About Events

CROSSMOLINA manager John Maughan insists that his team are ‘not going to accept’ Ballintubber being awarded two Mayo GAA senior league points after last Sunday’s scheduled Division 1A fixture between the clubs did not go ahead.

“Speaking to The Mayo News last night, Maughan said: ‘I spoke to our secretary Dermot Butler on Friday and specifically asked him where was the game on. He said the fixture specifically said Ballintubber. I knew that there was a new pitch there and so I sent out the text on Friday to tell the lads to go to Ballintubber for the game. It was my genuine understanding that was where the game would be.’

“The Crossmolina manager and several of his senior squad weren’t in Ballintubber, having attended the wedding of former Crossmolina player, Liam Moffatt, in Killarney the previous day.

“Ballintubber GAA club chairman, Sean Hallinan, said that, as far as his club were concerned, the matter was an open and shut case. ‘The game was fixed for 12 noon at the home venue of Ballintubber GAA Club, which is Ray Prendergast Memorial Park in Clogher,’ he said. ‘Every effort was made to inform Crossmolina on Sunday that the game was taking place in Clogher.’”

A bizarre tale of two venues, courtesy of the MAYO NEWS this week.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.herald.ie/sport/gaa/cross-wires-on-venue-make-maughan-mad-2872174.html. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

2012 will be a break out year for cashless music festivals, thanks to the success of contactless wristbands at the 2011 Isle of Wight Festival in June, reports NFC World.

Intelligent Venue Solutions (IVS) partnered with MasterCard to provide Isle of Wight attendees with PayPass-enabled wristbands pre-loaded with £30. Fans participating in the pilot could quickly and conveniently purchase food and drinks by simply tapping the wristbands against a reader.

According to IVS, the wristbands were overwhelmingly popular with concertgoers, who said they would “definitely use it again” at future events. Lucky for them, they’ll be available again next year at the Isle of Wight Festival, says IVS’s Paul Pike.

According to Pike, contactless systems provide an advantage over closed loop systems like vouchers and tokens in that the currency doesn’t become useless outside of the venue. Also, the need to exchange cash for vouchers and tokens creates yet another queue that fans have to deal with.

Pike added that by 2013, greater use of NFC payments on the mobile phone will make the cashless systems even more accessable.

“NFC payments are the ultimate goal for cashless festivals,” said Pike. “A mobile wallet on the phone will solve a lot of problems. Everyone walks around festivals with their phones, whereas many are more reluctant to walk around with their cash cards. NFC-enabled mobiles can be combined with somet.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.contactlessnews.com/2011/09/08/cashless-payements-to-take-off-at-2012-festivals. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

The ANC will announce a new venue for the disciplinary hearing against Julius Malema and four other youth league leaders later on Friday, spokesman Keith Khoza said.

“We are just meeting now to finalise the decision,” he said.

Khoza said the party had dropped plans to keep the location for the four-day hearing secret, because there was a risk supporters would then still protest outside Luthuli House in downtown Johannesburg.

“If we kept it secret they were still going to come here. It is going to be outside the CBD,” he told Sapa.

The party would choose a venue outside the city’s central business district to prevent a repeat of the violence that disrupted business activity when Malema first appeared before the panel last Tuesday.

“It is not that we are allowing protest, but we cannot wish it away either.”

Protesters rampaged outside Luthuli House in support of Malema last week, pelting police and journalists with half-bricks and setting fire to t-shirts emblazoned with the face of President Jacob Zuma.

Downtown law firm BDK Attorneys said its clients were too scared to come into the area, and threatened legal action if the ANC failed to move the hearing from the party’s headquarters.

Khoza said Malema would appear before the national disciplinary panel on Sunday and would probably be present on the remaining three days of the hearing as well.

He will answer four charges, including bringing the ANC into disrepute and dividing the party, and risks expulsion from its ranks.

Deputy president Ronald Lamola, secretary general Sindiso Magaqa, his deputy Kenetswe Mosenogi, and treasurer general Pule Mabe also face charges of compromising the party’s reputation and of disrupting an ANC meeting.

