Event Articles

Louise Ridley

Businesses from Kenya and the Caribbean will host lounges at the Scipmylo festival on Hackney Marshes during the Olympics, Event has learned.

Sacoma UK, an umbrella body representing international businesses, has booked the lounges on behalf of the Caribbean and the Kenyan Diaspora, a group of Kenyan enterprises based in the UK.

Scipmylo is a cultural festival from 27 July – 12 August on the marshes which sit on the perimeter of the Olympic Park near the Eton Manor gate.

The festival is also in talks with several National Olympic Committees, embassies and high commissioners about establishing a national Olympic house at the event.

The Kenyan and Caribbean lounges will be part of Scipmylo’s International Pavilion. The Kenyan lounge will include Kenyan cuisine, a fashion show and entertainment from dancers, DJs and comedians, while the Caribbean lounge plans to offer food, shops and children’s activities themed around the group of islands.

For corporate hospitality, the festival will also host a semi-permanent structure with a courtyard garden at its centre. It will hold up to 2,000 people and offer river transport from the Olympic park on canal boats through Water Chariots.

This event news story was originally published at  http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/bulletin/bulletintest2/article/1125784/?DCMP=EMC-CONEventnewsbulletin#comment. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Chantelle Dietz,

Heston Blumenthal, Tracey Emin and Richard E Grant officially opened British Airways’ airline-themed pop-up venue, Flight BA 2012, in Shoreditch last night (3 April) and Event has a gallery of pictures.

Created by Cake, the three-in-one art gallery, cinema and dining room will be open between 4-17 April and will celebrate the best in British talent in the run up to the London 2012 Games, showcasing the works of the BA Great Britons programme.

Mentors of the programme Grant, Emin and Blumenthal were joined by famous names from the worlds of sport, art and showbusiness, while music was provided by DJ and model Daisy Lowe.

The BA Great Britons programme was launched last year to find rising British stars in food, film and art and provide them with career defining opportunities and a global platform to showcase their work in the run up to the Games.

The gallery features artwork from artist-designer Pascal Anson from Brighton, who was mentored by Tracey Emin on his ‘Dove’ design for a range of celebratory aircraft.

In the cinema, a short film titled ‘BOY’ written by screenwriter Prasanna Purwanarajah under the mentorship of Richard E Grant, will be screened.

Finally, guests in the airline-themed dining lounge will be able to sample Heston and Simon Hulstone’s Olympic inspired dishes.

Frank van der Post, managing director of brands and customer experience, at British Airways said: “We wanted to bring the flying experience to the public, allowing guests to preview our in-flight entertainment, celebratory aircraft livery and on-board menus in anticipation of the London 2012 Games. This is going to be an exciting year for the capital and this is just the very start of our take-off.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/bulletin/bulletintest2/article/1125799/?DCMP=EMC-CONEventnewsbulletin. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Jeremy King

GL Events Owen Brown will create the pre-match hospitality area at Twickenham for England’s home games during the Six Nations rugby tournament for the 25th consecutive year.

Every piece of land and free space surrounding Twickenham is utilised as plots for these temporary hospitality facilities, including the playing fields and playground at the Chase Bridge and the Cardinal Vaughan schools, the car park of a self-storage unit which becomes the ‘Orchard Enclosure’ for the duration of the games, and the cricket pitch at Kneller Hall.

It means the firm will supply in excess of 5,500sqm of temporary structures for the England v Wales and England v Ireland internationals.

These structures will be transformed into private dining suites, fitted with their own entrance doors, as well as supporting kitchens, bars and offices.

James Anderson, commercial director for GL Events Owen Brown, said: “We are always pleased to be part of the fantastic rugby events that are held at Twickenham. Some of the sites do cause some challenges as you can imagine working at schools and military bases. However each year the outcome keeps improving, and the hospitality our clients put on each year is ever evolving as well.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/bulletin/bulletintest2/article/1117009/?DCMP=EMC-CONEventnewsbulletin#comment. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

By David Gold

December 30 – Members of the public attending the Hogmanay event in Edinburgh, the first countdown event of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, will get an added digital twist during their celebrations.

The event uses the @thistimeofyear tag on Twitter to mark the beginning of 2012 and the year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Party-goers can download the specially created app here. 

It uses augmented reality technology to give a surprise which is created by the official London 2012 poster artist Michael Craig-Martin.

