Being
on an event site exposes you to many different working environments and opens
up your learning experience. It also
takes a toll on your diet. Never have I
seen such a consumption of sugar! But after my second day on site I completely
understood why. Everyone operates on 12
hour or more days on site with more work to get through once they’ve arrived
back at the hotel.
The Wesfarmers centenary concert was a completely free concert from
Wesfarmers to the community of Northam as a way of giving something back to the
people who helped them establish their successful business. Being a completely free event, it was going
to be difficult to estimate numbers of patrons to determine whether the event
was going to be a success.
The first two days in Northam were all about the final touches, from
setting up the site to handing out appropriate accreditation, to staff and
artist briefings. All the paperwork I
had been putting together over the psat month or so were finally finding their
place in the event.
There was already a great feeling of accomplishment for me to know
that I had actually had a contribution to this event.
Then it was event day!
From a 7am start on site I was told my day would be starting a
little differently and I’d be helping the site crew out with the final touches
of putting the venue together, yes this meant my hands were getting dirty (so
to speak). I helped out with fencing,
skrimming and my hands toughened up as the day went on. I never really thought about all the little
bits and pieces that go into an event that PEOPLE do, from signage to cable
ties the team does it all… a real eye opener and a well deserved appreciation
for the industry developed.
Wesfarmers had a keen eye for branding, and so therefore we had to
make sure that signage above all else was immaculate and eye catching.
After lunch it was business as normal, with staff and event teams
arriving on site from 3pm for their final team briefings and set up. Never have a seen a group of senior people so
excited to be at a concert.
Due to open the gates at 4pm, there was already a crowd of people
waiting to get their chairs and rugs in first more then 15 minutes prior to
opening, that alone gave the SWEvent and Wesfarmers teams some confidents that
the event would in fact be a success.
I think that over all one of the major things I will take away from
working at this event will be just how much a town like Northam will get
involved. The enthusiasm, particularly
from event volunteers was over whelming, and hard to find in most places. The town was just so excited to be able to
have something like this in Northam they were more than happy to be involved
and the fact that we gave them t-shirts, hats and water bottles made it all the
more enjoyable.
All in all a great example of company public relations, between
Wesfarmers and community.
We ended up having around 3,500 people attend!! In the margin of
things this made it a success.
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