.
The use of this kind of technologymeans they can do anything fromdelivering important information allover a festival site to managing noiselevels.
Systems can be installed rapidlyand and if organisers want to makeany changes, they can be respondedto really quickly.
One company at the forefront ofthis technology is CBA Spindlewood –which has recently formed after amerger between CBA andSpindlewood.
And according to the team, usingthis kind of technology at events canhelp organisers with some of themost common problems they mayface.
One of the things it specialises in ismanufacturing noise monitoring sys-
tems, which operate in real time.
CBA Spindlewood’s Chris Bealesaid: “Festivals can suffer from com-plaints about noise but organisersalso want levels to be as good as pos-sible for the fans.
“The way to achieve that is toremove uncertainty. If someone has avalid complaint, we want to knowstraight away so we need real time,good information so we can reactaccordingly. We can control the situa-tion by managing the noise profile sothat it fits exactly within the localauthority’s limits.”
Wireless technology also reducesthe number of cables needed on site,which eliminates waste and helpsorganisers to improve their green cre-dentials.
Chris added: “Festivals have to beconscious of green issues. Most pro-moters make massive efforts toreduce their carbon footprint and we
want to play our part.
“The company has a strong philos-ophy of producing new andimproved methods and we spendtime thinking about how we canmake them better.”
Technology is also being used morewidely by festivalgoers themselvesbut according to Chris, this is some-thing which organisers need to bewary of.
Although wireless enabled mobilephones allow festivalgoers to interactwith each other and enhance theirfestival experience, it also means thatthere is potentially the chance theycould all be informed about a secretgig in a certain area of the festival, for example, and huge numbers ofpeople could congregate in oneplace.
“You have got to be careful about it.If you have an audience all equippedwith wireless enabled phones, they
could all interact simultaneously andyou have to think about the conse-quences of that.
“We have got a duty of care to thepeople who are there and we have tothink really carefully about every-thing we do.”
One area which has potential is theentertainment opportunities whichwireless technology presents.
Live streaming is a growth area atfestivals and something which willcontinue to expand as the technologyimproves.
“Live streaming has been limited inthe past because of broadbandspeed. As these speeds increase, wewill get more chance of doing that.
“But we mustn’t get away from thefact that festivals are about peopleand live music. We want people to beat festivals and the most importantthing is to improve the experience ofpeople who go to them.”
XL Video are always researching andinvesting in new products to bring tothe rental market and in this fastdeveloping industry they pridethemselves on being at the top oftheir game.
A recent addition to XL’s inventoryis the new PIXLED range of light-weight screens. With over 10 prod-ucts, ranging from 5mm to 40mmpixel pitch, there is arguably some-thing for everyone.
The beauty of these products isthat in being so lightweight, it opensup a whole new dimension of cre-ative freedom allowing integrationinto locations previously consideredunfeasible.
Being lightweight also allows forgreatly reduced transport costs,quicker and easier on site riggingand therefore less manpowerrequired, reducing costs all round.
But being lightweight and low costdoes not mean you are skimping on
quality.
All PIXLED screens incorporatethree in one SMD technology,superb colour depth and proven reliability and are proving very popular in a whole range of applications.
The PIXLED family consists of awide range of products, includingstandard format LED, transparentand creative LED and of course,being XL, they have a dedicatedteam of engineers to design anybespoke framework.
The use of technology at events can vary from keeping visitors safe and secure to enabling them to use the latestgadgets to interact with each other on site. Christina Eccles caught up with one of the industry’s leading suppliersto discover what organisers need to consider when using technology at their events.
Why wireless technology isproving a hit with organisers
Investingkeeps firmat the topof theirgame ...
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QATAR is one of those places thatvery few people actually know any-thing about. I certainly knew noth-ing about it when I first came here.
Like many other Middle-Easterncountries, Qatar has huge ambi-tions. Ambitions that will not onlysee it topping the various oil andgas charts and GDP per capitatables but that will see it as one ofthe key destinations in the interna-tional sporting calendar.
The sporting year in Qatar openedin the first week of January with theExxon Mobil ATP Tennis event,which this year featured RogerFederer and Rafael Nadal plus fourother players in the current top 10.
