Shock and Awe in Beijing

The biggest television event of the year took over our screens on Friday night and the Beijing opening ceremony was pretty much as we expected.

• We were expecting masses of performers and we got 15,000 of them.
• We were expecting history, and we got 5,000 years of it.
• We were expecting fireworks, and we got them to excess.
• We were expecting to be wowed and we were not disappointed.

However the opening section (and a number of the other massed sections) looked like it could have been created in CGI. The technology and military precision seemed to drain the human element from the production and it certainly lacked any sense of spontaneity, as it was choreographed to the enth degree.

Indeed the most human moment came when the tops of the moveable type boxes popped open to reveal the smiling human operators inside.

Looking back at the history of Olympics openings one is inclined to make some comparisons. It was in Moscow, 1980 that we first saw what spectacle could be achieved with masses of people arranged in synchronised patterns and we haven’t seen such masses since then.

The influence of Barcelona and Athens was evident as Beijing is another city with a great history to draw on.

We also see the influence of Athens, in terms of the technology and its further development. And I would venture to say that we also saw the influence of Los Angeles in that the music to this opening ceremony was like one continuous film score.

What was also evident on the technical side was that as far as I could see every performer was wearing earphones so they could keep time, and keep to their very complex cues – no messy foldback wedges here. And I would suggest that the entire performance was pre-recorded. I would doubt that we heard very much live sound at all.

There is certainly a lot of talk about the technology involved in this production, well; one expected the technology to be cutting edge and it was certainly evident but it didn’t produce a wow moment to match the incredible technological fleet that was achieved in Athens with the Cycladic head rising out of the arena then splitting into many pieces to float off around the arena.

The technology in Beijing was certainly there when you look for it, but it was primarily there in a supporting role and let's face it that's what theatre is all about.

So what about the WOW moments…

• The drummers – 2008 of them totally in unison – certainly a spectacle
• The young girl flying over the heads of the performers – out-Nickied our Webster.
• The moment when the tops of the movable type modules popped open to reveal all the operators inside. I was watching that quite closely and really thought that it was being done by pneumatics.
• The globe – not so much the globe itself but the performers running around it, some of them upside down.
• The construction of the birdcage inside the birdcage, and the costumes that those performers were wearing with the remote controlled LEDs in them.

The most anticipated wow moment in any opening ceremony since Barcelona is the lighting of the cauldron. Well the Beijing producers certainly pulled a mega-wow moment with this one.

But to me the most memorable moment is probably for all the wrong reasons – it was the moment when the children in the traditional costumes of the tribes of China who bore the Chinese national flag across the arena then handed it to the goosestepping flag party who raised the flag in true fascist style - an absolute reality check and the most jarring moment of the night.

Also interesting to ponder the whole significance of all the eights in the date of the opening. Eight PM on the eight day of the eight month of the year 2008 AD of the Gregorian calendar. So we have an officially atheist country celebrating via a Christian calendar – go figure.

The TV commentary

At least this time round Channel 7 managed to employ commentators who had some idea about what was going on without just referring to prompt sheets. Ric Birch has a history of involvement in previous opening ceremonies, while Sonia Kruger has a background as a performer.

The audio mix was a little surprising. Firstly, it may have been broadcast in HD widescreen, but the audio was only in stereo, one would have expected that with that technological marvel around them that the sound would have been delivered in 5.1

During the commentary Sonia Kruger commented on the deafening sound of the drums coming from the arena but it certainly wasn’t deafening coming through the TV set. In fact, the commentary was much louder than the sound from the arena, which was somewhat flat. Fortunately we lost audio from the commentary for a while and so we could enjoy the sights and sounds without the often unnecessary comments.

I did enjoy Sonia Kruger telling us that the soldiers were playing 1000-year-old drums. Yea right, all 2008 of them, identical too and all with remotely controlled lights in them... I bet Sonia will be picking up a few “genuine” Rolexes while she is over there too.

Now's this is China were talking about, you want 2008 copies of a thousand-year-old drum, no problem, how about a few spares as well.

