About Events

August 31 – International Canoe Federation (ICF) vice president Richard Fox (pictured) has claimed the world governing body for the sport are fully confident that Eton Dorney will stage a particularly special Olympic canoe sprint competition, with the venue set to host the London 2012 Olympic test event.

The test event – titled the Canoe Sprint Invitational International Regatta – will take place from tomorrow until next Sunday (September 4) and will be the first international sprint regatta to be held in Britain in more than 30 years.

Over 198 elite athletes from 32 nations will gather for the second Olympic test event to take place at Eton Dorney following the FISA World Rowing Junior Championships earlier this month and Fox feels the venue will host a stunning Olympic competition next year.

“We work very closely with London 2012 on the venue requirements and we are extremely satisfied with what we have here at Eton Dorney,” Fox told insidethegames.

“We obviously have to wait for the conclusion of the test event to make a proper assessment but we are very confident at the ICF that Eton Dorney will host a very special Olympic canoe sprint competition next year.

“Another great thing is the legacy from this venue and also the white water canoe venue at Lee Valley.

“This venue here at Eton Dorney is already used by the GB team and hosts competitions, while Lee Valley will stage the Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2015.

“There is also a pre-legacy at Lee Valley because it is already being used for elite training and recreational use so, from a canoeing perspective, both venues meet that legacy interest.”

The ICF vice president added that it would have been nice if either of the two venues were closer to the Olympic Park in Stratford but said there were big advantages from being stationed outside East London.

“Ideally you would like to be closer to the main Olympic hub but the quality of the venue dictates where you go and this is a world class venue that meets all the requirements,” he said.

“It is also great to be in such a nice green area and there is an accommodation solution with athletes staying here so I think there are advantages and disadvantages.

“There is a little compromise in all Olympic Games but I think Eton Dorney can be a real showcase for prestige English sporting venues.”

Top British athletes taking part in the test event include Ed McKeever who won silver in the men’s kayak single (K1) at the recent World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, and the duo of Liam Heath and Jon Schofield who are the reigning European champions in the men’s kayak double (K2) 200 metres.

For the women, Britain’s Rachel Cawthorn, the former European gold medallist in the women’s kayak single (K1) 1000m, will compete at the event.

London 2012 will use the competition to test the course, timing, technology and workforce and although the event is not open to the general public, local canoe clubs have been given the chance to attend the event to watch their sporting heroes.

“This is another exciting international event which is crucial for us to ensure we test our functions and aid planning to deliver a great Games in 2012,” said London 2012 head of sport competition David Luckes.

“Even though Eton Dorney is an existing venue it is still vital we test our operations and make sure we are ready.”

Canoe Sprint events are head-to-head races conducted on still water, with athletes racing over distances of 200m, 500m or 1,000m, either solo, in pairs or in teams of four.

London 2012 will see the 200m race discipline introduced for the first time in the history of the Olympics.

During next year’s Olympics, Eton Dorney will be the venue for rowing and the canoe sprint events, while it will host adaptive rowing during the London 2012 Paralympics.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/14103-eton-dorney-will-stage-a-special-olympic-canoe-sprint-at-london-2012-says-icf-vice-president. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

This year’s Howard’s Way charity walk will see a number of industry figureheads donning their trekking boots for the 85-mile journey.

Taking place from 30 September-2 October the walk will stretch from Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the shores of Windermere in the Lake District.

Created after the death of freelance logisitcs manager Howard Kerr, the event that has been running for three years, has already attracted the likes Simon Burton, Laura Moody, Sam Wilson and Lee Farrant to participate this year.

Managing director of Blondefish Laura Moody said: “I loved the walk so much last year, I’m back again. When I say I loved it, I must add that walking 100 miles was the hardest thing I had ever done. Harder than the Three Peaks Challenge, giving birth to two children and breaking my collar bone all at once.”

The event has helped raise more than £180,000 and has funded a PHD Studentship Award for a researcher at Barts Hospital’s Institute of Cancer.

Gallowglass managing director and Howard’s Walk creator Nick Grecian added: “Once again Land Rover are generously providing support vehicles for the walk, and we’re really hoping for additional sponsorship.  We’ve put together a number of £300 packages, to cover necessities ranging from medical support to cake, via transport and physiotherapy. “

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/1086803/Event-industry-part-Howards-charity-walk/. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Carbon trading company Advanced Global Trading (AGT) has partnered with exhibition stand builder Equinox Design to offset the environmental waste created by the exhibition industry.