At the end of January was theQatar Masters golf event – one ofthe richest golfing events on theplanet and featuring six of the cur-rent top 10 PGA tour players in theworld.
The week after the golf finishesyou have the Ladies’ Tour of Qatarswiftly followed by the Mens’ Tourof Qatar, partly organised by theASO (organisers of Le Tour DeFrance).
The tours brings some of the
world’s best cyclists to the streets ofQatar, all looking to make a flyingstart to the season.
March sees the biggest event forQatar in terms of international cov-erage when Doha hosts the WorldIndoor Athletics Championships.This is not an insignificant event.Broadcast rights have been sold toevery continent and over 150 coun-tries have confirmed they will besending teams to Doha.
The Moto GP takes place in Aprilat the Lusail Circuit. After many,many pub based arguments overthe merits of Motor based sportsbeing classified as actual sports I’mgoing to skirt over this event but it’sstill a big international event forQatar to be hosting.
What does this all culminate in?Not a lot actually, Qatar has hostedbig events for many years but whatit does show is that whilst theseevents individually may not scratchthe international surface of interest,add them together to a calendar ofevents and Qatar looks like thegreatest sporting nation in theworld. Something which I am surewill be pushed upon in the bid book
that Qatar submits on May 14 as itvies to become the host of the 2022FIFA World Cup.
On a personal note I genuinely,sincerely and truly hope thatEngland is successful in its bid tohost the 2018 World Cup.
It will be great for the UK eventsindustry but selfishly it will alsomean they won’t roll over to the2022 voting and go up againstQatar’s bid which I will be backing100 per cent.
Why am I writing about sportingevents in Qatar? Partly because theQatar Marine Festival project I wasworking on has been postponed so Ican’t write about that, partlybecause I wanted to highlight amyriad of opportunities available toUK suppliers looking to the MiddleEast and partly because each ofthese events forms part of my cur-rent freelance working life.
Being in Qatar is a hotbed of eventactivity and I am in the very fortu-nate position of being able to makea living picking up work on each ofthese international events, of whichone in particular is about to becomea big part of my life ...
� Next month Dan reveals moreabout which international event hewill be at the heart of.
The first part of 2010 is going to be busy for the events industry in Qatar, with sporting events in particular takingcentre stage. In this month’s column, Dan Schofield explains why sport is putting the country on the map...
Dan Schofield
Qatar nets sporting events
The UK’s largest tempo-rary ice rink has returnedto Millennium Square inLeeds.Ice Cube – which is cele-brating its 10th anniver-sary this year – is organ-ised by Leeds CityCouncil’s events teamwith support from mediapartners 96.3 Radio Aireand the Yorkshire EveningPost.As well as enjoying the iceskating, visitors can alsoenjoy a wildlife photogra-phy exhibition and a pub-lic cafe area overlookingthe ice.Since the rink first openedin 2001, over half a millionpeople have taken to theice.
Tattoo launchesearlybird offerORGANISERS of the RoyalInternational Air Tattoo havelaunched an earlybird ticket offer, valid until the end of February.
Those who book early can benefit from a saving of £5 per ticket.
The £4 booking fee has also beenwaived.
Deputy director of marketing Helen Webb said the offer,combined with free entry for allunder-16s, meant the airshow offeredunrivalled value-for-money for families.
SINCE 2000, the Artimis CreativeGroup has built an enviable reputa-tion supplying only the very best inhigh quality, specialist talent for thefashion, retail and entertainmentindustries.
Operating UK wide, includingBirmingham, London, Manchesterand Liverpool, the Artimis CreativeGroup is now the first choice formany industry figures to look after alltheir promotional needs.
From photographers, stylists, choreographers, make-up artists,event planners and organisers tophotographic models, presentationand fitting models, showroom models, catwalk and fashion models,child models, actors and TV
presenters.
Their specialist fitting models are inparticularly high demand from wellknown clothing brands and fashionhouses.
Other services include security, hos-pitality, exhibition and promotionalstaff, as well as a personal manage-ment service and advice on beautyand cosmetic treatments.
