Issue 23 November 2008 £4.75

Artiste feesthreatenUK industryBy Christina Eccles

SOARING ticket prices and the spi-ralling cost of artistes’ fees are thebiggest threats to the UK festivalmarket, it has been claimed.

According to Richard Haswell,Summer Sundae’s festival director,the financial worries of booking adecent headline act and whetherpeople can afford the cost of attend-ing are currently the biggestheadaches for organisers of majorevents.

He said: “One thing which is hav-ing a major impact is artiste fees –there are too many events chasingtoo few artistes and the big playersuse exclusivity clauses which makesit even harder.

“Our festival has grown over theyears but what we can buy for ourmoney is now considerably less sowe have to programme creatively.

“We would like to be in the posi-tion to get that killer act but the twofactors which impact on that areexclusivity and price.

“The Association of Festival organ-isers did some work on ticket pricesand when inflation was running attwo or three per cent, in the festival

market it was running at nine percent. Costs are rising at an absolute-ly astronomical rate.”

However, at one European festival,the organisers believe that the factthey can offer cheaper ticket pricesthan the UK works to their advan-tage. Festival director of Serbia’sEXIT Festival Bojan Boskovi added:“We are by far the cheapest ticketsin the European market for what weoffer and that is one of our competi-tive advantages. Our problem at themoment is capacity. Our dailycapacity is about 50,000 but ourestimation is that we could attract80,000.”

However, Richard added that it isnot all doom and gloom for the UKfestival scene as he is predicting asuccessful 2009 for his event and theindustry in general.

He added: “We are in a very posi-tive situation as our numbers wereup this year. I am cautiously opti-mistic as when things are tough,escapism becomes more popularand festivals are in the perfect posi-tion to provide that. The market issaturated but I feel comfortable thatestablished brands are going to holdtheir own.”

Festivalin trio ofsuccessesGLASTONBURY was thebig winner at this year’sUK Festival Awards –picking up trophies inthree categories includ-ing an outstanding con-tribution award forfounder Michael Eavis.

The event also won theaward for best major fes-tival as well as mostmemorable moment forJay-Z’s rendition of Oasis’Wonderwall.

The awards – held atIndigO2 in London andproduced byVirtualFestivals.com –saw some of Europe’s toppromoters pick upawards, with over 350,000votes cast by festival fans.Other winners included: � Best Medium SizedFestival in Associationwith TicketlineLovebox Weekender� Best Small FestivalSecret Garden Party� Best Dance FestivalGlade Festival� Best Line-upT In The Park� Family Festival AwardLarmer Tree Festival

Using technology to communicate with your audience iskey to improving their festival experience year on year,according to the promoter of T in the Park.Geoff Ellis (pictured) said listening to feedback from fansvia an online forum is vital as it keeps organisers up todate with what the people who buy the tickets want. Hesaid: “We have a policy of trying to get feedback as ourcore audience is 18 to 25 year olds and I am consciousthat every year at T I am another year older. The bulk ofour audience is in that age bracket so if you are not hav-ing that dialogue with them you are out of touch.“If you are not getting feedback then you cannot act onit. The other way which customers communicate is by notbuying a ticket and by then it is too late.”

The Main Event is the official magazine of the National Outdoor

Events Association

3

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How one councilattracted big namesto the city

Page 14 & 15

Louise gets thousands

safely to market

Pages 21

Training & recruitment Page 27NOEA Page 28Classified Pages 29 & 30

Showman’s Show Pages 18 & 19

Proms in the Park hits

right notePage 26

By Louise Cordell

GLASTONBURY may be the UK’sbiggest, most respected festival – butthere is still some room for improve-ment behind the scenes, it has beenclaimed.

Its health and safety, food hygieneand noise control are all areas inneed of improvement according toMendip District Council.

Over 30 recommendations forimprovement have been made in areport reviewing this year’s eventincluding suggested changes tocamping organisation, water avail-ability, the village and offsite areas,public nuisance problems, smoke-free control and crowds and licensingarrangements.

One of the main concerns centredon the festival’s noise managementstrategy, as this year organisersreceived 32 complaints from resi-dents in 21 properties, some as faraway as Shepton Mallet and CastleCary.

According to the council many ofthe problems were created by twonew areas at the festival, Shangri Laand Trash City, but investigationsshowed that the weather conditionsalso carried some noise farther thanusual.

Keith Horton, the council’s environ-mental health officer, said: “It hasbeen long recognised that the festivalsite is host to a very significantamount of acoustic energy andinevitably there will be some com-munity impact. Weather conditionscan significantly influence the off-siteeffects and there was evidence of thisagain this year.

“There is scope to reduce theimpact by addressing the stage noiselevels and other all night sources.”

Despite these issues, the report alsopraised those involved in organisingthe festival, describing it overall as‘well planned, managed and imple-mented’.

This year's event also won praisefrom Avon and Somerset

Constabulary, the EnvironmentAgency, Somerset Primary Care Trustand Devon and Somerset Fire andRescue.

Coun. Tom Killen, the council’sportfolio holder for public protec-tion, said: “Glastonbury Festival is ahuge event and one in which massiveimprovements have been made overrecent years to now make it one ofthe best managed and safest eventsof its kind in the world.

“The successful and award-winningpartnerships which help organise thisfestival should be congratulated and Ihope this good work will continue tomake even more improvements fornext year.

“It is inevitable that an event thissize needs to be improved each year,and the district council will still workhard to build on the success of pastyears and continue to improve thisworld famous event. We know howimportant it is to Mendip and howimportant it is to ensure it remainsone of the best in the world.”

A NEW mode of transportation hasbeen developed for event organiserslooking to move visitors, staff andgoods around sites.

Company of Cyclists – which origi-nally started life putting on bike try-out roadshows for local authorities– has branched out to offer bikes asan environmentally friendly form oftransportation for the outdoorevents industry.

MD Jim McGurn said: “We ran ourown national cycle show in Juneand were able to use our multi-seater cycles to move large numbersof visitors around.

“We even used our seven-seaterCircleCycle. We have around 500cycles of all kinds, some of themvery unusual, and we are keen toexplore the effectiveness of pedal-power as a fun form of transporta-tion at outdoor events.

“Who knows, we may well also beable to save our clients money ifthey don’t need to hire in othervehicles.”

Jim also revealed the benefits ofusing pedal-power at events whichinclude:� It is quiet.� People friendly� Flexible� Visibly sustainable� Becomes part of the attractionwhile performing a useful function.

He added: “We have put hundredsof thousands of people onto allkinds of bikes over the last nineyears, with no problem.

“It’s great to see adults light upwith happiness and allow them-selves to enjoy a simple pleasureagain.

“I think it must be the best job inthe world.”

Glastonbury earns praisebut still has ‘some room for improvement’

Company of Cyclists is exploring the effectiveness of using pedal power as a formof transport at outdoor events.

Peddling pedal-power for event organisers

2 4

By Christina Eccles

ORGANISERS wanting to set upa new festival should take advan-tage of niches in the marketwhich no other event has cashedin on, according to Bestival’s fes-tival director Rob da Bank.

According to Rob, the UK’s rep-utation as a place with a largeand diverse music scene meansthat there are still genres whichare largely untapped by the festi-val market.

Rob said: “The beautiful thingabout the UK scene is that it hasgot everything. People have dif-ferent styles of music and thereare still loads of niches outthere.”

On the back of the success ofBestival, this year Rob launcheda new event Camp Bestival atLulworth Castle in Dorset.According to him, what madethis festival so successful in itsfirst year was the fact it appealedto a whole new market – parentswho wanted to spend the wholeday with their children at a fami-ly friendly event.

He added: “With Camp Bestival

we thought there was a gap inthe market for a family friendlyshow. There wasn’t an event thatfocuses on the whole experience

of hanging out with your kids allday. We got into the market justin time and bucked the trend byalmost breaking even in the firstyear.”

When starting up a festival, thelocation of an event can alsoplay an important role in its suc-cess.

Andy Copping – promoter ofthe Download Festival – addedthat part of Download’s successwas that people already associat-ed its site in Donington as thehome of that genre of music.

He added: “People who cometo Download see Donington asthe home of rock because of theMonsters of Rock being heldthere.”

But he also said that if an eventwas offering something whichfans wanted to see and as long asthey can get to the site easily,then there are many choices oflocation.

“Location is important but ifyou have a good idea and as longas it is a location where the travel arrangements are ok thenthere is no reason why you can’tset up anywhere.”

Rob da Bank

Festival organisersmust tap intounexplored genres

Mendip’s spectacular carnival season begins laterthis month with Mendip District Council urginglocal residents to join in. Floats packed with thousands of light bulbs, hundreds of movingparts and dancing performers are the mainattraction of the processions which will weavetheir way through the historic streets of the district. Mendip District Council’s portfolio holderfor regeneration coun John Osman said:“Mendip’s spectacular carnival season is unique,and is rated as among the best in the world. Itencourages communities to work together tohost a fantastic show but also to raise thousandsof pounds for charity.”

2 6

By Louise Cordell

AP SECURITY has received an Awardfor Excellence after a decade ofcrowd control at the Leeds Festival.

The title was awarded bySafeconcerts, who described thesecurity team as ‘the most profes-sional, effective and competent com-pany we have seen in action – thefirst firm we have seen who we feelhave really earned the right to wearthat customer protection logo.”

Andrew Stevens, APS general man-ager, believes that the recognition isdown to the firm’s ability to build agood relationship with the crowds.

He said: “I think a lot of trust is putin pit teams so it is very importantthat we work with the audience, not

against them or in spite of them.“We are friendly but professional

and we encourage people to come tous if they need to.

“Some companies don’t understandthe difference between security andcrowd safety – it is important thatyou understand what your role is.

“In the worst case scenario you arethere to save lives, but most of thetime you are there to make sure thecrowd have a good time, safely.”

According to Andrew the main chal-lenge a safety and security team faceat any event is trying to work outwhat the crowd are going to do inadvance.

This involves everything from find-ing out whether guests are likely tobe queuing up outside and, if so, get-

ting there early, to making sure thatpeople can leave safely when theevent ends.

He added: “Knowing about theartist and the show they are puttingon is just as important as having agood working knowledge of thevenue.

“Certain audiences are more likelyto run straight for the stage whenthey get through the doors and weneed to be able to predict that so wecan make sure they reach the barrierssafely.

“We also need to know the details ofthe artist’s performance and whetherthey will be coming down into thecrowd at any point so that we can beprepared.”

