sarah-says

QBE Internation Rugby Final, Twickenham

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:03:39 +0100

The international series is now over but what a month of great games! England may have only won two games

England Vs Fiji - 54 - 12 = Win
England Vs Australia - 14 - 20 = Lose
England Vs South Africa - 15 - 16 = Lose
England Vs New Zealand - 38- 21 = Win

We certainly won on a high with a win against the All Blacks!

The VIP Hospitality for QBE was a great success and all the guests had a great time. Over the 4 Saturdays we had 8 different England players who were interviewed by Martin Bayfield.

Withagreat Dance Mob who performed incredibly well and went down a treat and a brilliant Production team the event not only was a success but great fun too!

QBE International Rugby, Twickenham

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:14:04 +0100

The first of the QBE International Rugby Games took place on 10 November 2012 at Twickenham - England Vs Fiji and we beat Fiji 54-12 what a first result.

This is the first year QBE have sponsored these games and they are set to continue for the next 3 years. QBE host a VIP area for their staff and clients and this was to be an experience they wouldn't forget. Paragon were the event management company that produced the event.

With a week prior to set up one of the conference rooms was rigged to look like the England Locker Room - with a cloakroom which replicated the locker room a walk way, which felt like the tunnel and you were about enter the pitch

and then the main room which had locker benches, roll top baths (as they players had) and within that room there was a Sports TV studio where Ex Rugby Player Martin Bayfield hosted the event from.

My job was to stage manage the event working mainly with Martin Bayfield and the rest of the Crew.

With A great host, a dance mob, free flowing alcohol a great game and two England players Dan Cole and Tom Woldrom interviewed the day was a great success!

I wonder what the score will be next weekend England Vs Australia, watch this space!

Summer 2012

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:43:29 +0100

Well the summer seems to have come and gone in a flash without the weather we would have wished for, however events still go on.

After working at the British Beach Polo this year I then went off to support Mar-key at Middlesex University Graduations for a week.

Throughout the rest of the summer I have been focussing on my own business Red Sapphire which is currently being heavily promoted.

I spent two weeks back at MCI UK working on EMEA Burger King Conference and Trade show which took place in Dublin, I went in to support on the pre-production side to the event.

I have an awards dinner next week before a three week contact with MCI and then each weekend through November I am working on International Rugby Games at Twickenham - so plenty to keep me going, before you know it, it will be christmas!

British Beach Polo Championships 201

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:51:10 +0100

The British Beach Polo, on Sandbanks took place for the 5th year in a row and despite the weather was a great success.

I was brought by in the Event Director as the site manager to over see all suppliers and and onsite logistics. The site was on Sandbanks beach in Poole and went from a sandpit to a fantastic event site!

The doors opened at 12 noon and the guests soon started to flood in, with a hospitality and VIP tent there was something for everyone. Throughout both days England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all competed for the title of British Beach Polo Champions. There were 3 polo games each day despite the rain the games still went ahead.
There were also so fantastic retails stalls and the German Food Market which went down a treat.
As the evening went on the party started, the main stage had various band and acts with the DJ going on into the night and the guests partied on.

A few set up pictures!

Day 1

The day before the event and sun finally came out!

I had the pleasure of working with Mar-key, Victoria Sheppard from Pink Liquorice the Operations Director for the event and SLR Productions who did all the sound and lighting.

The event was a great success hopefully we will have less rain next year, roll on 2013!

Live Corporate Events in the UK and Europe with MCI UK

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:32:25 +0100

The MCI UK contract is now nearly coming to an end with only one week left to go! My role as Production Manger at MCI has involved working on four events the first one being Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi
This event was held over two days at the W Hotel, Barcelona and was an all round success.

On the last night of the conference a gala dinner took place at the Casa Batllo, a incredible building created by Gaudi himself.

GE Capital
After Hitachi we had two events for GE Capital one in London at the Business Design Centre and the second at the Union Halle in Frankfurt.
Both events were one days events for approximately 200 delegates with Mike Neal the Chairman and CEO of GE Capital and Vice Chairman of General Electric Company attending and making a speech at both event.
MCI handled the entire event from website design, online registration system, logistics, technical production, event brand design and print.

Frankfurt

Both events were really successful and there are set to be two others in Europe later on in the year.

Network Sales Awards - The Post Office

Two days after GE Capital we headed back to London at the Hilton Park Lane to set up an awards dinner for the Post Office.
This event was very production heavy creating a room within a room feel, we took the rectangular room and turned it in to a circular room with four screens on the outer edge so whichever way you looked you could see two screens this allowing for a central stage.
The screen content was effective, we paired the screens which allowed the content to run over both screens creating a the feel of it running around the room.

David and Carrie Grant were the entertainment for the awards and got all the audience involved in singing in the round! Neil Bentley from Heart FM London was our voice over for the evening and he then turned his hand to the decks to DJ or the night.

