New ideas, scraps and issues

Feb 2014: I have just returned from the Event School in Wheeling WV. I was leading the Second year course. I attended a number of the presentations and this is what I learned:

the second year Oglebay/IFEA Event School

1. The state of Indiana now has a 'Fall Zone' requirement for stages with towers. As an outcome of the Indianapolis stage collapse reports there are now regulations regarding these huge rock and roll stages. The 'Fall Zone' is in front of the stage and can not have people in it. It is around 20 feet exclusion. Here is a looming problem as the performers on stage often call for the audience to 'get close to the stage'. I have heard this many times. There needs to be cultural change to accompany the regulations.

2. Another result of the recent stage collapses, is the need for vendors to produce their 'wind capacity' for their structures. Personally I have witness many a small structure turn dangerous with a strong wind. The presenter called them a weapon!

3. The use of codes over the radios at events is becoming more common. There are a number of reasons. The press is often monitoring the handheld radios for any information. Sometimes the public can hear them. One interesting code is 'human spill' for a vomit. Another is 'Rubber Ducky' for a potential drowning. One solution to the problem of the public hearing the hand held radio speaker is to use earpieces. For this event the staff must have the earpiece in place one hour before the start.

4. When there is major problem at a large event, the mobile phone and handheld radios can be overloaded and stop working. The solution is to have amateur radio hams involved in the events. This was used for a marathon. The presenter said they did it for free and no matter what happened, the hams got through.

Terry Powers , VP Operations, Indianapolis Festival

5. How far apart and how many garbage bins? It was 1 per 100 people and they must be 'pulled out' when they are 2/3 rds full. Disney has a formula for this - and it is worked out on the average distance a person will carry their garbage! - it is 30 steps apart.

6. At this point one of the attendees decribed his garbage experience. The maths was perfect - but the truck to collect the trash cans was leaking a foul smelling liquid. It did this around the site while it was collecting the garbage....... over to you to sort that out!

locals

Perhaps the most significant change in EPMS.NET is the evolution into an international consultancy to major organisations, such as international banks and country tourism departments on rationalizing their myriad events. On this website you will find ample material on this subject. It involves high level process mapping. At the same time the event training and workshops has evolved into developing the event system for the attendees.

All the information is found the the top navigation bar of this website