New Years Eve! More than just a special event!

Signified by a spectacular fireworks and light display on what is said to be the world’s most beautiful waterway ‘Sydney Harbour’.  More than just a traditional, cultural, religious and celebratory event held throughout the world. New Years Eve is the THE industries dream. More money can be made on this one night than any other night in the year. Why? Because the effects of just one celebration witnessed along the shorelines by more than 1 million people can be felt for months. Tourists swarm on Sydney from around the world and they don’t just all line the foreshores. There are so many more events that make up New Years Eve that benefit so many industries.

While the fireworks display is an integral part of the entire evening. Very little is known of the fact that the 9pm fireworks actually form part of the traditional indigenous ‘Smoking Ceremony’ and ‘Acknowledgement of Country’. The ceremony starts at 8pm with white smoke being fired from barges located at significant points in the harbour. This is done to ward off any bad spirits that maybe in the harbour. Traditionally this indigenous ceremony is performed at the start of special occasions. Red Fallen Angels are then fired later and a line of red flares are fired from the Sydney Harbour Bridge marking the ‘Acknowledgement of Country’.  Acknowledging  the traditional indigenous cultures that owned the land before settlement. Both of these form integral parts of the celebration.

Of course there is the government organised events like the Lord Mayors Picnic held in Sydney’s Botanical gardens. A charity event attended by over 2000 children and their families catered for by the volunteers from the Guides and Rovers. With good and services provided by many different sources within the HTE industries and their supply chains creating millions of dollars in revenue.

Then there is the Lord Mayors party held in the special viewing area set up at Dawes Point, a separate invitation only event again catered for by the best suppliers in the business. With tourists coming from all around the world, supplying to this event is worth millions in revenue after the event is over. The publicity alone from being associated with the event is a ticket to further business in the future.

The fireworks spectacular is an event the New South Wales Government and City of Sydney Council are very proud of. The entire production is overseen by a team of creative talents to make the event special. While these events are organised by the government they are still important to the HTE industry because there services are utilised in ensuring the events are a success. Recognition and revenue for the industry is high.

The Opera House has a special event held and catered for in house but still the benefits are felt throughout the industry not just from the suppliers to the event itself,  but the hotels and their suppliers providing the accommodation and food and beverages to guests and tourists in town for the celebration. Extra staff has to be employed to cater with the sheer influx of people and higher demand. Transport services are needed and they feel the increased benefits of the night financially. Retailers also benefit from the increased number of tourists and the money they spend. Exact financial figures change every year but the event is still one of the biggest money earners for so many industries within Australia, as celebrations take place unanimously throughout the country.

Probably one of the most popular things for tourists and residents of the city itself to do is take a cruise on the magnificent harbour right underneath the fireworks. With every cruise company taking all of their boats out and always at full capacity offering packages of varying lengths all including food, beverages and entertainment as well as spectacular views of those magnificent fireworks. But like most things these are booked months in advance so it is easy for hosts to cater and provide for guests when they have a good idea how many people and how much they will need before the event takes place. Careful preparation and good supply chains must work to their full and best capacity.

Accomodation is booked months in advance with most Harbourside hotels offering special packages to guests wanting to see the fireworks. The guests are enticed with meal packages, tickets to the many theatre and stage shows premiering that night as well as local entertainment venues and the many smaller events held by other hospitality establishments throughout the city.

And what about the hundreds of smaller pubs and eateries scattered throughout the City and around the harbour, and the benefits from the increase in business for them on the night.  With nearly every establishment along the George Street strip as its affectionately called by the locals, packed to full capacity and almost all of them providing some form of entertainment themselves. Thousands of revellers wanting food and beverages, and transport around the city. The benefits to their supplies as they increase the amount of supplies they intake leading up to the night.

What about the small food and beverage stalls along the streets. With a stand placed literally metres apart again all bustling with customers wanting to purchase food and beverages. And what about the thousands of small ‘roving’ enterprises, making thousands from revellers purchasing glow sticks and flashing rings. Any novelty item they can find to celebrate the occasion.

