Issue 47 March 2011 £4.75 Supplier fears over fireworks and clock plan By Christina Eccles THE proposed introduction of daylight saving time could potentially destroy the UK fireworks industry, a worried supplier has claimed. The Campaign for Daylight Savings is calling for a three-year trial period, adding two hours to GMT in the sum- mer and one hour in winter. The House of Commons has passed the second reading of the private mem- bers Bill on Daylight Savings and the idea is widely supported by the tourism industry – with a Tourism Alliance study claiming additional hours of day- light could increase the UK’s leisure and tourism earnings by up to £3.5bn per year. But for fireworks companies – who rely on business from events such as outdoor concerts, festivals and product launches during the summer months – the move could prove disastrous. Managing director of Fantastic Fireworks Jon Culverhouse said: “This is very bad news. The implication of dou- ble British Standard Time means it will still be light at 11pm through May, June and July. We already find it difficult to put displays on in June after legislation was introduced that made it illegal to let them off after 11pm. It could be highly damaging as it could wipe out summer fireworks displays at events.” Jon – who has been in the business for 25 years – told The Main Event that double BST could also affect the upcoming Olympics, if the idea has been introduced by next summer. He added: “It is inconceivable that the Olympics are not going to have fire- works displays at the opening and clos- ing ceremonies but there would have to be a change to the legislation on the firework curfew or an exemption. “I think this will have disastrous con- sequences for the UK fireworks indus- try and could put a lot of companies out of business.” Jon is now hoping event industry groups will join forces to object to the idea but realises there may be a conflict of interest as daylight saving could ben- efit some events and suppliers. ■ How do you think the introduction of daylight saving would affect the events industry? Send your comments to [email protected] or contact our editorial team on 01226 734463. The best responses will appear in our next issue. Safety chiefs revealing meticulous planning THE heads of health and safety for two of the UK’s biggest spectacles will reveal the meticulous planning needed for major events at an upcoming conference. Before the Aftermath has been organised by the Tyne and Wear branch of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and will take place at Sunderland University on July 5 and 6. Confirmed speakers at the event include Lawrence Waterman, head of health and safety for the Olympic Delivery Authority for the London Olympic Games and Tim Roberts, head of health and safety for the Glastonbury Music Festival. The defence and prosecution from the Dreamspace case will also deliver talks about the tragedy in Chester-le-Street, County Durham – where two people were killed and 27 injured after an inflat- able art installation came loose from its moorings. Organisers of the Rewind Festival have announced details of this year’s event. The festival – which takes place at Temple Island Meadows in Henley-on-Thames – is dedicated to staging and celebrating the best music of the 1980s. Acts performing over the weekend will include Bananarama, The Human League and a rare appearance from 80s pop legend Holly Johnson (pictured).
Transcript
Issue 47 March 2011 £4.75
Supplier fearsover fireworksand clock planBy Christina Eccles
THE proposed introduction of daylightsaving time could potentially destroythe UK fireworks industry, a worriedsupplier has claimed.
The Campaign for Daylight Savings iscalling for a three-year trial period,adding two hours to GMT in the sum-mer and one hour in winter.
The House of Commons has passedthe second reading of the private mem-bers Bill on Daylight Savings and theidea is widely supported by the tourismindustry – with a Tourism Alliancestudy claiming additional hours of day-light could increase the UK’s leisure andtourism earnings by up to £3.5bn peryear.
But for fireworks companies – whorely on business from events such asoutdoor concerts, festivals and productlaunches during the summer months –the move could prove disastrous.
Managing director of FantasticFireworks Jon Culverhouse said: “This isvery bad news. The implication of dou-ble British Standard Time means it willstill be light at 11pm through May, Juneand July. We already find it difficult toput displays on in June after legislationwas introduced that made it illegal to
let them off after 11pm. It could behighly damaging as it could wipe outsummer fireworks displays at events.”
Jon – who has been in the business for25 years – told The Main Event thatdouble BST could also affect theupcoming Olympics, if the idea hasbeen introduced by next summer.
He added: “It is inconceivable that theOlympics are not going to have fire-works displays at the opening and clos-ing ceremonies but there would have tobe a change to the legislation on thefirework curfew or an exemption.
“I think this will have disastrous con-sequences for the UK fireworks indus-try and could put a lot of companiesout of business.”
Jon is now hoping event industrygroups will join forces to object to theidea but realises there may be a conflictof interest as daylight saving could ben-efit some events and suppliers.
� How do you think the introduction ofdaylight saving would affect the eventsindustry? Send your comments [email protected] or contact our editorialteam on 01226 734463. The bestresponses will appear in our next issue.
Safety chiefsrevealingmeticulousplanningTHE heads of health andsafety for two of the UK’sbiggest spectacles willreveal the meticulousplanning needed formajor events at anupcoming conference.
Before the Aftermathhas been organised bythe Tyne and Wearbranch of the Institutionof Occupational Safetyand Health (IOSH) andwill take place atSunderland Universityon July 5 and 6.
Confirmed speakers atthe event includeLawrence Waterman,head of health and safetyfor the Olympic DeliveryAuthority for the LondonOlympic Games and TimRoberts, head of healthand safety for theGlastonbury MusicFestival.
The defence and prosecution from theDreamspace case willalso deliver talks about the tragedy inChester-le-Street, CountyDurham – where twopeople were killed and 27injured after an inflat-able art installationcame loose from itsmoorings.
Organisers of the Rewind Festival haveannounced details of this year’s event.The festival – which takes place at Temple IslandMeadows in Henley-on-Thames – is dedicated tostaging and celebrating the best music of the1980s. Acts performing over the weekend willinclude Bananarama, The Human League and arare appearance from 80s pop legend HollyJohnson (pictured).
Local Authority news Pages 22-24Training and Education Page 25Classified Page 27
The futureis lookingbrighter –
see ourVirtual
Festivalfeature
Starts onPage 11
New strategy will aimto attract visitorsBy Christina Eccles
UPCOMING major events in the UKwill form the focus of a new market-ing strategy launched by nationaltourism agency VisitBritain.
Iconic events such as the RoyalWedding in April and the DiamondJubilee celebrations and LondonOlympic and Paralympic Games in2012 will be used to attract moretourists to the country – with the aimof delivering an extra £2b of visitorspend and an extra 50,000 jobs.
The changing focus of VisitBritain’smarketing strategy has been agreedwith its sponsoring department – theDepartment of Culture, Media and
Sport and forms part of a wider fouryear match funded global marketingcampaign, which reflects its budgetcuts of 34 per cent.
With this in mind, VisitBritain hasreviewed its activity to ensure that it:
� Delivers the Britain marketing pro-gramme, in partnership with the pri-vate sector
� Focuses investment on those mar-kets which offer the best immediatereturn and best future prospects forBritain
� Delivers insights, trends and indus-try performance research;
� Maintains a streamlined advisoryrole in line with its statutory duty to
advise Government on tourism.
VisitBritain CEO Sandie Dawe said:“This proposed new structure andfocus reflects our priorities and is inline with our four-year funding settlement.
“Our goal is to maximise thetourism opportunities of hosting araft of major iconic events over thenext two years.
“We need to ensure that this clarityof focus is supported by the rightstructure and skills. I have every con-fidence in the professionalism andpassion of my team to deliver on ourambitions and for our partners andthe whole tourism industry.”
Secondary ticketmarket ‘isdamagingthe industry’LEGENDARY promoter HarveyGoldsmith has spoken out against thesecondary ticketing market, which hebelieves is having a damaging effecton the industry.
Speaking at this year’s EventProduction Show, Harvey told dele-gates he was ‘fed up’ of secondaryticketing sites forcing genuine fans topay over the odds for tickets and peo-ple who buy in bulk with the soleintention of selling them on to makea profit.
He said: “Piracy and fraud hasalways been a problem with ticketing.Every summer, people go on websitesand get sucked into buying tickets orbuy them out on the street.
“People are now buying more ticketsthan they need and making a profitout of it. But I’m not in the businessof using a ticket as a commodity – I’mfed up of it.
“We should take the lead on this. Ithink it’s important for the future ofour industry. We have a duty of careto our public to give them value.”
STRUCTURE specialist De Boer hassecured a contract to extend its roleat the Farnborough InternationalAirshow until at least 2016.
De Boer was already contracted tosupply to the biennial event in 2012but the new deal – signed with theairshow’s organiser, FarnboroughInternational Ltd – means the com-pany will also work on the event in2014 and 2016
Managing director of De BoerStructures (UK) Peter Spruce said:“De Boer is immensely proud of thepart it has played at successive air-
shows since 1996. Last year markedthe eighth occasion we have suppliedthe event with its huge temporaryexhibition venue. We see it as atremendous tribute to the hard work,commitment and expertise of ourteam – and to our superb workingrelationship with FarnboroughInternational Ltd – that we have nowbeen awarded a contract until at least2016.”Picture: Peter Spruce (centre) at the officialsigning ceremony with Shaun Ormrod, FILchief executive officer (left) and GrahameJones, FIL operations director.
De Boer win airshow contract
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THIS year’s MagicLoungeabout will be an inti-mate garden party whichincludes the best elements of afestival, according to organis-ers.
The boutique event is makinga comeback this summer aftera two-year break and the teambehind the event is pulling outall the stops to ensure it arriveswith a bang.
As well as the traditional ele-ments seen at a festival – amusic stage with headliners,camping facilities and foodoutlets – the event will alsoinclude a number of featuresdesigned to make it stand outfrom the crowd.
Promoter Simon Adamsonexplained: “There are lots ofgrassroots festivals in the northalready, so there is no point inus going for that marketbecause it’s busy enough.
“We want to position the fes-tival as intimate and refined,yet credible. We are an intimategarden party, which takes thebest elements of what a festivalis.”
The festival has been using itstime off wisely – moving sitesto Broughton Hall in order tobe closer to its core audiencein Leeds and Manchester.
Organisers have also beentrying to engage with the localbusiness community to drum
up support for the event, aswell as sourcing local suppli-ers, and have received a gov-ernment grant which hashelped with marketing andbuilding the brand.
The team is also workinghard to ensure the whole festi-val experience is not just cen-tred around music – with a spa,cinema and games area justsome of the areas on offer tocreate a well rounded weekendof entertainment.
