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Music Is Good For The Soul

On Tuesday 17th of June, my fellow course mates and I successfully held our charity fundraising night for Nordoff Robbins and Century Club in London.

It was such a fab night! The atmosphere was awesome, with all our friends and family,it certainly filled out very nicely with people which meant there was a real buzz in the room. However it was pretty steamy as it was a boiling hot night anyway and on top of that there was NO AIRCON because 'it was broken' ( we are still a bit dubious about this)

The lead up to the night was a tad stressful especially on the day of the event as we only had a couple of hours to get everything ready and unfortunately our sound tech guy was late so tech rehearsals were a bit rushed. The charity video we wanted to play also had a few hiccups which we successfully resolved but it was all a bit last minute and if it wasn't for our tutor stepping in to help it could have been a bit of a flop. Thankfully on the night it went smoothly.

As the guests arrived in the beautiful room provided by Century they were greeted with a welcome glass of Prosecco and asked if they would like to have their photo- taken against the step and repeat board. In Hindsight we would have probably moved the position of the photo area as it clogged up the entrance quite a bit.

There was lots of awesome entertainment throughout the evening including some extremely talented female performers, a duo ' The Fables' the fabulour Laura Cortez and an awesome girl Tanisha.. and they all did it for free. My friend James also did a fab job of DJing.

Not only this we had lots of great fundraising activity going on during the night. People could buy raffle tickets and we also held an auction. 

There were some awesome prizes to be won including Chelsea and Arsenal match tickets, a trip to Paris and afternoon tea at a posh hotel and many many more. People really got behind it as there were so many prizes, lots of people won!

The auction was done by Paul Deacon a fantastic toast master. Thankfully he new how to hold the rooms attention, even if he was a bit bossy at times. However he helped up get lots of money for our auction prizes which included a piece of artwork which was painted live at the event but Julian Artjaz and another piece we had commissioned by a fab graffiti artist.

All in all the night was a complete success and we raised a whopping

£6, 222  plus our budget money back which was above and beyond our targets. We got some fab feedback from our tutors as well!

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Neglection and reflection

Having had such a busy couple of weeks, sadly time has by passed me and I have neglected my blog. However, being so busy means that I do have lots and lot of exciting things to share on here so it's not such a bad thing after all... brace yourselves for some serial blog action.....

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Music is good for the soul!!

Last week things really cranked up a notch in our preparations for our live event, for our final assessment which is happening tomorrow. (eek I can't believe how quickly it has come around) 

The logistics team have been doing a cracking job with the function sheet and organising all the staff and entertainment. We had a bit of a wobbly moment last monday when our Jazz band dropped out at the last minute. But fortunately after searching through contacts Emma found a fantastic soul singer Tanisha who was able to help us out at the last minute.. Phew!

Fundraising have also been steaming ahead and have done a fantastic job at getting some incredible prizes for out raffle and  auction! Very exciting indeed. 

Telina and I had a few stressful moments, mainly to do with people managing rather than the event it's self. Being an event director has certainly been a very steep learning curve. But we have managed to overcome some tricky situations and feel that the team have been absolutely amazing!!! We are feeling remarkably ( unnervingly calm) about the event tomorrow as everything seems to be in order an we have incredibly sold out of all our tickets and managed to go above and beyond our £4000 target before the event has even begun!!!!!!  I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.. fingers crossed it will be a cracking night!

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BLUE FIN BUILDING - Site Visit Wednesday 11th June

After such a fab trip to the Royal Institution we swiftly moved on to our next venue visit the Blue Fin Building near London Bridge. 

When i used to intern at Shakespeare's Globe ( which is only around the corner) I used to come to this building to buy lunch for the office in the shops beneath it. I always used to wonder what was above and now I finally have an insight into the craziness that exists all the way up high in the Blue Fin Building!!!

The Blue Fin Building is home to IPC publishing as well as a few other companies. 

We were taken up to the 10th floor and shown round some incredible meeting spaces. The ceiling is completely made of glass so even some of the internal meeting spaces that face inwards are still lit by natural light. Each room was named after a different font e.g Baskerville. and they were all kitted out beautifully for meetings and conference. When we visited they were also using a small kitchen space as a test kitchen for Womens weekly magazine. 

What was most incredible about the venue was the amazing roof top balcony area and cafe. As you can see from the pictures, it must be a fab place to work as all the office dwellers get to come and relax up here in their breaks and enjoy a stunning view across London.