Channel 7 has reportedly gained some of the highest viewing figures on record. But I bet those viewing figures dropped off considerably once the athletes started parading out. Unfortunately, although the show is supposed to be all about the athletes, the interest wanes considerably once this interminable parade starts and you can bet

Channel 7 had that figured because although they had ad breaks every 15 minutes during the entertainment part of the ceremony they didn't bother once the parade of athletes got under way.

Also intriguing that immediately before the cut to the ad breaks the vision cut to the same footage of the fireworks footprints – I didn’t pick this up properly until I watched my recording of the event. Something odd about that that I just can’t put my finger on.

RSVP and the Australian Events Expo

So now the Staging Connections owned ETF is in turn the proud owner of both RSVP (Sydney and Melbourne) and the Australian Events Expo.

RSVP Sydney and AEE will be run separately this year (AEE in May and RSVP in July) but what of the future? There is some industry speculation that one or the other may be dropped or that they may be merged.

But a further option is emerging – that is to run the two concurrently. RSVP would focus on the party and supplier side while AEE caters for destinations and venues. With the inclusion this year of New Zealand in AEE the latter option is looking more attractive. Indeed there is surprisingly little crossover in the attendance to the two events (around 20%) which just shows that each event has already found its own market.

So now that AIME has become a truly international event maybe AEE will become the Australasian version.

Seems a long way now from the original Sydney Destination One staged in the cargo bay of the OPT at Circular Quay, from which Sydney on Sale grew.

ETF also own the bi-annual trade show for the technology side of our industry, ENTECH. Now just imagine if that show was to also run concurrently, it would make for quite a big industry bash.

By the way, when Julius Grafton owned ENTECH he tried it for one year at Sydney Showground – nearly killed the show, so not much hope of any of these events following the O’Neill suggestion and moving west.

Review into Sydney Convention and Exhibition Space

The O’Neill report has certainly stirred up things in Sydney regards exhibition space in that city. The basic problem is that SCEC is constrained on all sides regarding expansion without resorting to some desperate measures. One of those measures being considered is the redevelopment of the Entertainment centre site while Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is pushing for development of the airspace over central railway – can just see that being a goer. The current “link” building suffers enough from the rumble of traffic on the overhead roadways and anyone who has worked in the Theatre Royal is aware of the rumble from the trains in the nearby underground.

Then there is the practical suggestion that appropriate trade shows be moved to the Sydney Showground. There are many shows that are quite successfully staged at Homebush Bay including those involving large machinery such as earthmoving and mining along with those aimed at the general populous such as the ABC gardening show.

The most ridiculous response to the report came from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph who put forward the suggestion that a number of major shows would be moved to the Showground – these included Fashion Week (wouldn’t be seen dead west of Balmain); the Motor Show (might just suit the petrol heads out west) and the doozey of them all the Boat Show. The Terror’s journalists didn’t suggest how the Cockle Bay Marina would be duplicated on the Parramatta River (or maybe they were thinking of flooding the brick pit).

Fortunately the exhibition industry gave the report more considered thought, including….

Sydney Welcomes Plan to Expand Convention and Exhibition Space

SCVB Managing Director Jon Hutchison said the report confirmed the urgent need for more convention and exhibition space in Sydney to enable the city to continue to meet strong demand from the international convention sector.

“The recommendations of the O’Neill report recognise the need to expand our city’s meeting facilities in order to ensure Sydney continues to maximise economic returns from the meeting sector and maintains its position as Australia’s premier business events destination.

“We look forward to the NSW Government’s response to the report,” he said.

EEAA statement on future plans for major Sydney exhibition venues

The Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) fully supports any initiative that will contribute to the growth of the industry, such as the expansion of existing exhibition and conference facilities as recommended in the ‘Review into Sydney Convention and Exhibition Space’ report released earlier this week by John O’Neill for the NSW Government.
However, we are concerned at the lack of consultation with local industry representatives and organisations such as ours in preparing this report.