Simon added: “You have gotto have stuff to do.
“People want music but they also want to share theexperience with like-mindedpeople.”
Broughton Hall
Loungeabout teamlooks for intimategarden party feel
GL events Owen Brown has won a new five-year contractto be the sole supplier of temporary structures and over-lay for this summer’s Royal Ascot.
The contract will see the company supply a range oftemporary structures from a huge triple decker hospitali-ty pavilion to wet weather bar cover.
Owen Brown will also supply structures for all bars,retail and catering outlets, tip up grandstand seating for4,000 spectators and all furniture both for the indoor hos-pitality areas and outdoor areas.
Music festival Ribfest has a new media partner – southcoast radio station Wave 105. The event is to be held on theIsle of Wight in May and the partnership will see the stationpromote the show on the air and benefit from brandingopportunities at the festival.
Company first past the post
Over two million visit WonderlandHYDE Park WinterWonderland rounded offanother successful year –hitting a record breakingnumber of visitors andscooping a top award.
The event attracted over2m visitors across itsseven week run, includingcelebrity fans such as
Alexandra Burke,Olly Murs and SarahHarding.
It was also awarded bestconsumer event at theVisit London Awardswhere organisers werecommended for deliver-ing a world class tourismoffering.
Consultants manage securityINTEGRATED SecurityConsultants managed securityat The Economist’s GlobalSport Summit for the secondyear running.
The conference – which tookplace at London’s GrosvenorHouse hotel – was held inassociation with America’sNational Football League andwas attended by high profile
delegates from across theindustry. ISC’s security provi-sion on the day included bagsearchers on entrances, infor-mation and directional staff,corporate security to guardout-of-bounds areas and CloseProtection drivers for both theNFL commissioner RogerGoodell and the San Francisco49er's owner, Dr York.
Award ceremony doubleSTYLISH equipment from ThornsGroup was beamed into thehomes of millions of TV viewersthanks to two major star-studdedawards ceremonies.
The company supplied furnitureand glassware for the BritishComedy Awards and purple link-ing conference chairs and rails forgowns and coats for guests at theNational Television Awards, whichboth took place at London’s O2.
Show agrees local dealSOUTHPORT Flower Show has agreed a deal with localcompany STORM Consultancy to run the prestigiousevent. The agreement covers a wide range of activities forthe 2011 event including all aspects of health and safety,security, stewarding, safe supervision of contractors andvendors, first aid and traffic management.
Awards hat-trick for HobbsLIVE music and event pro-duction company, LizHobbs Group has scoopeda hat-trick of businessawards.
The company was theoverall winner at the
Newark Business Awards,organised by the NewarkAdvertiser and alsowalked away with prizesfor Innovation throughTechnology andExcellence in Business.
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Beyonce has performed at an F1 Rocks concert in Singapore
Why is it necessary to offer somethingother than sport?Mark: “At our event, we didn’ttouch the sport. It was a normalgame but we put a lot of thingsaround it.
The entertainment is the game,so half time is tricky, but peopleare much more amenable pregame – and it drove everyone outinto their seats early.
“It’s about broadening your mar-ket in the hope that you capture aproportion [of that audience] andthey come on a regular basis.”
Becky: “We want to give people abetter experience and attract newpeople to the sport. We are alsolooking for new assets to sell tosponsors.
“Host cities are bidding veryactively for events.
“For a host city, it can be moreinteresting than shots that comeout of the stadium and provides anopportunity to show the city morebroadly.”
What does the performer get out ofsigning a contract to sing at a F1 GrandPrix?Becky: “The artists make moremoney from live performancesand it also gives them promotionalopportunities. In Singapore, itcould have just been a Beyonce gigbut we created a brand – F1 Rocks.If you can create that platform, itis a much more interesting oppor-tunity and has a much betterimpact on the sport.”
Does it matter if people are just comingto see the artists?Becky: “It can work very well if youhave an event that runs over aweekend. Formula 1 is sometimesa problem because people leavethe circuit – with an event you canhold an audience.”Greg: “Noone will come to anevent just to see an act perform.People predominantly go to seethe event – but it is a fantasticenhancement if done in the rightway.”
How do you see this phenomenondeveloping over the next decade? Canyou give any key advice?Mark: “It’s very hard to give gener-al guidance because it really doesdepend on your event.
It’s really all about knowing yourmarket and who your audience isand putting a package togetherthat suits.”Becky: “There are deals to be donewith broadcasters. For a lot ofbroadcasters, we found with F1Rocks that they saw it as a com-plete entertainment format.
“All of a sudden the eventbecomes an interesting lifestyleformat. It can pay for itself if youbegin to think about packaging itwith the sport.
“Give yourself enough time. Theentertainment business works ona very different timescale.
“I know what a lot of artists aredoing in advance, which allowstime to plan and build an offering.Adding value is critical.”
Combining sport withentertainment toenhance eventswas among thetopics exploredat the recentInternationalSports EventManagementconference inLondon. This iswhat the panelhad to say ...
How sport and musiccan work in harmony
Mark Evans from Harlequins Rugby – has worked on events at Twickenham Stadium, whichcombine a rugby match with pre game entertainment from stars such as the X Factor finalists.All the Worlds’ Becky Artsmonsky – has worked on F1 Rocks, which brought stars includingBeyonce to perform at concerts centred around the F1 championships.Greg Bowman from Great Big Events – worked on the opening and closing ceremonies for theFIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The Panel
New online calendar launchedEVENTSCOTLAND has launched an online calendar to allow for better planning of events across theyear.
The database will be used by all ofScotland’s 32 local authorities,relevant public sector agencies and event and rights holders and has been developed to avoid potential clashes at a national,
regional and local level.It will also provide a valuable
online tool for visitors to be able to locate events of their interestand choose by date, genre or geography.
By using the system, event plan-ners and managers will be able tosee when and where potential clash-es might occur and avoid them.
Festival claims strongest line-up yetORGANISERS of the EvolutionFestival have revealed what theybelieve to be the event’s strongestline-up to date.
Plan B, Iggy and the Stooges, Tinie Tempah and Katy B will all perform at the event, which takes place in Newcastle inMay.
Festival director Jim Mawdsley said:“We are continuing to build thisevent into a major music festival forthe North of England.
“We have been working solidly since September to pull this line-up together and it is withoutdoubt the strongest and most variedto date.”
Businessaward forArena chiefTHE chief executive of Coventry’sRicoh Arena has won a major busi-ness award.
Daniel Gidney was officially namedthe Midlands Business Person of theYear 2011 at the NEC HiltonMetropole by a panel of judges.
He was presented with the annualprize following a string of successeswhich has seen the Ricoh Arena’sbusiness expand greatly and culmi-nated in it winning the right to hostfootball games in the 2012 OlympicGames and pool games in the RugbyWorld Cup in 2015.
He said: “I am very proud to fly theflag for Coventry. We have a smallteam which works extremely hardand has turned the Ricoh Arena intoan internationally renowned venue injust five years which is a remarkableachievement.”
Daniel Gidney (left) receives the MidlandsBusiness Person of the Year 2011 awardfrom Ted Crofts of sponsor UK SpecialEvents
Show exhibitornumbers up 15%EXHIBITOR numbers at the EventProduction Show were 15 per cent upon last year, organisers have claimed.
Attendees at the host venue,Olympia had a collective buyingpower exceeding £2bn and includedrepresentatives from Ibiza Rocks,Womad, LOCOG and IMG.
International companies also fea-tured prominently among theexhibitors present, and includedChina-based Liri Tent Technology andthe USA’s Brown Paper Tickets.
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Stephen Higgins
Swapping totes for notesNEWBURY Racecourse is to host itsfirst ever stand alone concert laterthis year, organisers have revealed.
Newbury LIVE follows on from thesuccess of the venue’s Party in thePaddock concerts, which saw thelikes of Westlife and Simply Red taketo the stage in front of thousands offans once the day’s racing had fin-ished.
The events were so well receivedthat the racecourse has now decidedto take the concept a step furtherand host a fully seated concert thereon May 29.
And organisers have chosen to goin with a bang – securing music leg-end Rod Stewart for their first event.
Joint managing director StephenHiggins said: “We have already beenstaging concerts here with the racingand when we got above 25,000 peo-ple, we felt confident enough to lookat bigger acts.
“But the problem with stagingthem with the racing would be thatthe cost would be too high for theconsumers, so we created the standalone concert. We chose Rod Stewartbecause we thought if we are goingto give it a go, we would start at thetop.
“Racecourses have been doing thisfor a number of years but we areunique because the amount ofspace we have means that we don’thave to put the stage on the racetrack.”
Stephen added that the venue’sexperience hosting previous eventshas already proved useful but thereare also new considerations to takeinto account.
He added: “We are very fortunatethat we have already got an idea ofhow the production comes together.But this event is different because itis all seated, so we have to get aseating contractor.”
Tickets are also being sold throughSEE Tickets for the first time insteadof just through the racecourse’s ownbox office and the gig is being pro-moted through a range of socialmedia outlets as well as on localradio.
Hospitality packages have alsobeen created to offer visitors asmany options as possible for theirday out, with over 750 selling in justone day.
Stephen added: “Traditional con-ferences and events are a challenge– it is a tough market. But we are try-ing to use the racecourse wheneverwe can.
“Newbury LIVE is an excellentexample of how we are expandingthe racecourse as a host venue andbecause it’s only 40 minutes fromLondon, it’s perfectly placed tobecome one of the UK’s most prom-ising and diverse entertainmentvenues.”
A Party in the Paddock concert
New marketing job for EllyFURNITURE and equipment hirespecialist Thorns Group has a newmarketing assistant, Elly Shaabani.
Elly has previously worked for high-profile companies including BarclaysInternational Banking, LA Fitness,Lansons Communications and retail-er GAP.
Sales director Clair Whitecross said:“We’re delighted to welcome Elly tothe Thorns team.
“Her extensive marketing experi-ence – gained through working with a succession of top-flight-com-panies – will add tremendousstrength to the already highly suc-cessful marketing activities withinour group.” Elly Shaabani
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By Christina Eccles
FOUNDER of the Vintage Festival,Wayne Hemingway, has revealedthe lessons learned at last year’sfestival and why it is moving toLondon.