With an estimated one million tonnes a year in the UK wasted in the exhibition industry alone, Exhibit Green
will give clients the option of retiring the sufficient quantity of credits required to offset the environmental damage – or CO2 emissions – produced during the transport, manufacture and disposal of stands, which can weigh more than 20 tonnes.

Carbon credits represent a reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with one carbon credit equivalent to the saving of one tonne of CO2.

Projects that prevent the generation of greenhouse gases or remove them from the atmosphere earn these credits, which can then be sold to other businesses and individuals to offset the emissions they generate.

The exhibition industry tie-up follows AGT’s recent success in helping Swiss Le Mans race team, Hope Racing, become the first professional motorsport team to become completely carbon neutral – through the same process of retiring credits.

Equinox Design partner Carl Criscione said: “Equinox has built thousands of stands and we’ve seen incredible amounts of waste, which is exacerbated by the fact that many need to be fire-proofed, making them even more difficult to destroy.

“We believe that collaborating with AGT through Exhibit Green will create a simple system where clients can offset the environmental damage caused by the stands through the purchase of carbon credits. It is a big step in the right direction and we’re delighted to have some household names already on board.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/bulletin/newsbulletin/article/1086994/?DCMP=EMC-CONNewsBulletin. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

This year’s Howard’s Way charity walk will see a number of industry figureheads donning their trekking boots for the 85-mile journey.

Taking place from 30 September-2 October the walk will stretch from Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the shores of Windermere in the Lake District.

Created after the death of freelance logisitcs manager Howard Kerr, the event that has been running for three years, has already attracted the likes Simon Burton, Laura Moody, Sam Wilson and Lee Farrant to participate this year.

Managing director of Blondefish Laura Moody said: “I loved the walk so much last year, I’m back again. When I say I loved it, I must add that walking 100 miles was the hardest thing I had ever done. Harder than the Three Peaks Challenge, giving birth to two children and breaking my collar bone all at once.”

The event has helped raise more than £180,000 and has funded a PHD Studentship Award for a researcher at Barts Hospital’s Institute of Cancer.

Gallowglass managing director and Howard’s Walk creator Nick Grecian added: “Once again Land Rover are generously providing support vehicles for the walk, and we’re really hoping for additional sponsorship.  We’ve put together a number of £300 packages, to cover necessities ranging from medical support to cake, via transport and physiotherapy. “

This event news story was originally published at http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/bulletin/newsbulletin/article/1086803/?DCMP=EMC-CONNewsBulletin. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

The fall semester is about to start and along with Gator football, this time of year also marks the start of the club season of live music in Gainesville. The summer is a bit slow for music as many of the student bands are out of town, but as the town repopulates, the clubs start booking nearly every night. There’s lots to be heard.

Entering a music scene as dense as this one can be a little intimidating. There’s hundreds of active bands here, multiple venues with different specialties and a lot of music being played nearly everywhere in between. Once the Gainesville music scene takes hold, it doesn’t let go. It can become one of the most consistent sources of entertainment in town, and for the musicians, a social network.

Here’s a quick overview of the venues hosting music:

DOUBLE DOWN LIVE: This is the newest old club in town. As of this summer, Double Down Live took over the spot previously occupied by the legendary club Common Grounds. The good news is that the new owners are still running music there nearly every night at 210 SW Second Ave. It’s one of Gainesville’s most popular bars and music venues for such local bands as 3rd Stone, The Duppies and Morningbell, as well as touring bands including Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Against Me!

The outside looks kind of like an overgrown tool shed, and there’s a porch with plenty of picnic tables to sit and drink. The inside holds about 500 people, so it’s typically the best-suited place for bigger draws. This weekend features Morningbell and The Shoddy Beatles on Saturday night, Gainesville’s own Beatles tribute band made of members of Morningbell and The Boswellians.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110825/ARTICLES/110829851/1006/NEWS?tc=ar. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Those in charge of corporate event management can often be left struggling to think of how to entertain the hundreds of people expected at their events, however, one sure fire way to keep people’s attention is to surprise them with something they’ve never seen before.

Quirky and unusual acts are proving popular at corporate events across the UK, and will certainly mean people remember their day or evening out.

If its musical entertainment you are looking for, why not choose an impersonator of a popular star.

One Lady Gaga impersonator Gemma White has been booked for a number of such events and entertains the crowds with hits such as Poker Face, as well as with outlandish dance moves and clothes like those favoured by the real superstar.

Another alternative is to provide an unusual sweet treat that will pique people’s interest and whet their appetite. Something like Charlie Francis’ liquid nitrogen ice-cream venture Lick Me I’m Delicious could be perfect and his wacky flavours would certainly get tongues wagging.