It was a really successful event and everyone partied on until 2am!

I have the pleasure of joining MCI for their summer gathering this week (fingers crossed for the weather). Once the week is over I start on the British Beach Polo Championships on Sandbanks.

MCI Contract

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:32:59 +0100

Well for the last month I have been working for MCI-Group UK, who have given me a three month contract to assist them as a Production Manger through one of their busy periods.

I am working on various projects involving 2 day conference out in Barcelona and a Awards Dinner in London at the Hilton Park Lane.

We are currently in the early stages of design work and production but watch this space for show images!

While that contract continues I have a few other roles lined up for the summer which are going to take me to the great outdoors working on some exciting public events! Watch this space to find out what they are!

The Great British Tattoo Show, Olympia, London

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:34:23 +0100

The Great British Tattoo Show took place at Olympia in London on the 21 and 22 April 2012. What a great event, it was the first Tattoo show Jazz Publishing had hosted in London at Olympia, and it turned out to be a great success!

There were tattoo artists and entertainment everywhere. A great exhibition area that consisted of various artists tattooing live, which for someone like me who doesn't even own one, quite an experience. The art work of these artists is incredible what a talent! People were coming in and giving the artist a picture of what they wanted and away they went, incredible!

Along side all the artists there was many clothing stands and a fantastic BMX ramp area which was very popular.

I had been asked to stage manage the fashion show and entertainment for the main catwalk stage. This definitely brought the crowds in. There some great fashion shows consisting of clothing from Traditional, Contemporary and Urban styles provided by vendors attending the event with some fantastic models who had some fascinating tattoos themselves who really came together as a team to create a great show.

This where I lived back stage for two days:-) - after day 1, reorganised !

There was also other entertainment such as the Cyanide Girls, Mille Dollar and Beatrix Von Bourbon who both did eye catching burlesque shows, Engineers of Desire who involved lots of fire and leather and Breakdancing.

Amongst all the shows and entertainment the host for the event Paul Sweeney a fantastic compare kept the crowds going for hours!

After all the tattooing and the entertainment came the Tattoo Awards which consisted of various tattoo categories which anyone could enter as well as the best of the day category, which allowed those people who had their tattoo done at the show that day could enter and be judged. The judges were Sion Smith editor of Skin Deep Magazine and Woody editor of Tattoo Master.

A great weekend and run by a fantastic team!

After day one!

The whole team after the whole show!

A visit to Confex 2012 and The Hotel and Catering Show

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:34:51 +0100

I attended Confex 2012 last week at Excel in London, which was great loads of vendors attended, it appeared bigger than the last time I had been which was at Earls Court.

There were a real variety of people including venues, production companies, caterers, entertainment, marquees / tents, out door event suppliers and I met some really great contacts.

I came across a relatively new company called ' Sweet Trees' a great alternative to flower table centres, these ones are made of sweets! I was even given a mini marshmellow one as a sample,

The Hotel and Catering show was on today and yesterday at the BIC, Bournemouth. I popped along today and was greeted by some great people all of who are great potential suppliers for future events, not just in the area but all over the UK.

Networking in the South

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:35:33 +0100

I headed off to The Rose Bowl in Southampton for the first time and attended Business South, a well known business event in the area. I came across and met lots of companies but the most informative area was Nigel Botterill a super successful business man. He was presenting an hour long talk about his successes and what we needed to do to become successful a great insight into the world of business.

I also attended South Coast Connections a networking event at the Menzies Carlton Hotel, Bournemouth. I met some great people who own all sorts of businesses in the Bournemouth and Poole area. This is only the second networking meeting I have been to in the area so it is all very new to me, looking forward to the next one!

Sarahs Whereabouts

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:36:07 +0100

It has been a while since I have written, I am not sure where the time has gone.

As well as freelancing I have just recently set up my own business called Red Sapphire an events service, based in Dorset, that can support people on a variety of levels. The business has been set up to assist people in creating their event and making it easier to manage.
Red Sapphire works with people who are planning a party, a wedding, a launch party, a company conference or awards dinner or maybe they are holding a public event and need assistance to get the ball rolling.
We provide a variety of services to suit everyone such as :

Bespoke venue finding, sourcing suppliers from caterers to AV companies or florists to entertainment specific to your event.

- Event coordination taking your event in its entirety liaising with all suppliers, managing the budget and planning everything down to the last detail.

- Event Management taking the stress from the event away on the day so it can be enjoyed and ensure it stays memorable.

Each of these are adaptable to suit the clients needs.

This is one of my big projects at the moment, so watch this space to find out how it goes.

It would be great if you could like my facebook - 'redsapphireevents' page or follow me on twitter '@r_s_events'.

I am still freelancing for companies as before this is just another string to my bow :-)