O’Neill Report deeply flawed, say leading exhibition companies

The exhibition organisers, who represent more than 80 per cent of the main business and consumer exhibitions held in NSW, welcomed the broad goals of the report by John O’Neill AO, and agreed with its key conclusion that Sydney requires a substantial increase in exhibition space and improvement of existing premises if the city were to remain competitive.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Matthew Pearce, Managing Director of Diversified Exhibitions Australia, said: “We believe strongly in securing and supporting the long-term future of exhibitions in Sydney and NSW, so we welcome the Iemma Government’s commitment to attracting large-scale events to the area and for initiating this report.

“However, we are all deeply concerned that the O’Neill report’s core assumption – that international events are more valuable and therefore the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre should exclude local events – is fundamentally flawed.”

Indeed – we all look forward to the NSW Government’s response to the report.

A quick question – Where were the last three APEC summits held?

If you couldn’t answer that question then just how well do you think Sydney’s hosting of the event will benefit the city over the next three years.

Remember how in the lead up we were promised that the inconvenience would be worth it because of the exposure Sydney would receive in the world of business and government events.

Comparisons were made to the Sydney Olympics regarding the traffic inconvenience and the thrill of having international visitors. The big difference though was that we were all invited to participate in the Olympic experience and if we couldn’t get to see an event we could still gather to watch it on big screens at the various Live Sites.

In contrast APEC was for an exclusive club and if the populus were to gather in any numbers they were surrounded by police. Just imagine how much more enjoyable it would have been for everyone if the Live Sites were set up again so that we could have gathered to enjoy the spectacle of George W praising our Prime Minister (over and over) and our Austrian troops in Iraq. And how enjoyable it would have been each night to watch Roy Slaven and HG Nelson do a wrap up of the days proceedings along with interviews with representatives from some of the lesser lights of the conference.

Surely the most outrageous act though was to not invite the taxpayers of Australia, who after all were paying for the whole shebang, to the harbour spectacular on the Saturday night. In fact the populus were specifically instructed to stay away and the spectacle on the water was never mentioned.

The Gala Cultural Performance in the Sydney Opera House was reserved for the APEC visitors and assorted Australians of note – as it should have been. But just maybe a concert paid for by our tax dollars could have been televised in order to make us feel a little more included, especially as that concert featured the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, TaikOz, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Christine Anu, Simon Tedeschi, The Australian Ballet and soloists from the Australian Opera.

The harbour fireworks associated with this concert were covered by the media but how many are aware that a complex and spectacular show was performed on the water. This involved a number of tall ships and 16 racing boats, all of which were lit up. The lighting on the racing boats in particular was quite impressive as the sails were lit with LED lamps with wireless DMX control (the first time these lamps have been used in Australia). The boats looked spectacular as the sails changed colour in unison and sequentially. A story on how this event was developed will be published in ASE shortly.

So now the APEC cavalcades are gone and traffic is back to the normal half hour or more to get from Sydney’s airport to the CBD. Fortunately The Chaser team managed to get some TV exposure for Sydney outside Australia.

And the last three APEC meetings? They were held in Ha Noi, Vietnam (2006); Busan, Korea (2005) and Santiago, Chile (2004).

No Welcome to Country for APEC leaders

It is common practise for national and international conferences (whether corporate or government) to include a Welcome to Country by representatives of the local indigenous mob, so one would expect that an important meeting like APEC would include such a welcome. But no! Despite all the posturing by the Howard government over intervention into indigenous affairs no acknowledgement was made of the original owners of the land on which they met.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Land Council, Rob Welsh, told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organisation, which represents indigenous people in the central Sydney area, had not been asked to perform a single welcome to country, smoking ceremony or cultural performance during the week-long schedule of events.

"Normally we do welcomes for the Federal Government when they come to town. We've welcomed the Dalai Lama and the Queen here, but when 21 leaders come to the country, we're not being asked to be involved. Maybe it's in case we get up and say the wrong thing."

The two Aboriginal performances that were part of the APEC program featured dancers from Arnhem land at the national Maritime Museum and Bangarra (a contemporary dance company) at the Opera House bash.

This spray by Hamish McDonald in the Sydney Morning herald summed up Howard’s attitude.

Howard still singing the wrong song

PARDON ME for choking over the sheer effrontery of John Howard in one particular bit of his $330 million spend on the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation extravaganza.