With a guarantee of the higheststandards of reliability, sensitivity andprofessionalism visitwww.artimis.co.uk
More than an eye for talent ...
11 26/1/10 15:44 Page 1
2 12 ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
The smallest hitchcould turn a carefully plannedevent into a totalnightmare. It probably won’t.But what if it does?You need to knoweverything is takencare of, just in case.That’s what we’rehere for.If you get a quoteor buy your eventinsurance from usduring February orMarch, you couldwin one of the latest Ipod nanosfrom Apple.Get a quote or buyonline now atwww.events-insur-ance.co.uk/event-promo10 makingsure you enter thepromotion codeMEIP03 or contactus on 0800 515980for more information.
TUESDAY January 5 2010 and may-hem unveiled itself as the countryground to a halt under a blanket ofpretty white snow.
Panic shopping at the tills hadsupermarkets reeling in what is pre-dictably the slowest week of the yearwith shelves emptied leaving manystores looking like they had beenlooted.
And what of the event market, aswith consumer habits one wouldhave thought that the first week ofthe New Year would be a non-event,think again.
Tuesday saw the first round of nerv-ous calls from people up and downthe country who were having wed-dings, bar mitzvah’s and events onthe Saturday, the tentative enquiry,what if we can’t go ahead?
For reasons beyond your control, ifthe event has to be cancelled andthat reason is within the terms of thepolicy then naturally that policy willrespond.
That doesn’t however compensatefor the months of planning and theemotion and disappointmentendured when faced with the reality.
Tuesday also bought a wave ofenquiries for adverse weather coverfor events and weddings, taking placeover the forthcoming weekend,amazingly this was followed by gen-uine bewilderment that, no, you can-not get cover for a pre-existing condi-tion.
Most insurers operate a 14-day ruleon adverse weather cover, check theweb and you can normally get a fairlyaccurate prediction of what weatherto expect certainly in the week tocome and an idea of what will followin the short term thereafter.
Obviously the unexpected doeshappen but if somebody has been ayear in the planning it seems incredulous that they have chosen toleave the insuring of such varying sums, some of which werequite steep, to the week of the actualevent.
Weather patterns are unpredictable,wash out summers and arctic wintersmay become common place but if arisk is insured in a timely mannerthen cover will apply and financiallosses avoided.
Don’t let theweather catchyou out ...
WITH January under our beltswe can now start to think aboutthe start of the season ahead –and already it’s looking like abusy one.
February kicks straight off withthe six nations, offering morethan enough rough and tumblefor the most avid rugby fan to filltheir corporate boots with 15 fix-tures around Europe over sevenweeks.
Will Ireland retain their poleposition?
Amid all the scrums and triesthe English and Irish will nodoubt lock horns again at the
sensational Cheltenham Festival.
Playing host to visitors from allover the world, this is no doubtone of the great sporting occa-sions of the season, the show-piece event of the National Huntracing calendar with over £2min prize money.
What a fantastic start tothe corporate calendar aswe strive to head out ofrecession.
What superb opportunitiesto impress potential clients,improve relations, rewardsuccessful employees orjust have fun with friends.
Looking aheadto a busy season
12 26/1/10 15:45 Page 1
13 Event Insurance 26/1/10 16:49 Page 1
2 14 LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT
SENIOR arts and events officer NickGreen and festival and events officerPam McCrea admit that in a chal-lenging economic climate, theamount of money spent on localauthority events may have to be cut.
However, with one of the London’sbest parks on the doorstep, the teamhas an ideal resource to help raisefunds to put on events.
Victoria Park hosts the LoveboxWeekender, Field Day and Underagefestivals as well as several major one-off events each year.
And the money generated fromholding these commercial events inthe park is ploughed back into thecouncil’s events programme to makesure they remain free and accessibleto local residents.
Last summer about a quarter of amillion people attended events inVictoria Park – with about 120,000 ofthem going to free events put on bythe council. About 60,000 alsoattended the council’s bonfire nightfireworks display in the park – show-ing there is a definite appetite forevents in the area.
Nick explained: “We are very suc-cessful at attracting festivals andgood quality music events to the
park. Both of us have worked inevents outside local authorities so weknow how it works.
