Creative Events Management - 102 (Assignment)

Identify an entrepreneur that you admire. Outline what it is that you admire about them and why.

Alex Tew – Million-Dollar Homepage

The entrepreneur I have chosen is Alex Tew. Alex is responsible for the website www.milliondollarhomepage.com, a website that sold a million pixels in 10x10 blocks to company’s for advertising space. In this blog article Id like to show you what Alex did to turn a ‘bedroom idea’ into a million dollar success and what I admire most about him and the idea.

In August 2005, Alex was lying on his bed thinking of ways to raise money for his tuition fees. He was an average 21 year old from Wiltshire who had planned to go to university to study business management but didn’t want to come out the other side with mountains of debt. It was that night he came up with million dollar homepage.

The best thing about this website is how simple it was. Advertising Space. Million pixels. $1 per Pixel. Open to anyone who wanted to purchase pixels in the 10x10 blocks. In replacement of the pixels you had bought you could place your logo or a picture that then linked to your website. Simplicity in ideas is something I admire most. I remember my Grandad telling me this story. To start with I had no respect for Alex and what he had done and said to my Grandad

“Why should he make money? I COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT!”

It was then my whole outlook on Creativity changed as my Grandad turned to me and said

            “Yeh but YOU DIDN’T”

Alex showed that this idea, crossbred between Novelty and simplicity would be a massive success.  Simplicity allowed the purchase of the advertising space to be so easy and accessible and the novelty generated the websites interest and purchases. From this it inspired me to believe that just because an idea is easy to do doesn’t make it rubbish and just because it’s simple doesn’t make it easy to come up with.

I also admire how Alex capitalised on the remainder of the pixels by selling them on ebay. A Swindon newspaper reported that the remaining pixels fetched $38,000. He as also set up other websites to make more money. www.sockandawe.com, a flash website involving throwing a shoe at George Bush was later sold on ebay for $7,818.

A few of Alex’s later websites have been slated in the media. Popjam was reported to have lost investors 6 figure investments. Despite all of this Alex has maintained a positive approach. He’s quoted being ‘cheery’ and a smarta.com writes ‘He seems positive, though: ah well, he shrugs. Maybe next time’

In my opinion Alex Tew is successful entrepreneur. His interviews portray him as a modest, switched on character with determination and drive. He kept up to date with his Milliondollarhomepage Blog, informing all interested what he was up to and apologizing in future posts when he was unable. His future project www.onemillionpeople.com aims to capture a generation of people and he aims to produce a real ‘face book’ when it is complete. So check it out!

Tew, Alex. 2005. Million Dollar Homepage. Available at: www.milliondollarhomepage.com  [accessed 02 December 2010].

The kid done good. 2009. Swindon Web. Available at: http://www.swindonweb.com/office/index.asp?m=1054&s=1059&ss=0&c=5417 [accessed 02 December 2010].

If only more entrepreneurs failed as gracefully as Alex Tew. 2010. Smarta. Available at: http://www.smarta.com/blog/2010/1/if-only-more-entrepreneurs-failed-as-gracefully-as-alex-tew [accessed 02 December 2010].

Creative Events Management - 101 (Assignment)

Devise an area of possible development for a small contemporary dance company (real or imagined) that might effectively engage with or explore one current social issue – describe the new activity, suggest why it would be appropriate for the company and describe how this development might affect the organization

The company I have chosen is a hypothetical dance company based in Plymouth in the Southwest. It is made up of a group of 5 dancers who specialize in Hip-Hop, Street and Break Dances. The new activity that they will explore and engage in will help encourage disengaged students back into some form of learning.

The reason why this new area would be appropriate for the dance company comes from a recent article about truancy in Plymouth. Matt Flemming reports that ‘TWO secondary schools and a primary in Plymouth experienced almost twice the national average percentage of children playing truant from school, according to Government statistics’. Its also appropriate for the company as dance can be seen to help tackle some of the issues associated with Truancy and disengagement.