The app has been available since December 28 and from today revellers will be able to open it and point their phone at Edinburgh Castle, whereupon the image will appear on their phones.

Then at midnight on New Years’ Eve an e-card will appear that can be used as the backdrop for photos being sent to family and friends.

Ruth Mackenzie, the London 2012 Festival Cultural Olympiad Director, said: “We’re excited to be working with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay for our first countdown event which, in this digital age, brings together new technologies and art for the New Year celebrations in Edinburgh.

“We hope @thistimeofyear will bring a fun dimension to the celebrations as we see in the Olympic and Paralympic year.”

Craig-Martin said: “I am delighted to contribute through new technological media to this exciting celebration which is one of the countdown events for the London 2012 Festival.

“Next year should prove an important time for art and culture as well [as] outstanding sporting events.”

The London 2012 Festival is due to run from June 21 to September 9 bringing together artists from around the world to celebrate the Olympic Games.

The festival will include highlights such as Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela playing an outdoor concert and the Kronos Quartet performing Terry Riley’s Sun Rings in Glasgow at the Riverside Museum.

“We are delighted that part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the first countdown event of the London 2012 Festival,” said Pete Irvine, the creative director of the Hogmanay event.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/15352-hogmanay-revellers-provided-with-london-2012-olympics-twitter-app Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Advertising Feature

The New Year and Christmas period is a time of many meetings, holiday fairs, concerts and parties. Although the weather is usually chilly, many of these events are held outdoors or under temporary structures. Among the many details that the organisers have to sort out is the provision of heating.

The proven solutions of this problem are mobile heaters. These devices are very easy to use, very economical and more importantly, do not require complex installation. They are fast and easy to use, and thanks to high output, they meet all the requirements of event organizers.

Most often, indirect oil heaters are used in these situations. An important feature of these devices is that the heat they generate is 100% pure, which means they can be used in facilities with people inside. Warm air is transported via flexible hoses that are often fitted with additional diffusers. The device itself is often placed at a safe distance, for example behind the stage or tent. For large events, external high capacity fuel tanks are often used, but heaters of this type (that is less than 81 KW output) have a built-in fuel tank which is more than enough for heating smaller areas for a short period of time.

Indirect oil heaters can be divided into two groups: those with less than 81 kW output and those producing up to 220kW output. The largest devices often have 4 hot air outlets, allowing users to connect four flexible hoses that transport heat to different places.

Devices of this type can be used both for heating indoor and semi-open areas and are often used for heating stages for performing artists. Based on the demand, hot air is generated by a single device or by multiple devices placed in different locations. It is worth pointing out that the heat is generated immediately after the device is turned on, which results in high work comfort.

In the event industry, such devices are used during both large-scale outdoor events and during studio recordings (TV shows for example) or during company or private indoor meetings such as weddings and other celebrations. They are often used to heat gastronomic tents at various sporting events, or near ski slopes.

The vast selection of mobile units also includes infrared oil heaters. These devices are often used in the entertainment industry during movie making and photo shoots. Their main characteristics are quiet operation and direct heating of a single spot, which provides heating for a specific facility with no air movement. They are perfect for heating specific places or people during outdoor activities. Similar to blow heaters, they are easy to install and are ready to be used at any time and have a built-in fuel tank and an oil level indicator. Large output models for professional applications are available as well as small output models for small facilities.

All portable heaters, as the name suggests, are fully mobile, which makes for convenient usage and allows for broad application. They have been tried, trusted and widely used by the entertainment industry, where many events are one-offs, which asks for a quick and economical heating solution.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventindustrynews.co.uk/2011/12/outdoor-events-in-winter-how-to-keep-warm.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+event-industry-news+%28Event+Industry+News+-+An+online+magazine+and+news+blog+for+people+within+the+events+industry%29 Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

By David Gold

December 27 – The Torch Relay for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics has passed through Innsbruck, the host city of the Games, for the first time today since the flame was lit in Athens on December 17.

The flame of what will be the first ever Winter Youth Olympics has already passed through Neustift, Stubaital and Sölden in the city, and was carried by numerous Olympic Games medal winners, including Markus Prock, Ingo Appelt and Günther Mader.

Mayor Christine Oppitz-Plörer today lit the Youth Olympic Torch in the cauldron in front of the Annasäule monument in Innsbruck.

The Innsbruck 2012 chief executive, Peter Bayer, was the first torchbearer of the day before he passed it onto Stephan Eberhater (pictured above), the 2002 Olympic giant slalom champion.