Rosie showed us a few pics in one of her lectures to show us how the cafe space and roof top area can be used for various different events. It certainly is a very versatile space, despite it's fairly corporate feel.  Again another venue I would never have even thought to use! It just goes to show there must be so many amazing spaces and place to use :-)

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Royal Institution- Site Visit Wednesday 11th June

On Wednesday we spent the morning being shown round the Royal Institution, a prestigious building with a huge amount of scientific history. Within this  listed building there is a renowned lecture theatre where some incredible people have spoken, who have been integral to developments in science and society including Michael Farraday, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. They regularly hold workshops,lectures and traditional events here throughout the year. Lots of school children have the opportunity to learn about science and there is even a lab downstairs, sponsored by L'oreal where kids can learn how to make lip balms and other fun sciencey things. The venue gets hired out for a range of events and there are several different spaces that can be used. Generally there are a lot of more corporate style events. The venue is also open to the general public during the day time. Before this trip, I had never even heard of the Royal institution, and would never have thought to think to use it as a venue to hold events. However after visiting it with our Lecturer Rosie, I fell completely in love with it's beautiful colour and intricate interior and incredible history, I would love to use this venue for an event one day!

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Well heeled... I thought this article was quite relevant to some of the advice that our lovely Tutor Martin has given us! When ever planning an event always think about how the guests are going to get to and from the venue and how they walk around the event! Obviously this is most important when planning outdoor events, however even if you are holding an event indoors it's super important to consider how the attendees will get from the car park! On a summers day a grassy field might be fine but it soon turns into a mud slide if it happens to downpour with rain!

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Pop up ice cream stall The other day when I emerged from the sweaty pit of the tube into Victoria station, I couldn't be happier to be greeted by a mouth-wateringly massive twister ice lolly and a larger than life cornetto! I got very excited and rushed over thinking they were giving them away for free but alas they were actually just a pop up shop selling lots of crazy new flavours including the mar de champagne 25yrs magnum and coca cola and bubblegum calypos! Despite my disappoint there marketing technique certainly drew a crow even if I was lured there under false pretences haha! Bring on Ice cream season!

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Once you hear about something you can't help but notice it... After our chat with Letty who curated 'Breakin' Convention it's great to find this in this mornings metro!

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Stonewall Since completing our first pitch, where by we had to come up with an event to celebrate Stonewalls 25th anniversary ... We had a real passion for the event we came up with and we really got on board with what they do! I can't help but keep my beady eye on what they are up to and this is their latest social media campaign.. It's great they've got some big celebs on board!

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Music Is Good For the SOUL!!!!!

So our final project is well underway. We have decided to support a music therapy charity called Nordoff Robbins for our final live project. We have been briefed to put on an event to raise £3000 for our chosen charity and we also need to make back our Budget of £1000 YIKES!!!! So we have really got stuck in and so far everything seems to be going smoothly! I am one of the event directors - oo err- so i've been helping to co-ordinate our fantastic team to put on THE best event everrrrr. We are holding an event at a private members club called Century on Shaftsbury Ave which is very exciting and we are hoping to have lots of musical entertainment over the duration of the night on Tues 17th of June and of course we need to raise lots of dose too.... we are still in the process of confirming some acts so i will keep y'all posted!!!!!!!! p.s Pharrell Williams even liked our event on Instagram... we are deffo super HAPPPPPYYYYY excuse the pun hem hem!

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Looking at events in a new light...

Yesterday I made the most of the Sunshine and went along to my local Lindfiled Village Day! Since this course started I have started to look at events in a way I never did before. I never even used to  think about what kind of effort and organisation would be involved in something seemingly as simple as a little village day, as far as i was aware it all just happened without batting an eyelid, but boy must it take a lot of work! There were lots and lots of individual stalls / marquees with all sort of activities going on, from fundraising for local groups, business's selling their wares to steam trains, pop up zorbing and old school skittles! There was so much for kids to get their teeth into as well as various performance acts happening through out the day! It really must have taken lots of years of practice to get it running so smoothly! 

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Thursday 29th May - Legendary Letty Lyons shares his wealth of wisdom!

On Thursday we were super lucky to have a visit from a fantastically creative and well connected guy called Letty! He came in to talk to us about his life so far and  how he got to where he is now.

