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During a recent chat in the office kitchen while making my 3:00pm cup of tea (Twinings Lady Grey, no sugar or milk, in case you were wondering), I curiously asked j2 ideas & events’ Company and Creative Director, Jo Jordan, about the most disastrous moments she has experienced during her 25 year career in the events industry.  Her response just begged to be shared here on our event planning blog. She was more than happy to recount an incident from her time at South Bank Corporation in the '90's in a role which (amongst other things) saw her in charge of the New Year’s celebrations at the precinct. Approaching midnight on this particular New Year’s Eve, South Bank was in full festive swing. The crowds of revelers were in great spirits, restaurants and bars were buzzing, and the promenade along the river was packed with families and friends, many of whom had staked out their position early that morning in order to secure the best view of the annual fireworks display. The ...

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...