St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School was a case study from the Foundation of Community Dance. Results from the workshops stated that ‘Behavioral and educational standards increased as hoped’ and ‘Additionally concentration levels, teamwork skills, and the social atmosphere have all improved.’  This proves how dance workshops can be implemented with success.

I would propose that the dance company work closely with local schools implementing compulsory workshops during school hours. These workshops would be less formal than normal lessons and the lessons would be planned and taken by the dancers. The workshops should have a truancy theme and I would encourage the dancers to promote learning by talking about their own personal experiences to which students can relate with. This should then lead to a public performance in the local community, highlighting the problems of truancy. The public performances would give the students the sense of involvement and success they might not have experienced before due to disengagement, which can lead to under achieving.

When looking to develop to company it is important to remember that involving a dance company cannot solve truancy alone. Christine Blower states that it’s a  ‘long hard slog involving cross-local-authority service responses and support’ and ‘Children who do not attend school are far more likely to commit criminal offences.’  Clear and realistic aims must be considered to prevent the company not meeting its triple bottom line approach. Despite this, Dance can provide a fresh alternative approach to initiate the learning experience.

The company would need to develop areas to deal with the application of working with children. It would need to ensure its employees have an up to date CRB check. The company would also be required to ensure training is up to date, such as Health and safety, Child Protection, Managing Challenging Behavior and PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector.) These qualifications are available through ‘City College Plymouth’ but would cost the company to enroll. This could possible mean the company employing a Human Resources Manager.

The government takes truancy and the disengaged learners very seriously. We have seen from the quotes that truancy has detrimental effects on social issues such as crime and unemployment. For a dance company to be able to show evidence that they are playing a role to help improve this would increase its work and business and its relationship in the community.

Sheppard, Jessica, 2010. Truancy at record high. [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/25/truancy-pupils-record-high

[Accessed 28 November 2010].

Flemming Matt, 2010. Truancy double national figure at three Plymouth schools. [online] Available at: http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/Truancy-double-national-figure-schools/article-1868242-detail/article.html [Accessed 28 November 2010].

Case Studies, 2010. From Special Measures School to Healthy School. [online] Available at: http://www.communitydance.org.uk/metadot/index.pl?id=31545;isa=DBRow;op=show;dbview_id=30793 [Accessed 28 November 2010]

Creative Events Management - 102 (Assignment)

Using a specific event example, consider and write a summary of the operational elements used

Operational elements are the fundamentals that an event organiser and their team would consider to ensure the production process runs effectively, with clear purpose and efficiency. It is a vital part of the process to make the end product a success. Operational elements should relate to ‘Maslow's hierarchy of needs’ (MHoN) in the way they are considered and prioritised.

The event I have chosen to look at is ‘Plymouth Volksfest 2010’. The event is a three-day festival with a Volkswagen theme that has live music, camping, stalls, and car ‘show and shine’ competitions. I decided to look at the operational elements within three categories: Finance, infrastructure and content.

Chris Smith, one of three event co-coordinators, is in charge of the finance. He deals with the business plans and bank accounts, which include applications for loans and grants. Recent spending trends have shown that people are purchasing tickets much closer to the event. Therefore the event cannot rely on ticket sales for initial funding, as most of the infrastructure and content have to be paid for in advance. This means that Chris manages the online ticket sales. He deals with the legal side of the event including licenses such as the PRS and the Local Council. He also holds the relationship with the Landlord and corresponding contract.

Now the event has a location, date, and initial funding, the infrastructure can be planned. Vince Davis oversees this area and site plans are drawn up. This is where MHoN should be taken into account. It is important to consider the physical location for car parks, family and non family camping, arena, food and market stalls, fencing, perimeters, lighting for paths, generators, stages and toilets. The hiring and distributing of these items is also part of this process. Food, water, sleep and excretion are all priorities in ‘MHoN,’ these are then followed by the fencing, lighting and separate camping to ensure security.