Andrew also advises event organis-

ers and venue managers to do theirresearch when looking to hire safetyand security teams.

He recommends taking a detailedlook at what kind of training theyprovide and making sure that theyhave previous experience of the typeof event that is being held.

He added: “We place a lot ofemphasis on our training and investa lot of money in getting it right.

“This means we are always happyfor anyone to come and sit in on thesessions and find out what we do,whether they are clients or not.

“We have had everyone from con-cert organisers to the Met Policecoming along to see what we offerand we are very proud of what we’veachieved.”

Above: AP Security at Leeds Festival and above, right, Andrew Stevens

Securityteam isrewardedfor decadeof crowdcontrol

7

PLANS for the first Beautiful Daysfestival started seven years ago afterthe Levellers played a festival anddecided they could do better them-selves. Dave came on board –bringing with him 20 years of expe-rience in the industry.

The band had recorded in Devonso chose to stage the event there –and Escot Park has proved an idealchoice. Dave revealed that eachyear improvements are being madeto the event as challenges are over-come.

He explained: “The venue has anatural amphitheater and access isgood. We always wanted to pick alocation which was pleasing to theeye but with it being quite hilly it isnot always the easiest of sites towork on.

“Over the last six years we haveput full plumbing in around the siteand each year we are adding things.Because the site is hilly, it can bedifficult to service the toilets whenit is muddy so we are adding hard-core roads and putting trackway in.Last year was very wet and in cer-tain areas we struggled to servicethe toilets so this year we put insome roads.

“This year the car parks gotmuddy so we have started to put inplans to deal with this next year. Wedon’t stop people leaving the sitebut what contributed to the carpark being muddy is people leavingthe site on Saturday and coming

back which was chewing theground up. We have already takenanother field for next year so any-one leaving the site will be parkedin a different field when they comeback so the ground won’t bechewed up.

“Every year there is something butthe weather really makes you findout about your site.”

Dave also revealed how the festivalhas grown over the years to becomethe biggest festival in Devon. Butafter expanding to a crowd of12,500, he has decided he is happywith keeping the festival this size.

He added: “When the festivalstarted it needed 3,500 people tobreak even in year one. It was veryclose so we were lucky in the firstyear that we managed to pull it off.We had the band’s fanbase to drawon and they didn’t play any otherfestivals that year so we knew wecould get that crowd.

“The capacity of the event wasincreased in stages. It started at3,500, then 5,000, then 6,000, thenwe did two years at 10,000 and thisyear it was 12,500.

“When the capacity jumped from6,000 to 10,000 the dynamic of thefestival changed so we had to put ina more complicated and elaboratetraffic management system.”

This year’s festival included per-formances from acts such as TheLevellers themselves, Supergrassand Squeeze.

PLANS are already starting to takeshape for next year’s festival, withDave making some changes toimprove the event even further.

After experiencing rain for thelast two years, more areas aregoing to be added to make it easierfor festivalgoers to find shelter.

He added: “Next year we aregoing to start putting in more cov-ered tented areas with benches sothat people can take food in and sitdown because when it is muddythey cannot sit on the grass. Wewant to create more of thesespaces.”

THE Beautiful Days Festival neveradvertises – proving what usefulmarketing tools word of mouth andrecommendations can be.

Dave said that about 90 per centof the audience are repeat bookersand as the size of the festival hasgrown, fans have encouraged theirfriends and families to join them atthe event.

He added: “We never advertiseand just send out a couple ofemails to our database whichmeans new people coming arefriends of those who have alreadybeen. We also have a lot of familiescoming and about 2,500 children.But this year we have noticed a lotof younger people. Some of thekids who came with their parentsin years one and two are now com-ing back on their own. We have totake this into consideration whenbooking acts – this year we hadGabriella Cilmi who has a massiveappeal.”

Dave Farrow got involvedin the Beautiful Daysfestival after popular bandThe Levellers decided theywanted to stage their ownfestival. Christina Ecclesfound out how it gotstarted and how it hasprogressed over the years. Top: a view of the stage and, above, shows some of the other entertainment on offer

How band madefestival thecream of Devon

Beautifulbookers

Space plans

2 8

FORGING strong relationships withlocal media can help organisers todeal with some of the challengesinvolved with their event.

According to the CLA Game Fair’sdirector of marketing Fiona Eastmanand head of operations Nick Brooks-Ward, maintaining close links withthe media in all four areas which theshow visits allows them to publiciseimportant issues surrounding theevent to visitors while helping themto manage potential difficulties suchas traffic problems.

Nick and Fiona told delegates at theShowman’s Show’s seminars that oneof the biggest issues concerning theCLA Game Fair each year is trafficmanagement. But by making surelocal media are informed of what isgoing on, the message can then begiven to visitors who are travelling toand from the site.

Fiona said: “It is important fororganisers to build up relationshipswith local media – particularly radiowhich has traffic reports.

“If you can manage the reportswhich are going out there – becauseyou have pre-built these relation-ships – you can make the media

aware of the traffic management sys-tems in place and hopefully you willmanage as best possible the numberof visitors you may lose.”

Nick also revealed how the showdeals with some of its challenges yearon year.

He added: “The biggest factorsinside the showground are water andwaste so it is paramount that we con-centrate on that.

“Outside the showground, thebiggest issue is traffic and we arealready working with the differentpolice forces and councils involvedfor next year’s show.

“In 2001, we were getting reports ofproblems with the volume of trafficand we realised that once inside theevent we were blind to what wasgoing on outside. So in 2002, weemployed an eye in the sky cameraand now work with the NationalTraffic Control centre and the police.”

This year the show celebrated its50th anniversary by smashing atten-dance figures. A record number of151,000 visitors attended over thethree days – an increase of 13,000 onthe previous record.

By Christina Eccles

NICK and Fiona also revealed thechallenges and benefits of the eventmoving around four sites.

Nick added: “Moving sites has a lotof logistical challenges – these siteswere not designed to host eventssuch as this.

“Every estate has a different way ofdoing things and as we are going tohistoric venues we are dealing withsensitive issues.

“Our job is to build relationshipswith the venues to take the show for-ward and maintain and improve ityear on year.”

But Fiona added that the showmoving sites is a positive featurefrom a marketing point of view as itallows the organisers to try some-thing different.

She added: “One of the upsides ofthe Game Fair moving around is thatit offers us the opportunity to throwthe whole show up in the air andexamine its features, which keepsthe show fresh.

“We are continuously working onthe core of the exhibition and wantto keep the enthusiasm year on year.

“This keeps visitors coming andallows exhibitors the chance to getnew visitors.”

Hosting the event at historical venues suchas Blenheim Palace present interestingchallenges for the organisers.

Local medialinks can helporganisers

Moving sites cankeep show fresh

9

Why every event musthave unique identity andstand out from the crowd By Christina Eccles

FESTIVALS should develop their ownunique identity to ensure they stand outin an increasingly competitive market-place, according to T in the Park’s pro-moter Geoff Ellis.

Speaking to delegates at the UKFestival Conference, Geoff said as thefestival market continues to grow, theevents which will be able to keep draw-ing in the crowds are those which offerthat something extra to their rivals.

He said: “All events should have aunique identity. The UK is a small mar-ketplace and there are hundreds of festi-vals taking place in a small periods inthe calendar. If they are not doing some-

thing different then they are not going tobe able to get the audience.”

Geoff also revealed the process behindsetting up T in the Park and his latestventure The Hydro Connect Festival andhow organisers made sure it was notoffering the same experience as otherfestivals going on around the same time.

He added: “We delivered the pitch for Tin the Park as something halfwaybetween Glastonbury and Reading. Youshould look wherever the gaps are tocreate a fanbase for your brand – youwant people coming back each year.

“Having done T in the Park which wasgoing strong, we felt Scotland needed analternative festival and that there was amarket for a quality event with a grass-

roots identity and strong talent. Connectis something different and what I ammost proud of there is putting emphasison audience experience, particularly thefood and drink. We have raised the barfor festival catering particularly inScotland.

“This wasn’t something catered for inScotland and we saw a market for it. Wehave beautiful countryside and are get-ting people to come to a ‘destination’festival.”� What are you doing differently toattract audiences to your event? Sendyour comments to Christina Eccles, 47Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire,S70 2AS or email ce@whpl.net.

The theme for this year’sRegent Street Christmaslights is Wish Upon A Star.The lights were switchedon on November 6 – trans-forming Regent Street intoa winter wonderland forChristmas shoppers. As oneof the capital’s major sea-sonal tourist attractions,the lights famously kick offthe festive season inLondon’s West End.

THE latest solution totraditional camping atfestivals has proved tobe a sell-out success inits first year.

Myhab sold out at sixfestivals including T inthe Park and Latitude –offering festivalgoersan environmentallyfriendly way of campingat events.

Designer and founderJames Dunlop said:"Selling out at six festi-vals was beyond ourwildest dreams for ourfirst year of trading.

“Our aim is to offerour customers a luxurycamping experience,whilst also being eco-aware; and it seemsthat we have achievedthis as our staff havehad great feedbackfrom the myhabbers onsite.”

Campingsell-out fornew firm

2 10

TO headline the concert Roger man-aged to secure chart topping pop bandMcfly – an act chosen to draw in someyounger crowds and introduce them tothe Help for Heroes cause.

The concert took place at the DetlingShow Ground in Kent and about 4,000people attended. Although Roger saidhe was slightly disappointed with thisand had hoped for 10,000 visitors, he isconfident that with more time to plannext year’s event and with this year’ssuccessful one to use to promote it, itwill be able to attract up to 25,000 peo-ple.

The organisers – Your Voice Roadshow– are used to planning roadshowswhere they tour the country with amobile recording studio – but movedinto the concert market to raise moneyand awareness to help wounded ser-vicemen and women.

Roger revealed the challenges theyfaced with the event but after havingthe success of this one behind them, hehopes it may make some things easierfor next year.

He said: “The main problem whensetting up an event for the first time isthat you have no track record and try-ing to get a decent headline act is diffi-cult.

“An event dealing with pop music,young people, crowds and alcoholmakes local authorities sit back andthink but we are very proud of theevent.

“This is the first time we have man-aged an event as a promoter and runthe event ourselves. It was a huge chal-lenge but we used our own experienceand organised the event on a modularbasis – by breaking it down into differ-

ent areas.“But having done it once we now have

an event which was a huge success andwe also have a lot of support from themilitary.”

