Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale are by far the most noteworthy. They are the only whales regularly hunted by man. To the Nantucketer, they present the two extremes of all the known varieties of the whale. As the external difference between them is mainly observable in their heads; and as a head of each is this moment hanging from the Pequod's side.
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Weekly wrap
Is there light at the end of the COVID tunnel? Positive news reports this week from the Chief Health Officer and the Minister for Health. On RN this morning the Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler told Patricia Karvelas “We’ve been watching these data for a few days now. They’ve been dropping off for a little while and really importantly, the hospital numbers have been dropping off for a number …
August 5, 2022
First up – events are back and businesses are recruiting so I’ve introduced a jobs board with an introductory offer of $70 per listing. Your listing will appear on the ASE site for 30 days (or until the job is filled) and will be promoted via the weekly update. And since you are about to ask – the ASE email posts currently go to 3666 recipients (mostly in Australia). …
July 22, 2022
Geez COVID sucks! After catching COVID in Melbourne two weeks ago I’m finally coming good. Bloody crook for about three days and still have an annoying sniffle and cough. The worst part was the “covid brain fog” that is only clearing up now. Interesting listening to the new federal health minister on RN this morning – he could just as well have been speaking for the previous government. One …
July 15, 2022
Back when the event industry was evolving in Australia a bunch of people got together to form the Australian chapter of the International Special Events Society (now known as the International Live Events Association). The Australian chapters (there were spin offs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) lasted around two decades until for various reasons they were dissolved. This publication was born out of the newsletter I produced for the …
June 24, 2022
It looks like the two biggest issues affecting the event industry are staffing and transport. We have talked about staffing issues a few times but the transport issue has been around for a while. I saw a Facebook post asking for recommendations for a reliable courier to get a stack of props from Sydney to Melbourne for an event – the best response was to hire a truck and …
June 16, 2022
I had intended for this week’s update to go out this morning but WordPress had other ideas. My website is automatically updated by my hosting platform, so when ver 6.0 rolled out – it updated – but my theme was not ready. Fortunately the host does an auto backup before any updates, so I was able to roll back, apply the update to the theme – which claimed to …
May 27, 2022
No matter what the result is from tomorrow’s election there is much more the federal government can do to support the broader event industry. The first is to acknowledge that the event industry operates at both national and state levels. So far the current government has pushed most responsibility back to the states, the exceptions being COVID related emergency funding; JobKeeper, the Business Events Grants Programme and the RISE …
May 20, 2022
The industry was shocked this week to learn of the sudden death of Toby Travanner with tributes pouring in via his Facebook page. Planning is underway for an industry tribute in Melbourne. MC, mentor, tech head, wine buff and the socks – tributes flow for Toby Travanner I’ve been a volunteer for a number of years at the National Folk Festival which came back at Easter after the last …
May 13, 2022
Music festivals are back Music festivals have bounced back over Easter with Bluesfest attracting over 100,000 punters, the Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival attracting a younger crowd and the National Folk Festival struggling to reach the 10,400 who attended in 2019. I was at the Folk Festival again this year and will have an article next week on the new direction taken by the NFF Board, with a salient lesson …
April 22, 2022
Weekly wrap | Australasian Special Events
The mid-Weekly Wrap
Welcome to the mid-Weekly Wrap. Events are coming back and I’ve been busy – a good position to be in. So the wrap will now be random – and sometimes mid-week. But on Monday night I took the opportunity to watch the Platinum Jubilee Concert and here is my take on it. The Platinum Jubilee Concert The Platinum Jubilee Concert was produced by the BBC and goes to show …