Amazing opportunity within the Big Cat Events team!

The Big Cat event team is becoming busier and busier with loads of exciting events coming up over the next few months. With a new exhibition launching  in the next few months the events team are in need of a new work experience person to help the team.

If you are looking to break into the event industry and are finding it a tricky task in such hard times this could be the opportunity you are looking for. The lucky person will gain tons of great experience working within a busy events team. This is an unpaid, full time placement that could lead to a paid position within the company, or at the very least some valuable experience and a great reference. Which is an absolute must when breaking into the events industry. The applicant needs to be driven, hard working and outgoing with a passion for events.

Please email L.campbell@bcguk.com if you think you could become a part of the Big Cat family!

Nick Ruffles Appointed Event Director

Now before I get down to business I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year from all the events team. This is an exciting New Year  for events and some changes have been made within the company that needs to be celebrated. The main change for the events team is that former Senior Events Manager, Nick Ruffles has been appointed as Events Director.

Having studied Product Design and Marketing at Southampton Institute, Nick joined the Big Cat team in 2008 and made quite an impact. Within a year Nick has already worked on some of the regions most prestigious events including Hello Digital; Birmingham’s first digital media and film event and the Creative City Awards.

Nick said: “Big Cat has given me many unique and fantastic opportunities in such a small space of time. Events I’ve worked on range from the URA Star concert which was for 6,000 people at the NIA, to the more corporate Innovation Advisory Service workshops which are run in conjunction with Business Link.

“2010 is set to be another outstanding year for us with a number of high-profile events both in the private and public sector. The past year has been a struggle for the events industry across the country as many clients are severely cutting budgets and expecting a lot for nothing, however it’s our job to make the most of the resources we have and ensure our suppliers are competitive which will in turn ensure the events we put on are something to be proud of.”

Congratulations Nick you deserve it!!!

Big Cat Director Nick Morgan is voted 71 in Events 100 most influential people club!

We all think that our director is pretty brilliant but now we see that the industry agrees. Event Magazine has published the Event 100 Club this month and after a crazy year in the events industry with the level of innovative event solutions being higher than ever before, the readers had plenty of choice for their top 100 most influential people.  More than 2000 people voted nominating more than 300 key figures and Nick Morgan was voted number 71!

Lets have a look at his vital statistics…

Number of Events this year?

45

Industry association member?

Tesa and NOEA

Main Industry contribution this year?

Bringing ‘BODIES REVEALED’ back to the UK under the Human Tissue Act 2004 after two years’ work.

Best event organised this year?

‘BODIES REVEALED’

Well Done Nick!

Is Health and Safety in danger of suppressing all human inhibitions?

Is Health and Safety in danger of suppressing all human inhibitions? I recently spent a weekend in Torquay (not the best destination, but still enjoyable) and on arriving went to enjoy the outdoor swimming facilities which overlooked Torquay Bay, however I found the view obscured by no less than eight warning signs. No diving, No running, No swimming (nearly).

I then took a walk along the cliffs and found that a section of the footpath had been closed due to insufficient railings being in situ. The footpath was over 3m wide and I found this level of precaution completely ridiculous. Surely everyone on this planet has to take a degree of responsibility over their own actions and constantly assess the risk of situations they face. If I was with a young child I would then assess a situation on their behalf and them observing your actions is one of life’s learning experiences.

A lovely Old Library Wedding Ceremony

Since joining the Big Cat events team this summer I have been a part of organising many wedding receptions. However, last week was the first ceremony that I have done at the Old Library, and what a lovely event it was. Though I was slightly gutted to be on guarding the door duty and didn’t actually witness the “I do” bit, that didn’t take away from the excitement of the day.

Seeing the bride arrive looking super cool in a 40s inspired dress and bright red lipstick, to the transformation of the space that had to occur from simple and elegant for the ceremony to a retro cool ambiance for the evening do, made the whole day a interesting challenge for me. The sun shined for the barbecue and drinks on the bandstand, everyone drank lots of wine and danced the night away.

What I have noticed working on the various weddings this summer is how young the couples are. Everyone talks about how society is waiting longer to settle down and is putting off marriage, but from the weddings I have witnessed that isn’t the case. Maybe it is due to the Custard’s factory’s arty, bohemian feel that the people attracted to the venue are younger. Whatever the case, I love the young Weddings that tend to be far more inventive with their themes, giving us organisers lots of fun ideas to work with.

Is Birmingham ready for a flash mob??

Well what an exciting week we have had at the Big Cat office. The whole office has been buzzing over the Old Library refurbishment which is starting next week. The £100,000 refurbishment will give our fabulous event space at the Custard Factory a much needed facelift. A new lighting system will be installed, as well as new flooring and an entire repaint, leaving the venue looking it’s best for the upcoming events. So expect lots of pictures next week of the entire process, including all of us in our overalls getting covered in paint. 

As the newest member to the Big Cat Group, I am reporting to you my experiences of various events from a new perspective. One of the recent events that has caught my eye is the T-Mobile’s new Life’s for Sharing campaign’s flash mob event, that made quite an impact throughout the world. The first event was the hugely popular impromptu dance off in the middle of Liverpool Street station that, considering 6 million of us watched on YouTube, I am sure you will have seen it?

So here’s my question of the week: What do you think of flash mobs? Do you know what they are? Love em? Over them already? Whatever you think, Birmingham needs one. Soon! Hmmm, this could be worthy challenge for Big Cat. Do you want to see 500 dancers – or jugglers? mime artists? opera singers even? – in Victoria Square? I know I do! Watch this space….. 

 

The new events girl, Leila. 

Hello and welcome to the Big Cat events blog!!

Hello and welcome to the Big Cat events blog…

If you are interested in events then this is the blog to read! The Big Cat Experience blog will follow the events team’s activities with pictures and videos of our events at The Custard Factory as well as our external events. We will also be commenting on the events industry and featuring events from around the UK that are worth checking out.

If you like the posts or hate them comment – all thoughts and opinions are welcome.

You can follow me on Twitter @leilabigcat if you would like to know more about the life of the newest member of The Big Cat events team. Also Check out the Big Cat blog – www.bigcatgroup.wordpress.com to see what else BigCat is about.