A date has already been secured fornext year’s event and the planningprocess is already underway.

Roger said the main change for nextyear is that the concert will be movedfrom a Sunday to a Saturday.

He added: “Bands like Mcfly have avery young following and on Sundaysfamilies are getting ready to go back towork or school so we are going to holdthe concert on a Saturday next year.”

In the future Roger wants a Day forHeroes to become an annual event andsee it extended to other venues acrossthe country.

“In this industry you have to earnyour spurs. You have to prove to every-one that you are responsible and reli-able and reassure the public. I want tomake this an event that people want togo to and that they can attend withconfidence.”

Other artists at the concert includedNik Kershaw, Counterfeit Stones andUltimate Earth Wind and Fire and therewere also funfair rides and militaryattractions.

Roger helps our heroesWith less than amonth to planthe Day forHeroes concert,organiser RogerDudding had towork to a tighttimescale. Butafter pulling offa successful firstevent, he isdetermined tobe wellprepared fornext year.Christina Ecclesfound out more ...

Mcfly were the headline act at the event which was attended by 4,000 people.

Gwyn in live streamingoffer to festival organisersSELLOUT festivals could soon earnextra cash by selling fans who could-n’t get tickets the chance to watch theevent live online.

Gwyn Smith, managing director ofUSPmedia.TV, is approaching eventorganisers with his concept whichwould see live online video streamingallowing those who cannot attend towatch for a fee.

He said: “Live streaming at concertsis a cheap way of getting the eventout there as it is a fraction of the costof putting it on TV – online advertis-ing is the way forward.

“For organisers this can act as anextra revenue stream because if peo-ple can’t make it to the event, theycan go onto the website, securelyenter their card details and pay perview.

“This could even end up being freeif there was enough sponsorship onthe page to pay the cost and sponsorscould be paid per click.”

Gwyn has already offered livestreaming using high quality web-cams to clients like the London BoatShow, allowing fans to watch the

early preparations of the event.

He added: “We can take a live feedfrom a full sports or music produc-tion crew and broadcast live to thewebsite of choice, even providing asecure pay-per-view online login so that people who cannotmake it to the event can watch live online.”

He is also looking at offering a postevent video that visitors could down-load as a reminder of their visit andfuture visitors can use to sample theevent.

Gwyn added: “If somebody wantedto download part of a festival theycould pay for this on the website andcould text a keyword which wouldthen send them a link to their phoneto download the clip.

“These videos are also download-able to mobile phones.”

� How are you using new technologyto promote your business? Send yourcomments to Christina Eccles, 47Church Street, Barnsley, SouthYorkshire, S70 2AS or email her atce@whpl.net.

More events go greenMORE winners of the 2008 GreenerFestival Awards have been revealed –with another nine UK festivals pick-ing up the award.

The independent award is based ona seven part questionnaire andpoints are awarded to festivals whichcan show an active plan to promotepublic transport, reduce on-sitewaste, recycle and compost whereverpossible, re-use water and use sus-tainable power.

Festivals are expected to have athorough environmental policy andthe organisers – www.agreenerfesti-val.com – have environmental audi-tors who visit as many festival sites aspossible to assess how festivalsimplement their plans.

In total 23 UK festivals and eightinternational festivals have won theaward.

Six festivals have also gained theultimate accolade of the outstandingaward from the organisers includingthe Waveform and Shambala festivalsin the UK and Bonnaroo in the USA.

The winning UK festivals are: � The Big Chill� Waveform� Bestival� Summer Sundae Weekender� Shambala� Reading

� Leeds� End of the Road � Hydro Connect

A Greener Festival co-founder ClaireO'Neill said: “This year, applicationsfor our awards more than doubledand this is fantastic news. More andmore festivals are making the effortto go green and adopt environmen-tally friendly practices. Some festivalsare still improving and going througha steep learning curve, others are oldhands now who keep improving theirgreen credentials year on year. TheUK and international festival scene isnow making a concerted effort to beleaders in changing behaviour to pro-tect the environment.”

The organisers also congratulated18 festivals who had won the Green'n' Clean award from Yourope, theEuropean festivals organisation.

A Greener Festival’s Luke Westburyadded: “We fully endorse and supportYourope's award and the progressthey are making. Across both Europeand the UK we can see significantand positive change. Green n Cleanhave some fantastic festivals takingpart including Denmark's Roskilde, StGallen Open Air in Swtitzerland,Rheinkultur in Germany, Pinkpop inthe Nederlands and Finland'sProvinssirock. We salute them.”

BRANDING AND SPONSORSHIP 11

By Ian Irving, sales and marketing director, Sledge

THERE are many brands that gainfrom their involvement in the festivalcircuit but today’s festival audience ismore demanding and getting moreand more savvy to why brands arethere.

It’s not enough for a brand to sim-ply just be there: To create real brandadvocacy they have to enhance theexperience – not detract from it. Theprice for a brand to be involved in afestival is increasing: Festival organis-ers are under increasing pressurewhen it comes to profit and ROI andthere are a number of new factorscoming into play, such as their desireto be more friendly to the environ-ment and be more organic or healthywhen catering their audiences.

In my opinion the way forward isfor brands to cut out promoters andput their money into their ownevents. Why settle for being one of

many when you can be master (andowner) of one? The fact that thereappears to be over 400 festivals in thecalendar does not seem to be deter-ring neither the acts nor the audi-ences so why not take the punt and put your cash into your ownevent?

We are currently dealing with threenew clients who have seen the suc-cess of the innocent Village Fete andare investing in new stand-aloneproperties – and with the musicindustry so up in the air at themoment there has never been a bet-ter time to negotiate with artists andlabels.

One of the key advantages to thismodel of event is of course contentownership. If you own the contentyour ROI will increase as you broad-en your reach through other market-ing channels.

Several advancements have made iteasier for brands to own their own

events:It is undeniable that the UK is home

to some of the most professional, cre-ative and capable event agencies inthe world so it is easier than ever fora company to put its complete trustin an agency to deliver an experiencetruly worthy of their brand.

The managers of public spaces(such as The Royal Parks Trust) aremore professional than ever beforetoo and work with organisers to max-imise the use of these spaces in thekey event periods.

Audiences are more marketingsavvy than ever before and arebecoming immune to traditionaladvertising, so clever brands are cre-ating more effective ways of commu-nicating and engaging with them.

Owning a festival gives the opportunity to really bring a brand tolife and immerse an audience in it fora day – what more could any brandwant?

How brands can own their own events

Ian Irving

The relationship between a festival and its sponsors can prove lucrative for both parties. But why are more brandnames moving into the festival market and what can a festival gain from the backing of a famous name? ChristinaEccles reports.

By Christina Eccles

FESTIVALS which are strong on greenissues could earn lucrative sponsor-ship deals from companies whichwant to be seen as looking after theenvironment.

According a panel of industryexperts – who addressed delegates atthe UK Festival Conference – eventswhich prove their green credentialscould attract sponsors who are keento be perceived as environmentallyaware.

One festival which is proud of itsreputation when it comes to lookingafter the environment is Downloadand according to promoter AndyCopping, encouraging things such as recycling and car sharingadds to the appeal of sponsoring theevent.

He said: “We have taken action toget involved in the green side ofthings.

“There is an enormous amount ofwaste that can be accumulated at afestival which is quite frightening. We

are taking what steps we can to makethe event green, such as car pooling.

“Sponsors are also aware of this andit is good for them to be seen to beinvolved in green issues.

“Punters aren’t foolish – they wantto be part of an event that is doinggood for the environment.”

T in the Park’s promoter Geoff Ellisalso said the being seen to be envi-ronmentally aware is a positive forthe festival.

He added: “We are getting there inthe UK and attitudes are changing.

The audience response to issues suchas recycling is great.

“At Hydro Connect we used pedalpowered showers and are makingpeople think a bit more about takingcare of the environment.”� How are you managing to securesponsorship at your event? Do youthink the credit crunch will make itmore difficult next year? Send your views to Christina Eccles,47 Church Street, Barnsley, SouthYorkshire, S70 2AS or email atce@whpl.net.

BT’S sponsorship of music and sporting events has been celebrat-ed with an event on the River Thames.

Girl band the Sugababes performed on the bow of the yacht as itsailed under Tower Bridge, signifying BT’s sponsorship of the 2008Isle of Wight Festival.

The sporting side was represented by the naming of the BTOpen 60 yacht – The Artimis Transat – crewed by Dame EllenMacArthur, Globe Vendee participant Seb Josse and BT Extreme40 Skipper Nick Moloney.

TAO Productions produced the event providing staging, lighting,sound and artists, with roles including liaising with the Sugababesteam to provide for live sound on the yacht. TAO Group’s othercompanies undertook roles in safety, rescue and medical func-tions.

TAO’s Chris Harvey said: “This is an unusual job for us but wewere there to back up the Offshore Challenge and ‘BT Team Ellen’crews with safety and rescue if needed.

“We are more often contracted for fire safety but obviously havethe necessary training, equipment and boats for this type of func-tion.”

Pictured left: the Sugababes, Dame Ellen MacArthur and TAO water rescueofficer Steve Lodge on the safety rib.

BT takes to the water

‘Green’ festivals could pickup valuable sponsorship

2 12 INSURANCE

Insurance can save eventsLARGER Events like the RAF Fairfordshow mentioned in the last issue aremore likely to have a level of under-standing and awareness to make aninformed decision on their insurancepolicies. Smaller one-off event organ-isers however are often unaware ofthe existence of cancellation insur-ance and the full benefits that it canprovide.

The insurance industry insuresthousands of smaller events includ-ing private and corporate occasions,but only a small percentage of thosethat take place. To smaller organisersthe loss of any sum of money is justas daunting as a big loss to a profes-sional.

The awareness of their ability toprotect against this is and the under-standing of what the cover includesor excludes is a major barrier to pur-chase.

David Boyle, account executive atEvent Insurer Worldwide SpecialRisks tells us: “Cancellation insurancehas generally been popular amonginformed professional event organis-

ers who know all too well what thecost of not insuring can be. The pro-file of recent bad weather hasbrought this type of insurance intothe wider spotlight and it has alsoserved to prove the worthiness of theinvestment.

“We try to help our clients to high-light the scenarios that could puttheir event at risk and consider howthey would deal with such a situa-tion.