“As a successful Olympic athlete, being part of the Youth Olympic Torch Relay as a torchbearer was a great experience for me,” said Eberhater.

The torch relay continues its way around Austria until the Opening Ceremony on January 13, with the Youth Olympics running until January 22.

It is the first time that the Olympic Torch has gone to the same Host City on three separate occasions, with Innsbruck staging the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976.

The torch will eventually find its way to the Youth Olympic Games cauldron in the Bergisel Stadium in Innsbruck for the Opening Ceremony.

In total some 2,012 torchbearers will carry the flame on its 18 day journey through Austria, including its stop in Vienna for New Years’ Eve this weekend.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/youth-olympics/2012/15335-2012-winter-youth-olympics-torch-relay-passes-through-innsbruck Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

By Tom Degun

December 26 – Indonesia have received a major funding boost ahead of the London 2012 Olympics after the country’s National Sports Committee (KONI) pledged to spend the majority of the £17.75 million ($27.5 million/€21.09 million) they recently received from the Government  for developing athletes that will represent the country at the Games.

Eleven Indonesian athletes have so far qualified for the London 2012 Olympics with more expected to follow in the New Year and KONI’s chairman Tono Suratman said that funding their medal ambitions in London is a big priority for his organisation.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs has given us the funds for next year, so we can now start preparing athletes for international tournaments in 2012, especially the Olympics,” said Suratman, who took up the post of KONI chairman earlier this month.

“National training camps for the athletes will kick off in January and they will be supervised by the Golden Indonesia Programme (Prima).

“The qualifying period for the Games will run until June so we hope to have more athletes qualified for the Olympics and we will make sure they receive the best preparation.”

Indonesia has earned five tickets to the London 2012 Olympics for its swimmers and five for its weight lifters, but the individual athletes to go to England will be determined in trials next year.

Archer Ika Yuliana Rochmawati (pictured) clinched her own spot after she won the women’s individual recurve in an Olympic qualification event at the Asian Archery Championships in Tehran.

Suratman also announced a change in KONI’s funding scheme that will take effect next year because previously the organisation only took care of athletes who were in the national training camps, while professional athletes were left to fend for themselves financially.

“There will be no longer divisions of training camp and non-training camp athletes,” he said.

“They are all Indonesian athletes – Prima’s athletes – who will fight for the country in the Olympics so they deserve the same treatment.”

Indonesia sent 24 athletes to the Beijing 2008 Olympics where they finished at 42nd on the overall medal table with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

The country’s gold medal came in the men’s badminton doubles where top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan claimed victory as they beat Chinese duo Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/15209-indonesian-athletes-receive-major-funding-boost-ahead-of-london-2012-olympics Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Sochi 2014 is claiming its first record after a series of new partner deals signed last week took its sponsorship total to $1.2 billion (£762 million/€877 million), surpassing the figure that Beijing raised for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Sochi signed a series of deals at the International Business Forum in the city last weekend, including with Switzerland’s Adecco and Sweden’s Scania, to take its total of partners to 18, including blue-chip Russian companies like Aeroflot, MegaFon, Rostelecom, Rosneft, Russian Railways, Sberbank of Russia, Volkswagen Group Rus and BOSCO Sport.

Leonid Zhestyannikov, first vice-president of the Russian Association for Sport and Leisure Facilities, a Non-Governmental umbrella organisation, is not surprised by the success of Sochi’s national sponsors programme.

“The Sochi Olympics is unique in everything,” he said.

“This is why many companies invest in it so eagerly.

“This is the only Olympic Games – at least, the only Winter ones – where all the facilities are being built from nil.

“This is also the first winter Olympics in the subtropical region.

“There are not so many places in the world where you can find a comparatively warm sea and snow at the same time.

“Mariott and Hilton have already signed agreements to build a network of hotels right in the area of the mountain ski centre.”

With more than two years still to go until Sochi 2014 opens, they have already passed London’s sponsorship target of $1.1 billion (£700 million/€798 million).

“The first ever Olympic Winter Games in our country represent a wonderful platform for displaying Megafon’s innovative business solutions,” said Tigran Pogosyan, the deputy directorg eneral on strategic projects at MegaFon, the second largest mobile phone operator in Russia.

“Sochi is slowly but surely becoming a central attraction in Russia and we are very pleased to have the unique opportunity to present our new projects and services to the thousands of guests attending the Games, not only from Russia, but also visitors from around the world.