Khoza said it was hard to speculate how long the six-member disciplinary panel, headed by Derek Hanekom, would need to deliberate.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.citizen.co.za/citizen/content/en/citizen/local-news?oid=224048&sn=Detail&pid=146826&Malema-hearing-venue-to-be-announced. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

BEIJING China International Travel Service (CITS) International M.I.C.E. Co. has opened a professional conference organiser (PCO) division.

The new venture will provide congress management solutions and act as a consultant to the event’s organising committee. Destination management and technical and creative production will also be offered.

The division expects to capitalise on CITS’s existing relationships with government departments, trade associations and other relevant institutions.

Dorothy Yeo, PCO director of CITS International M.I.C.E. Co. said: “With the intensified, ever-changing environment and higher deliverances in event management, being equipped with the core competencies of a PCO is a key to success.  We are confident CITS is well-endowed to manage and deliver successful congresses.”

CITS has injected US$15 million into the initiative.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.cei.asia/Newsarticle/2011_09/CITS-launches-new-PCO-division-in-Beijing/40804. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Industry leaders Tim Sutton and Bob Pickard will be among the headline speakers at The Holmes Report’s first Asia-Pacific ThinkTank Live conference, which will take place on November 3, the date of the 2011 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards dinner in Singapore.

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide leads the way with 17 finalists in the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards competition, followed by Weber Shandwick Worldwide and Text 100 with 12 each.

The ThinkTank Live conference will focus on the corporate reputation and brand image challenges that face Asian Brands Going Global. Senior leaders from some of Asia’s biggest companies and agencies will examine how the region’s homegrown brands can translate their regional success onto a global stage, looking at such key PR challenges as brand positioning, crisis communications, CSR, media relations and digital and social media.

Among the confirmed speakers:

Tim Sutton is chairman of Weber Shandwick in the Asia Pacific region and is one of the global PR industry’s most respected practitioners. He also serves as Asia Pacific Chairman of the Constituency Management Group of parent company Interpublic, which includes its various below the line marketing services businesses in the disciplines of public relations, events management, sports marketing and brand identity.

Bob Pickard is the president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. Bob is an international PR executive with two decades of experience focused on providing communications counsel for senior business leaders. He has been the co-founder and leader of successful award-winning PR consultancies in the United States, Japan, Korea and Canada. An experienced crisis communications practitioner, Bob has provided senior counsel on a wide range of communications issues to clients including AstraZeneca, British Airways, De Beers, EMC, GlaxoSmithKline, ING, Johnson & Johnson, Kia Motors, Merck, Microsoft, Nissan, Nomura and Pfizer.

The event follows the Holmes Report’s highly successful inaugural ThinkTank Live conference in Prague earlier this year, which saw almost 200 delegates attend presentations by Richard Edelman, Harris Diamond, Miles Young and Andre Manning. Chaired by Holmes Report editors Paul Holmes and Arun Sudhaman, The ThinkTank Live series aims to combine high-level speakers with provocative content, offering a uniquely focused environment to discuss today’s critical public relations issues.

Tickets for the event and for the SABRE Awards dinner will go on sale later this week. The conference and dinner will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Singapore.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/10865/Holmes-Report-Announces-Conference-Awards-Dinner-In-Asia.aspx. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Facebook is to measure the effect of London 2012 on leading brands associated with the Olympics and Paralympics, it has been revealed.

The social network giant, which claims to have 750 million active users around the world, intends to track how sponsorship of London 2012 by major brands like Coca-Cola, Visa and Lloyds TSB influences consumer habits, the Financial Times reports.

Facebook will track how news spreads around its web pages, run polls to see how marketing messages have changed sentiment around this or that brand.

This analysis will allow brands to make changes if their adverts fail, they claim.

“Going into the Olympics next year, it’s hard to quantify what the word-of-mouth [benefit] of sponsorship is,” said Kathy Dykeman, Facebook’s lead on measurement for Europe, Middle East and Africa in the interview with the Financial Times.