“Cancellation insurance is notjust about reimbursing for a lostevent. An experienced insurer andspecialist Loss Adjuster will oftenenable events, that at one pointseemed doomed, to go ahead.Working with the adjuster as soon asthe chance of a cancellation becomesevident can often save the event.

“For example the use of matting toimprove wet underground condi-tions.

“The additional costs are usuallybourn by the insurer, who will bepleased to prevent a total loss whenthe event is able to continue. Many

clients would not be aware of this keybenefit until its too late.”

Anything that can be done to high-light the real benefits of cancellationinsurance can only aid both the eventand insurance industry. Getting pro-fessional advice and receiving theright cover at the right time and costshould be at the top of any eventplan.

New site launched for events industryTHE managing director of ClarityEvent Insurance has launched a newonline resource for the events indus-try – www.planetplanit.biz

Paul Cook has launched the site tofocus on the provision of education,hints, tips and information.

It already includes a wide variety ofinformation and insight from con-tributors across the internationalevents industry.

Paul said: “During my career inthe industry I have seen so manypeople offer great advice to others,only to have that advice used just

once by the recipient.

“A site like this ensures greatideas are recycled and made available to everyone helping us alllearn from each other and get the most out of our industry relationships and knowl-edge.”

Firework risk mustbe recognisedORGANISERS need to be aware of therisks which having fireworks at anevent can carry and make sure theirinsurance reflects this, an expert haswarned.

According to insurance specialistsHiscox, fireworks are increasinglypopular for celebratory occasions, andare now widely used throughout theevents industry all through the year.Potentially, this means that more peo-ple are at risk of injury from them andany event involving fireworks shouldundergo a thorough risk assessment.Stray fireworks, bonfires, sparklersand the safety of the display team andaudience are just a few examples ofrisks to consider, as they pose poten-tial hazards, all of which can beinsured against.

Public liability expert John Heaneysaid: “The organisers of any event willbe fully aware that one of their keypriorities is to minimise the risk ofinjury at their function, especiallythose that involve fireworks. It is nor-mal for the organiser to be asked toprovide proof of public liability insur-ance for any event, let alone thosethat involve fireworks. As the currenteconomic climate dictates manychanges for businesses, it is crucial forus that health and safety is one of theareas not to cut corners on.Governing bodies of public spaces areimposing stricter requirements formore and more organisers to adhereto, with public liability insurancebeing top of the list. Hiscox offers abespoke product to suit each individ-ual customer and their requirements,and policies can be tailored accord-ingly.”

David Boyle

MARKETING 13

MAKING sure people know aboutyour event is an essential part of theorganising process and somethingwhich can be achieved through suc-cessful marketing.

The Birmingham International Jazzfestival is one example of an eventwhich has been transformed througha new marketing campaign – thanksto Fireloop Creative.

The company came on board withthe festival in 2007 after the existingsponsor pulled its funding, makingall the old branding irrelevant.

As the festival organisers also runan independent record label, directorDave Evans took advantage of itsextensive archive of jazz relatedimages by using them to rebrand sig-nage, posters and other promotionalmaterial.

A festival website was also createdand this was the main focus fordevelopment this year.

According to Dave, online market-ing is becoming an increasinglyimportant tool as more people looktowards the internet not only to findinformation but also to interact witheach other.

He said: “The internet is veryimportant as it provides people withinstant access to the event. Peopleare now going online for more than

information and want to be part of acommunity. We looked at how peo-ple are using the internet and tappedinto the popularity of social network-ing.

“The benefits to the festival are thatit raises the profile and awareness ofthe event and allows us to get theword out via different means and talkto a new audience.”

Festival director Jim Simpsonadded: “The Internet has changedthe music industry and we need toembrace the technologies of tomor-row to encourage more visitors toevents like the Birmingham JazzFestival. It’s not just those with youthon their side either, there’s a widedemographic of middle-aged andolder music fans who are embracingthe web too, it’s all about access andexposure.”

Dave also revealed the importanceof successful marketing and howhaving an online presence can allowfestivals and events to engage withvisitors all year round and not justwhen the festival is on.

He added: “Marketing is incrediblyimportant – it is all about blanketcoverage, covering all bases and thenmonitoring the activity to make sureit is working. The great thing aboutevents is that they are ongoing so

With the number of UK festivals reaching an all-time high, getting information about your event out there can betricky. In a special report, Christina Eccles found out how events which market themselves effectively will reap therewards.

Transform an event witha marketing campaign

you can market from year to year andmaintain interest even when the fes-tival is not on.”

However CEO of IGMarketing NunoMachado Lopes warned that busi-nesses will only get the benefit of dig-ital marketing if their websites areuseful and allow visitors to easilyaccess what they are looking for.

He told delegates at Event UK thatthe function of a successful website isto enable customers to get what theywant from the site and then leave –the amount of time spent on them isnot important.

He said: “Think about web pages –your primary online asset is yourwebpage. People go there to find outinformation so you want them to stayon there for as long as they need tobe on there.

Website functions do not matter –the relevance of a website is contentnot publicity and the community

defines that so use the most relevantinformation to them.”

Dave Evans

Firebrand makes its markA NEW way of purchasing mer-chandise at festivals and eventswhich allows visitors to bring theirown clothing to be stamped withofficial logos has been created byFirebrand Live.

The idea is already being used onThe Streets tour where Firebrandhas taken its printing press so thatfans can have their own itemsstamped with the band’s logo. At acost of £5 this means fans can take

something away with them whilebeating the credit crunch.

Firebrand Live’s MD Neil Bootesaid: “It’s a joy working with artistswho want to challenge merchan-dising conventions. Firebrand hasalways regarded merchandise as amarketing tool as well as a com-mercial exercise and – literally hotoff the press – this is a perfectexample of our philosophy inaction.”

REGULARLY evaluating marketingstrategies is important to establish ifsomething is working for you, anexpert has revealed.

Anthony Tattum – marketing man-ager for Birmingham venue CustardFactory Spaces – said it is importantto explore new ways of marketingand if a method is not achievingresults, do not be afraid to change it.

He said: “It’s no good just relying onthe traditional routes to market likeprint and outdoor media. You’ve got

to be on the ball and maximise newmedia developments.

“You have got to be diverse andyou’ve also got to know when some-thing is not working and adapt yourapproach.

“We are constantly testing and eval-uating each new marketing strategy’sredemption.

“It doesn’t matter how many peopletell you something is the next bigthing, if it’s not working for you thenput it down and try something else.”

Don’t be afraid to changemarketing methods

2 14 LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT

GILL has worked for the council forover 18 years and in that time hasseen many changes in the industry.

According to Gill, having a job inevents is now more valued than itused to be as people realise the bene-fits which a successful event canbring to communities.

The challenges have also increasedas visitor expectations have grownbut this has not always beenmatched by an increase in budget.

Gill said: “Working in events is anindustry now. When I first started itwasn’t taken very seriously. Now it isa more serious concept. When peoplego to fireworks displays or concertsthey expect more than they did 20years ago.

“Health and safety has also changedhugely so I make sure I go on trainingcourses to keep up to date with legis-lation.

“Events benefit the community andenhance a city. They also show themore positive side of local authoritiesand allow us to celebrate the area welive in.”

Gill’s career in the events industrybegan as an events assistant on theCarlisle and Border Great Fair andfrom there she moved to work firstlyin the council’s tourism departmentand then into leisure.

Her role as community events man-ager involves her putting on eventswhich can be enjoyed by the peopleof Carlisle – the biggest of these beingthe Bonfire Night Fireshow which canattract 35,000 people, making it oneof the biggest in the country.

For her, working on local authorityevents can be both challenging andrewarding as she enjoys seeingsomething put back into the localcommunity but it is not always easyto secure the support and sponsor-ship to make this possible.

She added: “As a local authority weare answerable to the people we areserving. Events are about enhancingthe community but not wastingmoney. But we can’t put these eventson without help so we look for spon-sorship.

“Carlisle is quite isolated geographi-cally and not an industrial city so wetend to target the same people.Events are a really good way for socialinclusion and forming partnershipswith the people you live with is agood way to get them included Butthey have to be appropriate for theevent, for example the Fire andRescue Service is sponsoring theFireshow.”

Gill also said another challenge shefaces is the unpredictable Britishweather. The combination of badweather and an outdoor event does-n’t always guarantee good attendanceand according to Gill, it can be hardputting a lot of work into an event towatch it suffer because of the rain.

She added: “We have never had tocancel an event but because they arefree, if the weather is bad then peoplemay not come. You can watch sixmonths of work go down the drainbecause people haven’t turned up.

“But we always get a good returnwith the Fireshow and know people

enjoy it. It is the least advertisedevent we do but people know about itbecause of word of mouth.

“We get a lot of repeat visitors.”As well the Fire Show, Gill is also

responsible for the organisation ofseveral other large scale communityevents.

These include:� A two-day horticultural spring

show.� A local gala attracting 4,000 people.� A multicultural festival.

Another part of Gill’s job is an advi-sory and training role.

For anything which comes to thecity and contains an events element,she works in partnership with theother involved parties to assist withany logistical issues.

Gill Burns

Events organised by local authorities can range from summer galas to bonfire night firework displays – all ofwhich enhance community life. In the first of a regular feature, Christina Eccles spoke to Carlisle City Council’scommunity events manager Gill Burns to discover the ups and downs of working for a local authority.

Events ‘allow us to celebratethe area we live in’ ...

THE City Council also had a part increating Carlisle’s biggest music event– a concert which has attracted someof the biggest names in pop musicincluding Westlife, pictured left,Boyzone and Mcfly.

The event – now called Carlisle Live– started life after the city had hostedRadio One’s One Big Sunday andrealised it was a market they couldbecome more heavily involved in.

Gill said: “After we had One BigSunday in Carlisle, we realised logisti-cally that we were able to do this kindof event. We did Pop2thepark forthree years but didn’t have the fund-ing to carry on so the event was takenover by local businessman AndrewTinkler.”

Gill also had a minimal role in thisyear’s event. As it is held on councilparkland, her knowledge of the areawas a useful tool for the organisers.

Big namesfor Carlisle

LOCAL AUTHORITY SPOTLIGHT 15

Over the last 22 years, the Fireshow hasgrown rapidly into one of the UK’s biggestand best loved bonfire night events.The free event can attract in excess of35,000 but the police are brought in toestimate crowd numbers so the organiserscan put in place appropriate health andsafety measures.Gill added: “When the event first started in1987, we expected about 200 people butgot 2,000. The park can stand 60,000 sothere is always enough room for people tomove and the crowds are comfortablyspread out.“Also for health and safety, the fire is hol-low so it drops within 20 minutes.Although, about 1000 pallets and wood areused, we only use pure timber.”