“We are quite active in talking tocommercial organisations and take astrategic view of what works in thepark. We work closely with these fes-tivals to help them develop.
“Also, the number of local peoplewho go to these events is growingand that tells us that locals supportthem. We know local authorityfinances can have a big impact on usas we are not a core, statutory serv-ice. Savings will have to be madeacross all councils everywhere andthis will translate into expectationsabout raising revenue.”
Quality is a key factor for the teamand they are always striving to pro-vide a high standard of arts andevents experiences for both visitorsand local people.
Pam added: “Ours events don’t haveto keep growing and getting bigger. Itis about having good quality workand how you approach it.
“We are very strong on our produc-tion values and work hard to get goodquality productions which will add tothe audience experience.”
AS one of the five Olympic host bor-oughs, Tower Hamlets also plays anactive role in events forming part ofthe Cultural Olympiad.
One of these is Paradise Gardens,which showcases music and art bothfrom the East London area and
internationally.It is the council’s main
contribution to the Create Festival – a programme of cultureand arts linking together everything happening in the fivehost boroughs.
A major issue affecting local authority event organisersis budgeting and how to make events good value formoney without compromising on visitor experience. Oneteam managing this successfully can be found in TowerHamlets. Christina Eccles paid a visit to find out more.
THE Baishakhi Mela is one of thecouncil’s flagship events and attractsa massive crowd of 95,000.
The event is a celebration of theBengali New Year and takes over thestreets around Brick Lane plus parksand open spaces in the borough.
A procession links the sites togetherand popular artists perform on stage– with the event now so popular it istelevised to audiences in Bangladesh.
The Mela started off as a communi-ty event but when its capacity kepton growing, the council stepped in to
help with the organisation.It awarded funding to the event in
2008 and 2009, which will also be inplace this year.
Challenges around the eventinclude road closures and dealingwith a very substantial audiencemoving between sites.
To combat this, programming isconsidered very carefully to ensurethere is lots going on at differentsites, which encourages crowds tospread out rather than congregate inone area.
Park provesbig boostfor funds
Forming part of Cultural Olympiad
Pictures: Dave Sinclair
Event takes over streets,parks and open spaces
MANY of London’s mostcolourful events take place inthe Borough of TowerHamlets and crowd manage-ment specialist A.P. Security isproud to have worked on awide variety of them.
These include the BaishakhiMela, Guy Fawkes night cele-brations and many of the fes-tivals held in Victoria Parkeach year, such as Lovebox,Underage Festival andParadise Gardens.
A.P.’s head of security at theBaishakhi Mela Adam Scottsaid: “We have a good work-ing history with both theMetropolitan Police and the
borough, so we understandwhat they need and viceversa.
“The council, police and A.P.all support each other, mak-ing for a seamlessly co-ordi-nated operation.”
The Mela covers a couple ofsquare miles of TowerHamlets public highways andattracts crowds of up to100,000, while Victoria Park’sGreat Balls Of Fire event has areputation as one of the bestfireworks displays in London,with over 70,000 peopleattending.
With these events, as withmany others, A.P.’s role
includes managing phasedroad closures, crowd manage-ment, keeping local residentshappy and dealing with theoccasional bit of frictionbetween different groups ofthe youth element. In allcases the company’s policy ofcomprehensive advancepreparation is key.
National sales manager JohnPhillips added: “We know thearea extremely well.
“Our long-term relation-ships and our policy of long-term planning and prepara-tion ensure that all the eventswe handle there run assmoothly as possible.”