Fashion designer Wayne – bestknown for starting the Red or Deadbrand – told an audience at theEvent Production Show thatVintage 2011 will be held on theSouth Bank, an area which is alsocelebrating the 60th anniversary ofthe Festival of Britain.
He said: “Vintage at Goodwoodwas going to be the launch of thebrand. We signed a one year dealwith Goodwood but it didn’t workout for a number of reasons.
“We were asked if we could bringthe festival to London and wouldhave regretted it if we had notdone it.”
Wayne said that although the firstfestival was considered a success,some things didn’t go to plan and there are several areas whichcan be improved on at futureevents.
He added: “There was no perma-nent infrastructure at Goodwoodand there were a few things thatreally upset us about how unsus-tainable doing that event was.
“When we go back to doing it ona greenfield site, we will not bedoing that again – we can’t buildan event of that scale and see it
going in skips.“This year, we are reusing and re-
imaginating buildings that arealready there, so all we are doing isset dressing.”
Wayne added that one of themost important things when plan-ning the festival is to work withpartners who can deal with gettingthe infrastructure right – leavinghis team free to concentrate on thecreative elements.
He added: “We can’t be creative ifwe have to worry about things likestaging and bars. We need to have
partners as we are not looking atanything to do with infrastructure– we are just doing design.
“[Last year] we had a problemthat no one envisaged. We didn’thave anyone on the productionside who would have bought aticket to Vintage and it was notsupposed to be like that.
“If the people who are workingbehind the scenes don’t havesmiles on their faces, there’s nopoint. It would have been a verydifficult year if we had had to dothat again.”
Wayne Hemingway
Why the Vintage Festival isforsaking glorious Goodwoodin favour of London ...
Early startfor CampBestivalCAMP Bestival will be opening its doors a day earlier this year after listening to feedback from visitors.
According to a survey of festivalgo-ers, 74 per cent said they saw attend-ing the event as a holiday.
So to improve the experience,visitors can now purchase aThursday camping ticket to extendtheir stay.
Festival curator Rob da Bank said:“This year's Camp Bestival is goingto be the best ever – we’ve gearedup Lulworth Castle to be a totalfesti-holiday experience, bringingback the spirit of the GreatBritish Camping holiday with bellson.”
Acts performing at the eventinclude Blondie, Mark Ronson andThe Business Intl and Eliza Doolittle,as well as family friendly showssuch as the Gruffalo and the SootyShow.Mark Ronson
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By Christina Eccles
GLOUCESTERSHIRE’S traditional Cheese Rollingevent has been saved following the committee’sdecision to bring a professional event manage-ment company on board for support.
Cheltenham-based company Event andManagement Services has been hired to helpmanage the event and transform it in to a ticket-ed, two-day festival in June, following health andsafety fears at past events.
The cheese roll, which draws crowds and mediaattention from around the world, sees daredevilcompetitors hurling themselves down the steepCleeve Hill in Gloucestershire in a bid to be thefirst to reach the bottom and claim the famousDouble Gloucester cheese.
But the event was the victim of its own popu-larity in 2009 when 15,000 spectators turned upto a venue equipped to hold only 5,000 – result-ing in the cancellation of last year’s event andraising questions over its future.
This is the first time in its history that the com-mittee has sought the support of an event man-agement company. It has also enlistedGloucester-based Moose Partnership for PR andsponsorship.
E&MS director Peter Allison said: “I have livedin Cheltenham for eight years and have known ofthe Cheese Roll for much of this time. I was hon-ored to have been approached by the CheeseRolling Committee to help keep this ancient tra-dition alive.
“We have been in continuous talks with policeand emergency services, highways agency andlocal authorities and in consultation with theimmediate Cooper’s Hill community.
“The decision to grow to a two-day event willhelp disperse the crowd and address the safety
fears from previous years. This is just one on theissues including proper parking, traffic controland public safety that will remain our top priori-ty.”
“In order to ensure that the tradition is not lost,the focus will remain on the cheese rolling itselfbut be expanded to become an all round familyorientated event.”
Cheese Rolling Committee spokesman Nigel
Thomas added: “The event really needs tochange dramatically if it is to survive. In its pres-ent form it attracts just too many people for us tohandle safely.
“So we have brought in E&MS to organise acompletely new event to include elements of the old Coopers Hill Wake and MoosePartnership to co-ordinate publicity and spon-sorship.”
Cheese event set to roll on ...
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LIVE event and music touring freightspecialists Sound Moves, are proud tohave been voted Favourite FreightCompany at the recent TPi Awards.
The awards recognise the key sup-pliers to the live entertainmentindustries with award categoriesincluding Favourite ProductionManager and Favourite Venue.
Presented by Huey Morgan of TheFun Lovin’ Criminals and with anattendance of over 1200 of the indus-try’s decision makers, the categoriespresent the best in class. It cappedwhat was the most successful year forSound Moves with the developmentof its event logistics brand.
Business development managerSimon Jackson said: “Success wasdriven by providing a genuine 24/7logistics solution for the domestic
and international event markets. Weare proud of our project planningteam as we continue to offer theclient a bespoke, second to none levelof communication and commitmentto service delivery.”
For more information contact SimonJackson on 01784 424473 or [email protected]
Business development manager SimonJackson, tour principal Andy Lovell, awardspresenter Huey Morgan and managing director Martin Corr.
Sound Moves wins top honour
How did you get into events?By default and also by destiny. Born aparty animal, I left school at 15 toenjoy the social awakening of the 60sand have never stopped partyingsince! About 25 years ago, I was out ofwork and had been a biker, busker,barman and found myself dressingup in clown’s clothes and entertain-ing at Harvester restaurants and chil-drens’ parties with my sister KimEinhorn. Our act was calledSpaceman Sam and the Red Elephant(I was Spaceman Sam). This was sosuccessful that it led on to ThemeTraders and we found ourselves atthe exciting forefront of party plan-ning in the UK in the days way beforeevent management degrees camealong some 10 years later. So from abackground of partying I found my-self in the party business as well as ifby magic! This was a win-win for me.
What has been your favourite eventto work on and why?My mantra in life is ''give, give, give ...change, change, change'' so I have toanswer this question with working oncharity events.
I run a charity called POD charita-ble trust which has entertained over500,000 children in UK hospitals. Theparties on childrens’ wards really aremagic as smiles always help a healingprocess. On a commercial level, it isalways challenging to work overseasand today I am watching one of ourlorries leave for Switzerland where wehave to factor in Carnets and notdriving on Sundays as part of ourplan.
Theme Traders were honoured to beinvolved in production work at theQueen's 80th Children’s Party atBuckingham Palace and have workedfor many Royal families and some ofthe richest individuals and largestcorporations in the world. If youapproach life with a positive attitude,then every event becomes the“favourite event”.
What has been your most challeng-ing event?Theme Traders did an event for a
National Logistics Company forseven simultaneous events on thesame day at the same time, whichhad to be all exactly the same but allin different regions of the country.
It was fun to change diverse build-ings to all look the same and even tofind the right calibre of venue with1000 capacity in different towns.
Sometimes we have a Barmitzvah ora wedding with a three year lead-inand have to keep bearing in mindthat by the time the event comesround, it will have completelychanged in design from when it setout. We have even worked on a wed-ding for over two years to only findthat the couple have split up a monthin advance of the wedding date!
What lessons have you learned?The most important lesson is “smile,smile, smile”. This is a tough industry.It is a service industry. It has manychallenges because so many want tojoin our creative world at almost anycost!
Ultimately, the client has no interestin you as the service provider, andwealthy individuals will haveextremely high demands extendingoften to 24/7.
Although the client will want toexplore every concept and design inexistence, they often already know
what they really want but need to gothrough the process of proving tothemselves that they are right.
I talk about the ‘Psychology ofEvents’ when I lecture university stu-dents and this is a complex study.
Lesson two would have to be“Listen, listen, listen”.
What advice would you give to peo-ple just starting out in the industry?When Theme Traders employ newteam members, we use the followingcriteria in the following order:a) Communication skill, social skills.In our sector of the industry, we haveto deal with all levels of global societyand this requires finely honed skills.b) Passion and love of the industry.Half-hearted doesn't even get off thestanding block and there is so muchcompetition that you may as well noteven bother to get out of bed unlessyou truly have a passion and are will-ing to make many sacrifices toprogress in the events world.c) Ability for detail/application andknowledge.Contrary to popular opinion in uni-versities, the academic knowledgefrom an events degree is only a smallpart of what is needed to survive andthrive in the party world.What projects are you currentlyworking on?
I am in the process of designing anddelivering an Annual festival inTeesside for several thousand.Weather and Plan B's feature quiteheavily and when the public andpublic spaces are involved there arealways lots of considerations thatneed ultra careful attention.
When designing an event it is tooeasy to come from the standpoint ofnegativity (i.e. what is notpossible)but all world class eventscome from the opposite. Conceptshould be based in relation to audi-ence, goals, origins and design thedream. It is only then that the overlayof how to achieve the dream shouldcome into play. Teesside is the onlyplace in the world with 150 years ofsteel making heritage and so this is avery good cornerstone for ourFestival of 'Fire and Steel'.
What do you predict for the indus-try?According to the Mayan Calendar theworld will end on 21.12.2012 andmany believe that the Australianfloods, climate changes, warming etcare all a prelude to this.
On the more tangible level, there isan an increasing trend towards totaltransparency in all transactions bothon the project and financial levels.Theme Traders is well placed becausewe have back-up systems, abilitiesand processes over many years whichoffer a greater degree of assurance toour clients in these unsettled times.
The economy will get worse, notbetter as we all have to adjust to lessexcessive lifestyles with more con-cern for the planet and the environ-ment.
Values and ethics will feature muchmore heavily in our day to day livesas we will have to relearn the mean-ing of kindness. This applies in com-merce as well.
� David Jamilly is co-founder of London-based party planning and prophire company Theme Traders. He hasrecently published his first book ‘PartyPeople’.
In the first of a new series profiling key industry figures, Theme Traders’ David Jamilly answers our quick questions ...
‘I found myself in the partybusiness as if by magic ...’
Countryman Fairs deal agreedSMITHS Waste Management hassecured an open-ended contract withCountryman Fairs to provide servicesfor its award-winning game andcountry fairs.