The sound systems, lighting and content should then be considered. This is down to Ray Rose, the promoter. He is responsible for booking the bands, and marketing the event. Once the line up has been confirmed, along with the location and date, the marketing process can begin. This can be done via the Internet, flyering and press releases. I work along side Ray as a stage manager. My role is to make sure bands play on time and deal with any problems that arise in this area.

The whole team is responsible for the Health and Safety. When dealing with generators, a qualified professional must sign them off. PPE (personal protection equipment) must be worn where needed. Health and safety is taken very seriously, as every member of staff has a duty of care. The whole team needs to help to make sure marketing fulfils the promises it has made regarding the end product. It is also important to have good ethics with your staff including volunteers as they are equally important. With many finer operational elements it is clear to see how planning and prioritising these can lead to a well thought of, concise event, that meets the needs of its customers.

EASON-BASSETT, Claire. 2010. Lecture 5 - Operations and Health & Safety. PDF Website.

Creative Events Management - 102 (Assignment)

Write a short description (500 words) of how global economics are relevant for the Falmouth Oyster Festival

The Falmouth Oyster Festival is now in its 14^th year and is located in the heart of Falmouth in the events square. It celebrates the start of the oyster-dredging season and encompasses local chefs, seafood, children’s shell painting and live music. The website states that ‘Over 30,000 flocked to Falmouth over the four days,’ and local people and visitors voted this year the ‘Best yet!’

With the recent spending review announcing massive cuts across the cultural sector, how do Macroeconomics affect the Falmouth Oyster Festival.

Macroeconomics or (global) economics, ‘is the branch of economics that studies the overall working of a national economy.’ It looks at spending trends, influences, tax and inflation and employment and unemployment. All these factors can have significant effects on events such as the Falmouth Oyster Festival.

The Falmouth Oyster Festival is supported by sponsors and funded by Falmouth Festivals, Visit Cornwall and St Michael's Hotel & Spa. Without this funding the festival would not be financially possible, as revenue from the traders would not be sufficient enough to support it, therefore relying on this funding. Although not charging 30,000 people an entrance fee would seem like a ‘missed opportunity’, we have to look at the behaviors in the current economy. The Office of National Statistics produced a document called ‘Consumer Trends’. In this document it says that ‘Household final consumption expenditure in 2009 fell by 3.4 per cent’.  This is an indicator that prior to the date of this event UK households aren’t spending money on luxuries. With this in mind its possible that if ticket prices were introduced you would see a decrease in attendees and therefore jeopardising your sponsorship deals. In ‘Consumer Trends’ for 2010 it says ‘In the second quarter of 2010 the main areas of growth (when comparing levels of expenditure) were recreation and culture, which grew by 1.8 per cent.’  This could mean that the current spending trend is about to change and that ticket sales in the future could be an option. However, charging people to see this event might not be appropriate to the organisers due to its nature, but that’s a different matter!

Another factor of Macroeconomics is the date of the event. With the festival being located in October this helps to increase secondary spending and in my opinion this is reflected in the festivals mains sponsors. St Michael’s Hotel & Spa benefit from sponsoring by advertising and increasing revenue in what would normally be out of season dates. ‘Nigel Carpenter, Proprietor of St. Michael’s Hotel & Spa, said, “We are very excited to once again be main sponsors of this important festival”’ Through Visit Cornwall interest to this festival can be generated overseas which would increase foreign tourist spending in the UK.

In my opinion Falmouth Oyster Festival has been clever in decisions regarding how the event is funded. Acquiring strong links with their sponsors, and securing the funded needed to continue this important community festival, has led to a very successful event. However with this currently unstable economy and cuts in cultural funding, they might need to consider other means of finance and sponsors.

Press releases & festival news. 2010.Falmouth Oyster Festival. Available at: http://www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk/news_1005.html  [accessed 05 November 2010].

Consumer Trends. 2010.Office for National Statistics. Available at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/CT2010Q2.pdf [accessed 2010].