“The Olympic Games will make a major difference to our company’s business development in the Southern Federal District of Russia.

“Our ambition is to become leaders here, something that is made directly possible by the 2014 Games.

“We are also keen to look at extending this partnership opportunity to other regions of the country.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/winter-olympics/2014/14323-sochi-2014-claiming-new-olympic-record-after-raising-12-billion-in-sponsorship. Got your own event story – get in touch to http://eventsecrets.com/contact/ – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Sebastian Coe has claimed everyone working on the London bid for the 2017 World Athletics Championships will continue to do so until the very end in order to convince the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the athletics family that the capital should stage the event.

London is up against the Qatari capital Doha in a closely contested two-horse race and Coe – the London 2012 chairman and IAAF vice-president after he was re-elected to the position in Daegu last month – is leading the 2017 bid in a coalition made up of UK Athletics, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), UK Sport and London & Partners, who are the London Mayor’s promotional agency.

The double Olympic 1500 metres champion has claimed that the key to winning the race to host the 2017 competition is convincing his colleagues at the world governing body for athletics that London is the best place for the event before the IAAF’s ruling Council gather to vote on the hosts in Monte Carlo on November 11.

“The bid has gone in and everybody is now working very hard to convince the athletics family and my colleagues on the IAAF that we are the right place to stage the 2017 World Athletics Championships,” Coe told insidethegames during a visit to the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry.

“We will continue to work hard to the very end because we know London would stage a great Championships.

“Athletics sits at the heart of all sports and we have a country and a city full of passionate athletics fans.

“Bringing the World Championships to London would help to increase that fan base, grow the sport commercially and continue to drive the inspirational power of sport and athletics to young people in our own country and around the world.”

London’s bid continues to be overshadowed by the fact that Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient are disputing the decision earlier this year to award the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 to West Ham United – the only football club committed to keeping the track in place.

Tottenham are still seeking a judicial review on October 18, while Orient has taken the case to the European Union, but Coe reiterated he is confident the track will remain in place after London 2012.

“We are bidding hard and lobbying hard on the basis that we will have a great stadium with a great track in place for the competition,” Coe said.

“I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to celebrate the fifth birthday of the Olympic Stadium in London in 2017 than by having thousands of athletics fans gathering once again to cheer on the world’s greatest sports stars.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/athletics/14317-exclusive-we-will-work-to-the-very-end-to-convince-the-iaaf-that-london-should-stage-the-2017-world-championships-says-coe. Got your own event story – get in touch to http://eventsecrets.com/contact/ – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

The world’s top marathons are to defy the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over a controversial plan to strip Britain’s Paula Radcliffe of her eight-year-old world record.

The IAAF Congress in Daegu last month passed a motion to change the standard by which female athletes achieve world record performances in road races.

By the new criterion, only times achieved in all-women competitions would be acknowledged for world record purposes, and performances achieved in mixed conditions would now be referred to only as “world best”.

Under the new criteria, which is due to come into effect next January, Radcliffe’s run of 2 hours 15min 25sec set at the 2003 London Marathon – a performance considered one of the greatest in history and on par with Usain Bolt’s 100 metres mark of 9.58sec – would be stripped of its world record status.

The Briton, who is due to race in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday (September 25), would still be the world record holder as she ran 2:17:42 at London in 2005 in a women’s only race.

But the race directors from the events that make up World Marathon Majors (WMM), including Boston, London and New York, and the Association of International Marathons (AIMS), which represents more than 300 events across the world, have warned that they will refuse to accept the IAAF decision. 

“The Boards of both WMM and AIMS have reviewed the recent Congress decision and believe that it does not represent what is required by the sport of road running,” they said in a joint statement released today.

“They further believe that there should be two world records for women’s road running performances, separately recognising those achieved in mixed competition and women’s only conditions.

“AIMS and WMM will continue to acknowledge both types of performances as world records and will discuss this matter further with the IAAF, recognising that the vast majority of women’s road races throughout the world are held in mixed conditions.

“The current situation where the fastest time is not now recognised as a record is confusing and unfair and does not respect the history of our sport.”

A spokesman for the IAAF said that it was now up to the WMM and AIMS to argue their case if they wanted the rule change scrapped.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/athletics/14322-major-races-to-defy-iaaf-plan-to-strip-paula-radcliffe-of-world-marathon-record. Got your own event story – get in touch to http://eventsecrets.com/contact/ – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.