Then with an event like the Sydney New Years Eve fireworks display there is always a need to televise the event around the world. The effect of this on the HTE industry is enormous. In Australia alone the viewing numbers are in the millions with millions of people holding their own small events in homes and community venues throughout the country. All of these events have a huge impact on tourism industry because of the sheer influx of people arriving into the country to celebrate what is known as the ‘holiday season’ and ‘New Years Eve’ alone. The need to accommodate the huge number of people and their need for food and beverages and catering to their wants and desires, is a boost to the industry and one that is planned for sometimes years in advance. Benefits flow on to the transport and retail industries because of the human need for entertainment and shopping.

The HTE industry will continue to benefit from New Years Eve celebrations for years to come as the famous’ Aussie spirit’ to celebrate is spread throughout the world. Australia has always been recognised for its hospitality!

(Kim)

http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/gallery/video-gallery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_New_Year%27s_Eve

Sustainable New Years – Another reason for Australia to be proud on New Years!

As the size and complexity of an event increases, so too does the potential for impact on the environment (A. Shone, 2001, p 61). Our cities world famous New Years Eve fireworks, with a $6.3 million budget and 7000 kilos of explosive attract more than 1.5 million people to our harbour and produce 56 tones of waste (Sydneymedia.com.au, 2011). With these numbers, surely the awe inspiring event that each of our New Years are centered around, must come at a cost to our environment?

Sustainability is an important aspect of planning any event, but is especially so for such a large-scale event as Sydney’s New Years Eve. Sustainability describes the way we meet our current needs whilst taking care not to compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Van der Wagen, 2010, p 62). Sustainable practice involves reducing the amount of resources we use and the waste and emissions we generate.

With all of the planning that goes into the Fireworks, the event should add considerably to Australia’s green house gas emissions. However, the city has planned the event to be carbon neutral (sydneynewyearseve.com, 2011). Sydney’s New Years Eve fireworks are run by the City of Sydney which, as of 2008, is a carbon neutral Council. The Carbon Reduction Institute conducts a yearly carbon audit, calculating emissions and ensuring that they are offset with the purchase of carbon credits. The institute calculates all emissions from the event, including the embodied emissions from the whole supply chain of each item that is purchased by the city for the running of the event (Fan, 2011, p 2). This includes such things as lighting and staff travel right down to soft drink, meat and vegetables used to cater the Children’s Picnic, and the emissions from waste collected and sent to landfill.  Offsetting these emissions effectively gives City of Sydney Council a net zero carbon foot print.

By organizing the event this way, the city aims to reduce the impacts of climate change, meet the expectations of the public, show leadership and influence sustainable market practices.

Organising the event to be carbon neutral, whilst also being of great benefit to our environment and its sustainability, also has many other advantages for Sydney:

·      This practice is good for the reputation of the council- as our concern, as a public, for the environment and especially in regards to climate change is high, we expect our councils and government to adapt to limit the emissions put out to sustain the environment for future generations.

·      It is also good for the reputation of Sydney. Tourism plays an important part in the economy of Sydney & Australia as a whole, with international visitors spending $5.2 billion, and our visitors from other states spending $1.7 billion per year in the Sydney region alone (Tourism NSW, 2010, p 2). With travellers from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, south Korea and Japan indicating high levels of concern for the environment and in particular climate change, to the point that these concerns are likely to effect their holiday planning (Steiner, 2008, p 3), it is important for Sydney to be seen as a green city, which is taking measures to ensure that our environment is cared for, for the future. Being environmentally responsible creates an opportunity to establish a reputation for being “responsible and forward-thinking, a quality more and more customers are paying attention to” (Samuel, 2011). As the “New Years Eve capital of the world” (Clover Moore, 2011), from 160 countries, 1.1 billion people watch our New Years Fireworks and from Australia, 2.6 million more. What better way to show to the world & its travellers that we are an environmentally friendly destination, than the commentary on the televised broadcast watched by so many?

·      Keeping a city-wide event carbon neutral demonstrates to other organisations and countries that being green is achievable. This is bound to inspire and encourage others to use sustainable practices, which benefits not just their organisations or countries, but the whole world!

·      It’s ethical! – Aiming to do no harm to our environment by contributing to green house gas emissions is the right thing to do!

