Peter Jones, Tim Holding, Jennifer Trethewey and Michael Milburn

Tim Mason asks How well is your business set up?

Geoff Drucker on marketing your business

Working with Brands on Major Events are Prue Thompson, Natalie O'Brien, Stephen Silk and Kate Heard with Peter Jones

Rob Gell explains the implications of global warming

A case study by Rob Gell

Would I hire you? Andris Blicavas, Ant Hempel, Helen Bird and Lisa McFarlane with moderator Liz Rivers

Joe Goldblatt and Romaine Pereira explain CSEP

ISES Regional Educational Conference - Melbourne 5th - 7th July 2007

The ISES Melbourne chapter hosted the biannual Australasian Regional Educational Conference. Ninety delegates (mainly from the eastern states) attended the two day conference at the Melbourne RACV Club. “Business of Events” was the theme of the conference with environmental sustainability and direction of the event industry being major discussion issues.

Mariner Theatres hosted the welcome cocktail party at the Princess Theatre. As a feature of this evening guests were ushered to the circle of the theatre to view the bump-in of the return season of Phantom of the Opera and an insight into the technical aspects of the production from Ken Roach, Head of Production. Some items of interest - the original production at the Princess used over 800 lights, since moving lights were introduced into the rig a couple of years ago the size of the rig has halved (including 96 movers) and the so has the focusing and plotting time. In fact there are now more speakers FOH than lights. And the main FOH speakers are hidden behind the false pro, so looking at the stage no speakers are visible.

The Honorable Tim Holding, Minister for Tourism presented the keynote address and set the scene for the conference. The Minister gave an enlightening overview of the direction of major events in Victoria, their contribution and overall support for the industry. This was perceived as extremely encouraging and positive.

Panel discussions and a hypothetical provided a lighthearted approach to gaining an insight into such issues as ‘What sponsors look for in an Event”, “Working with Brands on Major events” and “Global Warming”. Major players from events such as Grand Prix, Victoria Racing Club, L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival and the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival all gave up their time to share what they look for in partnerships, sponsors and services.

As most ISES members are running their own businesses much emphasis was placed on business management with presentations focused on financial, marketing and industrial relations along with shared experiences in growth development and business ethics.

ISES founder, Professor Joe Goldblatt from the United States was joined by Romaine Pereira (Chair of the ISES International Relations Committee) to give a presentation on the benefits of becoming a Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) a qualification that ensures that ISES members continue leading the way in education and awareness for the events industry around the world.

A presentation by Rob Gell and Mark Thomas on global warming and how it impacts the events industry was one of the major highlights.
Commenting on this presentation Melbourne Chapter President Jennifer Trethewey said, “It is critical as an industry that we educate and learn as much as possible how we can reduce our carbon emissions not only in our business, but at home and the community in general. It is the hot topic and it is here to stay! We must support each other to ensure we have the resources to know how and what we do to reduce, reuse and recycle. The ISES Melbourne Chapter will be ensuring this issue continues to stay on top of the agenda.”

The conference Gala Dinner was held at the Grand Hyatt where Peter Jones' contribution as chapter president for the past three years was acknowledged by Michael Milburn, chair of the Australasian Affiliate board.

Taking over from Peter as Chapter President, Jennifer Trethewey said “We thank Peter for his support and commitment with the ISES Executive and for the time he put into the conference.”

In summing up the conference Jennifer Trethewey said, “As a new President with a new Executive I am very excited and looking forward to a very productive year ahead for ISES Melbourne. Lets all work together to ensure we maintain a strong voice with our government bodies and associations to continue to build and grow this amazing and exciting industry we work in.”

Sponsors of the conference included RACV Club, Staging Connections, Marriner Theatres, Instinct International, Limelight Events, Expo Hire, the Drum Cafe and Murray’s Travel.

Andrew Gill was the tireless and very entertaining MC who introduced and brought the sessions together so well.

If you would like to add your comments about the conference please go the ASE Blog

Social photos from the conference dinner

Conference Audio

ASE has a selection of the presentations available as podcast or audio on demand.

Listen to individual recordings or to download all files (requires Apple QuickTime plug in for your browser).

Sustaining Victoria's Major Events (32 min)
Keynote address by The Honorable Tim Holding, Minister for Tourism

VEIC and ISES working together (25 min)
Wayne Kayler-Thomson - Chief Executive, Victoria Events Industry Council

What sponsors look for in an event (34 min)
Moderated by Peter Jones with panelists...
Sam Bingley - Sponsorship Manager, Melbourne Racing Club
Peter Franich - Sponsorships, Events and Community Relations Tattersalls
Alison Fraser - Executive Director, Australia Day Committee (Vic)

Working with brands on major events (44 min)
Moderated by Peter Jones with panelists...
Kate Heard - GM Marketing & Sales, Australian Grand Prix Corporation
Dr Stephen Silk - Strategic marketing Manager, Victoria Racing Club
Natalie O'Brien - CEO Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Prue Thompson - Corporate Events Manager, Cricket Australia

Would I hire you? (31 min)
Moderated by Liz Rivers with panelists...
Lisa McFarlane - Executive Assistant to Lindsay Fox
Helen Bird - National Corporate Manager, Make A Wish Foundation
Andris Blicavs - Program Manager Event Development, City of Melbourne
Antony Hampel - Director, Think Creative management

Success Stories 1 (27 min)
Jennifer Trethewey in conversation with...
Peter Rowland - Peter Rowland Catering
Asaf Smoli - Food & Desire

Success Stories 2 (28 min)
Richard Sayer in conversation with...
Tim Buzzard - Place Settings
Allan Spiegel - Show FX
Nic Yates - Wacky Entertainment

Event talk
Other audio files you may also be interested in

• Nick Eltis speaking about the challenges involved in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games – like flying a tram into the MCG
• Peter Jones talks about a series of incentive dinners for 800 - 1200 pax at the Gold Coast Convention Centre
• Summernats founder Chic Henry on the annual festival of burnouts, booze and babes