By Christina Eccles

THE highlight of Carlisle CityCouncil’s events programme is theBonfire Night spectacular – TheFireshow.

The event takes place every year onthe nearest Saturday before BonfireNight and can attract over 35,000people to the city’s Bitts Park.

Although the council is very proudof the record which the events holdsfor having no incidents relating to the fireworks or bonfire, healthand safety is still a vital area to getright.

Gill said: “Health and safety is para-mount. We try to cover every aspectand look at everything. If the police,fire and ambulance are happy weknow we are going in the right direc-tion.

“We have got to make sure we aredoing everything right.

“After working with the same peopleover the years we have formed posi-tive working relationships withthem.”

Gill also revealed the planningprocess behind the event, whichincludes meeting with key suppliersin the summer to get the ball rollingfor the event in November andchoosing the theme which changeseach year.

She added: “We start doing theFireshow about July when we contactsuppliers.

“In September we look at securingthings such as first aid, staffing andstewards.

“Every year the event has a themeand this year it is cars. In past years

we have done things such as the WildWest and a celebration of 150 years ofCarlisle Railway Station.

“This year is the 22nd year of theevent and when deciding on a themewe try to come up with somethingwhich is relative to Carlisle or nation-ally. I like to be well organised so ifsomething does need to be donethere is time to play with.

“The Fireshow is my favourite eventto work on.

“However bad the weather is we stillget good attendance and know wehave put something on which peoplehave enjoyed.

“We want everyone to go homefrom an event happy and with theFireshow, even if the weather is rub-bish it still feels like it is worthdoing.”

Fireshow favouritetakes months ofplanning for Gill

2 16 ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT

BY 2013 the number of personalinjury claims in the UK is predictedto reach over 750,000. The develop-ing ‘claims culture’ is borne out ofchanges to the legal process thatmade it easier for claimants to bringthese claims and the resulting prolif-eration of ‘No-win No-fee’ solicitorswho took advantage of the changes togrow their businesses.

The underlying principal of theseliabilities is an age old social require-ment to take care of those around usand their property.

Injury claims are brought to courtin hindsight, where it is easier to seefault on the “balance of probabilities”required by law.

Event organiser’s legal liabilitiesAs an event organiser, you are in the

first line of fire if anything goeswrong. Claimant’s solicitors willdirect litigation at the easiest target.An event organiser will often be thetarget because they have directlybreached legislation such as theOccupiers Liability Act 1957 or theManagement of Health & Safety atWork Regulations 1999.

The event organiser must rely onanother party being negligent to passon that liability.

Financial lossesAnother source of Legal Liability

against event organisers is their con-tractual obligations to parties such asvenue owners, advertisers, perform-ers and ticket holders. Should theevent fail to run as anticipated thenpenalties and refunds can beincurred under written or informalcontracts.

Financial costs of the failure of anevent can be much more direct, forexample non-refundable deposits,purchases made and loss of profits.Financial losses may arise throughany number of unusual reasons lead-ing to the failure of an event. Someexamples are:� Fire Damage to Venues� Health & Safety ExecutiveInvestigations� Adverse Weather� Industrial Action� Local Authority Action� National Mourning� Terrorist Attacks

Property risksEvents naturally involve a substan-

tial amount of infrastructure and fur-niture, temporary buildings, toiletsand generation equipment, cafete-rias, kiosks and signage – the list isendless. When owned by the eventorganiser or hired-in, this property isthe responsibility of the event organ-iser if damaged.

The diversity of property at events,the complex ownerships and the spe-cialist nature of repairs and replace-ment make this a difficult risk forevent organisers to self insure.

More exotic risksThe nature of events can give rise to

some more exotic risks of failure. Onekey area is that of non-appearance ofartists. The failure of a key artist toappear at an event will lead to claimsfor refunds from the likes of ticketholders, exhibitors and advertisers.

Force Majeure, meaning a circum-stance beyond your control, is oftenused to describe the set of all theseexotic risks, any of which can lead tothe cancellation, curtailment, post-ponement or abandonment of theevent.

Risk managementManaging the risks associated with

running an event has a host of bene-fits. The costs of poor risk manage-ment are both direct and indirect innature, ranging from claims for Legal

Liability to loss of reputation.Through good risk managementevent organisers will obtain longterm benefits to their businesses suchas consistently lower InsurancePremium costs and the successfulrunning of events will bring repeatbusiness and increased attendances.

Although thorough risk manage-ment demands a great deal ofthought and planning, a few basicconsiderations can help any eventorganiser improve their businessmodel:� Start risk management at the earli-est stages of planning the event. � Avoid the impact of ‘force Majeure’circumstances by making contin-gency plans.� Do not overlook the travel andaccommodation requirements ofyour attendees, investigate alterna-tive arrangements.� Produce a written Health & SafetyPolicy Document for the event,undertake and document risk assess-ments to identify hazards, assess thelikelihood and consequence of thosehazards causing injury and controlmeasures you have put in place. � Hold a prior run through of emer-gency evacuation and safety plans soyour staff are fully aware of the pro-cedures they will need to follow.� Check sub-contractors and eventlogistics providers carry PublicLiability Insurance; you might wantto pass on a claim if an injury resultsfrom their Negligence. If sub-contrac-tors are running an activity ordemonstration, ensure they haveundertaken their own risk assess-ments.

Getting InsuranceTake early advice from a specialist

Insurance broker who understandsthe risks of event organisation andcan arrange appropriate insurancecover.

Remember that in order to keeppremiums low insurance is best usedto protect the unforeseen and cata-strophic risks. Event organisers whoprovide detail of thorough risk man-agement plans can expect to berewarded with further discounts ontheir insurance premiums and broadinsurance cover.

Blythin and Brown have more than 20 years’ expertise providing a specialist policy cover for marquee andequipment hirers. Here, experts from the company explore Legal Liability and other risks faced by event organisersand what can be done to reduce their impact.

Commercial division manager Paul Evans

‘Event organisers arein the first line of fireif anything goes wrong’

Tailor-made package for firms supplying to outdoor eventsMARQUEE and Equipment Hire is atailor-made coverage designed tomeet the requirements of businessessupplying their equipment to out-door events anywhere in the UK. � All risks of loss or damage to mar-quees and associated equipment.� Cover whilst property is on-hire atcustomers’ premises� Cover for goods held in trust such

as hired in equipment.� Protection whilst equipment is intransit to and from events � Full theft cover as standard� Full storm cover as standard� New replacement cover on mar-quees and equipment less than oneyear old.� Business interruption on loss ofgross revenue basis.

� Cover for buildings, contents andother interests at hirer’s businesspremises� Covers Legal Liability for bodilyinjury, disease or property damagefrom all activities including erectionand dismantling.� Employers Liability including useof temporary staff and agency work-ers.

� Standard Limits of Indemnity upto £ 10,000,000 any one occurrence � Increased Limits of Indemnityavailable on request � Wide description of covered activi-ties� Use of Subcontractors included� Full Products Liability Extension� Damage to Underground Servicesincluded.

InsuranceoverviewTHE following provides a briefoverview of insurance productsprovided by specialist EventInsurers, such as Hiscox:

A flexible approach – you choosewhat you need from:� Cancellation insurance –Insurers will pay you up to thelimit of indemnity for yourirrecoverable expenses and yourloss of net profit if applicable inthe event of the necessary cancel-lation, abandonment, curtail-ment or postponement of yourinsured event due to any insuredcause beyond your control � Cancellation following terror-ism is covered up to £100,000 foryour event � Physical loss or damage to yourproperty and property for whichyou are responsible whilst at yourinsured event or whilst in transit � Public liability – Insurers willindemnify you for all sums whichyou are legally liable to pay forclaims made against you foraccidental bodily injury or loss ofor damage to property in thecourse of an insured event basedin Europe. � If you purchase public liabilityyou can also purchase employers’liability £10m - your legal liabilityto your own and casual staff iscovered for the event.

Additional covers available uponrequest:� Adverse weather for outdoorevents (in the open or in a tem-porary structure) � Interruption cover for telecon-ferencing - available for picture,audio or data image communica-tion links � Non-appearance of key per-sons – if your event is dependentin whole or part on key speakers,celebrities or entertainers � Increased limits for terrorismcover � Travel insurance � Money insurance.

Event Insurance cover is basedon a suite of insurance productsspecifically designed to meetevent organisers’ particularneeds. The suite is built aroundthree core products –Cancellation and Abandonment,Property Damage and LegalLiability.

2 18 SHOWMAN’S SHOW REVIEW

ESTABLISHED in 1998, LightmediaDisplays have launched their latestrange of LED outdoor and indoorrental screens, encompassing mobilescreens ranging in size from sixsquare metres to 45 square metres.We also have one of our small, quickdeploy, broadcast units fitted witheverything you require to make yourlive event a runaway success.

Lightmedia Displays Ltd has a firstclass reputation as one of the worldleaders in big screen technology, forboth LED screen rental and sales.

We provide screens to many of themost prestigious events around theworld, from the BBC’s coverage of theOlympic opening and closing cere-monies, Cup of Nations in Ghana, toLive 8 and sporting events toonumerous to list.

Our team have a wide range ofexperience in the live events industry.We provide a highly professional

service at the most competitive priceavailable. We provide a turnkey oper-ation including cameras and a fullproduction unit.

To further enhance your event, wehave a diverse range of advertisingsolutions from screen edge bannersto full unit livery and a wide range ofvisual effects such incorporatingclients logos or corporate messageson the screen, all designed to deliverimpact to your event.

Lightmedia offer a full range of sup-porting services for both our rentalLED rental as well as our permanent-ly installed screens, meaning that wecan offer you a complete solution,whatever your requirements.

Our website is updated regularlywith the latest projects and eventswhich we have completed and con-tains a wealth of information regard-ing the products and services weoffer.

Lightmedia makes asplash with latest range

Mike revealssafety secretsof successTHE complex area of health and safe-ty was just one of the topicsaddressed at the Showman’s Show’sseminars – which took place on thefirst day of this year’s show.

The seminars provided the opportu-nity to learn from several eventsindustry professionals including MDof The Event Safety Shop MikeRichmond.