With the morning after clean up requiring an army of 230 people, 4 large road sweepers, 6 garbage compactors, 4 mechanical footway sweepers and 4 high pressure steam plant cleaners (Cockington, 2003), we would expect that the water used and rubbish collected should deplete our water reserves and significantly add to our land fill.

As Sydney’s landfills are rapidly nearing capacity and are expected to be full by 2016 (Benns, 2010), and the effects that this landfill has on our environment, the waste collected from the New Years Eve party is of concern to Sydney siders.

The main issues we have with landfill  & its affect on our environment are:

·      Groundwater: Rain falling on landfill, falls to the bottom, bringing with it soluble toxic particles from the rubbish it travels through, this is then called leachate. The leachate can seep through to the water table (which is used during drought), effectively polluting it.

·      Gases released from rubbish: includes methane & carbon dioxide. These gases migrate to surrounding property and release unpleasant odours, can cause cancer and can affect the growth of plants (Zhang, Jiansheng Liang & M.H. Wong, 1995).

·      Insects, Rodents & Vermin: these are attracted to the landfill and also spread to surrounding properties

For the above reasons, it is difficult and undesired to need to find new landfill sites. The waste produced by the celebrations around the harbour, equaling 56 tonnes last year, would add to the 40,000 tonnes of waste already rapidly filling our landfills per year.

The City of Sydney has placed an emphasis on waste management when planning for New Years Eve. The city plans to recycle an impressive 80% of the waste collected (sydneynewyearseve.com, 2011), reducing the amount contributed to our landfills to just 20% of the 50 + tonnes collected!

This impressive figure should have the effect of not only reducing the amount of waste that the event itself contributes to the landfills, but also encourage others in Sydney to recycle at home to reduce the amount that they contribute to our landfill individually. 

Our increasing population has led to water shortages in Sydney. Whilst Sydney siders have had strict water restrictions placed on them and been reminded constantly of the limitations of our water catchment area, holding a party which requires a large scale clean up afterward seems irresponsible and to be undoing much of our hard work. But Sydney will actually be cleaned using 100% recycled water(sydneynewyearseve.com, 2011)!

Emissions from motor vehicles are one of the main sources of green house gas emissions in Sydney. Each litre of petrol used in this way produces 2.7kg of greenhouse gas! These gases were not circulating through our ecosystem before they were burnt as fuel and the effects of this cause one of the average persons main concerns, the green house effect. Imagine the effect on the environment if each of the 1.5 million visitors to our harbour drove!

The City of Sydney is encouraging people to take public transport to get to the harbour for the fireworks. There are extra train and bus services arranged for the day, temporary bus terminals set up and roads in the city will be closed, which will further encourage us to take the train!

Fireworks let off smoke and send dust in to the air which can carry traces of these elements. This dust settles around the crowd and falls onto the harbour and parklands. This gives rise to concern that fireworks could cause health hazards for those watching the display as well as for flora and fauna in the area. 

Fireworks can contain the following elements, which can have negative effects on the environment (:

·      Aluminium

·      Barium

·      Carbon

·      Calcium

·      Chlorine

·      Cessium

·      Copper

·      Iron

·      Lithium

·      Magnesium

·      Sulfur

·      Titanium

·      Zinc

However, The Environmental Protection Act shows us:

“The chemicals contained in fireworks are relatively harmless, while others are rapidly rendered inert by reactions with seawater. Further, factors such as the water volume and the influence of tidal patterns would rapidly dissipate any residual chemicals released by fireworks. The smoke and particle pollution impacts caused by fireworks are localised, short in duration and on a small scale compared to many other sources of these pollutants, such as motor vehicles.” (Seaton, 2001).

In addition to this, Foti Fireworks, the fireworks contractor for Sydney’s Fireworks will use “low environmental impact fireworks” for the event, which use biodegradable paper and with contents, which leave no trace behind. (Foti, 2010).

In light of the above, I think that it is clear that Sydney City council has made a large effort, whilst planning our New Years party, to ensure that it is a sustainable event. When we watch the fireworks with pride on New Years at what we consider to be the worlds best fireworks display, we should be especially proud because of this.

