BiancaL – William Angliss Institute Events

November 15, 2017 By BiancaL

Mentone Little Athletics Relay Day 2017

Over the course of semester two, as students studying a Diploma of Event Management at William Angliss, our team – ‘Funtastic Events’ – was given the opportunity to help collectively manage the Mentone Little Athletics Relay Day for our Project Management subject.

The Mentone Little Athletics Day was held on the 12^th of November at the Dolomore Reserve in Mentone. It’s an annual event that takes place as a precursor to qualify under U8 – U15 athletes for the regional relay day event. It’s a fun, social day out for families of athletes and aims to encourage young children to lead an active lifestyle through a friendly, competitive sport.

This year, approximately 480 southern metro teams registered, some traveling as far as Mornington to compete. The event overall, was a success attracting 1,800+ attendees. There was ice-cream, coffee, an all-day barbeque, face painting and three raffle draws with many great prizes.

An event of this nature required many staging elements and our main tasks as a team included marketing the event, gaining sponsorship from local businesses for raffle prizes, implementing a risk management plan, sourcing food vendors and liaising with suppliers to secure relay batons/engraving and portable toilets.

‘Funtastic Events’ would like to thank our client and Project Manager teacher for the constant support we received through the planning and operational phases of the event. We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to help plan the Mentone Little Athletics Relay Day and have been able to gain valuable industry experience.

November 15, 2017 By BiancaL

Regional Road Trip – Yarra Valley 2017

On Tuesday 31st October the stage one the Events Management Diploma stage 1 students set out to explore the beautiful sites and activities of the Yarra Valley. The fieldtrip was organised by Evolution Events, stage 2 Events Management students as part of our Project Management subject. As a group we had to meet with our client and plan the day, source suppliers and activities that fell within our allocated budget. It was a great learning experience for us and the day turned out to be a great success!

The day began with a visit to the Alowyn Gardens. Here we met Prue who was the owner of the gardens and who had brought them to life. She spoke to us about what sort of events they hold there, the spaces they had available and what it is like to be involved in the Events industry. The students were filled with knowledge and passion. Walking through the gardens we set them a challenge of taking the ‘best photo of the day’ Nicole took this out with a magnificent photo of the fountain displayed in the centre of the gardens.

After the gardens we headed just around the corner were we had a nutty time indulging in Yarra Valleys finest chocolate. The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery is one of the tourist hotspots in the Yarra Valley region and the students definitely got to see why.

After consuming loads of chocolate, we visited the local RSL in Healesville for lunch where we had a two-course meal. This room was one of two functions rooms used for smaller conferences and meetings. It gave the students an idea of how you could utilise different spaces for different events so easily.

What is the most important thing to do in the Yarra Valley? Of course, it’s to drink wine! And that’s just what we did, we set off for our last destination of the road trip to Rochford Winery where not only is the wine incredible, but the events there are just as popular. At Rochford we were given a good insight into the wine industry, how they were made and we were all shown, how to properly taste wine by a wine enthusiast.

Another intriguing talk which showed the students events is not only planning the day itself, but that you could concentrate on different aspects and specialise in what you are really interested in, and that the events industry is full of opportunities there for the taking. The students got to view the stage set up for this years Day on the Green event.

It was a great experience for the students and Evolution team and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

June 9, 2017 By BiancaL

Career Practitioners Day

As part of our last semester of the Diploma of Events we got the opportunity to organise and run an event in consultation with a client. My group was given the William Angliss Careers Practitioners Day held on Wednesday 24^th May 2017 to organise.

Our team was made up of 4 team members (Mariana, David, Suzuyo & Maletina). As a group we decided to call ourselves Lexicon Productions and I designed our team logo. Each team member was responsible for specific elements of the event.

Our client was Tessa & Alex, who work in the Marketing department of William Angliss. Our main contact was Tessa, who we met with on numerous occasions to pitch our ideas and confirm details in the lead up to the event. The event consisted of a conference held in the Angliss Conference Centre in the morning, follwed by a lunch in the Angliss Restaurant. The conference had a plenary session with an industry panel of guest speakers from across the hospitality, tourism and events industries. This was then followed by different workshops run by William Angliss Student Services and graduated students, who explained their experience in the industry and how they have become successful in their projects and fields.

The event had a total number of 102 attendees that registered to attend the event this year. As we group we had to organise the following elements for the event:

Design event theme. The client chose a geometric theme.
Registrations
Book the conference centre
Set up the conference centre and style all tables
Create and put up signage throughout the campus
Meet & greet attendees upon arrival
Assist with creating the conference program
Book lunch venue
Consult with the Angliss Restaurant with regards to menu and beverage requirements
Brief hospitality students working as wait staff
Coordinate the service of food with the front of house team
Set up the restaurant including all styling elements for the lunch
Run the lunch service
Assist with running the raffle at the end of the lunch

Overall, this was a great experience planning this event over the last 4 months. As a team we learnt many valuable skills that will benefit us when working in the Events industry. Our client and guests gave us positive feedback on the event and congratulated us on the successful running of the event.

Mariana Nava

Project Team Leader

May 17, 2017 By BiancaL

Industry Guest Speaker

Louisa Line from the Little Big Company and Nicci Webster from Frosted by Nicci came on campus to talk to the Advanced Diploma of Events students about their experience in the Events Industry.

Louisa, who has over 18 years experience in the events industry spoke to the students about her event styling business The Little Big Company. She addressed topics such as how to create an event pitch, social media marketing, networking, current trends within the industry and what key skills and attributes the industry requires. Louisa was very inspirational and really motivated the students. She also gave the students a mock brief and asked them all to create a pitch that she would evaluate and provide feedback on.

Her brief outlined the following:
– Cocktail party for 200 people
– ‘White cloud balloon’ themed event
– Source venue
– Touches of gold
– Candy cart
– Lots of florals

Students have to create a visual pitch as well as outline an overall budget including vendors/suppliers and total man hours.

Nicci Webster talked to the students about her experience working in the event industry as well as the challenges of starting your own business. Nicci also touched on topics such as customer service, determining your dollar worth and learning how to say no to events that don’t fit with your company brand. Nicci also brought in some amazing treats that she made for the students to enjoy! A gorgeous salted caramel cake and beautiful HOORAY cookies.

An amazing morning was had by all. Thank you to both Louisa and Nicci for taking the time to share their experiences with the students.