The first Countryman Fairs eventthis year is the Kelmarsh Game andCountry Fair in Northamptonshire,
where Smiths will be providing totalwaste management service for theevent. Spokesman James Herbertsaid: “Event management is a growtharea for Smiths and our contract withCountryman Fairs represents a mile-stone in the development of this partof the business.”
Scheme set to change water habitFRANK Water has created a new con-cept designed to change drinkinghabits at festivals.
The FreeFill scheme installs waterfiltration stations into events to pro-vide clean, purified, chilled water to
festivalgoers. The scheme encour-ages visitors to purchase a refillablebottle, which allows them unlimitedaccess to free water at any of the FRANK Water stations throughoutthat event.
To keep up with the latest industry news and views and to join in our online debatesvisit www.themaineventmagazine.co.uk or follow @themaineventmag on Twitter
09 23/2/11 15:51 Page 1
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OVER the years, TAO has beenpulled into many events around theworld at the very last minute tosolve problems created by otherevent organisers (and I use thatterm loosely). Some of my crew tellme we are like Red Adair just goingin to fire fight!
Why is it last minute.com? Somewould say that TAO are very poor atmarketing or the best kept secret inthe industry (just joking) but thereality is there can sometimes be afundamental flaw in the way clientsselect suppliers.
The most important thing is tocheck out those people you aregoing to choose to spend yourmoney; protect your audience andrun your events.
There are easy ways to check; askfor references; if their website states20 years in the industry and theperson in the meeting in front ofyou is in his mid twenties; the web-site was either written by Hans
Christian Anderson or the personin front of you started in the indus-try at a slightly younger age thanShirley Temple.
Select the right supplier for thejob – if your events company givesa satisfactory service doing yourcorporate Christmas party, theymay not be able to manage a 30,000audience festival. Conversely thefestival organiser may not be theright person to run your exhibition.
Another major selection require-ment is financial, especially in thisrecession. I know the governmenttell us it is better and the banks areokay and again getting their bonus-es but that doesn’t appear to be fil-tering down to us normal people.You pay for what you get; the 19thcentury social commentator, JohnRuskin said: “It is unwise to pay toomuch and it is unwise to pay toolittle. When you pay too much, youlose a little money; that is all, whenyou pay too little, you sometimes
lose everything because the thingyou bought, was incapable of doingthe thing you bought it to do. Thecommon law of business balanceprohibits paying a little and gettinga lot, it cannot be done. If you dealwith the lowest bidder, it is well toadd something for the risk you runand if you do that, you will haveenough to pay for something bet-ter.”
The lowest possible price is notnecessarily the best price.
Last but by no means least is thesuppliers’ qualifications and docu-mentation; we can all go on acourse and pass an exam and this isan important part of the ongoingprofessional development of eventorganisers but only experienceallows a person to put theory intopractice safely especially when thetheory was not necessarily devel-oped for the events industry.
The development of the internetalso means that the most inexperi-
enced person can search, changeand reissue any events policy theycan crib. Most local authorities nowinsist on putting commercially sen-sitive information on the internetfor all to crib (sorry see) under theguise of the Freedom ofInformation Act – shame they did-n’t employ the same act for theirexpenses!!
Therefore, before employing yoursuppliers, check and double check.
Selecting the right suppliers can be fundamental to the success of your event. In this month’s column, AndyCotton reveals why ...
‘We are like Red Adair just going in to fire fight ...’
Just some of theissues The MainEvent has beendiscussing withfollowers on Twitterthis month ...Bad weather:@arlsound – thankfully notdoing an outside evnttoday. Conditions are terrible!!!
The value of event management courses:@TahiraCreates – a combois ideal RT@TheMainEventmag:Looking for opinion on evtmgmt courses.are qualifica-tions impt or best to learnon job? #eventprofs
Use of social media to promote events:@KirkleesEvents – we use itlots and lots to build upexcitement - our food anddrink festival facebook's agood example
Green issues:@WeWowUK – It would befab to see @AGreenerFestyfeatured in your mag. Theydo great things to encourage #eco-friendlypractices!
Feelings about the comingyear:@WTWComms – We're feeling very positive. Sooptimistic in fact thatwe've just hired a newmember of staff to supportthe hire team :)
Why do quotesvary so wildly?Event manager, Yorkshire:
MY company held an extremelysuccessful event last year, andsince January I have been in theprocess of contacting variouscompanies for quotes for AVhire, venue decor, table decoretc for this year’s event.
With regards to the AV hire,each company I have contactedhas been given exactly the same brief regarding ourrequirements, only for me toreceive wildly differing quotesranging from just under £6,000to £13,500 for hire of the basicequipment.
All the companies contactedwere roughly within the sametravelling distance from thevenue and as the quotes camein, I checked each one againstthe others comparing like forlike, and made allowances forany quotes which included anyspecialist equipment not provid-ed by any other company.
I checked out each companyasked to provide a quote by
looking at their website to seewhat kind of events they hadbeen involved with in the past 12months, and also contactedclients of theirs who had provid-ed testimonials, so as far as I wasconcerned I had enough infor-mation on each one to provide afair comparison with their rivals,so I was somewhat confusedwith the huge difference in thequotes.
In fact, the one company I con-tacted who were based furtheraway from the venue than anyother provided the lowest quote,while one company locatedwithin five miles travelling dis-tance of the venue quoted forovernight accommodation forthe crew!
Has any other event organis-er/manager experienced similar problems, or do you havea system in place to help differ-entiate between the quotes? Ididn't have this problem lastyear, so it's left me wonderingwhat has changed in the last 12months.
Send us your news and views ... email [email protected] or write to Christina Eccles, The Main Event newsroom,47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS. You can call our newsdesk on 01226 734463
CommentTHE varying costof equipment hireand the difficultjob of selecting theright suppliers andare just a couple oftopics that havebeen raised byreaders of TheMain Event thismonth.
With manyevents beingforced to tightentheir belts to dealwith budget cuts,organisers lookingto get the best dealand suppliers bat-tling through challenging times, this is an issuewhich appears it will run and run.
Over the past few weeks, the Main Event team hasalso been out and about at some of the industry’sbiggest exhibitions including the Event ProductionShow and International Confex as well as taking asneak peek at an exciting new staging concept,which we will reveal more about next issue.
Finally, we hope you enjoy the new look magazineand our dedicated sections on topics such as inter-national events and training and education.
We would love to hear your feedback on theseand any other issues you feel are affecting theindustry at present.
Contact us by email at [email protected] or find us onTwitter @themaineventmag where we are also running an exclusive online competition for ourfollowers.
Christina Eccles
10 23/2/11 15:52 Page 1
WHEN organising an event, eitherindoor or outdoors, a lot of thoughtneeds to be given to deciding uponhiring the most appropriate stage forthe event in question.
The size and height of stagerequired needs to be based on, forexample, who is performing, howmany support musicians they have,what is the audience size and theviewing positions etc. Surprisinglystages can often end up being toolarge for the type of event or venue,although obviously the reverse canhappen as well.
Are stage pit-barriers going to beneeded and / or a FOH position andseparate PA wings? Ground condi-tions and site access will also need tobe considered. Booking long enoughin advance is always advisable, espe-cially if your outdoor event is in Juneor July.
Alistage’s stage system is modular indesign with over 70 different shapesand sizes available in their hire stockof over 2,500 units. A large variety ofdifferent height legs are stocked, withuneven ground conditions accom-modated by the use of adjustablelegs.
It is not only the stage system that ismodular; their Alidome roof canopiesare also modular in design. With fourbasic width sizes (4.8m, 6.1m, 8.23mand 12.2m) each incrementing in anynumber of 2.4m bays to give the req-uisite stage depth.
It is therefore possible to get theright size stage to suit both the eventand the budget available.
Probably the best advice is to speakto suppliers like Alistage to establishan ongoing working relationship anddiscuss anything you are unsure offirst.
Ask the experts beforechoosing a stage ...
Festivals flourishdespite gloomBy Christina Eccles
AFTER a couple of challenging years for theindustry, organisers and suppliers are onceagain turning their attention towards thissummer’s outdoor events.
With uncertainty over the economy andmany festivalgoers being forced to tighten thepurse strings and cut back on luxury items, ithasn’t been an easy ride for many working inevents.
But luckily it’s not all doom and gloom forthe industry.
Many festivals are flourishing even in atough market, including Glastonbury wheretickets sold out before any of the line up waseven announced.
Meanwhile up in Manchester, organisershave announced a two-day ParklifeWeekender following on from the success oflast year’s one day event and in Newcastle the
Evolution Festival has confirmed its strongestline up to date.
As organisers now start focusing on theirsummer projects, The Main Event brings youthe 2011 Virtual Festival supplement, com-bining all the components needed to stage asuccessful event.
From security to catering, portable toilets tostaging, our dedicated feature provides a onestop shop of suppliers ready to take on yourevent needs.
As always, throughout the year we wouldlove to hear your news and views on the bigissues affecting the industry and how plansare going for your events.
� The Main Event’s editorial team can bereached on 01226 734463, email [email protected] follow us on Twitter @themaineventmag
Beyonce and Coldplay have both been confirmed for this year’s sell-out Glastonbury festival.
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YOU spend all year preparing for afirst class event, investing large sumsof money in addition to your heartand soul, to deliver what the punterswant.
But many things can unhinge eventhe best laid plans – from the goodold British weather to illness of yourheadliner, there are many reasons toensure that your festival or event isadequately insured this summer.
Doodson Entertainment’s JamesDodds said: “Festival organisers thatare working without specialist bro-kers can often find themselvesspending more on their premiumsthan they need to, potentially wastingvaluable budget, as a last minuteafterthought, to ensure that theyhave the right bits of insurancepaper! We try to get right to the nubof the issue and understand the qual-ity of the management of the eventand how the organisers are managingrisk. This doesn’t need to be a hugelytime consuming item on the organis-ers’ already long ’to-do’ list, but acouple of hours well spent with agood broker who understands festi-vals and live events, can reap rewardsin terms of competitive premiums,
wide cover and improved risk man-agement.”
