Orgasms, Theatre and Mountains - All In A Day's Work
The latest edition of Professional Manager magazine ran a profile piece about a day in the life of me!
08:00 The day begins in an outdoor pool. I swim an awful lot and I love swimming outside.
10:00 I attend a somewhat sombre meeting to discuss how London and the UK stage state events such as royal funerals and the like, focusing on how they can be approached from a management point of view.
11:30 Jump to the other end of the spectrum, I take a brief from a pharmaceutical brand that wants to stage an event to promote a sex aid. One of the ideas I float is choreographing searchlights in the sky to the soundtrack of an orgasm. This is a contrast to the previous meeting!
13:00 Lunch is a sandwich on the move. I then spend a lot of the afternoon working on a project I'm producing in Brazil. It involves projecting large imagery for a brand on to the side of Sugarloaf Mountain and other mountains across Rio de Janeiro. There are all kinds of hurdles and red tape to negotiate; mainly trying to find ways around regulatory issues and negotiating with the military there. I find that, even when challenges get thrown in our way, with the right determination and tenacity there's always a solution. I enjoying finding ways around problems, I've never failed yet.
16:00 Alongside my day job, I have the privilege of mentoring several people and organisations. While working on the Brazil project, I spend about an hour taking calls from a grass-roots sports organisation and a small theatre group. Enjoyable, I get to help them with various things such as business management through to their events.
19:00 I have a quick dinner with a friend in town then head home. I spend the evening writing, which I do quite a lot of. I'm working on my second book and have articles going out in various publications such as the Huffington Post, about once a week or so. I write on things like major events, how they're stage, how to overcome problems and how to structure them. I find writing enjoyably therapeutic.
Should Opening Ceremonies Be Unleashed From Stadiums?
As the Commonwealth Games approaches later this year in Glasgow, the Opening Ceremony has been receiving its fair share of attention. Controversy aside, I'm of the view Opening Ceremonies need to fundamentally evolve. I wrote a comment piece in the Herald Scotland newspaper articulating my thoughts.
Is The FIFA 2014 World Cup Just One Big Circus?
I wrote a piece for The Huffington Post today: with yet more casualties in Rio - getting stadiums built, is it time that the travelling circus of mega-event reappraise how they award the rights for and oversee mega-events?
Create Great Organising Committees For Great Economic Impact
I've been involved with and worked for all manner of organising committees, these have primarily been in the sports sector, though some in the arts, and a few in the corporate (business to business) sector too. From the Olympic / Paralympic Games, Tour de France, the London 2012 Festival and more besides.
Organising Committees are typically formed to organise, create or deliver large events. This is all well and good, but how much organising do they actually do? Is a committee the best tool? And does an organising committee actually make a large event more expensive and more complicated than it needs to be?
Organising Committees should be great super powers, however I see so many people who are either supporting or working in organising committees struggling and suffering. Why?
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The Biggest Orgasm Ever?
Towards the end of 2013, at Allium, we were approached by Virgo Consumer Health & Wellbeing and their client: Durex to help promote their latest product: Durex Embrace Pleasure Gels around Valentines Day in 2014.
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The Live Event Procurement Paradox - Sound Familiar?
Picture the scene: you’ve got a product to sell, a message to get across or some entertainment to put on. You want a live event.
You decide you want to put out a tender to find (procure) the best company or solution - maybe with the best ideas or offering the best value.
Your tender, in summary, says:
1. We want a live event that achieves x,y,z.
2. Please send us a picture and plans of what you propose to help us achieve x,y,z.
3. Please tell us what it will cost.
You then get all the tenders back, pick the one you like and award the contract. You’ve a specification of what will be delivered and a price. Done.
Well . . . almost.
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"Why I Hate School But Love Education"
I have nothing to add to this video that the video doesn't say already. Please just watch it.
"The Spark": A Pretty Amazing Book
I've just read this book: The Spark, a mother's story of nurturing genius. This book should be mandatory reading for parents, the education establishment and in fact - for everyone with any interest or concern about how we learn, and how we don't learn.
Not withstanding the incredible story Kristine Barnett has to tell about her own life and that of her children, there's a much deeper moral in this story.
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2012 Opening Ceremony Thoughts and Opinions
A few days ago I was lucky enough to spend a few hours in the Olympic Stadium watching the 2012 Opening Ceremony. As someone who would dearly have loved to Produce the ceremony, what did I think of it?
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