Mike revealed the main issues sur-rounding health and safety at majorevents and revealed the secrets of hissuccesses at festivals includingGlastonbury.

He told delegates how the companymanaged to turn around the fortunesof Glastonbury to make it an eventwhich prides itself on health andsafety

Mike said: “Our involvement inGlastonbury started with the produc-tion element and we were initiallyasked to get involved with health andsafety to undertake a health and safe-ty review of the site. We are notclassed as safety officers but ourethos is to handhold through theprocess like safety advisors.

“Our requirement was to look at thesafety culture in place at the event.The impression was that Glastonburywas like the Wild West but now it isn’tlike that.

“Glastonbury is now one of the bestperceived safety cultures and that isdown to a co-ordinated effort. We areinvolved for the full 12 months of theyear – it starts again as soon as theevent stops. For any event, start at theoutset. Glastonbury should be com-mended for bringing us in for the full12 months of the year.”

Mike also said how new legislationincluding the smoking ban affectedthe festival.

He added: “There was a slight con-cern from the enforcement authori-ties that people would be smoking. Asmoking compliance officer wasbrought in and we had 100 per centcompliance. People have got used tothe fact they cannot smoke in avenue. But Glastonbury has an inter-national audience so it can be diffi-cult to make these visitors to eventsaware of the legislation in this coun-try they should adhere to.”

Event and venue branding specialists Sunbaba celebrated 10 years in the events industryat the show. Throughout the last 10 years, the company has taken a proactive approach tofinding greener solutions for branding. Sunbaba’s most recent projects have included workon The Innocent Village Fete, The Lovebox London Weekender, The Red Bull Flugtag andThe Brit Oval’s perimeter fencing.

SHOWMAN’S SHOW REVIEW 19

EXHIBITING at the Showman’s Showfor the third year running, GrundonWaste Management was once againpleased with the level of interestshown by event organisers in its 'TwoBin’ recycling system.

The simple and proven arrange-ment results in a clean, simple to useand easily managed site.

Mixed recyclables comprisingpaper, cardboard, cans and plasticbottles are placed in one containerready for collection and recycling,whilst a second container takes theremaining general waste.

This was also the third year inwhich Grundon had serviced theShowman’s Show, providing andemptying a range of skips, front endloader and rolonof containers.

Grundon has been servicing someof the most prestigious events in the

UK’s social and sporting calendars formany years.

These include Cartier InternationalPolo, Formula 1 TM Santander BritishGrand Prix, Henley Royal Regatta,The Championships, Wimbledon andthis year for the first time, the CLAGame Fair.

Operating across the south ofEngland, the company provides thefull range of waste collection andrecycling services, using highlymanoeuvrable waste wheeler con-tainers, rolonofs, skips, compactorsor tankers as appropriate.

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.

‘Two bin’ interest at show

2 20 WINTER EVENTS

Over half a million people attended the first Winter Wonderland event which took place in Hyde Park lastyear. But how do the organisers transform one of London’s most popular open spaces into a spectacleincluding such diverse elements as fairground rides and an observation wheel? Christina Eccles reports.

Adding the iceto WonderlandORGANISERS PWR Events are best knownfor their work bringing temporary ice rinksto some of London’s biggest attractionsincluding the Tower of London, HamptonCourt and Kew Gardens.

For them, creating Winter Wonderlandwas a natural extension of what they hadalready been doing with the ice rinks butinvolved adding more elements to turn itinto a large scale event.

The event is open from 10am to 10pm forsix weeks, only closing on Christmas Day,and this year it is hoped 600,000-700,000visitors will attend.

One of the event’s main-selling points isthat it is free to enter and with attractionssuch as the ice rink, observation wheel,German market and fairground rides, hasenough to keep visitors of all ages enter-tained.

According to PWR Events’ director JamieWells, part of what makes the event uniqueis the fact that it features a lot of standalone attractions in themselves so to havethem all in one place is something not oftenseen in the UK. However, getting them allinto the venue is not without its challenges.

Jamie explained: “The observation wheelis unique at this type of event and is over180 feet high with fantastic views over thewhole of London. We bring that in in 28 40foot shipping containers and it is the centrepiece of the event.

“We have also gone across to Germanywhere they build very large attractions –more like what you see in a theme parkthan at a fun fair – which are stand aloneattractions at the event in themselves.

“These include a very large haunted housewhich is 10-15 times bigger than a normalone and a huge mirror maze fun housewhich comes in 15 trailers.

“Getting these in is a matter of the pro-duction team co-ordinating and finding out

all the requirements, when the items arearriving and what sort of transport will beused. There is also the issue of storage asthere are about 120 containers used to shipthings in which are not actually used duringthe event, so they also need to be taken offsite.

“It is a big logistical exercise but worth-while as having these things makes theevent more permanent rather than some-thing which is there for just a few weeks.

“It has a 12-day build with 45-50 individ-ual contractors working on it and becausethe site is over half a mile in size, we divideit up and treat each one as a separate event.

“Hyde Park is an incredibly importantopen space so we want to keep access opento the public for as much time as possible.”

This year’s event will be made bigger withthe extension of the German market andwill run from November 22 to January 4.

Jamie Wells

Features of the event include a fairground and observation wheel.

WINTER EVENTS 21

THE Bond Street Association –which represents the shops andbusinesses in the area – used tohave a summer event called BondNight, that ran in conjunction withthe Evening Standard.

Organiser Penny Kennedy-Scottsaid: “It was very well liked but thenwe thought we needed a changeand so we moved the event toChristmas – which is a very impor-tant time of year for the street.

“Our Christmas event started offquite small but it grew over theyears and became what it is today,Bond Noel. It started out as anawareness exercise – but is now ourbig event of the year.”

Over the years Bond Noel hasstuck to a tried and tested formula.It has a celebrity guest to do thelight switch on, and it sticks to a‘quality Christmas’ theme.Organisers expect between 12 -15,000 visitors and the entertain-ment is spread across the mile longstretch.

Penny added: “We have to makesure we put on a show that is bigenough for the whole street.Everything has to be very carefullyplaced.

“We encourage the shops to dotheir bit as well, offer in houseactivities to support the party andmaximise their benefits.

“We really stick to the qualityChristmas theme but each year wehave to add something new tomake sure it is not staid.”

This year, the event is havingpyrotechnics for the first time andlightwalkers. Carol singers,Christmas trees, entertainers andstalls are also brought in. BondStreet is closed to traffic for theparty for three hours - which Pennysays has its problems.

She said: “We have a traffic man-ager do us an assessment as wehave to get permission to close thestreet while being careful not to dis-rupt things too much.

“There is a lot that goes on behindthe scenes and it does get more dif-ficult each year as there is newhealth and safety rules all the timeand we have to cover all bases.”

Penny starts organising theNovember event in February andsays a big challenge is convincingthe offices above the stores - whichget no monetary benefit from theevent - to help out.

She said: “The snow is a challengebecause we have to get the officesto help. I have to persuade them tohave somebody there while reallylate, when they are usually closed,because each snow machine notonly has to come out of the officesbut also has to have an operator.

“We have 30 machines and a busload of them come in fromGloucestershire so someone has tolet them in and out again.”

Last year, two days before theevent, Penny discovered thatDEFRA had closed the area to live-stock and the reindeers were not

allowed to be brought in.She added: “We had to quickly

come up with something else andso we ended up in John Lewis buy-ing 30 little mini reindeer outfits.We invited a local primary school tocome and sing carols for us instead and it went down reallywell.”

Penny says her biggest challengeis the weather. She added: “We real-ly have the horror of being at the

mercy of the weather.“If the temperature drops below

four degrees, we can’t have thesnow because it can form an icesheet which is a health and safetyrisk.

“If it’s icy or wet, we won’t be ableto have stilt walkers.

“The fireworks are being set offfrom the roof of Ralph Lauren andAsprey but the wind conditionshave to be right.”

THE annual event has grown tobecome the largest of its type inEurope, attracting more than 180,000people last year over the four days.

It takes Louise and her small teamof four at the city council 10 days toput the market together and five tostrip down, and planning is alreadywell under way for the 2009 event.

“It is a year round planning cycleand we are already pencilling stuff infor 2009 now,” said Louise. “This yearwe have a number of new stalls andhave expanded the regional and localproduce section so that it covers thewhole of the Lawn’s village green.

“We have also moved the entertain-ment stage and have expanded theprogramme and have made variousother changes in response to the badweather we had last year.”

The event costs the council morethan £500,000 each year to put on,and Louise says that one of thebiggest changes she has seen overrecent years has been the emphasisplaced on health and safety.

“It is now even more importantthan ever before,” she added. “Wehave had to react to the heavy rainand high winds we had last year byputting in some new systems, and

the police charges have alsoincreased dramatically over the lastthree or four years.”

One of the largest issues facingLouise during the event is gettingpeople safely in and out of the city.More than 10,000 cars and 900coaches are expected, and a tempo-rary park and ride system is put inplace for the four days.

“It is a big operation but thankfullyit has run pretty smoothly over thepast few years,” she added. “So muchso that we have had various policeorganisations coming to look at howwe park our coaches and manage the

system.”Many of the roads in the city itself

are closed during the event, meaninglooking after local residents and mak-ing sure they can get in and out oftheir homes is also of vital impor-tance.

“We are not too popular when weclose the roads but we try and keepresidents informed by hand deliver-ing 5,000 newsletters to homes thatwill be affected,” she added. “We alsoissue them with access passes whichallows them to get into the streetsand into their homes with little fuss.”

This year’s 27th Lincoln Christmas Market will beorganiser Louise Robinson’s eighth and last. DominicMusgrave spoke with her ahead of the event.

Contractors’ listTSS Events – security and safety stewardsEvent Safe – coach bookingsARB Picadilly – PA system900 Communications – radioPrima Hire – temporaryflooringCPS – stagingEast Midlands AmbulanceService with St John’sAmbulance – First AidA-Plant – generatorsAT Event Services – barriersTransportation partner – PCCoachesWells and Sons – marquees

Louise Robinson

Louise getsthousandssafely tomarket ...

The Christmas party at one of London’s biggest shopping streets attracts over 12,000 visitors every year. ReporterNicola Hyde speaks to its organisers to discover how it’s planned.

The name’s Bond ... Bond Noel ...

Above: BondNoel attractsthousands of visitors. Farleft: organiserPennyKennedy-Scott and,left,celebritieslike SophieDahl attend.