‘A seamlessly co-ordinated operation’
14 28/1/10 15:22 Page 1
LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT 15
Baishakhi Mela 2009Event producer – Tower Hamlets Council Artsand EventsProduction infrastructure and safety manage-ment – Bliss EventsPA and lighting – Ethix ManagementSecurity – A P SecurityMarquees – Sunset MarqueesBig Tops – RoustaboutStaging – Star Events GroupWaste management – Veolia / DC Site servicesTrackway – Eve Trackway Stage barriers – Mojo Barriers UK Toilets – Simply LoosTraffic management – Sola ConsultingPower – Ethix Management
Fireworks 2009 – Great Balls of FireEvent producer – Tower Hamlets Council Artsand EventsProduction infrastructure management – TEULondon Fireworks – Walk the Plank PyrotechnicsPA – GPA Hire Security – A P SecurityMarquees – WAAPWaste management – Veolia / DC Site ServicesCabins – M&J EngineersTrackway – Lion Trackway Barriers and fencing – Eve TrackwayToilets – A1 Loo HireTraffic management – Sola Consulting Power – AB Powerhouse
Paradise Gardens 2009Event producer – Tower Hamlets Council Artsand Events and Remarkable ProductionsProgramme partners – Barbican, ContinentalDrifts and Remarkable Productions Production infrastructure management – TEULondon PA's – GPA Hire and Pyramid AudioSecurity – AP SecurityMarquees – WAAPBig tops and main stage saddlespan –RoustaboutStaging – Steeldeck Rentals Waste management – Veolia / DC Site ServicesCabins – M&J EngineersSite barriers, fencing and trackway – EveTrackwayStage barriers – Mojo Barriers UK Toilets – A1 Loo HirePower – Pure Power
Contractors’ list
THE council’s Bonfire Night event –Great Balls of Fire – is a great example of how commercial events in the park benefit the com-munity.
The fireworks display is free toattend as it is paid for by the money generated from events in Victoria Park such as Lovebox.
About 60,000 people came to the2009 display – proving what a suc-cessful event it is but also presentinga headache for the team who had tocope with an ever-increasing capaci-ty.
The display had grown quite steadi-ly up to 40,000 and Pam admits shethought it had reached a plateau.
But last year, an additional 20,000people turned up, which means thecouncil may have to reassess theevent for this year.
She added: “We are now in positionwhere we need to look again at theevent and the planning as there ispotential for the same scale of audi-ence to come back.”
Pam said she thought one of thereasons why the event was so suc-cessful last year was because it wasmoved to a Saturday night ratherthan a Sunday.
Also the night before had been verywet, perhaps encouraging people towait until the Saturday night toattend a display.
Great Balls of Firedraws extra 20,000
Pictures: Paul Brocklehurst
15 28/1/10 15:27 Page 1
2 16 TEMPORARY STRUCTURES
ALTHOUGH the corporate marketsuffered in 2009, festivals and con-certs performed well for the team atthe Amazing Tent Company ...
Like many event suppliers the com-pany saw an understandable shift incorporate contracts, with product
launches and parties rescheduled for2010. But the festival and concertmarket was strong with the Amazingteam supplying structures to over 13different organisers for a total of 24gigs – proving that success is possiblein this broad industry even during an
economic downturn. 2009 also saw an expansion into the
education sector, with Amazing pro-viding the largest Saddlespan venueever installed, with the capacity for6,000 people.
International events were also on
the calendar and in October, threeSaddlespans along with an installa-tion crew went to the Tribeca FilmFestival in Doha, where the struc-tures were used as screening venuesand workshops for a large nationalcorporation.
Festival and concert market holds up for Amazing team
Affordableway touse iconicfurniturefor eventsTHE Hiring Company provides loanfurniture that is a sustainable andaffordable way to hire iconic furni-ture.
The furniture forms a co-ordinatedrange to create a cohesive look with alarge stock of classic and contempo-rary furniture for corporate events,exhibitions, conferences and semi-
nars. The use of classic items of furni-ture adds a quality and timeless styleto any proceedings and all our furni-ture is to the original designs fromthe authentic manufacturers. All furniture for immediate hire is detailed
on our website www.theHiringCo.co.ukFor more information contact:
Tented village createdfor Ryder CupA SPECIALLY-created tented villagewill be among the projects created byDe Boer at this year’s Ryder Cup inWales.
The company will provide facilitiesacross the village, which will include:
� Public catering areas
� Merchandising facilities
� Exhibition space
� An information centre
� Ryder Cup Bar
� Champagne and seafood bar
De Boer’s sales director – events
John Cochrane said: “The Ryder Cupremains one of the iconic fixtures onthe sporting calendar, attracting hugeinterest not just from Europe and theUS, but from across the globe.