If festival organisers can demon-strate to insurers, via their broker,that their event is well organised witha clear risk assessment and a com-prehensive contingency plan forpotential problems, then a specialistbroker like Doodson Entertainmentcan often arrange a better deal andadd value to the event in the process.
James said: “The last thing an eventneeds is the bad publicity and PRthat comes with having a nasty acci-dent on site or the inability to carryon with the event when bad weatheror other risks pose a threat to its abil-ity to proceed.
“Specialist brokers and insurers canhelp with all of this by arrangingquality cover for Public Liability inci-dents (because accidents do hap-pen!) and comprehensiveCancellation Insurance (which does-n’t just pay if the event is totally can-celled, but can also respond by pay-ing additional costs required to keepthe event going after a minor crisis).”
For a broker working for over 40years in the industry and boasting
extensive experience with festivals ofall sizes across the UK and US,Doodson Entertainment believe theycan place the insurance for your fes-tival in an intelligent and strategicway, which doesn’t have to addanother large cost line in the eventsbudget.
James added: “Our clients rangefrom giants of the festival world, tothe smallest boutique events. They all
have similar risks and exposures, andwe enjoy working with them all.
“The biggest thing for us, is sharingthe promoters’ passion for entertain-ing people because our team arehuge fans of live music also.
“We enjoy the opportunity to helpin our own small but important wayand being there to help and supportif something does go wrong.”
How to get the best deal on event insurance
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GRUNDON Waste Management’sdedicated special events team con-tinues to service many of the mostprestigious events in the UK’s socialand sporting calendar, includingCartier International Day, Formula 1TM Santander British Grand Prix,Henley Royal Regatta, TheChampionships, Wimbledon and theRoyal International Air Tattoo.
Operating across the south ofEngland, Grundon provides the fullrange of waste collection and recy-cling services, using highly manoeu-vrable waste wheeler containers,rolonofs, skips, compactors ortankers as appropriate.
In particular their popular 'Two Bin’recycling system is simple to use andresults in a clean and easily managedsite.
Mixed recyclablescomprising paper,cardboard, alu-minium and steelcans, plastic bot-tles and even glassbottles and jars areplaced in one con-tainer ready forcollection andrecycling, whilst asecond containertakes the residual
waste. UK government continues to ratch-
et up the pressure to divert residualwaste – that which remains after therecyclables have been removed –from landfill. By using a combinationof materials recovery facilities and itsstate of the art lakeside energy fromwaste facility at Colnbrook nearHeathrow, Grundon offers eventorganisers the potential for up to 95per cent diversion of waste fromlandfill.
Available throughout the yearincluding weekends, Grundon servic-es indoor and outdoor events ofevery size and type, from corporatefunctions, exhibitions and sportingevents to festivals, agricultural showsand village fetes.
How to ‘recover’after recycling
PW Hire goes from strength tostrength – 2011 will see their eventhire fleet virtually double in size andallow them to service even more customers and events this year, someof which were unable to gain accessto their superb range of ticket kiosks, event offices and portableevent refrigeration due to the high level of demand experienced in2010.
New for 2011 is the XL Event Officeoffering the same stylish looks, allround visibility and with superb builtin flexibility.
With six independent sales windowsand a DDA compliant sales windowits versatile to say the least. It can beutilised as a large ticket or merchan-dise sales kiosk.
With lockable shutters to all win-
dows it can also convert to a securecashing up office at the end of theday or with its all round visibility itcould easily double as commentarybox or general event office.
PW Hire’s range of event refrigera-tion is also being further improved toreduce power usage at events, with allof its products currently undergoingenergy rate testing to demonstratethe performance and potential sav-ings for the client. 2011 will see PWHire present at many of the majorsporting and music events aroundthe UK, with many clients from 2010already confirming bookings for thiscoming season and choosing to onceagain draw on the proven productperformance and reliability of servicepreviously experienced to ensure asuccessful event.
Fleet to virtually double
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OWNED by the Harsco Corporationsince 2000, SGB Eventlink becameHarsco Eventlink in 2010, andalthough our name changed, ourproducts stayed the same.
Over 30,000 temporary grandstandseats, 12 km of security fencing, 10km of pedestrian barriers, along withturnstiles, truss, temporary roadwayand staging systems including frontof house barriers gives HarscoEventlink an unrivalled portfolio ofequipment for event infrastructure.Our experienced team deliver excel-lent service to major events such asCancer Research Race For Life, TheOpen Golf, Cheltenham Festival,Children In Need and Dancing On Iceto name but a few.
Of course, when hiring event infra-structure there are several importantfactors to consider, and the cheapestprovider may not provide the bestvalue for money.
Perhaps the biggest considerationto take into account is health andsafety, and here at Harsco, we prideourselves on our health and safety
record. As one of the world’s leadingsuppliers of temporary structures tothe construction industry, health andsafety is always unquestionably onthe top of our agenda on all projects.
Secondly, what service is includedin the price? And are there any hid-den extras? Harsco offers numerousoptions ranging from simply trans-port and dry hire, all the way up topackages including installation anddismantle, and site management.However big or small your event, wecan tailor a package to suit yourneeds.
And for those bigger events, doesthe supplier have the knowledge andexperience to deliver? Between ourproject management, event designand supervision teams, we have acombined total of over 110 years’experience!
Aside from experience, the teamhas extensive knowledge of productcapabilities, designs and configura-tions, health and safety regulations,and site surveys, leaving you withcomplete peace of mind that your
event is in safe hands. With the samecrews erecting and dismantling eachproject, you can also be sure that allof our sub contractors share the samevalues and principles as us.
With event success more importantthan ever in an uncertain climate, itis vital that you choose a supplier
who you can trust, who can fullyunderstand your requirements, andwho can deliver success every time.And with such an array of productsunder one roof, why use several dif-ferent companies, when HarscoEventlink can provide the completepackage?
Harsco Eventlink can providethe complete package ...
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FESTAXI is offering the latest onsitetransport for festival goers across theUK.
The new company, based in theEast Midlands, has introduced golfbuggies as a fun alternative for takingvisitors across festival campsites tothe main arena. Their motive is to beable to provide a free service forthose that have accessibility require-ments. This has helped them to gainsupport from Unltd.
Festaxi support the need forincreased accessibility for all at festi-vals and are looking to build relation-ships with organisations that alsosupport this cause.
Festaxi operates at no cost to thefestival, although sponsorship dealswill enable organisers to offer guestsa free and convenient travel service.
The business is keen to increase
opportunities for visitors with specif-ic mobility needs, as well as provid-ing assistance for those carryingcamping equipment.
The service promises more enjoy-ment time for festival goers and aviable advertising space for prospec-tive sponsors.
Festaxi is set to be a huge success,with festivals and festival goersalready voicing their enthusiasm forthe service and financial supportbeing offered by De MontfortUniversity.
The company is currently lookingfor drivers and work experience vol-unteers to join its expanding team.
If you want to provide this service atyour festival or if you are a potentialsponsor seeking mobile advertisingfor this market contact the companydirector for further information.
Introducing newfestival transport
THE Wood Fired Pizza Companyoperates at various large events offer-ing a high quality food concept, spe-cialising in the service of traditional,freshly cooked, chef designed pizzas,that have been made with the verybest, responsibly sourced, authenticingredients, served quickly to satisfythe needs of event goers that seek amore superior food offering.We have a highly skilled teambecause we believe that it makes thedifference between ‘just a pizza’ anda ‘great pizza’. It also means we can offer a consis-tently high quality product, promoteauthentic recipes that are bespoke toeach event and use the best ingredi-ents available, rather than rely on
convenience.By offering increased levels of service,we enhance the customer experienceand are able to maximise throughput. With our uniquely wood fired ovenand ‘pizzaioli’ tossing dough in frontof the customer, our concept is visu-ally stimulating, underpinning ourpremium position – there’s nothingquite like it!The Wood Fired Pizza Companyoffers an interactive experience, withan open kitchen stage that gives asense of theatre and participationwhere the oven is the focal point ofthe kitchen allowing the customer tofeel part of the real, traditional,Italian pizza experience.Can you afford not to be a part of it?
It’s a fact, everyoneloves pizza!
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Event security and crowd safety Every event represents its own chal-lenges. The needs of corporate eventsdepends on their content, with newproducts or strategic discussionsrequiring higher security. Whereas alarge mass gathering, concert, festivalor sporting event will require higherlevels of customer safety dependingon the demographic of the spectatorsand artists, and each must be evalu-ated on its own merits.
For several years we have employedhundreds of personnel and beendeployed for thousands of man hoursat some of the most prestigious sitesand special events in the country.
Our distinguished client base in this
area is a testament to the profession-al regard in which we and our staffare held.
Event Services Personnel Event Services personnel are distinctfrom licensed security personnel inthat they fulfill a number of differentfunctions including: crowd manage-ment, event safety stewarding, wel-come hosts and skilled and manuallabour for event site build and breakdown. All event stewards are trainedor in training to NVQ Level two inspectator control and crowd safety.
Licensed Event Security All ProTouch Security employeesworking within the event securityarena are licensed by the Security
Industry Authority, allowing them toconduct licensable activities asdefined by the Private SecurityIndustry Act 2001. Event security per-sonnel should not be confused withgeneral door supervisors. These indi-viduals are trained to deal with theproblems that may occur at any massgathering including concerts, festi-vals, sporting events and other highprofile events. Specialist responseteams undergo further training byattending a four day PhysicalIntervention for Event ResponseTeams course with our in houseHome Office approved instructor.
Specialist Event SecurityYou may already have a security sup-plier and we are in no way trying to
undermine or replace the servicesprovided by this company. ProTouchSecurity’s specialist services aredeployed to compliment your exist-ing security infrastructure where spe-cialist skills are required. The infor-mation collected and documented byour staff is used to develop anddefine the way your events may oper-ate in the future.
Extraction Teams Our extraction teams are there toassist during any incidence ofextreme violence, the removal ofindividuals believed to be involved indrugs related activities or the segre-gation of individuals or groups thatare posing a threat to the event orcustomers’ safety.
Rising to the challenge every time
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ARNOLD Clark Car and VanRental is part of the ArnoldClark Group, Europe’s largestindependent car dealer.
With over 30 branchesthroughout the UK and anextensive range of vehicles available,Arnold Clark Car and Van Rentaloperates one of the largest andnewest fleets while providing a pro-fessional and easy to use service.