Tonight he will be the genial host for other leaders and 750 handpicked guests for a 45-minute cultural miscellany of the Australian performing arts.

It will take its title from the contemporary classic song My Island Home, which will end the show, sung by Christine Anu leading the massed cast after a swirl of eerie didgeridoo music.

According to spokeswoman Anne Fulwood, the concert and accompanying fireworks are "a celebration of a confident nation rejoicing and proud of a wealth of talented performers that call the earth's largest island 'home' ".

Actually, the song My Island Home is a tribute to indigenous Australia, composed by the Whitefella songwriter Neil Murray shortly after staying with Aboriginal singer George Rrurrambu, of the Warumpi Band, at his home on Elcho Island, off Arnhem Land.

Christine Anu, born of Torres Strait Islander parents living in a crowded household in Cairns, made the definitive recording in 1995, winning the Song of the Year award.

To anyone who really listens, the song is meant to express to the rest of us Australians the pride and joy of the people in our maritime borders to the north. It is a song connecting us to the peoples of the close region around us.

Howard's appropriation of this song reflects the crassness that has characterised his government's dealings with the Pacific over the past decade and which continues through the APEC summit.

APEC policing and the tourist industry

Some years ago I was photographing a demonstration in Sydney. I cut through some back streets to get to the head of the demo and was surprised to come across a number of buses packed with police with riot gear at the ready. It was quite a hot day and the buses were not air conditioned. The occupants of these buses were mostly young and not looking happy.

It occurred to me at the time that if they had have been let loose on the protesters they would be ready to take out their frustrations for being cooped up for so long. Fortunately this protest was peaceful – noisy but peaceful.

I was reminded of this incident while watching news reports in the build up to APEC and I wondered just how the police would react to protesters after being pumped up by all the chest thumping by the politicians in the lead up.

So I read with interest comments by Dr Michael Kennedy, a former detective who teaches policing at the University of Western Sydney, who said politicians, not frontline police, should take the blame for any overreaction. "Young coppers who are pumped up and told to do their job are doing their job" he stated.

Certainly the police had to be prepared for trouble after the debacle in Melbourne last year (footage of which the media kept playing over and over again which helped reinforce the police/political position) but the APEC fence has now been proven to be incredibly over the top.

One would have to consider that the man arrested for throwing a dart at police and brandishing a steel bar rolled in a newspaper is nothing but a common thug who took advantage of the situation to play out his hatred of police. This was nothing to do with the protest nor with APEC and if the police intelligence was as good as they claimed why was this person, who is well known to police, not spotted and dealt with before he caused harm.

Re the police removing their nametags, the Police commissioner claimed that "The indications that I've got is that there are times when protesters have used these things in the past (as a weapon), and I would be horrified if police didn't take the right actions to protect themselves." The line-up of nameless police in the SMH shows them all wearing overalls – the nametags they should be wearing are made of cloth with a velcro backing – some weapon!

The bottom line is that the media images that were sent around the world were supposed to enhance Sydney’s reputation as a business tourism destination, but it would appear that the images that went out were of the fence, the police operation and the inconvenience caused by the whole shebang. Oh, and The Chaser of course.

So just how did it look to you?

Relevant media links

Fences, foes and farces: world view of APEC

With 21 leaders arriving for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the world's media already had one eye on Sydney this week.

Prison language describes a city

It is all very well for those who have escaped, but it has been a trying time for the rest, writes John Huxley.

Close encounter with cell on wheels

CITY office worker Tom Godfrey had a close encounter with one of the buses the Government has converted into mobile prison cells for protesters arrested during this week's meeting of world leaders.

APEC's surprise guest - Mr bin Laden of Canada

IF ONLY the police had stopped to read the fine print on the "APEC 2007 Official Vehicle" sticker.

APEC pranksters say police gave them permission

The Chaser pranksters charged for breaching APEC security with a bogus motorcade that came close to George Bush's hotel say police gave them permission.

APEC dents Sydney's tourism image

Australia's tourism industry has slammed the image that Sydney's APEC summit has sent to the world.