“De Boer has established an excel-lent working relationship with theevent’s organisers and we feel hon-oured to have been again appointedas structure supplier.
“The last three occasions we haveprovided accommodation have coin-cided with victory for the Europeanteam, so we hope the happy traditioncontinues.”
16 26/1/10 16:39 Page 1
TEMPORARY STRUCTURES 17
PIGGOTTS is looking forward to abusy year having finished 2009 asstrongly as they started it – withevents for The Admirable Crichton,The NFL tailgate party at WembleyStadium and The Kensington RoofGardens to name but a few.
The company recently signed a longterm agreement to provide structuresfor the prestigious Leander Club atThe Henley Regatta.
Managing director Nick McLarensaid: “It is clear the year ahead will bechallenging. But with these chal-lenges comes new opportunities. Weare delighted to have already secureda number of new and existing con-tracts and we are investing both inadditional staff and structures tomeet these growing demands.”
Other events that Piggotts will alsobe involved with in 2010 will include
The Duke of Essex Polo Cup atGaynes Park in Essex, The SuffolkShow and a series of summer eventsfor Lambeth Palace.
The season will start in earnest withthe installation of a larger facilitythan previous years for Greene Kingat Twickenham which will run for theduration of the Six NationsTournament.
Business development managerRichard Treml added: “Once again weare extremely proud to be associatedwith such high profile events andclients such as Greene King and TheDuke of Essex Polo Cup organisersMedia 10. We are also looking at con-tinued investment in our stock ofstructures, flooring systems andinternal lining and branding solu-tions that we can offer the ever evolv-ing events industry.”
Challenges and new opportunities
THE marquee and structure rentalindustry in the UK is very often per-ceived by its customers as being dis-tinctly divided between the largenational, or even international, con-tractors, and “the rest.”
The rest comprising an unregulatedcollection of companies ranging fromone man bands upwards.
But there are companies whoinhabit the “middle ground” and doprovide a level of service, profession-alism and technical ability that isincreasingly necessary in today’smarket. Maybe on a smaller scale,but possibly with a more personaltouch.
Elan Marquees and Structures,headed by managing director AdrianThickens, is just such a company.Adrian, who spent 15 years as anengineer and manager in the civilengineering industry before decidingto put these skills to work in the mar-quee industry 15 years ago, has builtthe company up from a small domes-tic customer base to the point wheresupplying fully fitted out structuresfor a corporate dinner for 600 is aregular occurrence.
He said: “I have always wanted toensure that everything we did was on a proper footing and we couldsay to clients, yes we do have trained staff, yes we do have a health and safety policy, yes we do have calculations for the struc-tures and yes we are members of
Muta Marq.” Elan can supply the structures,
flooring, interiors, furniture, toilets,generators, lighting and heatingeither individually or as a package.
All the structures and much of therest, depending on the exact specifi-cation, is supplied from our ownstocks.
Marquee companywith a personal touch
17 28/1/10 15:54 Page 1
2 18 WAREHOUSE PROJECT
THE Warehouse Project is the UK’slargest and most successful tempo-rary clubbing and live music phe-nomenon and for the fifth year run-ning, all lighting, sound and live pro-duction has been supplied, built andmanaged by Ear To The Ground.
Over a three-month winter period,which ended last month, almost 300acts and DJ’s perform at the 1900sqm venue and artists this year haveincluded Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong,Aphex Twin, Groove Armada, LaRoux, Little Boots and Jack Penate.The season ended with a big party onNew Year’s Day.
Located in the industrial archesdeep beneath Manchester’sPicaddilly train station the wholeclub must be built and dismantledevery week, so the space can be usedfor parking Monday to Friday.
Tom Sabin, production manager forEar To The Ground said: “We canonly access the area from 6pm on theFriday but we have all day on aSaturday, so we tend to keep themore complicated acts for theSaturday.
“The location is great, because it’sout of the way enough so as not to
make a nuisance of itself and thewalls are very thick. We also putheavy drapes up to keep the noise in.