Our broad range of expertise hasattracted major clients including:
� T in the Park
� Hydro Connect Festival
� Scottish Rugby Union
� Women’s British Open
� The Senior Open GolfChampionship
� Allied Dunhill Links Championship
Don’t just take our word for it, here’swhat some of our clients have to say.
Jerry Millichip, T In The Park:“Arnold Clark has provided a range ofvehicles to T In The Park for the pastfour years. 4x4s, mini buses and cars,all have been of a high standard and
well maintained.
“The attention to customer servicehas been excellent and any problemshave been sorted out quickly and eas-ily with minimum of fuss. I wouldrecommend them for any event bigor small.”
John Diamond, Diamond EventServices: “We have used Arnold Clarkexclusively since the Main Event 2010for van and car hire.
“The excellent service that ArnoldClark provides us with has ensuredthat we are able to meet our clients’varied requirements, even at shortnotice.
“Having a local branch with extended opening hours at weekendshas been crucial to us being able toprovide our clients with the highstandards of service they expect from us.”
Why major festivalclients turn toindependent dealer
A NEW site and an ‘out of this worldtheme’ are among the changesplanned for this year’s Blissfields fes-tival.
The event – which is now in its 11thyear – has moved to a new home inWinchester after becoming too bigfor its previous site.
The festival is run by Paul Bliss andhis family and started as a party forfriends on their farm. The eventstayed free for about five years buteventually became so popular thatorganisers had to start charging andmake changes to turn it into a ‘prop-er’ festival.
After an unsuccessful attempt tomove sites in 2008, Paul told TheMain Event that the time is now rightto try again.
He said: “2008 was our first attemptto move somewhere else but we triedto go too big. The site wasn’t suitablefor the event and didn’t work.
“We came back here for two yearswhen we had our most successfulyears and sold out. It was 2009 whenwe really hit the big time and staged a1500 capacity event. We live in a vil-lage and although it has been sup-portive, it got to the stage where we
were bulging out [of the site] andneeded to find somewhere else.”
The festival has now moved to afriend’s farm just a few miles awayenabling them to increase the capaci-ty from 1,250 to 2,000.
He added: “We wanted to get biggerto cement the financial future of thefestival. Because it was so small, there
was the viability of the productioncosts to put something on for so fewtickets. Going up a step gives us a lit-tle bit more leeway.”
The festival costs £65 for a weekendticket and this year for first time ishaving music on the Thursday night,which about 30 per cent of ticketholders are going to attend.
Paul and the team and now workingon the line up to ensure this year’sfestival is as strong as ever.
“It is always difficult for smaller festivals to get their line up cementedso we are working hard on that. Witha little bit more budget and morespace, we will be able to realise all thedreams we have been working on.”
Blissfields plans ‘outof this world’ theme
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THERE is one service that cannot beoverlooked when staging a high profile event; the provision of highquality portable toilet and showerequipment to suit any event large orsmall.
Andyloos operate nationally andcan provide everything from a basicsingle unit to a high specification lux-ury vacuum toilet system, the choiceis yours, and the quality of service isours.
Andyloos have over 21 years’ experi-ence in the design, manufacture andhiring of portable toilet facilities.
The company won a national awardfor technical innovation for theirchemical free Poly-Vac toilet systemfrom the British Toilet Associationduring 2010.
These innovative toilets use nochemicals and have far greater inter-nal floor space than their chemicalusing equivalents.
No servicing is carried out throughthe front door and all smells areremoved by the vacuum system. Eachunit has its own internal light.
Andyloos supply all types ofportable toilets, showers and ancil-
lary equipment for weddings, corpo-rate events, parties, festivals, shows,sporting events and functions withinthe UK and throughout Europe. Wealso offer long term hire facilities ofall products, complete with regularon-site servicing.
Various sizes and types of toilettrailers are available for hire; some luxury units such as theMillennium 3+1 luxury trailer evenhave flat screen televisions and DVDplayers. The company covers all theUK and has also works in Europe on aregular basis. A division also operatesin Trinidad and Tobago.
Placed for yourconvenience
THE UK’s leading event LED screensupplier, ADI supply some of theworld’s leading brands, events andfestivals.
ADI’s range of iCONIC mobile LEDscreens offer event organisers anultra-convenient screen solution,which can be setup and runningwithin 30 minutes of arrival on site.
The iCONIC family includes over 20screens ranging in size from 12 to100mÇ, meaning there are screens forall budgets and event sizes – whetheryou have 50 or 50,000 people.
And with multiple versions of eachmodel, they are ideal for positioningon either side of the stage, making a
far more cost-effective solution thanbuilding dedicated structures forflown screens.
ADI provide a full event broadcastsolution – most iCONIC screens comewith on-board production suites andthey can provide cameramen, direc-tors and microwave links – ensuringyou have everything you need tobroadcast your event live onto the bigscreens.
ADI also offer truckside brandingfor all of their iCONIC screens, mean-ing an additional promotional spacefor your event sponsors and helpingto minimise costs for event organis-ers.
Providing a full eventbroadcast solution
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ALBION Woods Show Tents supplyiconic big top structures to a range ofevents and festivals includingGlastonbury and Reading.
The company prides itself on goingthat extra mile for clients and giving100 per cent to each contract it takeson – dealing with everything fromactually making the tents to erectingthem on site at an event.
The quick turnaround time andwow factor of the colourful structuresmake them a popular choice at manyoutdoor events.
They also have the advantage ofbeing able to protect festivalgoersfrom the elements as the tents canprovide shelter from wind or rain,while blackout material keeps every-
one inside cool on a hot day.The company’s tents can be found
at some of the UK’s biggest events.Projects for this year include provid-ing tents for the 40th anniversary ofthe Chippenham Folk Festival andsupplying products to the BeardedTheory and Endorse it in Dorset festi-vals.
Going that extra mile for clients
LOCATION – a common query isshould we use VHF or UHF radios? Inthe case of an outdoor event, theanswer is usually VHF radios whichprovide excellent clarity and range.However, if your event is in a particu-larly built up area, UHF may bepreferable as these radios have theincreased capability to transmitthrough obstructions. A good radiocompany will advise the best optionfor you. If your event is in a built uparea or a valley you may need anantenna and repeater. This gives‘umbrella coverage’ across a specifiedarea.
Equipment charges – our clientsoften hire radios for use by untrainedcasual staff which can result in lost ordamaged equipment. The best solu-tion for this is to appoint someone tocheck in/out your equipment. Thatperson should also take control ofcharging rotation and/or spare bat-tery allocation.
Weather – an obvious considerationfor events organisers, and a costlyone should any equipment sufferwater damage. Our advice is to investin carry cases, holsters and earpiecesallowing equipment to remainbeneath waterproof outerwear.Alternatively, there are models on themarket which are water/splash proof.
The expense of hiring an additionalcase is minimal in comparison to thereplacement cost of damaged equip-ment.
Grouping/channel allocation –operationally, user groups are a greatidea. Colour coded aerials signifyallocation, our programming expert-ise allow channel use for private orgrouped messages all of which arehugely beneficial.
Plan plan plan – the most impor-tant thing to remember is plan yourcomms well in advance and use theexpertise of Wall to Wall Comms, bothduring and in the lead up to yourevent. Remember, instant reliablecommunication can save precioustime in an emergency.
Effective communication on site is vital to ensure the success ofany event. Here Wall to Wall Communications share their fiveessential tips for cost-effective radio communications at events.
Tune in to radio essentials
Picture courtesy of SPA Security & Events
Parklife Festival2011 to lasttwice as long ...THE Parklife Festival will returnthis year as a two-day event inManchester’s Platt Fields Park,organisers have revealed.
2010’s festival sold out in eightweeks – featuring a line upincluding Friendly Fires, MagneticMan and Simian Mobile Disco –and was put together by the teambehind the successful WarehouseProject events.
Co-promoter Sam Kandel said:“We had so much great feedbacklast year following the event.
“It appears everyone had an
amazing time. The only feedbackwe got was that people wantedmore so we decided to expandParklife 2011 into a two-dayevent.
“One option was to increase thecapacity of the event but wedecided that we didn’t want tolose the intimacy and fun thatwas so evident in last year’s festi-val, so while the party will lasttwice as long, we will be keeping itat the same capacity.”
The new event will be known asthe Parklife Weekender.
Team vows that event will go onTHE team behind Standon Callinghas insisted the event will go aheadthis year – despite the absence of fes-tival founder Alex Trenchard.
Alex was sentenced to 30 months inprison after pleading guilty to twooffences – theft and fraud by falserepresentation. All money taken hasbeen repaid.
But festival director GrahamMacVoy said in a statement that the
event will continue without him.He said: “I know that Alex very
much regrets his actions and feelsgreat remorse for the distress he hascaused, but the festival is about morethan just one person. The team havebeen preparing for this year’s festivaland Alex’s absence for a number ofmonths. Standon Calling 2010 was aresounding success and we are build-ing on that.”
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL 2011
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2 20 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
By Christina Eccles
THE world’s largest-ever fire draw-ing was among the entertainmenton offer at the spectacular launchof Turku as Capital of Culture 2011.
UK cultural arts and event organi-sation Walk the Plank was behindthe event in the Finnish city, whichwas witnessed by over 30,000guests and broadcast live on MTV.
The company – who previouslylaunched Liverpool as Capital ofCulture in 2008 – produced an
hour-long extravaganza of music,fire, lighting and special effects,including the fire drawing on theRiver Aura using 1.6km of paperrope sketching out a major part ofthe city’s striking skyline and pay-ing homage to the great fire of 1827that destroyed a large portion ofthe country’s original capital city.
The show, entitled ‘This Side, TheOther Side’, was directed by MarkMurphy and took place in Turku’shistoric Wartsila shipyard.
Communication was one of the
major themes, spanning old-fash-ioned Morse code through to cut-ting-edge telecom technology astypified by Finland’s Nokia compa-ny.
About 350 people from 21 localchoirs, shipyard workers, circusperformers and puppetry studentstook part, reflecting the city’s pastand present vibrant cultural identi-ty.
The soundtrack for the spectacu-lar – created by composerNathaniel Reed – fused traditional
Finnish choral music with the min-imal techno rhythms that haveproved popular in recent years.
