NOVEMBER | SECTOR FOCUS
“We look for high quality
equipment, great crew
and ability to deliver
under pressure.”
felt their concerns were being
taken seriously helped most of
them and a hot line to Event
Control satisfied the rest.”
Pierce recommends that this
should be followed through
during the live event period,
with the monitoring of real-
time social media so the event
management team can stay
ahead of any potential problems.
“We would always prefer to deal
with issues and resolve them at
the time, as opposed to learning
about them in a lengthy Monday
morning email. Whether it’s
a pre-event distribution letter
with a contact number and
an email address, or a larger
community meeting, make sure
you speak with the people who
surround the event footprint
and may potentially be affected.
Listen to their concerns and
develop reasonable plans that
deal with foreseeable problems
in a realistic manner.”
Fitzmaurice puts equal
importance on getting
the essentials right. “For
infrastructure we try and
use suppliers we have used
previously. Toilets are essential
to get right. And we learnt
it’s not just about the supply
of units, but the service and
maintenance during the event.
ETS, our provider, increased
its operation, and we backed
them as they were very
supportive when we started
out, and our organisations have
grown together to support the
48
audience.”
Fitzmaurice gained his
experience working primarily at
student union venues and NUS
events, then branched out on
his own into event management
consulting. “Over the last five
years we took on larger clients,
the main one being Slam Dunk,
which now attracts 25,000 for
one day each.”
Staging has been a key aspect.
“We use 75m big tops, and range
of outdoor mobile stages. We
also do a lot of flip flop stages.
We use Acorn for bigtop decks,
Serious Stages for the main
stage, and A&J for big top
marquees. Audio is done by SAS
in Birmingham, Zig Zag do the
lighting on all stages.”
Timings are similarly vital
for Simon Hunter, head of venue
development at Chelsea Football
Club, who has to work around
fixtures and other events when
considering event production.
“October and November’s two
week international breaks are
rare times of year when we
aren’t so restricted. As a result
they are our busiest weeks
of the year, because we have
guaranteed unrestricted access
to our event spaces and can take
bookings for our biggest ticket
events well in advance.
“Stamford Bridge is a
working stadium, hosting tens
of thousands of fans on match
days; so in-depth preparations
and seamless transformations
are essential. The moment the
last football game finishes our
events team gets cracking with
AV set builds, drapes and carpet
fittings, cleaning, and an array of
other set up activity for the first
scheduled event. This process
is then repeated – sometimes
overnight – to make way for
another event or get the stadium
ready for the next match.
“Because our team is always
used to working around fixtures,
they are used to delivering large
scale events.
“During busy international
breaks we often ‘piggy back’
events so for example, the same
sets and audio visual equipment
is re-used. When undertaken
in the right way ‘piggy backing’
saves time, resource and
improves efficiency – but it
requires meticulous planning.”