EASON-BASSETT, Claire. 2009. Lecture 4 - Economics. PDF Website.

BBC1 at PLYMOUTH VOLKSFEST 2010

The stage I was working on at Plymouth Volksfest 2010 saw Jack Thomas fulfill his dream to play in a Rock band. The BBC aired this last night so check it out and show your support for this courageous man!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vhcyn/Inside_Out_West_25_10_2010/

Creative Events Management - 101 (Assignment)

Identify one event from each of the sectors (heritage, entertainment and visual arts) taking place regionally during next 6 months – produce 500 words including key details on all 3 events for learning log.

The aim of this study is to explore the heritage, entertainment and visual arts sectors in the Southwest region and identify the organisations behind them and the roles the events play within the cultural sector. To do this I took an event from each sector and explored the organisation behind it - including its purpose, its motives behind the event and a look in to the external environment and its cause and effect on the organisation and the event itself.

‘Truro City of Lights’ is a visual arts festival taking place on the 17^th November. Professional artists, Cornish schools and local community groups create lanterns made from tissue and parade through the streets of Truro. The event is now in its Fourteenth year and attracts estimated crowds of 25,000. The Facebook page expresses how important the festival is to the local community, saying, ‘The procession is a real celebration of Truro’s artistic and community spirit, now firmly established as an essential element of the city’s cultural identity.’  The festival is supported by private sector businesses such as Carlyon and sons Solicitors and Event Cornwall. However in an article on the website ‘This is Cornwall’ the event founder, Tony Crosby said ‘If people continue to treat it as a free event it could kill it.’  This could be down to funding cuts within the cultural sector. The organisers have responded to this with press releases and campaigns to encourage donations. I think an event, which appears to be as embedded in the local community as this one, people will ‘dig deep’ and it will continue in years to come.

The Eden Project, for Halloween this year, have a themed event called Halloweden. The event starts on the 23 and finishes 31 of October. Although themed, the events happening around these dates still comply with the Eden Projects underpinning educational and horticultural roots. Information from the website says ‘The events will give you a whole new way of looking at the rainforest.’ The event appears to be aimed at families, with activities and workshops such as ‘Face Painting.’ The Eden Project is wholly owned by the Eden Trust, which is a registered charity and events such as this contribute to sustaining the organsiation. They operate as a social enterprise but according to last years ‘Annual Report,’ only 71% of what they need is generated by their customers. This highlights the importance of events such as Halloweden. Although I wont be attending this event I hope it’s a success and the public continue support this organisation.

Antony House just outside of Torpoint is hosting a ‘Mad Hatters Tea Party’ on Sunday 24 October. This Alice in Wonderland themed event comes following the National Trust Site being used as a film location for the Tim Burton film. The Website says the event is aimed at 5 – 12 year olds and will include an ‘Interactive theatrical performance round the garden.’ I think Antony house using the recent filming as a marketing tool is a great idea and all across the website there are references to the film. Ticket prices were only £5 and the event has already sold out. I would however expect Antony House to continue with events themed around this nature.

Truro City of Lights. 2010. Facebook UK. Available at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Truro-City-of-Lights/110949712271127 [accessed 22 October 2010].

MIDDLETON, Kim. 2010. ‘Dig deep plea to keep lantern parade going’. This is Cornwall. Available at: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Dig-deep-plea-lantern-parade-going/article-2750004-detail/article.html [accessed 22 October 2010].

Eden Project. 2010. ‘Halloweden’. Eden Project UK. Available at: http://www.edenproject.com/come-and-visit/whats-on/halloweden.php [accessed 2010].

SMIT, Tim. 2009. Annual Review 08/09. PDF Website.

Antony House. 2010. ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’. National Trust UK. Available at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-events/w-events-find_event.htm?c=1 [accessed 2010]

A Child's Perception

I was watching a harp player in the centre of Falmouth when a little girl, no older than 5, turned to her Daddy and shouted with enthusiasm

       "Look Dad! It's a Mermaid!"