Walk the Plank’s creative producerJohn Wassell said: “Turku’s year inthe spotlight as Capital of Culturehas begun in grand style with anevent that reflects both the city’shistoric culture and its future artis-tic ambitions on a global platform.
“The opening show went withouta hitch and will serve to help pro-mote British arts and event expert-ise right around the world.”
Photo credit: Turku 2011/Philip Photographer
World’s largest fire drawing for launch
Firm holesthree-yearcontractTHE Arena Group InternationalDivision has successfully completedwork on the 2011 Abu Dhabi GolfChampionships – and has beenawarded a new three-year contract.
The company’s Dubai-basedHarlequin Arena company wasentrusted to provide the prestigiousgolf tournament’s double hospitalitystructure, public village and tempo-rary exhibition hall.
All temporary structures weredesigned to reflect the branding aspi-rations of the Championships’ newheadline sponsor, HSBC.
IMG produced the whole event onbehalf of the Abu Dhabi TourismAuthority and HSBC.
Industry best honoured at ceremonyTHE best of the European festivalindustry has been recognised at aprestigious ceremony in theNetherlands.
The Festival Awards Europe cele-brated the top European festivals,artists and promoters of 2010 andwinners picked by a combination ofpublic vote and industry experts.
More than 350,000 votes were castby fans to decide the winners in thefollowing categories:� Best Major European Festival:Heineken Open'er Festival – Poland� Best Medium-Sized EuropeanFestival: Electric Picnic Music andArts Festival – Ireland� Best Small European Festival: 5Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival –Poland� Best New European Festival:Temple House Festival – Ireland� Best Indoor Festival: Rolling StoneWeekender – Germany� Best European Festival Line-Up :
Oxegen – Ireland� Best Newcomer: Florence and theMachine� Best Headliner: Muse� Festival Anthem of the Year: Muse –Uprising� YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean FestivalOf The Year: Boom Festival – Portugal� Artist’s Favourite EuropeanFestival: Melt! – Germany� Virtual Festivals Europe presentsPromoter Of The Year:Kilimanjaro/K2� Yourope Lifetime AchievementAward: Leif Skov
James Drury, MD of organisersFestival Awards, said: “With over350,000 votes and a 37 per cent incr-ease in the number of events, oursecond edition demonstrated thebreadth and strength of feelingamong fans and festivals across thecontinent. This was a great celebra-tion of the world leading festivalscene.” Stuart Galbraith
THE Al Laith Group haslaunched a new site servicesdivision to complement itsexisting operations in Dubai.
Al Laith Site Services, head-ed by Paul Richardson, willwork closely with Al LaithEvent Services, supplying thebest quality toilets, officesand general purpose cabinsfor all types of events.
Al Laith MD Tony Nobbssaid: “The toilet is an essen-tial component for any event.
It's the one basic element inwhich everyone involved,from crew and staff to thegeneral public, need at theirdisposal, and if it's a badexperience, it becomes atalking point and can makethe difference between anindividual's enjoyment of theevent or not.
“Our objective is to providethe very best lavatorial serv-ices – front and back of stage– in the region, in all
aspects.”The new division also
means that Al Laith'sScaffolding and EventServices teams, who arealways the first on and lastoff site as the event buildstarts and the break downfinishes, can now bring their own toilets and officeswith them – and work com-pletely independently ofother contractors during setup.
Group launches new division in Dubai
Managing director Tony Nobbs and divisional manager, Al Laith SiteServices Paul Richardson.
20 23/2/11 15:49 Page 1
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS 21
Singer Christina Aguilera was among the guests at a star-studded birthday party in theheart of the French Alps. The event – billionaire businessman Victor Pinchuk’s 50th birth-day party – created massive challenges for those involved, including temporary structuresspecialist De Boer, tasked with creating a venue for 180 VIP guests. The alpine locationmeant over 3,500sqm of structures and equipment had to be transported up the moun-tainside – with construction taking place in temperatures of -15 degrees Celsius and onground covered by three feet of snow.
ROBE moving lights took centrestage at a spectacular Bollywoodthemed concert in South Africa.
The company worked on theNew Age Friendship CelebrationConcert in Durban, which fol-lowed the Standard BankInternational Pro20 cricket tour-nament between India and SouthAfrica.
The extravaganza was the firstpost cricket match entertainmentevent of its kind and also celebrat-ed the 150th anniversary of thearrival of Indians in Africa.
Over 40,000 excited cricket fanssaw the match, with the concertalso televised live worldwide onESPN, opening up the potentialaudience to several million.
Lighting, stage set and visualswere designed by Tim Dunn andfull technical production for theConcert was supplied byGearhouse South Africa, workingfor producer Katija Ali of AA Mediawho conceived and proposed the show idea to match organisers, Cricket SouthAfrica.
Bowled over bythemed concert
Talks underwayto take Rewinddown under ...THE successful Rewind festival isgoing global – with plans in thepipeline to take the brand abroad.
The original festival takes place atHenley-on-Thames, attracting acapacity crowd of 40,000 people toenjoy the best of the 1980s.
Describing itself as ‘a festival forpeople who don’t do festivals’,Rewind has also earned a reputationfor its non music offering – fromcocktail bars to a range of foodoptions and ‘glamping’ for the morediscerning festivalgoer.
And with ticket sales already up byabout 35 per cent on last year, theteam behind the festival have decid-ed the time is right to look at expand-ing.
A Scottish Rewind festival will takeplace in July at Scone Palace nearPerth and organisers are also in talksto launch events in Australia andHolland.
Organiser David Heartfield said:“The event in Henley was so success-ful we reached the capacity of 40,000and couldn’t expand.
“We have a lot of people travel fromthe North so decided to launch a fes-tival in Scotland. We looked for a sitethat could pull people from all overScotland and Scone Palace is in a fan-tastic location with a lot of what weare looking for.”
Although some of the artists playingwill appear at both festivals, Davidadded that it is important that theyhave their own identity and a localfeel wherever possible.
He added: “We are trying to give thefestival a local flavour and are lookingat local food producers and Scottishbands. I’m sure the event will also gointo other markets as it is continuingto grow.”
Last year, the Henley event was alsotelevised for the first time, showcas-ing what the event has to offer to fansall over the world.
Organisers are also using a dedicat-ed event website and social network-ing as a way of promoting the eventand gaining feedback from festivalgo-ers.
21 23/2/11 15:48 Page 1
2 22 LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT
By Christina Eccles
ALTHOUGH events have always beenheld in Inverness, a joined upapproach between all partiesinvolved in delivering them nowmeans that the programme is moreorganised and better promoted thanever before.
Close partnership working withcouncillors, local businesses andother promoters staging events in thearea means there is always some-thing going on in the city whateverthe season.
As the area is also a popular touristdestination, a dedicated events web-site and calendar helps visitors toplan their stay around an event andallows local hotels and businesses tojoin in promotions.
Inverness was also the first city topost a what’s on diary online, whichhas made it easier for people to find
out when events are happening
Gerry explained: “Quite often coun-cils can get distracted by why theyare doing events. The strategy wecame up with was to strip it down tothe basics and stage annual eventsand festivals to engage with the peo-ple of Inverness.
“Inverness is a really populartourism destination and we want tomake sure that people have a greattime. We know that events are a greatway to attract people to the city.
“Now we are planning ahead – thismeans that hotels can organise pro-motions around them and people arestarting to see a pattern. We also haveother groups coming to us asking ifwe can help them to promote theirevents.”
Gerry admits that like most coun-cils, securing funding to deliverevents can be a challenge.
But, the Highland Council is in afortunate position because it receivesmoney from the Inverness CommonGood Fund, which was set up bycouncillors hundreds of years ago.
Rent generated from property andland owned by the fund is used forthe good of Inverness, and events fallunder that umbrella.
Gerry added: “When we had toreview the budget, thanks to the sup-port of the councillors, our eventscome under the wing of the fund,which gives us a degree of stability.
There is enormous pressure but thecouncillors have been fantastic.Everybody knows how importantevents are, not just to tourism but tolife in the city.
“We have always done big eventshere but we didn’t have so many ofthem clearly visible. Events are nowgrowing in numbers and are betterpromoted.
“The Highlands know how to party.There is a lot of energy up here andwe are just starting, which is a greatthing.”
A simple strategy has gotthe whole of Invernessworking together to delivera successful, year roundevents programme. In thismonth’s spotlight, wespeak to the HighlandCouncil’s events officerGerry Reynolds whorevealed why the partynever ends in theHighlands.
‘The Highlands knowhow to party ...’
‘Inverness is a really popular tourism destinationand we want to make sure that people have a great time. We know that events are a great way to attract people to the city’
22 23/2/11 15:48 Page 1
LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT 23
THE 2011 major events programmein Inverness:� Scotland Under 20 v Ireland Under20 Rugby � Inverness Half Marathon � Inverness Whisky Festival � The Great Easter Egg Hunt � Race for Life � Inverness BID City Classic VehicleShow � Northern Roots Festival � Marymas Medieval Fair � Inverness Boat Festival � Barclays Scottish Open GolfChampionship � Simple Minds Concert � Inverness Highland Games andArmed Forces Day � Wild West Fest � Inverness Tattoo � Inverness Book Festival� Inverness Raft Race � Inverness Flower Festival� Kirking of the Council � Baxter's Loch Ness Marathon � Ness Islands Halloween Show � Bonfire and Fireworks Display � Inverness Film Festival � Remembrance Sunday � Christmas Lights Switch On � Santa Run � Rudolph's Winter Wonderland � The Red Hot Highland FlingHogmanay Party
The year ahead in Inverness
ON NEW Year’s Eve 2009, GerryReynolds experienced one of themost challenging moments of hiscareer – the last-minute cancellationof the council’s flagship event.
The Red Hot Highland Fling is oneof the highlights of the year and thesecond biggest Hogmanay show afterEdinburgh.
But winter hit hard in December2009, leaving the team with nooption other than to cancel the eventjust hours before it was due to takeplace.
Gerry explained: “The winter of2009 was a bad time to be working atan outdoor event, especially up here.For three weeks the Highlands hadbeen blasted by snow storms and itreally had been one of the coldestwinters Scotland had seen for cen-turies.