2 22 BESTIVAL AND BRIGHTON BEACH REVIEW

HSL supplied all lighting equipmentand crew to Loudsound Productionsfor Fatboy Slim’s Beach BoutiqueFour event, which saw the legendaryDJ deliver an awesome homecomingperformance for 20,000 fans onBrighton Beach last weekend.

In creative terms, Fatboy's showsalways require degrees of busking,improvisation and going with therhythm and flow of the moment. Hebuilt an eclectic selection of palettes

filled with big ravey, dancey looks,the ethos behind the operationalways being that the energy comingoffstage should be transferred to the audience via lighting and visu-als.

The lighting design was based onmaximising the feeling of availablespace and adding to the perceptionof stage width with four drop truss‘wings’ outrigged each side of thefront stage support towers. Starting at

the top, these measured 15, 12, 10and eight feet respectively and wereequidistantly spaced at five feetintervals.

Beach Boutique Four was projectmanaged for HSL by Mike Oates.

He said: "It was great to be workingwith the Loudsound team againincluding Lee Charteris (event andFatboy production manager) andJohn Gray (stage manager).”

KEEPING up to date with develop-ments in technology can keep thecrowds returning to an event year onyear, it has been claimed.

According to Bestival’s festival director Rob da Bank it is importantto keep open regular lines of communication with customers todiscover what they want to see at theevent and a good way to do this isthrough websites and online forums.

He said that Bestival’s online com-munity is a vital part of the event askeeping up with what the fans wantallows organisers to implementchanges accordingly.

He said: “The forum on our websiteis busy all year round. I go on itmyself and one of the first things I dowhen the festival ends is monitor theforum – a lot of important pointscome out of it.”

The festival takes place at Robin HillCountry Park on the Isle of Wight and3,000 early bird tickets for next yearhave already sold out.

This year’s event included performances from Amy Winehouse, Alphabeat, Grace Jonesand Hot Chip.

Developingtechnologykeeps crowdscoming back

Let there be light ...

BESTIVAL AND BRIGHTON BEACH REVIEW 23

Advertiser’s announcement

IN Focus Communications andVision have successfully complet-ed a fully wireless CCTV, Internetand telecommunications installa-tion at the music festival Bestival.

Our aim was to promote ournew systems and equipment fortemporary installs and provide ahigh standard of service for theevent.

The festival – held on the Isle ofWight – runs over four days withmultiple stages and activities.

The show is located in thegrounds of Robin Hill CountryPark and was one of our mostchallenging events to install dueto the geographical nature of thesite.

This site is based within anarrow valley, surrounded withmany kinds of obstacles thathad to be overcome includingmajor land gradients, large popu-lations of trees and overheadpower lines.

We installed our full range ofservices at this site including:� Secure Wireless CCTV System� Internet connections for endusers� Broadcasting and a range of dif-ferent telecommunications(Phones).

These systems were installing fora period of just under three weeksto make sure organisers and siteservices could build the site as ifworking within a normal office

environment, but in a remotelocation.

CCTV SystemThe CCTV system we installed is

a fully IP based system on asecure closed IP network con-trolled from the EmergencyLiaison Team behind the mainstage.

The system was displayed on aprojector in this control roomrather than Plasma or LCDscreens due to the space in thecontrol room. In total there wereseven Pan Tilt Zoom Dome cam-eras, placed as intervals from oneend of the site to the other, max-imising the view coverage andenabling services and organisersto see first hand incidents andcrowd movement as it happenedin real time, this dramaticallyreduces all response times andenables problems to be seen andrectified before they happen.

Internet SystemsThis show was run solely with

the use of VSat (satellite ADSL)and 3G mobile data cards to pro-vide internet connections to allusers and devices. Internet usersand devices ranged betweenemail, web surfing, press pictureuploads and streaming feeds forBestival radio. This was all man-aged with a Gigabit switch back-bone into dedicated 54Mbps and108 Mbps point to point andpoint to multipoint wireless mod-

ules. In total we had just over 90PC/laptop users and 30 otherdevices uploading and download-ing information as well as 30 Siptelephone handsets round thesite.

Telecommunications (Phones)We have been using Sip and VoIP

phones for a few years now butthis event was very important tous because they all were linkedthrough a satellite system back toour phone system across theinternet, the phone system waslocated back on the mainland.

We use a very simple handset ofhigh sound quality for ease of useto the end user, they also do allthe fancy stuff you would expectfrom a Sip phone but without thebuttons to confuse users andwould be remotely configured aseach user needed from the phonesystem. The call quality is compa-rable to BT PSTN lines and ourmain achievement was makingthis happen by reducing thelatency or lag from the phonesthrough the VSat to the phonesystem. The phones were ulti-mately running through the VSatbut also each area was linked tothe Satellite by a dedicated wire-less module that carried all thevoice data traffic.

This system was used to deliverphones to remote box offices, wel-fare points, organiser’s offices andlocal emergency service round thesite and many more.

Festival site proves a challenge

The festival – held on the Isle of Wight – runs over fourdays with multiple stages and activities

2 24 LONDON FREEZE REVIEW

By Christina Eccles

A NEW festival which combines thetraditional elements of a music festi-val with the growing popularity ofwinter sports has taken place againstthe iconic backdrop of London’sBattersea Power Station.

Freesports on 4 Freeze – sponsoredby LG – included the world’s bestskiers and snowboarders in competi-tion on a 35m high real snow slopeand a music stage which includedperformances from Cypress Hill, TheEnemy and The Automatic.

But the first year of the event wasnot without its last-minute hitches –with the organisers having to over-come a challenge before it had evenstarted thanks to the ever unpre-dictable British weather.

The snow was due to be built on theThursday – the day before the eventstarted – but strong winds meantthat was unable to happen.

James Rodd from organisers SportsVision explained: “Thursday nightbrought strong winds which meantwe could not produce snow untilearly Friday morning rather than theprevious night.

“We were supposed to start thecompetition at 10am but this meantit didn’t actually start until 2.30pm.

“This meant a change in schedulesand a straight run through the entireski event with no breaks betweenpractice, qualifying and the finals.

“We also had some issues with thesnow. We ordered over the recom-mended amount of liquid nitrogen,used for making it, yet adverseweather conditions including strongwinds driving warm rain caused thesnow to melt faster than expected.

This meant a change in format forthe British Comp on Sunday whichwas a shame. This was a lesson fornext year.”

Sports Vision also organises the RipCurl Boardmasters Event in Cornwall– a festival also combining sport andmusic but had noticed a gap in themarket for an event which reflects the growing popularity of wintersports.

James added: “This is an event wehave been thinking about for a fewyears now as we noticed a gap in themarket but this year we decided to gofor it and make it happen.

“We looked at a few venues and weknew we wanted it to be in London.There is a big skiing and snowboard-ing following in the UK and we choseBattersea Power Station as the back-drop for the event because it is suchan iconic image. It was a huge suc-cess and we are extremely pleased.Saturday night sold out which is greatfor a start up event.

“The music gigs, especially CypressHill and the Relentless No halfMeasures Stage were fantastic and wefeel we’ve really made a great base forfuture years.”

Plans for next year include workingon more music and events takingplace throughout the day to expandon the event’s festival feel.

The combination of winter sports and music works well for visitors.

Strong winds prove snow jokefor sporty music festival ...

‘It was a huge successand we are extremelypleased. Saturday nightsold out which is greatfor a start up event’

LONDON FREEZE REVIEW 25

THE bars at the event were providedby Creativevents – which had the jobof making sure the bar areas tied inwith the festival’s overall theme.

Prior to the event, it took the teamthree full days to set up the sevenbars and two coffee bars. Theseincluded an indoor bar which wasthemed to fit in with a winter won-derland seating area, one inside themusic tent and others dotted aroundthe site.

According to director Andrew Snellthere are certain trends in bars whichorganisers are picking up on at out-door events and when it comes todrinks these include a surge in salesof cider which is also becoming morepopular with women as well as men.

He also revealed how valuable it canbe to have exciting, interesting barsfor festivalgoers to visit and how thiscan benefit organisers at events.

He said: “Bars can fit into the lookof an event as you can brand up thefront. Organisers are also able to earnrevenue through sponsorship as thebar areas are a massive focal point atevents.

“Festivals are now raising theirgame and we are working reallyclosely with organisers to developthemes.

“For example, when we worked onThe Big Chill we operated 19 barsand three of those were open 24hours. This was the biggest job wehad done as all the bars were themedand it took six months of planning.

“We pride ourselves on the look ofthe bar and that is something we areworking into festivals. We also focuson speed of service as there is noth-ing worse than being at an event andhaving to spend a long time queuingat the bar.”

The company – which was celebrat-ing hitting a milestone of working on1000 events this year – has worked ona variety of events including BrightonBeach Boutique, the Innocent VillageFete and the Red Bull Air Race.

Pictured right: director Andrew Snell and,below, is one of the bars supplied byCreativevents.

Bars get into festival spirit ...

Power - GoferBars – CreativeventsSlope structure – NussliToilets – A1 Loo hireWaste – BywatersStage Barriers – MojoFencing – ToneSecurity – EntourageInflatables –BaconinflatePA, Stage, Lighting –FuturistMarquee – KayamSnow – Polar SnowMusic – Sw1

Contractors’list ...

2 26 SALFORD PROMS IN THE PARK

SALFORD City Council called on theexperience of local events agencyEar to the Ground to help with theorganising of ‘Proms in the Park’.

The company, who were heavilyinvolved in the launch of Liverpoolas European Capital of Culture,were used to deliver event manage-ment services and health and safety.

They also booked contractors andliaised directly with the stars of theshow, Russell Watson and thePhilharmonic Orchestra.

“We were extensively involved inthe event,” said director Jon Drape.“We put out a ticketing schemewhich gave reduced tickets to local

residents and divided the city intoeight and advised on other sideissues.

“As for the event it went fantastical-ly well for the first year and at thedebrief we had with the councileverybody seemed extremely happywith it.

“We learned a few things, as you dowith every event, but are alreadystarting to look at doing somethingnext year and hope the event willbecome a regular fixture on the cal-endar.”

The agency are currently workingon several events, including a NewYear’s Eve spectacular on LondonBridge.

Council turns to events agency

SALFORD City Council is celebratingthe success of ‘Proms in the Park’, itsbiggest ever live music event.

The classical concert was the BBCPhilharmonic’s first performance inthe city since signing its £20m spon-sorship deal with the council lastyear.