“Capturing who is telling the stories and what impact it’s having will help us going into 2012.”

Facebook research and analytics team has already run the same initiative at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa last year.

According to a Facebook poll, it was found that videos by Umbro, the England kit sponsor, make people who saw them more likely to buy its sportswear than those who did not.

Earlier this year, Facebook launched a platform for its advertisers – both current and prospective ones - to tag brands on photos in the same way users tag other people.

Other social networks also implement such techniques of brand impact evaluation.

Last year, researchers found out that what people said about a new movie on Twitter can predict its opening weekend takings at the box office.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/14168-facebook-to-use-london-2012-to-track-leading-brands. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

PLAYGROUNDS and children’s activities at gaming venues will be investigated in an attempt to stop parents playing poker machines while children are in their care.

The crackdown was a 2010 election commitment

, and pokies activists have urged the government to act immediately because of the harmful affects on children.

The 2010 Coalition Plan For Gaming states the Coalition will not allow venues to encourage parents to take children with them “to be dumped elsewhere at a venue without parental supervision while the parents gamble”.

Gaming Minister Michael O’Brien has asked the Responsible Gambling Ministerial Advisory Council to establish a working group to provide advice on the commitment.

“The Victorian Coalition Government will consider what regulatory changes are necessary and how to implement them after receiving the council’s advice,” he said.

PokieAct.org monitors gaming venues and publishes information on venue features such as playgrounds and arcade games.

PokieAct.org founder Paul Bendat said the government needed to take action.

“The Ballieu government [has] done nothing to enact this promise other than refer it to a committee weighted in favour of the pokie industry,” he said.

Mr Bendat said many venues aggressively marketed towards families and children. He said he had served the gambling minister with a notice asking the government to fulfil its legal obligations not to encourage children to gamble.

“There is no effective policy about limiting the sight and sound of pokies to children in a gaming venue,” he said.

“It is really simple – a pokies venue is not suitable for a child.”

Last financial year the two venues in Darebin where gamblers lost the most on pokies were the Cramers Hotel in Preston ($12.3 million) and Edwardes Lake Hotel in Reservoir ($10.9 million).

Both venues have playgrounds.

Darebin councillor Gaetano Greco said children should not be in gaming venues.

“It has the potential to create inter-generational issues,” Cr Greco said.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.melbournetimesweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/crackdown-on-kidfriendly-pokies-venues/2281728.aspx. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

By far the biggest change to Bumbershoot this year is the venue for the biggest acts. Memorial Stadium is out, KeyArena is in as the main stage.

The KeyArena crowd at Broken Social Scene’s Sunday afternoon show.

Memorial Stadium, where generations of Seattle high school kids have gone to watch football games, had a few things going for it as a venue. It was outdoors, so on glorious summer weekends like this it was great; you could work on your tan. Of course, that was one of the raps against the stadium, too. When it rained, everybody got wet.

So what’s the biggest difference between Memorial Stadium and KeyArena, besides the roof? KeyArena allows the bands to put on the type of show they would perform at a regular, nighttime concert – lights, video, the full monty stage production. That was particularly helpful for a group like Broken Social Scene, who performed Sunday afternoon to an appreciative crowd in a darkened hall. Had the Canadian group played an afternoon show at Memorial Stadium, I don’t think the epic nature of their expansive, ambitious rock songs would’ve come across as well in the sunshine.

The downside to KeyArena is it’s harder to move around – unless you get one of the few stand-up spots on the floor, you’re pretty much stuck in one seat. At Memorial Stadium, you could move around at will.

This event news story was originally published at http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2011/09/04/keyarena-turns-day-into-night-at-bumbershoot/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Carlisle’s The Wall nightclub could be re-invented as a live music and entertainment venue, if the figures stack up.

The club in English Gate Plaza, Botchergate, was launched by Sam Skelton and Cristiana Costa in April in what used to the Las Vegas Strip. But the 1,400-capacity venue struggled to make money prompting them to pull out two months later.