So, if you’re short on inspiration for a corporate conference, think outside the box, it’ll definitely make things more interesting.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.motivaction.co.uk/news/Corporate-event-management%3A-Get-some-unusual-entertainment-at-corporate-events-800711174.news. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

A Bermudian owned and operated start-up has gone from being a one event ticketing company to running some of the biggest events on the Island.

Premier Tickets, which was launched in April 2009 by holding company Fireminds as a solution to provide tickets for the Bermuda Hogges and the Liberty and Neptune Theatres has expanded to offer a whole suite of services including front of house, at the gate and the box office operations, as well as event management.

And under the management of Clare Panchaud, customer care manager at Premier Tickets, the company now covers everything from children’s events and music concerts to theatre shows, movies and film festivals.

The ticketing engine which was designed as a 1.0 version by software developers has been built up to the next level to meet the need for new features that have been and continue to be added over time.

Because the engine has been developed in house, the company claims to have a better understanding of ticketing issues to service its customers who range from the paying public to event organisers and answer any of their questions, in addition to special requests. Event organisers have the choice of getting the complete service or renting equipment from Premier Tickets such as iPads for scanning bar codes and computers for orders.

“You name, we have quite literally seen and done it all,” said Ms Panchaud. “We are not just an online ticketing company we do everything from ticketing to event management and even handle the accounting for the customer as well if they want.”

Ms Panchaud, who joined Premier Tickets almost a year ago, having previously worked as a gym manager, runs the company almost single-handedly with back-up from accountant Delroy Taylor who deals with the cash management and credit card reconciliation side and brings in staff to help manage events depending on their size with about five at bigger occasions.

The company prides itself on its high standard of customer care and going the extra mile, as Ms Panchaud has done in numerous instances, including helping to talk a customer through making an online booking over the phone and personally delivering her ticket by hand to her door.

It also conducts regular customer satisfaction surveys and runs a 24/7 customer service hotline which is outsourced to the US.

Another aspect of the service is helping to take the stress out of event management for the organisers who often have enough on their plate running the actual show and ensure that everything runs smoothly. The organisers can also track ticket sales and progress through the company’s reporting system.

“Basically I do everything from talking to the organisers about the event they are doing, how we are going to ticket it and whether it is assigned seating or general admission,” said Ms Panchaud.

“As far as the ticketing and event management side we are there to help alleviate a big part of the stress for the event organisers.

“Where the paying public are concerned we take their bookings on the phone and online, answer any of their questions or queries, and above all make sure that they are happy because at the end of the day all of these events are fun and we want everyone to enjoy them.”

Thrown in at the deep end, Ms Panchaud’s first event was the Magic of Rick Thomas show at the Fairmont Southampton in February, where her team of four processed 10,000 tickets with 800 people a night coming in the door and everyone in their seats within 42 minutes.

“We are flexible so we can either do everything for the customer or rent out the equipment and they can manage it themselves,” she said.

The company’s system is PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant meaning that payments are secure, while its also protects its customers money collected from ticket sales for each event in separate bank accounts.

It has also branched out into mobile payment solutions with iPads being used at the Mr Vegas Concert presented by Chewstick Foundation and plans to expand its range of services on that front in the future.

“For me the job satisfaction is definitely being able to help people,” said Ms Panchaud, who also runs the staff and volunteer training.

“A lot of customers are not always computer literate maybe if they are older of don’t have that background or knowledge, so I am just there to help them through the process.

“I was on the phone for 20 minutes talking to a lady who wanted to book tickets for the Rick Thomas show and was in the entertainment industry. She told me about how she got such fulfillment from making people happy and it is the same thing for me we are here to help people.

“It is great to feel as if we are part of the production and a key member of the team in making these events happen we event to get to go back stage and meet the entertainers, and make a point of buying our own tickets to watch the show.”

Premier Tickets works in partnership with website Nothing to do in Bermuda and advertises with Emoo and runs Google ads, as well as having its own Facebook and Twitter pages, thus also in return giving its sponsors maximum exposure.

Leveraging its technology has enabled the company to offer some new state-of-the-art features such as virtual views from each seat within the theatre, most of which are based on customer demand, as tailor its service to individual event organisers’ requirements a case in point which was the Bermuda International Film Festival’s customised portal. Meanwhile Sean Collier and his team at Cosmic Design have been instrumental in designing the graphics for the website, which is due to be updated over the next two months.