“We know the promoters fromworking on previous projects togeth-er and we all have great relationshipswith Greater Manchester Police sowhen it comes to putting togethersomething like this we can pull it offwithout problems.”
The Warehouse Project is the onlyclub in Manchester that has profes-sional paramedics on site and Tomsaid they treat the event just as theywould an outdoor music show.
“Week to week it’s fairly straightfor-ward but the week before the firstshow we had to do four overnightshifts to do the initial build – includ-ing putting up the stage, installingthe PA and lighting and the variousbits of aerial rigging.”
‘Store rooms’ have been built inevery available crevice and there issome hard power in the venue butmost of it comes from generators.
The car park already has a huge airextraction system, which is used toextract the exhaust fumes from thegenerators. And because there is nopermanent plumbing, portaloos are
brought in for clubbers.Set designs change each week to
keep things fresh and on the FridayThe Main Event visited, LED videoscreens were being put in for a set byCocoon. But often, artists will bringtheir own gear for their shows.
“It means things always look freshbut when Groove Armada played wehad to take out the whole lighting rigfor them to use their own, then put itall back up again, which was reallytime consuming.”
An artist VIP area is created by cur-taining off an area backstage andputting in sofas, a fridge and tablefootball. Tom said the acts know whatto expect and don’t complain – andthey ask to come and play, the pro-moters never have to approach them.
He added: “There are plenty of nicevenues in Manchester but we wantedto do something that took the bestelements of warehouse raves, but dothem legally and safely with reallyhigh production values. The capacityof each show is 1,800 and they couldsell out twice over they are so popu-lar. Our aim is for artists to leavethinking it was the best show theyhave ever done.”
For three months every year, theunderground car park atManchester’s Piccadilly trainstation is turned into a ‘pop-up’nightclub. And for events agencyEar To The Ground, they face aweekly challenge to transform thevenue in just a few hours. MaryFerguson was there to witness aFriday night build for TheWarehouse Project.
TOM said that during every WarehouseProject series, they try to make improve-ments and the recent season has beenno exception.
“This year we have flown the PA insteadof putting it on risers which projectssound better and saves on stage space.We have also put a lot more video pro-jections in place.
“The budget has stayed the same as thepromoters really appreciate the value ofinvesting in really good production. Andwe manage to get really good value formoney from our suppliers as we havesuch strong relationships with them.”
This year's season of events saw Ear tothe Ground increasing their creativeinvolvement in the project including theintroduction of Green Hippo visual tech-nology. They also continued the ongoingrelationship with visuals and sound withi-Pix and Audial, who brought in a
Funktion One sound system.It was DBN’s fourth year of working on
the project and for 2009, the lightingdesign was created by Simon Barrington,working closely with DBN’’s project man-ager, Pete Robinson.
The car park space covers three arches,with the main room beneath one arch.Approximately 60 points were installedin the roof – which offers about fivemetres of headroom – to facilitate thehanging of seven trusses of variouslengths, shaped to the curves of the arch-es, plus a series of scaff bars for riggingscenic elements and bar lighting. Thelighting fixtures were all chosen for theirsmall sizes and high impact.
There are 32 shows in each series and apool of sound engineers share the nightsout between them.
An electrician is always on site for thelive shows.
PA – AudileLighting – I-Pix, DBNPower / Plumbing – CollingeEngineeringLocal crew – HandballStage / Barriers – ManchesterLight and StageVideo hardware– PS EventsVJ’s – Chair TV
Ear To The Ground Team:Production manager – TomSabinStage Manager – Alan GreenStage Manager – Fran MartinLighting / Video Design – SimonBarringtonLighting Operator – Chris Sirey
Weekly challenge of creatinga ‘pop-up’ nightclub ...
Tom Sabin
Strong relationships bring good value for money
Hard at work ... During the build
Contractors
18 26/1/10 15:47 Page 1
TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT 19
Pinnacle offerssafety passportschemeCREWING specialists Pinnacle Crew hasbecome one of the latest companies tooffer the safety passport scheme.
Working with the Safety Pass Alliance,Pinnacle will now be offering the one-day course specifically designed for thegeneral workforce in the events industry.