More than 8,000 people gathered atthe inner city Buile Hill Park inSeptember to see local celebrityRussell Watson’s first performancethere since recovering from brain sur-gery. Dan Schofield, principal eventsdevelopment officer, Salford CityCouncil, said: “Salford has a wonder-ful ongoing relationship with the BBCPhilharmonic so we wanted to makethe most of the opportunity to plantheir first live event in the city.

“Putting the show together wasexpensive, even though the orchestrakindly agreed to waive their fee, butwe felt it was important to go aheadin order to showcase our partnershipand to give the local people one ofthe biggest concerts ever staged inthe area.”

Out of the 8,000 tickets available,4,000 were set aside for local resi-dents at a cut price of £7.50.

The city was divided into eight geo-graphical areas and 500 tickets wereallocated to each one.

The rest of the tickets were madeavailable to the general public at £20each.

Dan added: “We wanted to makethe event as accessible as possible topeople right across Salford, so weallocated tickets to each area andpeople gave their post codes whenordering.

“The residents’ tickets wereextremely popular and sold out in thefirst two days and those for the gen-eral public only took slightly longer.”

The event was timed to coincidewith the Last Night of the Proms atthe Royal Albert Hall and also fea-tured a performance from ACMGospel, semi-finalists from the TVseries Last Choir Standing as well as afireworks display.

Dan added: “I think it is great for acouncil to do something positive likethis for its residents and we have hada great response from everyone whoattended. Those living locally in par-ticular really appreciated being ableto attend an event that made themproud of their city.”

Proms in thePark hits theright note

Pictured above: Russell Watson,below: the firework display and

below, left, Dan Schofield.

27TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT SUPPORTED BY

THE Main Event caught up withEmmalene Charlton at SheffieldArena where she was shadowingvenue manager Julian Kumah for aweek, gaining operational experienceof security and crowd management ata major venue.

The two types of performance dur-ing the week, one floor standing, oneseated, gave Emmalene an opportuni-ty to see how theories she had cov-ered in the classroom were put intopractice. Understanding the differentlayouts offered by the arena and thedifferent staffing requirements of eachlayout were particularly important.

She said: “The first performance wasa floor standing event. We started byplanning the staffing, then collatedthe briefing information, delivered tostaff as they started their shifts. It wasgood to find out where this wealth ofinformation comes from.”

The second show was a comedyshow with a theatre style seatingarrangement. Emmalene showed par-ticular interest in the crowd psycholo-gy, observing how the venue usedvideo, played on the main auditoriascreens 15 minutes before the per-formance, to attract people into theirseats well in advance of the showstarting.

She added: “This week-long experi-ence again made me realise how criti-cal communication, team workingand a positive attitude can have on anevent. I will make sure I prioritisethese characteristics in my approach.”

Emmalene Charlton

Emmalene’sshadowingexperience

Training days prove successfulBy Dominic Musgrave

A SERIES of training days forLincolnshire amateur event organis-ers has been hailed a success.

The training days, thought to be thefirst of their kind in the country, wereorganised by the Lincolnshire EventSafety Advisory Group (LESAG), andaimed in particular at people whostage events which benefit their localcommunity.

Topics covered included risk assess-ments, the role of event safety advi-sory groups, licensing and other rele-vant legislation. The sessions weredesigned to increase knowledge andbring organisers up to speed withnew rules and regulations.

LESAG chair Ian Reed said: “We arebuilding on the success of the‘Handbook for Event Organisers inLincolnshire’, which is now in itsfourth revision. The handbook givesthe theory and now through thetraining days we’re adding the practi-cal side, to help develop the skills oflocal event organisers.

“Everyone has seen the adverts forno-win no fee insurance claims, and

there is a range of legislation whichgovern how you can operate yourevent, and we hope that the trainingdays will make it easy for organisersto stage their event and do so safely,which makes for a sustainablefuture.”

Participants included organisers ofagricultural shows, aviation events,

music festivals, village fetes, towncarnivals, Christmas markets, pleas-ure fairs and community festivals.

Louise Robinson, events teamleader for the city council, offers anadvisory service to event organisersstaging their events in the city. “I wasdelighted to work with our partnerson LESAG to develop this trainingday,” she said. “It’s all about develop-ing a thriving programme of eventsand festivals across the city andcounty.”

As part of the training participantswere also given the chance to writerisk assessments and plan their ownevent with experts from the emer-gency services on hand to answerquestions and offer advice.

A series of training days are beingplanned for next year, and the LESAGteam are also now planning the nextphase of the training programme,with more introductory level coursesand some more in depth explana-tions of the legislative picture.

They have also received enquiriesfrom colleagues in neighbouringcounties about the training pro-gramme.

Ian Reed

CAPITA Symonds’ acoustics team hasa new senior acoustic consultant –Susan Witterick.

Susan joins from Applied AcousticDesign and has over 10 years’ experi-ence covering a variety of acousticaldisciplines and project types.

She has recently specialised inacoustical design for offices andschools and also has significant expe-rience in HVAC noise control –recently designing teaching, recordingand performance spaces at the CorkSchool of Music.

Director of acoustics and air qualityDr Rukhsana Adam said: “We’redelighted to welcome Susan to theteam – her experience in large archi-tectural and environmental schemeswill help us build both our internalclient base within our design andinfrastructure divisions and externalclients such as Balfour Beatty andKier.”Susan Witterick

Susan in tune withacoustics team

New role forSamantha asco-ordinatorSAMANTHA Abrams has joinedBusiness Event Management as anevent co-ordinator – bringing with her experience in B2B market-ing, creative agency and retail sec-tors.

The company is also moving tolarger offices based on theNorthampton Science Park, fromwhere it will be able to offer anenhanced range of bespoke eventmanagement services to companiesthroughout the UK.

Founding partner Geoff Morgansaid: “Business is good because of thesimple fact that targeted events arenow proven to be the most cost-effec-tive way of helping retain currentclients whilst attracting new busi-ness, as no money is wasted commu-nicating with those not interested inyour product or service.”

2 28 NOEA

Please note new address of NOEA:John Barton, General SecretaryNational Outdoor Events Association23 Coral AvenueWestward Ho!Bideford, DevonEX39 1UWTel: +44 (0) 1237 473113Fax: +44 (0) 1237 459661Email: secretary@noea.org.ukWebsite: www.noea.org.uk

News in brief� Richard Limb, NOEA Presidentreturns to the UK after a 2000 milecycle ride across Australia.

� NOEA Scotland progressing well –The Association is taking a stand atThe Main Event Exhibition, Glasgowon 12th March 2009.

� London Fair Pricing and FairPractice Charter – all NOEA Membersare invited to register with theauthorities.

� BS 8901 Sustainability – muchongoing work is still taking placebehind the scenes.

� Temporary Water SupplyManagement Standard – NOEArecognises this Standard for water

transfer and water quality to events.

� NOEA Membership – still on targetfor 500.

� Event Industry Forum Meetingheld in October – subjects will behighlighted in the next edition.

� NOEA Members’ Yearbook 2009will be published at The Event Show,London on January 21 and 22 – orderyour complimentary copy fromNOEA now.

� NOEA General Council Meetingend of October – there are some veryimportant developments taking placewithin NOEA. See the next edition toread the latest news.

Show marks openingof a very busy seasonTHE recent Showman’s Show atNewbury marked the opening seasonto a very busy Autumn/Winter seriesof events.

NOEA had a stand at the show andalthough the position was not soprominent as in 2007, it did notappear to matter. Over 150 seriousenquiries were received particularlyabout membership and our activities:� Cardiff Conference at the Castle on12th November with the Leader ofCardiff Council giving an openingwelcome to Members.� Leeds Conference and AnnualGeneral Meeting in the City Hall,Millennium Square from November24 – 26 including a city tour, dinnerson the Monday and Tuesday nightsand visits to a German market andBier Keller.

� NOEA is experimenting with somenew concepts and welcomes every-one to join in the experiment.� The Event Show, London onJanuary 21 and 22 2009 – NOEA standand “Spotlight on Local Authorities”Seminar – please make a note in yourdiary.� The NOEA Local Authority Grouphad a very good meeting at theShowman’s Show – for more informa-tion come to the January meeting.� 30th Anniversary NOEAConvention and Tribute CelebrationEvening – The Oxford Belfry, NrThame, Oxfordshire on February 25th– 27 2009 – Keynote Speakers includeHarvey Goldsmith CBE and TobiasEllwood MP, Shadow Minister forTourism, Licensing and Gambling.

Golfers all shookup as ‘Elvis’takes golf titleTHE second annual golf tournamentof The Event Industry Golf Society(TEIGS) took place at theDonnington Grove Country Club,Newbury, Berkshire on ThursdaySeptember 25.

Cardiff Council/ Wales Rally GBwere the principal sponsors and theevent was also sponsored by ShowsecInternational, Showman’s Show,HelloWorld, Main Event magazineand Finnforest UK Ltd – a very spe-cial thanks to them for making it allpossible.

There were over 20 golfers from var-ious companies and local authoritiesin the events industry. Ed (Stewpot)Stewart and Pete Sands (Elvis Presleyimpersonator) were also present andbefore long there was much cama-raderie amongst the players.

At the dinner the following wereannounced as the winners.1st Pete Sands (Elvis) H/C 8 net - 35points2nd Paul Jenkins, Wales Rally GB(Guest) H/C 8 net – 30 points3rd Richard Thornton, Danco

International, H/C 17 net – 29 points4th Clive Taylor, EMC, H/C 8 net – 29points (on count back)

The Longest Drive and the Nearestthe Pin competitions were won byRob Corp, Cardiff Council and GlenWilliams, Wales Rally GB respectively.

Congratulations to them all – in facteveryone received a prize through thegreat generosity of the sponsors.

When the players returned to theClubhouse, they were ready to relaxand join in the evening’s festivitieswhich included a first class dinner,prize giving and a special cabaretspot by “Elvis Presley”. Also the nomi-nated charity - the Children’s Trustwas given a donation of £200 duringthe dinner.

Afterwards, everyone agreed thatthis had been a most successful occa-sion and many players and guestshave already booked for the thirdTEIGS Golf Day at Donnington Groveon Thursday September 24 2009. – Tosecure your place now please email:teigs@helloworld.com (Attn JohnBarton) or telephone 01237 473113.

Rob Corp (Cardiff council), Paul Smith (Cardiff council), Mark Harding (Showsec) and JohnBarton.

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