“The temperatures had remainedstubbornly below -5C in Invernessand I later discovered that it hadsometimes hit -18C with wind chillfactors of goodness knows what inthe surrounding areas. But, as a teamwe had made it and we had everyreason to smile. The whole site wasbuilt, everything that needed to bechecked and tested and signed offhad been and the weather forecastwas good.
“The events staged here in theHighlands are organised using amulti-agency approach and for allour events we always have a final gettogether a few hours before the showto officially press the start button.Having been so focused on gettingour site ready, I have to admit that ithad never even crossed my mind toreally start worrying about Inverness
itself. I mean it had been a struggle toget to the site but we had made it andwe knew that the snow ploughs andgritters were out in force 24 hours aday.
“As soon as the delegation fromNorthern Constabulary arrived andasked to have a quiet word with memy heart sank.
“The latest weather forecasts andthe reports that they were gettingfrom their colleagues up the road wasthat “something really vicious washeading down from the north” andthat there was no way the eventcould go ahead.
“Like most event managers, I hadtried to imagine what it would feellike to deal with a last minute cancel-
lation over the years but when it hap-pened my first reaction was to sitdown and feel sorry for myself and allthe people we were going to disap-point for a minute. I am not going topretend we just got on with the PRwork. Collectively, this was kick in theguts and we all tried to deal with it asbest we could. Afterwards folk toldme how shocked, angry, depressed,flat and sad they had felt.
“Located near the back of everymajor event plan should be a sectionentitled ‘things to do when you haveto pull the plug’ – and our cancella-tion section worked a lot better than Idared hope.
“The media up here were brilliantand within five minutes, news of the
cancellation started to pour out ofcontrol room. We had announce-ments on local and national radioalmost instantly and not long after-wards local and national news organ-isations’ websites started to bechanged, Facebook and Twitter erupted and we had announcementsbeing made every five minutes in ourmain shopping centre and supermar-kets.
“We even managed to get the elec-tronic traffic signs to alternatebetween ‘drive carefully’ and‘Hogmanay show cancelled’. We reallydid ask everybody we could think ofto cascade the news and they did.
“Looking back the great thing thatworked in our favour is that we hadall the contact emails and telephonenumbers at our fingertips and per-haps most importantly of all we hadarranged to meet early enough to beable to use the lunchtime and earlyevening news to our advantage.
“When the blizzard hit shortly after-wards there was no doubt that thepolice had made the right call.
“Just 11 people turned up at the sitelooking for a party six hours later andwhile I am sure that it was mainly thesnow and the blocked roads that kept the vast majority of the specta-tors away, we did receive enoughemails the following week to discoverthat a lot of people had appreciatedthe work we had done to ensure that as many people as possible hadbeen told the event was off.”
But it wasn’t all bad news as beforethe team went home, they hadalready signed up the three bandsdue to perform at the event forHogmanay 2010 – The Red HotHighland Fling Take Two – whichwent off without a hitch.
Weather beaten? Not us!
Hogmanay in Inverness and, right, Gerry Reynolds
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2 24 LOCAL AUTHORITY NEWS
Challengesovercome tomake event safeand successfulOVER 25,000 spectators were keptsafe at an event in Huddersfieldthanks to close collaborationbetween organisers KirkleesCouncil and AP Security.
Features at the The Festival ofLight included street theatre, livemusic, art installations and a foodand drink market.
But with the various attractionslocated across the town centre,evening road closures were neces-sary to ensure that the thousandsof visitors could move safelybetween them.
AP’s Leeds office manager EmmaTattersall explained: “Our brief wasprimarily to manage large crowdmovements between four key loca-
tions and to ensure that the integri-ty of all the road closures remainedin place.
“It was no easy task when youconsider the event attractsupwards of 25,000 spectators andthat we were working in a verybusy town centre at the peak of itsholiday shopping period.”
One of the key areas for the APteam was St George’s Square, infront of the railway station and oneof the busiest areas of the towncentre.
Emma added: “Road closuresbecame difficult because, as well asthe station itself, there are taxiranks, night clubs and other businesses.
“Even though all information issent out to these businesses inadvance, some taxi drivers werenot aware of them.
“This proved a challenging task,because we understand that theyalso have a job to do – the smallbusinesses in the area rightly gainfrom this sort of event – but wehave to ensure personal safety forthe spectators. However, high qual-ity planning and being able todeploy ample reserve staff meantthat we managed things fine.”
The event took place just beforeChristmas and the unusual amountof snow made staff welfare, as wellas everything else, even more of apressing issue.
“Overall we had 30 staff and twosupervisors on site, who needed tobe on duty from early morninguntil late in the evening.
“Given the weather conditionsand low temperatures, staff welfarewas a priority. We rotated shifts andpaid particular attention to thewelfare of individual staff mem-bers, to ensure there was plenty ofopportunity for them to warm up.From our point of view the eventwas a great success.
“It proved once again thatadvance planning and good clientliaison can overcome most unfore-seen obstacles … even an untypicalBritish winter!”
Scotland will be the perfect stage for Tour of Britain Grand Depart
LOCAL authority event teams inDumfries and Galloway and theScottish Borders are gearing up forthe return of the Tour of Britain inSeptember.
The eighth edition of Britain’snational tour will see the race returnto Scotland, with the first stage taking
place between the Scottish Bordersand Dumfries and Galloway.
Chief executive of organisersSweetSpot Group Hugh Roberts said:“Preparations for the Grand Departare well underway and progressingvery smoothly, and we, along withour partners at EventScotland,
Scottish Borders Council andDumfries and Galloway Council, havea busy eight months ahead as wemake all the preparations to ensurethat Sunday September 11 is anunforgettable day for cycling inScotland.”
Full details of the route the stage
will take will be unveiled in thespring, but the Scottish Borders hasbeen confirmed as hosting the startof the opening stage.
After beginning in Scotland, thetour will visit England and Wales overthe following seven days, finishing inLondon on September 18.
Tour of Britain is a wheely big deal for Scottish teams
The Projection Studio createda magical work inGateshead’s Saltwell Park forthe NewcastleGatesheadInitiative's Enchanted Parksevent.The event featured a collec-tion of 25 family friendly'after dark' art installationsthat ran for a week. It waspresented in association withMagnetic Events and fundedby Gateshead Council, theArts Council England and theNorthern Rock Foundation.
24 23/2/11 15:46 Page 1
TRAINING, RECRUITMENT & EDUCATION 25
Showsec’sScott hostsstewardingseminarSHOWSEC’S Scottish office managerScott Anderson hosted a seminar onevent stewarding and pit training atEvent Expo in Glasgow.
Attracting a crowd of over 60 dele-gates, Scott and Showsec operationsexecutive Mark Lawton gave adetailed presentation at Scotland’sonly event and hospitality industryconference.
Scott gave an overview of eventstewarding before focusing on moredetailed elements involved in crowdmanagement throughout the pit area.His seminar covered topics fromcrowd dynamics and behaviour todemonstrating lifting techniques forsafely removing people from thecrowd.
He said: “Security professionals arethe public face of all events with animportant responsibility for publicsafety.
“I am part of a business culturewhich firmly believes that industryrelevant training, qualifications andbuilding a wide range of experiencemeans event and venue security spe-cialists will offer the highest service toyour customers.”
Students onthe courselearned how touse fireworkssafely atevents.
Training goes with a bangEVENT management students atthe University of Derby havelearned more about how to usepyrotechnics at events at a dedicat-ed training day.
During the training day at BuxtonOpera House – which was deliveredby the Association of StagePyrotechnicians – 26 first and sec-ond year BA (Hons) Events studentslearned about the technical andsafety aspects of including
pyrotechnics at events and produc-tions.
Lincoln Parkhouse from theAssociation of StagePyrotechnicians said: “Pyrotechnicssuch as explosions, flashes, smoke,flames and fireworks are frequentlyused in the events industry, in popconcerts and TV shows like the XFactor.
“Even if these students do not goon to be directly involved with
pyrotechnics, as events managersthey will need a good knowledge ofthe health and safety aspect ofusing them in any event or produc-tion. This event was designed to dothat, and to give the students confi-dence in using them.”
After tackling the theory, the stu-dents then worked together to puton a small pyrotechnics display,which included timed smokereleases, flames and flashes.
THE line-up of speakers has beenrevealed for the London Event SchoolForum, which takes place on March30.
Hosted by the school’s EventManagement Diploma students, the forum provides a platform toengage with event industry profes-sionals and build personal networksfor future employment, whileenabling the industry to engage withnew talent.
� Richard Foulkes – president of ISESand director of Imagination
� James Mark – services and 2012Games director at ExCeL London
� Sandra Stewart – event manager atExCeL London.
The planning and delivery of the event will also count towardsThe London Event School’s diploma in event managementcourse for participating students.
Siobhan CravenRobbinsSpeaker line-up for
Event School Forum
Latest technology shown to budding techniciansBUDDING technicians have beengiven a helping hand thanks to atraining course staged by A.C.Entertainment Technologies.
The training open day was forstudents on the BTEC ExtendedDiploma in Production Arts(Technical) at Oldham College.
Adam Beaumont, head of AC-ET'srigging sales division, James Bawnfrom the lighting division andStuart Moots from the audio divi-
sion co-ordinated the event, whichinvolved their collective skills,experience and resources, plussome of the industry's leading rig-ging, lighting and audio products.
The equipment was taken to thecollege for the day and set up aseries of live interactive demonstra-tions in the purpose built GrangeArts Centre performance facility.
Both Adam and James are previ-ous students of the college. Stuart
studied an audio course as part ofhis music and media technologydegree at Leeds MetropolitanUniversity before starting his careerin the professional productionindustry, so all appreciate theimportance of learning about thelatest technology and its practicaland creative applications.
The students – studying forEntertainment Technician andStage Technician qualifications –
also got the chance to completehands-on examples and ask ques-tions.
Adam said: “The feedback wereceived was really excellent. Therewere plenty of informed andthought-through questions, andthe students were also reallyimpressed with the chance of see-ing the latest up-to-the-minutetechnology in action and gettinghands-on with it.”
25 23/2/11 15:43 Page 1
2 365 - SUPPLIER DIRECTORY
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