And as well as offering the coursethroughout the industry, the companywill be delivering it as standard to all itsown crew.
Managing director Heath Freemansaid: “This is an important developmentin the live events industry. By introduc-ing an industry-wide safety scheme wecan raise awareness of our seriousapproach to health and safety.
“The Safety Passport concept is simple.It helps establish a safety culture by pro-viding a nationally recognised standardof health and safety training and assess-ment that is cost-effective, easily acces-sible, tests knowledge and caters for aspecific industry sector.
“It is a very easy way for people whomove from one contract or company toanother to prove to employers that theyhave received basic training, and there-fore saves time and money in unneces-sary induction training.”
The course covers six modules andlooks at areas including workplace safe-ty, risk assessment and emergency pro-cedures.
A COLLEGE in Cardiff has devel-oped a new course which allowsworkers in the events industry toimprove their skills.
The Royal Welsh College haslaunched the MA in EventProduction – a two year programmedesigned for individuals with expe-rience of working on events andwho want to move into a more sen-ior role.
Throughout the year, the collegestages over 300 public performanceevents including live events, orches-tral concerts, dramas, opera and
musical theatre. Students will work on at least
three of these in their first year,including a trade show and a fash-ion show.
Within this year they will alsoundertake a six-week industryplacement.
The second year is completedalmost entirely within industry,with both placements tailored tosuit career aspirations.
Practical and academic supportand mentoring is provided eitheronsite or through distance learning.
Cardiff Bay
Course aims to improveskills of events workers
Audio Visual provider Piranha AV has wel-comed a new starter to its team.Adam Lewis has joined the company’s tech-nical team as installation specialist and willwork with the Piranha team to supplyaudio-visual installation, hire and trainingservices to companies and organisationsacross the UK.Adam said: “I have always enjoyed work-ing in AV and was drawn to the position atPiranha AV because of their work ethic andfriendly team – it’s been great so far and Iam really looking forward to developingand growing within the team. “
19 26/1/10 15:48 Page 1
2 20 NOEA CONVENTION
THE NOEA Convention will also pro-vide the opportunity to say farewellto general secretary John Barton, whois retiring from the association afteralmost 20 years’ service.
This opportunity may never havearisen if it wasn’t for a successfulrelaunch meeting of NOEA at theHouse of Commons in April 1991,organised by John after rumours wererife about the imminent demise ofthe association.
The meeting was hosted by TonySpeller, MP for North Devon who wassubsequently appointed the associa-tion’s honorary president in recogni-tion of his tremendous support.
John is stepping down at the end ofFebruary and a new general secretarywill step in to the role in March. John Barton
Convention farewell for John
New look for NOEAannual conventionTHE industry is getting ready for thenext big show in the events calendar– NOEA’s annual convention and trib-ute celebration evening.
The new-look event will includethree days of networking opportuni-ties, speakers and breakout sessions,designed to bring together the bestnames in the industry and celebratetheir contributions to events held allover the UK.
The theme of the event is 20:20vision and how organisers can lookahead and plan for the future.
Award winning futurologist RohitTalwar will be among the keynotespeakers – sharing his predictions forthe future of the events industry withdelegates at the convention.
The Main Event – the official publi-cation of the National Outdoor EventAssociation – will also be hosting oneof the breakout sessions and detailsof confirmed speakers will berevealed shortly.
The event takes place on February24 to 26 at Derby Conference Centre.
20 28/1/10 16:06 Page 1
NOEA CONVENTION 21
ONE of the most popular parts of theevent is the annual tribute celebra-tion evening, which includes thepresentation of the NOEA tributeawards.
The industry has been nominatingwho they would like to see pick up an award in categories including
event organiser of the year, venue of the year and best practice.
Nominations have now closed forthe awards and the shortlist will beannounced on the event’s dedicatedwebsitewww.outdooreventawards.com
Keep up to date with the latest conventionnews by following NOEA on Twitter.Visit www.twitter.com/NOEA1 for more ...
Awards shortlist setto be announced
NOEA president Richard Limb will oversee proceedings at the awards.
21 26/1/10 16:24 Page 1
2 22 365 - SUPPLIER DIRECTORY
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