He shared his stories with an incredible passions and enthusiasm.. as he absolutely loves what he does... so what does Letty do.. well more to the point what doesn't Letty do should really be the question.

He started off as a Dj and worked in a record shop from the age of 14 and after years of hard work he became very successful, travelling all over the world to Dj at different venues.. In doing this he met a lot of people and has made hundreds of contacts. After the Dj industry changed he moved on to a new found love of graffiti art and he now works as the Visual Art Curator at the Sadlers Wells. He produces the annual festival  'Breaking Convention' Letty couldn't emphasise enough the importance of working hard and being passionate about what you do.. you can't rely on Luck! 

Over the years he has put lots of time and effort into seeing artists, travelling far and wide to follow and support what they do and as a result he  has helped promote various artists and make connections between organisations and companies with these artist. In return for all his hard work and favours.. Letty can call upon an array of his contacts when he needS them to do him a favour as they all remember the help he has given them along their route to success. It just goes to show..  What goes around really does come around!!!

He was truly inspirational and left us with lots to think about.. 

I know that i'm certainly going to go away approaching everything i do as an opportunity to network and make connections.. We are super excited that Letty also offered his support in the build up to our live event in  June  and he has offered us the use of his musical and artist contact.  We are certainly working with him to make the most of these swell as some of his ideas!

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Site Visit - Wednesay 21st May

We were set a brief to compare two venues, Tower Bridge and Lyst Studios ( formerly known as the White Cube gallery), to establish which one would be best suited to holding a fashion show.

Tower Bridge

It took a little while for us to figure out which end of the Bridge we needed to meet our tutor at but eventually we managed to find our way to the entrance to the bridge exhibition where we were greeted by the Event Sales executive. The events held here are run by a company called Seasoned Events. She showed us the West and East bridge and explained how the different bridges are often used. One is usually where they hold the seated dinner and the other often becomes the dance area. Each bridge section can be illuminated by Led Lighting and they can be used for dinners, product launches and private parties.

Our main concerns about holding a fashion show here would be due to the narrowness of the gang way, the fact we would need to hold the event at lunchtime would mean the lighting would be a lot less effective. However currently the bridge are unable to offer us the space in the day time. You would also have to battle with two Boroughs to gain permission and parking/ vehicle stopping is prohibited.

Lyst Studios

This was the second venue we visited, which is situated in trendy Hoxton.

Tom, Emma Cj and I were asked to be interviewed for marketing material for the course, so we ended up catching a cab with Claire our event director and the marketing lady. This really emphasised how difficult it would be to hail a cab but was a lot of fun.

We pulled up outside Lyst studios and met up with our peers. A lovely lady Cass explained the space to us and took us round. There is primarily one white  space which we thought would be perfect for a catwalk as it would be a blank canvas to walk with and there would be a room upstairs that could be used for VIP's. However the  downside of the venue for a fashion show is the lack of space for models to change, lack of toilets and lack of air con. It could get very stuff.

It was a tough choice but we decided Lyst Studios would work best as our venue for a fashion show as it had the right look and feel and we could find a way to create more space for the models to change  by bringing the catwalk forward  or create a u shaped catwalk, have a press launch separetly and use the space upstairs for changing. 

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Making your dreams.. our reality

Yesterday was pitch day number 3! You would think by now I might be a little less nervous after successfully completing 2 pitches but yesterday i really felt the pressure to deliver a fantastic pitch.

The brief was to research 30 Venues and different production companies to establish the current tech trends in the market and see where the Brewery Venue sits within this, We then had to make future recommendations as to which new technologies The Brewery should invest in or partner up with.

We pitched 3 main ideas; Near Field Communication,  Led flex curtain and Google Glass ( i spoke about these, they are super cool) and proposed to market the new technology by creating a launch event where clients could see how the tech could be used in the space.

One of the main bits of feedback our class received from the last pitch was that the presentations weren't engaging enough and relied too much on power point. Therefore we decided to make our pitch more engaging and interesting by turning it into a similar set up to the way we would imagine our marketing event to take shape. 

Emma briefed the clients/tutors before they entered the space. On entry they were  told about a cloak room and offered drinks and cupcakes.

Sveta who acted as our event host opened the pitch and lead the tutors/ clients around the room to a stall set up to sell each tech idea.

They were really impressed with the way we did this and said that we did a fantastic job of selling each piece of tech to them by concluding the benefits of why the product would be such a good investment.

