Myer ‘Shares the Knowledge’

300 Myer staff from stores around the country were recently invited to ‘Share the Knowledge’ at a two day event held in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.

The roadshows were designed to provide participants with information on the latest developments and innovations in the audio, visual and home entertainment areas. 20 suppliers were involved in each event including the dynamic team from Apple, who kept the participants entertained (and exhausted!) with their high energy presentation.

Others who shared their knowledge included Powermove, Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Olympus and Telstra.

In the words of Peter Geer, National Buyer Audio, “The planning was detailed and careful. We sometimes set enormous stretches to Event Planners Australia and plagued them with changes. Every time they responded with an enthusiastic positive response.

The end result surpassed our wildest dreams. We are currently organising our next event and we didn’t even for a moment consider using anyone other than Suzanne and her team at Event Planners Australia. They made our “Share The Knowledge” events professional, exciting and fun. Along with all of this they ran totally to budget – at Myer we call these magicians at Event Planners Australia “The Dream Team”.
 

Porsche Centre Adelaide

Porsche Centre Adelaide recently opened its own refurbished and rebranded showroom, having previously operated as Eurocars, an authorised outlet for Peugeot and Volvo as well as Porsche.

To celebrate this milestone, Porsche Centre Adelaide’s owner, Mr Mark Cheney, together with Porsche executives from Australia and overseas, hosted a cocktail function on the evening of Friday 28 July.

Event Planners was appointed to create an atmosphere of elegance and sophistication, showcasing South Australian produce and talent. Guests entered via a velvet-lined marquee, guided by flickering candles at floor level. Inside, the showroom floor had been cleared of all cars – bar one – and in their place were satin covered cocktail tables with elegant centre-pieces and two stunning mannequins dressed in white ‘gowns’ with massive floral arrangements as headpieces.

The 150 guests – mainly Porsche clients – enjoyed exquisite food from award-winning caterer, Blanco Catering, musical entertainment by Zephyr String Quartet, and wines from the Jacob’s Creek Heritage Range

The formalities were kept succinct, with Adelaide’s own Cherylee Harris as compere and a welcome from Porsche Australia’s Managing Director, Michael Winkler.

The highlight of the evening for many was the unveiling of the new Porsche Turbo 911 – the first one to be seen in Australia.

If you haven’t already started planning your annual Christmas event, it’s time to get going! Here are some tips to help you along the way:

What style of event will you have this year?
Maybe you’ll choose a sit down dinner with a band? How about an afternoon in the park fully catered with a gourmet barbecue, some fun activities and fabulous prizes? Or is it just a good time to get everyone together for an early evening celebration as the sun sets and the corks pop on the bubbly? If you don’t know where to start gather some feedback (your colleagues won’t be shy in telling you what they think!) and stage a Christmas event that’s new and fresh, outside the norm and designed with the guests in mind. Use your imagination, think differently, and your efforts will be well rewarded.

Choosing a venue
If you haven’t discovered Event Connect yet, this is the perfect opportunity to visit their website. You’ll find it here: www.eventconnect.com.au One of the most time consuming tasks when you’re charged with running an event is sourcing venues. And at this time of year, finding availability can be challenging. Let your fingers do the walking, enter a few details, sit back and wait for the venues to come to you. Easy!

 Spend your money wisely!
Set your budget and stay focused on your outcomes. Most importantly, spend your money where guests will notice it most. Expensive props and décor may not be as impactful as providing guests with a prop to wear as they enter the party. Maybe your theme is centred around a mardi gras – feather boas, whistles, costume masks – suddenly the party’s started and everyone’s in the mood!

Food glorious food…and lots of it!
It’s a constant complaint: ‘I didn’t see any food’, ‘ I was starving when I left’. Ask the venues or caterers to suggest ways to ensure guests are fed well. Too little food and too much alcohol can make for a messy Christmas party. Think about combining finger food with more substantial noodle boxes or mini fish and chips. Maybe food stations can be set around the room so guests can help themselves to bowls of risotto or pasta during the evening. There’s always the option of your very own hotdog van – perfect for later in the evening as the party really hots up!

A world of entertainment
A band, a DJ, 80’s music, reggae, a floorshow, roving entertainment – choices, choices, choices! It’s time to ask around amongst your colleagues again. Not everyone wants to dance the night away at the Christmas party; some people like the chance to chat and catch up with their fellow workers in a relaxed environment. Maybe the venue can offer a separate ‘chill out’ area for these people while the band or DJ plays in the party room? Whatever your choice, make sure you see the band perform before you book them – you’ll know right away if they fit with your group.

Now sit back and enjoy!
After all the planning it’s time to enjoy your efforts. Make sure you have help at the event – delegate tasks to your colleagues: have someone meet and greet guests, hand out props or gifts, liaise with entertainers, keep an eye on the food and drink service. And don’t forget to enjoy yourself – you’ve earned it!

For more information on “Hot Tips” or to discuss your event management requirements, please contact Suzanne Hart, suzanneh@eventplanners.com.au or call her on 03 9320 8600. 

Always connected

Ray Shaw shares his thoughts on the effective use of technology in event management...

Conference delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors were all able to gain free and fast access to their email and to surf the internet at the recent International Congress on Nano Science and Nano Technology (ICONN) thanks to Event Planners new wi-fi hot spot solution.

Event Planners ITC manager Quintin Humphries installed special MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) 108Mbps wi-fi access points connected to the Internet via the venues broadband connection. “Ordinary wi-fi routers can only support a limited number of users and tend to drop out. Using the MIMO technology we supported literally hundreds of users as well as the internet kiosk” he said.

Some 500 delegates accessed the internet over the five days using about 7GB of data costing the event about $1,000 ($2 per delegate). Quintin says the delegates were extremely impressed with the speed even though they all shared a single 1MBps internet connection.

Event Planners has been looking at better ways to manage the need for delegates to have access to the internet without disrupting the event program. “We are getting more requests from notebook users for classroom style seating and to provide electrical power to the tables. As the cost is not great we are beginning to have notebook only areas, usually at the back of the room. We also have a supply of wi-fi cards to rent to users who don’t have Centrino equipped notebooks” he said.

Another technological breakthrough was to use Event Planners VoIP (Voice Over IP) phone system to transfer incoming calls for ICONN directly to the organisers on-site. “Our VoIP system meant that we could continue to use the dedicated conference phone number and simply route the calls over the internet to our staff on site. This makes it easy for callers to contact delegates at the event” he said.

Event Planners is also working on incorporating VoIP technology into its event web sites. “Imagine being able to click on a link to talk to someone about the event just using your PC” Quintin added.

To see how you can make this exciting new technology work for you, fill in our short events survey for your chance to win a Belkin router and network card.  

Event Planners provide an all inclusive registration service which can include:

• Database creation

• Set-up and secure hosting of an on-line registration form

• Creation and hosting of a unique email address for delegate enquiries

• Committee reporting portal; 24 x 7 access to the latest statistics

• Accounting services to reconcile all payments received

• Registration staff onsite

• All data exported to excel at the conclusion of the event

All for a minimal, per delegate fee. If you would like to know more about the support services we offer, call us on 1300 365 976 or via email, crz@eventplanners.com.au