Tape, Ties & Toes


Inspirational Stuff:  Tape, Ties & Toes

An event manager knows that no matter what type of event, you always—ALWAYS—turn up with gaffer tape.

And cable ties.

And comfortable shoes to protect your greatest asset...feet.

It’s one thing to consider tape, ties and toes as event essentials. But events held IN HONOUR OF them? Apparently, so!

Here’s three experiments from around the world where these humble tools rule.  

1.    2013 Duck® Brand Duct Tape “Stuck At Prom®” Scholarship Contest, USA

I know, I know! Duct tape should never be confused with gaffer tape. Experienced event planners know gaffer is designed to be cleanly removed—earning it the “event manager’s best friend” title. Duct tape is not! That said, in researching how gaffer is holding the universe together, we stumbled across this duct tape event idea that had to be shared.

Students across the USA are challenged to create and accessorize their prom outfits (“school formal wear” for Aussies) with Duck® Brand duct tape, then wear them to prom for a chance to win scholarship cash prizes.  On one condition...they must “adhere to all contest rules and regulations”. (Pun intended surely?)

2.   Creative upcycler, Andi Regan of Otago in New Zealand makes a living out of transforming cable ties into amazing art.

Wearable creations like this (pictured) from the award-winning Regan definitely promote air kisses. Mwah!

(When I’m next in Gladstone cable-tying Botanic to Bridge signage along the fun run course, I’ll pretend that 50 plastic cable ties sticking out the back pocket of my jeans is part of my dabble with the extreme wearable art movement.)

3.   World Toe Wrestling Championships. Who wants to win this toe-phy?

All for a good cause, proceeds from this annual toe-nament held in Derbyshire, England benefit children’s charities.
Not surprisingly, the Championships made Telegraph.co.uk’s “world’s weirdest festivals” list.

Do you know of other events inspired by a bit of tool-ish foolishness? Be sure to share them with the j2 team. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Event Industry Predictions for 2014

Image
First cab off our 2014 event management blog rank is a prediction: we’re forecasting challenging times for the special events industry in the coming year. Despite encouraging figures released in November 2013 by research company IBISWorld suggesting that the event promotion and management services industry will be up 1.1% for the 2013/2014 Financial Year [1] , I’m predicting that event managers will need to continue to work hard to rationalise their professional value to clients and to remain competitive in the marketplace. Many Australian event companies are struggling to compete with ongoing issues that plague our event industry at present, such as: > Competitive offshore destination packages, which are luring businesses to international locations for events, meetings and team building experiences; and > Increasing charges across the industry such as food, wages, Superannuation, electricity, entertainment, rubbish removal and accommodation. These challenges, featured in an arti...
Read more

Stirring Emotions Through Lighting Design

Image
What is it about a simple glowing light that makes us feel so happy? I asked Google. It seems I wasn’t alone in my curiosity. A few forums and research papers later, I’ve now confirmed this: humans are indeed drawn to and comforted by light. Inadvertently, I’ve also discovered the world of color psychology. From years of event production experience, we know that colour has a huge impact on event atmosphere. In the article “ Color or Color (The Psychology of Color) ” author Walter Graff says “Color has an incredible effect on your mood, your perception, and your likes and dislikes.” Colour alone, however, is little without effective lighting—something of a specialist science and art. International Association of Lighting Designers contributor, Stefan Graf says that “it is controlling this difficult, transitory medium that gives the lighting ‘artist’ the ability to create hierarchies, dynamics and mood.” MOOD LIGHTING AT EVENTS – AFFECTING HOW PEOPLE FEEL The IALD suggests good lightin...
Read more

Brushing Up On Presenting: 5 Key Tips

Image
Tips for presenting to a captive audience make for topical matter in event management blogs. Having organised hundreds of functions over the years I know why!  Having also been an attendee to a few corporate events recently, I’m reminded that some really simple things can make the difference between flawless and a flop. Not everyone can be as accomplished a presenter as 2014 Oscars host, Ellen DeGeneres. That said, a few back-to-basic presenter tips, along with a couple of clever things we’ve seen in recent times, are sure to get your audiences raving about your presentation techniques and your event planning. 1. Text. Clear. Large. Make any text in presentations large enough to be easily read, even by the old folk in the room. Choose a sans-serif font; something stylish, crisp and clear. Just last week Event Manager Blog contributor, Kelvin Newman clued us into the widely available font “Blue Highway” - something that can be read from a distance. If this font’s good enough to be ...
Read more