Eventualities

After an international career delivering events for some of the world's biggest brands, Adam Bannister has set out to develop and grow the production management industry in regional Australia. Adam is a champion of living and working regionally and founded Pyrus Event Services from his home in Wagga in 2016. Pyrus is a specialised event agency that offers event technology consultancy as well as production management services. As strong proponents for inclusion, Pyrus is dedicated to ensuring ease of access for all participants at events. Pyrus has also recently launched a new product, Pyrus Connect, that better connects access technologies to virtual, hybrid & live events.  The accessibility course Adam refers to can be found here - https://aarts.net.au/accessible-festivals-and-events/  You can get in touch with Adam here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-bannister-83ab4a58/

Solar panel run ice cream and popcorn machines, worm farms and the importance of policy and working with local stakeholders…we cover a lot of ground in this episode with Cameron Little.  Cameron Little is the Principal of Sustainability Systems & Services, a specialist sustainability consulting and service provider. He has over two decades of experience within the environment, sustainability and corporate social responsibility sector. Cameron lectures and provides training through numerous educational bodies. He is also a practitioner in the field and provides numerous sustainability-related resources and services to events throughout the year from small Council run events to iconic events such as the Sydney Festival, New Year’s Eve in the Sydney Botanic Gardens and Australian Fashion Week. Cameron has recently been elected as President of the Sustainable Event Alliance (SEA) - a global guild of events professionals, events organisers and sustainable suppliers.  You can connect with Cam here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronlittle1/?originalSubdomain=au You can find out more about SEA and their free membership here - https://sustainable-event-alliance.org/

Bill Hauritz AM is the Founder & Executive Director of the internationally acclaimed Woodford Folk Festival. The festival is one of the largest folk festivals in the world and has been described as one of our nation’s major cultural assets. It is acclaimed for its inclusivity, optimism and exploration of ideas. Bill has been the recipient of many awards including being appointed as a member of the Order of Australia (AM), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Queensland Music industry and been appointed an Honorary Senior Fellow at The Sunshine Coast University.Bill was a keynote speaker at the inaugural Regional Events Conference in Wagga Wagga in 2016. You can find out more about the Festival here - https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/

Peter Jones AM is one of Australia’s leading event producers, creating and designing special events for over thirty years.  Based in Melbourne, Peter has been the recipient of countless awards and recognitions throughout his career. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia at the Australia Day Honours for significant service to the tourism and hospitality sector in 2018.  Peter has continually dedicated a great deal of time to representing and supporting the industry at many levels. He is a previous Chairman of the Victoria Events Industry Council and as a member of the Victoria Tourism Industry Council. He was also a board member of Destination Melbourne, past President of the Melbourne chapter of the International Special Events Society and on the Tourism Australia Business Events Advisory Panel.  Peter was a keynote speaker at the 2019 Regional Events Conference in Dubbo and it was a delight to have him on this episode of the Eventualities podcast. 

Welcome to season 2 of the Eventualities podcast.Peter Noble OAM has been working in the music industry for almost fifty years. In 2014 Peter was awarded the Rolling Stone Award for his outstanding career-long contribution to popular culture. In 2016, Peter was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to live and recorded music, to tourism, and to the community. Over the course of his career, Peter has worked in many areas of the music business including record producing, touring artists, artist management, setting up the Aboriginal Artists Agency, event site development and festival promotion.  Peter is the Festival Director for Byron Bay Bluesfest which was founded in 1990, showcasing music from around the world every Easter long weekend. Peter was a keynote speaker at the inaugural Regional Events Conference in Wagga Wagga in 2016.You can find out more about Peter and Bluesfest here - https://www.bluesfest.com.au/

Welcome to our final episode of the Eventualities podcast for season 1. The Bathurst Winter Festival is a two-week event during the July school holidays which embraces the magic of Bathurst’s Winter. It’s very quickly gaining a reputation as a vibrant and creative destination. Hannah Welch is the Manager of Events at Bathurst Regional Council and has been involved since the inception of the Bathurst Winterfest. Hannah was a presenter at the 2018 Regional Events Conference in Port Macquarie. Thanks to Hannah for her insights and for being so generous with sharing the teams learnings. https://www.bathurstwinterfestival.com.au/

The Lismore Lantern Parade is an annual community event held on or around the longest night of the year, being the Winter Solstice. The event attracts approximately 30,000 people each year and has been formally recognised by Lismore City Council as its signature event.​Each year the Lantern Parade involves participants from Lismore, throughout the Northern Rivers and visitors to the region who have attended workshops in lantern, mask and costume making. School and community workshops start at Easter each year with many other volunteers travelling from across the country to participate in this event. LightnUp Inc are the producers of the Lismore Lantern Parade and run year round programs and workshops throughout regional, rural and metropolitan Australia, including lantern making, shadow theatre, illuminated puppets, masks and costume making, and story development. Jyllie Jackson is the CEO and Creative Director of the Lismore Lantern Parade. I really enjoyed this conversation with Jyllie and hope this chat makes your day a little brighter. https://www.lismorelanternparade.com.au/ givenow.com.au/lightnup-lanterns-sos

This week on Eventualities, we’re mixing things up and instead of focussing on a particular event or festival, we’ve taken some time to catch up with our good friend and Regional Events Conference MC extraordinaire, Phil Wishart.Phil has a great passion for regional events, having worked in the sport, events and tourism sectors over the past 15 years.Phil has previously worked with Destination NSW and is currently employed with the Office of Sport where he is the Head of Marketing and Communications. Prior to this role, he was the Principal Advisor - Major Sports Events at the Office of Sport where Phil’s team worked with state and national sporting organisations, local government and venue owners to deliver on the NSW Government’s 10 World Cups in 10 Years initiative, and identify opportunities to maximise the legacy of hosting major sporting events in NSW.We hope you enjoy this conversation.