(Tara)

References:

Benns M, 2010, Waste Solution Left To Rot as Landfill Capacity Runs out, Available: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/waste-solution-left-to-rot-as-landfill-capacity-runs-out-20100320-qn6z.html, accessed 18^th December, 2011

Cockington J, 2003, How Sydney Works New Years Cleanup, Available: http://www.rubbishremoval.com.au/news-articles/2003/12/26/how-sydney-works-new-years-cleanup/, accessed 18^th December, 2011

The attorney General, 2001, 1564—FIREWORKS POLLUTION, Available: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/la/qala.nsf/ad22cc96ba50555dca257051007aa5c8/ca25708400173f67ca25704a001a79f2?OpenDocument, accessed 18^th December, 2011

Wikipedia Article: Fireworks, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks, accessed 18^th December, 2011

Sydneymedia.com.au, 2010, Sydney New Years Eve Making  a Mark Without Lasting Impressions on the Environment,  Available: http://www.sydneymedia.com.au/html/4467-sydney-new-years-eve-making-a-mark-without-lasting-impressions-on-the-environment.asp, accessed 18^th December, 2011

NSW Transport, 2011, NYE 2011 Transport Guide, Available: http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/plan-ahead/public-transport, accessed 18^th December, 2011

Fan P, 2011, CARBON AUDIT SUMMARY REPORT: June 2011
2010 Sydney New Year’s Eve, Available: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/environment/.../inventory-NYE2010, Accessed 18^th December, 2011

Anton S, P Bryne, 2001, Successful Event Management A Practical Handbook, Continuum, London

Van der Wagen L, 2010, Events and Tourism Essentials, Pearson, Frenchs Forest

Sydneynewyearseve.com, 2011, A Carbon Neutral Event, Available: http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/about/a-carbon-neutral-event, Accessed 18^th December, 2011

Who really thinks about what and who was involved in making an event the success it is?

Whether it’s a small event like a child’s birthday party, or a city wide spectacular. Similar processes are involved, however smaller scale events do not need to explore some as in depth as larger events do.

In larger events, the scope of things involved stretches to include;

ID	Task
1	OVERVIEW
1.1	Activity
1.2	Location
1.3	Date
1.4	Time
1.5	Schedule
1.5.1	Run sheet
2	LOGISTICS
2.1	Travel
2.1.1	Public Transport
2.1.1.1	Transport Time Tables
2.1.2	Driving Directions
2.1.3	Taxi Ranks
2.1.4	Parking
2.2	Location
2.3	Time Allowance
2.3.1	Run time
2.3.2	Start time
2.3.3	Finish time
2.4	Time and Date
2.4.1	Time
2.4.2	Date
2.5	Schedule
2.5.1	Run sheet
2.6	Guests
	Number of guests attending
3	HR MANAGEMENT
3.1	Staff
3.1.1	Start & finishing times
3.1.2	Availabilities
3.1.3	Contact details
3.1.3.1	Emergency contact
3.1.4	Roles & Responsibilities.
3.1.5	Wages
3.1.6	Briefing sheet
3.1.7	Staff management
4	LEGAL
4.1	Insurance
4.1.1	Venue
4.1.2	Guests
4.1.3	Staff
4.1.3.1	Workers compensation
4.2	Qualifications
4.2.1	R.S.A of staff
4.3	Licenses
4.3.1	Liqueur license
5	FINANCE
5.1	Budget
5.2	Expenses
5.2.1	Catering company allowance
5.2.2	Staff wages
5.2.5	Food/Drink
5.2.6	Stationary
6	RESOURCES
6.1	Food and Drink
6.1.1	Alcohol
6.1.2	Select menu
6.1.3	Catering company
6.2	Stationary
6.2.1	Pens
6.2.2	Note pads
6.3	Invitations and RSVPs
7	RISK MANAGEMENT
7.1	Contingency plan
8	MARKETING
8.1	PR (public relations)
8.1.1	Guests of notoriety
8.2	Advertising
8.3	Marketing Strategy
9	STAKEHOLDERS
	Guests
	Sponsors
10	EVALUATION
	Debrief, Performance
	Review & Feedback

Infrastructure: the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants and schools.

As the name indicates, event infrastructure includes those essential elements with out which there cannot be any event. These essential elements are core concept, core people, core talent, and core structure. The nature of this infrastructure varies with the event categories and variations in events. 