Most recently the company launched Premier Golf a centralised tee time booking system in partnership with the Department of Tourism. The company has plans to expand into other areas as its capacity grows such as class bookings, memberships and charity donations.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110825/BUSINESS03/708259935/-1. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Despite faltering in delivering the Namma Metro for public use, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has invited tenders for appointment of consultants to build brand Metro.
The consultants are required to suggest ways to generate revenue from advertisements, licencing of commercial space for retailing, licencing for naming Metro stations and other BMRCL assets apart from co-branding products with Metro, sponsorship of events, event management and to explore other available creative avenues.

A pre-bid meeting has been scheduled on August 24, 2011 at 3 pm at its office. The bid security for the eight-year contract has been fixed at Rs five lakh.

The Corporation has assured that it shall provide all the necessary information about Metro project to the consultants to formulate revenue generating concepts and their implementation.

According to the notification, the bidders should have an experience of five years in providing services for advertisement, co-branding, memorabilia, sponsorship and events management, advertisements on multimedia platform, billboards and other advertisement products for at least 10 clients.

It also stipulates that the applicants should have successfully completed the contract for at least one client in naming either a street, bridge, metro rail, airport, road and such other naming rights. The bidders should also have successfully marketed retailing space of not less than one lakh sq ft preferably for large malls, airports in India in the last five years for a minimum of two clients and received a cumulative commission, income or professional fee of not less than Rs two crore.

The applicants must have a minimum net worth of Rs 20 crore at the close of preceding financial year.

Interested applicants have to make a security deposit through a demand draft from a scheduled commercial bank in India or a bank guarantee issued by a nationalised bank, or a scheduled bank in India having a net worth of at least Rs 1,000 crore, in favour of BMRCL, payable at Bangalore.

The bid document can be purchased from the office of the BMRCL on all working days between 11 am and 5 pm up to August 24, 2011 on payment of Rs 10,000.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/185406/bmrcl-brand-building-exercise.html. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

TWO of Tasmania’s best hospitality venues received fresh acclaim last night, beating out more than 500 entries to take three national hospitality awards between them.

Stillwater River Cafe in Launceston and Saffire Freycinet went head to head with the best Australian venues at the Australian Hospitality Association’s National Awards for Excellence.

Saffire brought home the awards for Best Deluxe Accommodation and Overall Hotel of the Year, while Stillwater won the award for Best Stand-Alone Restaurant.

Tasmanian Hospitality Association general manager Steve Old said to win three awards against such strong competition was remarkable.

“It is such a wonderful story to see Saffire take out one of the major awards for the night as the Overall Hotel of the Year (Accommodation) and it is a great reward to the Federal Group for all the hard work they do investing in tourism and hospitality in this state,” Mr Old said.

“To see Stillwater win the Best Stand-Alone Restaurant is due recognition and reward for everyone involved at the venue as they are a professional outfit that takes extreme pride in everything they do and I am delighted to see them win such a prestigious award.”

This event news story was originally published at http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/08/22/255181_tasmania-news.html. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.

Fourteen youngsters from Liverpool’s twin city are to find out exactly why we have a reputation for hosting outstanding events.

A group of six from Cologne will become ‘event management’ apprentices which will see them work on the hugely popular Mathew Street Music Festival, River Festival On the Waterfront, the Food and Drink Festival, the arrangements for the Labour Party Conference and other activities hosted by Liverpool ONE.

Throughout the three weeks, they will spend time with those who work night and day behind-the-scenes to make sure Liverpool delivers top-class events, each of which attracts tens of thousands of visitors.

The remaining eight apprentices will get to grips with working in some of the city’s leading hotels including the Jury’s Inn, Hilton, Crowne Plaza, Hard Day’s Night, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn.

The apprentices, who are all in their early twenties, will be welcomed to the city on Monday (22 August) by Liverpool’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Frank Prendergast at the Town Hall.  He will present each of them with the Band Together wristband which will highlight their support for this year’s Mathew Street Music Festival.

He said: “I’m delighted to meet the apprentices and talk to them about how important events and tourism are to this city.

“This is the second year we’ve been involved in this exchange programme and I couldn’t think of a better city for them to learn lessons about culture than in Liverpool.  It’s certainly going to be a busy three weeks with all the fantastic events taking place.

“Cologne is our longest standing twin city and I’m proud our strong relationship means that young people in Germany and in Liverpool benefit from learning the tricks of the trade from experts, giving them a great start to their career.”

The programme builds on a successful exchange programme which began last year and also involved young Liverpool people going to Cologne last year for three weeks. It forms part of a growing programme of economic links between Liverpool and Cologne which will grow during 2012 which marks 60 years of twinning between the two cities.

This event news story was originally published at http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/news/details.aspx?id=207889. Got your own event story – get in touch into eventsecrets.com – bringing you the latest event management news stories from around the world.