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
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
This week some interviews from AIME where over 320 exhibitors and 350 buyers have connected, to deliver a total of 6,540 meetings over the past two weeks. I took the opportunity at AIME to record a few video chats and present for you… Five minutes with Julia Swanson CEO of MCB (owner of AIME) Five minutes with Silke Calder – AIME Event Director and Ten minutes with Peter King …
April 8, 2022
Just a short post this week – I’m currently working on some interviews I did last week at AIME and will have them posted next week. It has been great to attend a few events this week including the ADMA Global Forum where the focus was on data (ADMA is the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising), how data is collected and used along with the permissions required. The …
April 1, 2022
On Saturday night I was at the Small Business Champions Awards at The Star Event Centre. It was fantastic to see close to 1,000 people in one room for an awards dinner and the excitement at getting dressed up and going out was palpable. As one winner said “How good is this, our first time out of Queensland in two years”. There were the stories of how these small …
March 25, 2022
Two years on from the initial shutdown there is definitely a feeling that events are back. Get Local heralded the return of events and expos to ICC Sydney and AIME is just one of the expos slated for next week in the MCEC. March kicked off festivals and public events with the Foo Fighters playing Kardinia Park. The next day Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras finished off a …
March 18, 2022
This weekend marks the second anniversary of the event industry’s “Black Friday” when, on the 13th March 2020 PM Scott Morrison announced that venues would essentially be shut down indefinitely. The following week I wrote that the announcement would effectively shut down the whole event industry for at least six months. For most of us it was much longer.
March 11, 2022
The big event for this month was Get Local when around 700 buyers and exhibitors got together at ICC Sydney and Doltone House Darling Island. It was so good to catch up with industry colleges in the flesh again. We have a report on Get Local and on the welcome function. Get Local – Get Together The buzz was evident as industry exhibitors and buyers got together over two …
February 25, 2022
Weekly wrap | Australasian Special Events
The Weekly Wrap – 4th March
Greetings from soggy Sydney. On Wednesday night it was great to catch up with colleagues at Royal Randwick for the MEA NSW kick off function. There is definitely a feeling of optimism that this time around the industry might stay open. And after two years it was great to meet a bunch of new faces. No such luck in Queensland though with floodwaters currently affecting major venues including the …