Core Concepts: Core Concepts is a terms that can be used to define the fundamental underlying ethos (The characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as seen in its beliefs and aspirations) (Dictionary.com) and evolution of the various major categories of events.

The core concepts of an event are like DNA – generating a base for the person that shall grow. The exact size and shape of the person varies from individual to individual in the family. Therefore, an entire family can be built on each of the event categories; these differences lead to innumerable variations in events.

Core People: These are the people who are performing, acting and participating in the process of creating an event. Their service and actions assist in terms of a creating favorable position for the clients’ brand in the audience mind. The personality of the core people being used in an event should match the brand personality.

Core Talent: With every event category a specific expertise, reputation, or knowledge is required of those involved. It is the core talent that attracts and influences the audience. In a music concert, the types of audience that are attracted to the event depend on the talent of the performer and the style of music; younger generations will typically attend a Rianna concert, where older generations might prefer ACDC. The core talent therefore helps in creating variations in any event category. For instance, in music whether the event is a classical music concert, depends on the type of time, constraints in terms of boundary, number of participants, etc. 


Core Structure: Depending upon the degree to which the event category is structured the requirement of a management and marketing of events may vary. 
The presence of a formal or informal organisation to manage the event category as a whole is important to make it lucrative from its marketing point of view. 
The more formal and structured it is, the more lucrative that event category becomes, since it becomes easier to manage and market.
Depending on the stakes involved (not only financially), each of the categories has become structured to certain degree. 
Traditionally, across the world, competitive events have always been comprehensively administered right from the ground up 

Target Audience: Target audience is the customer groups who form the focus of events. The actual event design varies with the demographic profile of the target audience as well as the number of individuals within that targeted audience. It is from these criteria that the event gets it’s image, budget and (generally speaking) concept.

Whether the event would be a mega – event or a theme party, which artist would perform or where the event is to be held etc. primarily depend on the target audience. Therefore, starting from the initial conceptualisation to the execution of the event, the entire process knowingly takes in to consideration the characteristics and the behavior of the target customer groups. 



Every marketing activity is customer based (essentially), depending on the clients marketing requirements, as discussed earlier, event organiser decide the audience to be targeted. Based on the target audience as a common denominator, event organiser’s can canvass for other clients who would like to associate with the event, thus events can also act as a converging ground for a diverse range of corporate with the same target audience.

The costing of an event will also definitely vary with both the profile and number of audience being targeted.(Management-Hub.com, 2005 - 2011)

The importance of infrastructure in an event the size of the Sydney New Year Eve Celebrations is paramount. Without considering things such as the transport (public), alcohol consumption control and general public safety event organisers may find themselves unprepared for situations and facing unexpected consequences.

For they Sydney NYE celebrations, the essential elements (event infrastructure) can be easily recognized. The core concepts are the involvement of the entire city in celebrating the end of the old and the beginning of the new. The core people cannot be counted on one hand, nor on twenty! The range from the sponsors of the events surrounding the fireworks, to the specialists who are responsible for the display and the volunteers, without whom the event would not take place. The core talent is variable depending on whom you ask. If you were to ask generation X & Y the answer may be the DJ performing at the club they spend the evening in, whilst the Baby Boomers would be more likely to name the fireworks themselves as the core talent.  The core structure of the Sydney NYE Celebrations is a little harder to define as the spectrum of the events that collectively make up the evening are so varied.  For most of the events taking place during the evening, there are formal organisations responsible for the structure of the event, however there are also private functions that have informal structures in which individuals act as organisations to manage and market/promote the event to their targeted audience.

Last, but certainly not least is the target audience of the Sydney NYE celebrations. Simply put – this includes every individual who is in Sydney during this period.
(Connie)

Works Cited

(n.d.). Retrieved from Holiday Origins: www.holidayorigins.com/html/new_years_day

Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Ethos (search). Retrieved 2011 йил 15-December from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethos

Management-Hub.com. (2005 - 2011). About Event Infrastructure and what are the essential elements in the Event infrastructure? Retrieved 2011 йил 10-December from Management-Hub.com: http://www.management-hub.com/event-infrastructure.html