All in all it went very smoothly and we were able to answer the questions they had for us at the end we were really happy that we achieved our aim of making the presentation more exciting!

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Brighton Festival 

Brighton Festival is well under way and I am so excited to actually be around this year to experience it!! For the last 5 years i have either been away at Uni or travelling ( not that i can complain) so I am so happy to have the chance to see some things this year.

This year the Guest Directot is Hofesh Shechter, whose work i absolutely love and have always wanted to see.  Unfortunately i didn't manage to book my tickets in time to see his performance Sun at the Birghton dome which i was very sad about however there are lots of other things i am planning to see and this time i have got my bum in gear and booked my tickets.

Bring The Happy

'Invisible Flock invites you to create a map of happiness in Brighton. This life-affirming project will attempt to create a portrait of people’s lives, taking happy memories from local residents and weaving them into a spectacular live event that celebrates the happiness of Brighton.

For ten days, a city-centre gallery will be transformed into a giant 3D map of Brighton on which you can plot your own happy memories. A first kiss, a longed-for baby, a chance encounter: where did it happen and how happy did it make you feel? As the people of Brighton mark their moments of happiness, we can all explore what has made people happy – and where. Bring the Happy Live

With the outstanding six-piece band Hope & Social, the happy memories collected from Brighton and throughout the country will be shared in all their beautiful, tragic, ridiculous and occasionally mundane glory in Bring the Happy Live.

Pitched somewhere between a wedding and a wake, this performance is an extravagant event specially created to celebrate happiness and where we find it.'

http://brightonfestival.org/event/2358/bring_the_happy/

I am really excited about seeing the Hope and Social as they are a band that a family friend was just starting to get into and enjoy listening to with his son before he suddenly passed away at Easter. I am therefore looking forward to popping along to see them as a way of celebrating his life!

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Ghostpeloton

My Scenogaphy teacher at Leeds Uni uploaded this fantastic pic on his twitter account the other day. It's an awesome performance in collaboration with Phoenix Dance in Leeds where bicycles flood the streets lit up with neon lights!  Take a look at this website to find out more.. a fantastic cycling spectacle showing how beautiful scenography is in everything we do. The power of something so simple such as light can create such animpact!

http://nvaspeedoflight.org.uk/page/113/Ghost+Peloton

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Internship Interviews

'Fail to prepare... prepare to fail' 

 Last week I was super lucky to be selected for interview by all three of my Internship choices, Net Jets, The Department and GSP.

 I had two interviews on Monday and one on Tuesday , so it’s all been go go go.

 Luckily we had some interview prep from Rebecca on the Monday morning on the day of my interview which actually really helped me to make sure I sold my self as well as I could. I volunteered to be interviewed in front of the class I as wanted to make sure I was fully prepared for my interviews in the afternoon.

 Some of the advice Rebecca gave us:

Know Your Stuff - It's crucial you know about the company you want to work for, as they may ask you about what they do and it would be foolish not to know. It also means you can adapt your answers to their questions to fit with their values and needs.

Ask lots of Questions- It's good to have lots of questions up your sleeve ready to ask at the end of your interview. Not only will this help answer any queries you might have a bout the role, it also makes you look like you know what you want. 

Practice practice practice - preparation is key, it's great to have answers prepared for the questions you know will come up, so make sure you have identifies key examples you can talk about in relation to the different skills you may need for the role. 

 Generally the types of questions that will be asked are;

What are your strengths and weaknesses.

What are you key skills

Why do you want to be an events manager

Why do you think you would be a good fit for the job.

 One of the hardest things to talk about is weaknesses. This may sound very big headed but in actual fact, I know very well what my weaknesses are but its how you go about sharing these with the interviewer so as not to make them think you aren’t good enough for the role.

Some useful tips were to try and think of weaknesses that aren’t related to the role and also ones that you can turn into a positive like: I don’t speak a second language, however I would love the opportunity to learn one.

 One of the pieces of advice I received was to try and back up my skills with examples of how I have used them in my work experience.

When I was in front of the class my mind went a bit blank and I forgot to do this, however in my interviews on Monday I felt like I managed to do this and get my personality across as well.

I came out of My GSP interview absolutely loving what they do, so was absolutely chuffed to bits to be offered my internship with them. I start on 25th June so I am super excited but also a tad apprehensive!!!