Harsh security 'hurt business'

Sydney CBD restaurants and retailers say the "police state" security measures of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit hurt their businesses badly over the APEC long weekend.

Equine Flu effects on the Event Industry

From Greg Coffey
Events Coordinator, Sydney International Equestrian Centre

As someone who is involved in the equine industry (venue related) how has the Equine Influenza outbreak affected you? We have virtually shut down. All events for September & October have been postponed - that alone is in the vicinity of $100k.

Of course the govt is missing out on taxes from TAB etc but another thing to consider is that all those "recreational" horse owners and those in equine competition, "performance" horses, are suddenly grounded. Now take into account that all these horse folk own 4WD's, 6 cylinders, V8's, F250's or trucks to move their horses around the state or country. Now that they are at a standstill that means they are not buying fuel for their vehicles - no taxes on fuel for the govt. It is the tip of the iceberg as far as impact is concerned.

I heard from a contractor yesterday who told me he had been contacted by a plant nursery and was asked if he wanted to buy a semi trailer load of annuals - these flowers had been purpose grown for Randwick Racecourse for the Spring Carnival. They no longer require them. The local nursery is hardly a $1m business - that will hit this guy really hard.

What about the hire car and taxi industry... you get my drift here. So over to you - how has the outbreak affected you?

Want to get to know the neighbours? You need a permit

Spotted this article by Jennifer Whaite in the Heckler section of the SMH. Any one else have similar bureaucratic experience?

Once upon a time we used to have a Christmas street party. We have an ideal street for it: long enough so we don't know the people from the other end of the street; small enough so we can all get to meet each other; a nice flat area; and no through traffic. It was easy.
read the article

Has David Grant created a signature for his events?

These leggy lampshades do keep popping up don't they?
The Australian Events Expo party (right) and John Symonds 60th Birthday (below)

Industry conferences and trade shows - all getting a bit silly

The last few weeks have been rather busy with conferences and trade shows for the events industry and next year it will be insane!

This year it started comfortably enough with AIME (back to the regular slot in February), Brisbane's Event ConneQion (it's not a typo, remember, to Queenslanders XXXX spells beer) in March followed by the Meetings and Events Industry Conference in April (just before Easter).

The first RSVP for Melbourne was held in May followed a week later by the Australian Events Expo (formerly Sydney on Sale) in Sydney.

Then it got a bit silly in July with the Melbourne chapter of ISES hosting the Regional Educational Conference (REC) at the RACV club followed a week later by the International Event Research Conference in the same venue, especially as neither party was aware of what the other was planning.

So as if things weren't silly enough this year, next year it all gets positively ridiculous!

The MEA conference is on in Alice Springs 10^th - 12^th May, the Australian Events Expo is slated for 13^th & 14^th while RSVP Melbourne will be on 14^th & 15^th May – Go figure!

Regarding the ISES and Event Educators Conferences - a positive outcome from this is that ISES and the organisers of the Event Educators conference (ACEM, UTS and Victoria University) are now talking, and hopefully will get together for their next conferences.

Both are held bi-annually and as ACEM have plans in place for the next Event Educators conference to be held in the Gold Coast in 2009 it makes enormous sense for the new Queensland ISES chapter to host the ISES REC concurrently. Just look at the benefits – both conferences are small in delegate numbers (ISES attracted around 80 delegates and Event Educators around 150) so they can combine the social functions and plenary sessions, thus sharing costs and hopefully attracting relevant speakers.

Certainly a number of speakers at each conference this year would have been welcome and appropriate at the other e.g. Tim Holding (Victorian Minister for tourism), Wayne Kayler-Thompson (CEO Victorian Events Industry Council), Dr Stephen Silk and Dale Monteith (Victoria Racing Club), Paul Gudgin (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Andrew Walsh (Ceremonies – Athens Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games), Robyn Archer (Festival Director) and of course Joe Jeff Goldblatt the founder of ISES who was brought to Melbourne for the Event Educators Conference and the ISES organisers didn't find out he was coming until a couple of weeks prior to the REC.

Reports on these conferences and trade shows are in our features section.

Your comments are welcome.