Carlisle businessman Dan Russell, who owns the lease, is using it to stage one-off events. The last was an Ibiza foam party on August 13 and the next will be a Hallowe’en UV-paint party on October 29.

Glenn Anderson, of Outrageous in Carlisle, who is managing these events for Mr Russell, says there are long-term plans to develop The Wall for live entertainment.

He said: “Given that there are bars and pubs open until three or four in the morning now, the need for nightclubs is beginning to dwindle.

“The night-life scene is changing. There are a lot fewer people out and around to justify the bigger venues.

“What people are looking for is quality, entertainment-driven nights out. When it comes down to it, they want value for money.”

If the plans come off, The Wall could stage live bands and other entertainment. In effect, a smaller version of the Sands Centre.

Mr Anderson added: “It would require an awful lot of work including a stage and changing rooms for the artistes. All that is being evaluated and costed.”

Mr Russell first outlined plans for a live-music venue when he took over the lease of seven venues in English Gate Plaza at the end of last year. He said then that he wanted to clean up Botchergate’s booze and testosterone-fuelled image.

Meanwhile, businessman Ged Crooks expects to relaunch the cellar bar in the basement of Cassa, in Botchergate, as a separate venue appealing to an older clientele. He hopes it will open next month.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/live-music-venue-planned-for-carlisle-1.875113?referrerPath=news. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

August 31 – Jim Bell, executive producer of the top-rated Today programme and a former NBC Sports and Olympics producer, will serve as executive producer for NBC Universal’s coverage of London 2012, it has been announced.

Bell will have editorial oversight for NBC Universal’s coverage of the London Olympic Games and will work closely with Gary Zenkel, President of NBC Olympics.

“Jim’s unique background in both sports and news at NBC Universal makes him the perfect choice to lead our London Olympics production,” said Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group.

“He knows the people at NBC Sports, the intricacies of the Olympics, and how to work within NBC Universal. 

“Jim’s leadership combined with the extensive experience of our existing Olympic production team – led by head of production Bucky Gunts, coordinating producer Molly Solomon, creative director Mark Levy, and executive editor Joe Gesue – has us well positioned to present the London Olympics in a manner consistent with the high standards that viewers have come to expect from NBC.”

Prior to joining Today in 2005, Bell spent 16 years with NBC Sports & Olympics. 

He has worked on every Olympic Games NBC has broadcast since 1992 in either sports or news, working under Dick Ebersol, who resigned as chair of NBC Sports Group in May.

Bell’s NBC Sports & Olympics career began in 1990 when he was hired to work in the profiles unit for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and concluded in 2004 when he served as coordinating producer for NBC Olympics, overseeing all aspects of nearly 100 hours of afternoon and late night Olympic programming during the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“It is an honour to return to the Olympics, the pinnacle of sports television,” said Bell.

“And for nearly 25 years no one has done it better than NBC, with innovative, comprehensive coverage and signature storytelling of the world’s greatest athletes.

“It is especially exciting to be working with so many good friends and former colleagues on the 2012 London Summer Games.”

Bell won Emmys for his work on the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2002 Olympics and a Peabody for NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. 

“Jim’s unmatched talents producing both live news and sporting events reach from the control room to the studio and straight to viewers at home,” said Steve Capus, NBC News President. 

“He is at the helm of the strongest, most dominant team in morning television. 

“With the success of the Today show, which has Olympic-production similarities on a daily basis, Jim has proven time and again that no one is more suited to handle both roles.”

For the first time, the network plans to show every event live in some form – even if it’s just raw video streaming online, NBC also revealed today.

But the prime-time broadcasts will still use the raditional formula of human-interest features and taped competition.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, NBC showed 172 total hours of coverage. 

In London it is estimated that about 275 hours a day will be shown from London across all its platforms.

This event news story was originally published http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/14084-nbc-pick-bell-to-lead-london-2012-olympic-coverage. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.