faulker090

Followers of our event manager blog may be stunned to learn that just 89 days remain until Christmas Eve in Australia. I, for one, am relieved...still gives me 96 days to achieve this year’s New Year’s Resolutions. Phew! Just on that, we should talk about your end of year celebration. I think 2013 should be the year for a cracking good party! Something intimate for the local office staff, or a bigger bash for the whole organisation? Perhaps cast the shawl of warmth a little wider and show some appreciation to key clients at a more cultivated soiree? Whichever way you want to go, finding the right venue is key! Liken it to a building’s construction: the event site is the foundation; get that settled then you build walls and a roof. In event speak, look and feel ‘magic’ can be added once your space is selected. But beware the pitfalls of going it alone in your venue-shopping. Although great online venue finding tools exist (eg Function Venue Finder , EventConnect.com , and cvent – heck,...

Let’s face it – in this day and age, the old marketing budget doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. Now more then ever, businesses of all sizes are looking for marketing activities that are on trend, will provide positive outcomes and will represent good value for money in terms of their spend. Using corporate events as an experiential marketing tool ticks those boxes, offering savvy marketers a number of benefits: Increased Brand Awareness:  Corporate events are a great way for businesses to build brand awareness from invitations through to theming and presentations on the night. Corporate events (particular with celebrity ambassadors or appearances) are also highly attractive to the media and could garner positive coverage in print or online. Corporations that introduce a little wow factor into their branding also benefit from excellent brand and product recall. Pictured:  The j2 team with Rugby League Legend Darren Lockyer – on hand to add a little star factor to last week...

Suitcase Stuff:  The Travelling Event manager Under-pressure-packing! That’s the inspiration for our latest blog as we embark on an away-from-home event management week. j2 ideas & events is off to central Queensland (Australia). It’s our fourth year as event managers of Gladstone Ports Corporation’s cause-related sporting event, Botanic to Bridge (an 8km and 3km fun run for 4000+). Based out of Brisbane offices, we travel all across Queensland to plan and manage events, especially to regional areas. Seasoned travellers thus, we tend to leave our personal packing to the last minute while focussing on the more important things—event details! And I have a theory. With checklists for everything there’s at least ONE THING event managers place, on auto-pilot, into their suitcase. Take me, for instance. My “one thing” is DIFFLAM ANTI-INFLAMMATORY THROAT SPRAY . Air conditioning in planes and hotels, plus climate changes, mess with my voice. Come event time, clear communication in p...

When an event brief demands something truly out of the ordinary, event managers may find their clients looking to a site never-before-used for an event. This is the inspiration for our latest event management blog! Whether part of nature’s landscape or a human-built structure, the unusual outdoor or semi-outdoor location I’m talking about is not a place where people typically congregate. Almost certainly, the site will have no existing power or water supply, nor any kind of infrastructure that provides for basic hygiene or comfort. Take an underground span of road tunnel, for example. Tunnels bring live event delivery issues: adequate power, lighting, accoustics, mandatory emissions testing, catering facilities, amenities and even potable water. So, before you utter “It can’t be done!” at the next bold event brief that comes your way, consider some tips from a person who loves a logistically-challenging event. In the space of two weeks, my Brisbane event management company, j2 ideas ...

What is it about a simple glowing light that makes us feel so happy? I asked Google. It seems I wasn’t alone in my curiosity. A few forums and research papers later, I’ve now confirmed this: humans are indeed drawn to and comforted by light. Inadvertently, I’ve also discovered the world of color psychology. From years of event production experience, we know that colour has a huge impact on event atmosphere. In the article “ Color or Color (The Psychology of Color) ” author Walter Graff says “Color has an incredible effect on your mood, your perception, and your likes and dislikes.” Colour alone, however, is little without effective lighting—something of a specialist science and art. International Association of Lighting Designers contributor, Stefan Graf says that “it is controlling this difficult, transitory medium that gives the lighting ‘artist’ the ability to create hierarchies, dynamics and mood.” MOOD LIGHTING AT EVENTS – AFFECTING HOW PEOPLE FEEL The IALD suggests good lightin...

6 Bright Ideas for Amazing Events Pretty lights, flashing lights, neon lights. They’re all in high demand by events management companies right now. It seems that children and adults alike, our audiences just love anything that glows. If you want to spark the excitement of your event-goers, consider these 6 bright ideas that add a special touch: 1.  Illu minated fairy floss  – once upon a time, food that glowed would have been considered a threat to humankind. Now we can’t get enough of it, as judged by our popular  facebook post from a community event we recently managed in Moranbah (central Queensland, Australia).  An event winner that we’ll definitely include in future. 2.   Xylobands TM – this amazing wristband has been used by Coldplay to bring the audience into their show, and light up the crowd.  It’s all any Coldplay concert-goer talked about for weeks! A Xyloband TM was given to every audience member and as the band played through their set...

Not for profit organisations are well aware that events can be a highly successful vehicle for raising m oney and awareness for their causes. The fundamentals for any fundraising event, however, are that 1 ) people will participate and 2 ) the event will generate revenue. At j2 ideas & events we have event managed some of Brisbane’s most successful fundraising events, helping to raise over $8 million in funds since 2005.   These successful events incl ude the Enerflex MS Brissie to the Bay bike ride, the SU QLD Frontline Chaplaincy Appeal Dinner , the Gladstone Botanic to Bridge fun run , the 20th Anniversary World Expo 88 Celebrations Charity Dinner and Stockland Caloundra Foreshore Fun Run . The key, we believe, to successful fundraising is for event managers to adopt a collaborative approach to the project, working with their not for profit client to: Identify a need Research and establish motivations for participation Market to the right channels and Work togethe...