What is your role at Big Cat Group?

I’m the senior events and exhibitions manager at Big Cat which means I’m involved in a very diverse range of projects.  As such the specifics and responsibilities of my job vary, depending on what the particular project is.  For example in the last 6 months I’ve spent nights at various drum and bass events overseeing health and safety; I’ve organised the bar operation at a jazz festival; I’ve acted as deputy manager at the world renowned exhibition Tutankhamun – His Tomb and His Treasures, I’ve met with suppliers and manufacturers in Barcelona, I’ve unloaded and built the exhibition Princess – The World if Princesses in Dublin and I’ve also forged relationships with manufacturers in China to supply exhibition merchandise.  No two days are the same!

How did you get into events?

I’ve been involved with bars, restaurants and nightclubs for the last 15 years.  Events is a natural progression for me.  The bar and club industries share a lot similarities with the events industry.  Running a bar or club is like putting on an event every day.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now we’re working on a project which falls under the LOCOG Open Weekend.  The event is called Jamaica LIVE! and is a one day family friendly festival.  It features live musical performances (including Dawn Penn!), stand up comedy and spoken word, dance, arts and crafts, Jamaican food stalls and drumming workshops.  Further down the line we’re organising the launch of Bourneville College’s impressive new building, an event which is going to feature some pretty cool AV tech.

What is your favourite external event?

That I’ve been involved with?  Hmm… The Mostly Jazz Festival this year was good fun.  But Star Trek: The Exploration really stands out.  This was an exhibition of Star Trek sets, props, costumes and models from all of the TV shows and Films.  Big Cat was tasked with shipping the content from LA to Spain and then constructing the show in Valencia’s stunning Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences).  It was one of the hardest projects (17 days straight, minimum 12 hour days) but really enjoyable.  The venue is amazing and the city of Valencia is beautiful.  Weather was slightly better than Birmingham too.

What is your favourite thing about Birmingham?

Cafe Soya!

The campaign, which kicked off a few months ago involved Event Magazine searching for the top event companies in Europe, whether they are agencies, exhibitions, suppliers or a venue.  Big Cat faced some stiff competition this year, battling companies that have teams of 300 employees or more. Just goes to prove that quality will always beat quantity.

Everyone at Big Cat is proud to be working for the organisation whatever capacity they’re in. We have a laugh but also get the job done, surpassing client needs whatever the brief. It’s great to see outsiders recognising our admiration and determination to take Big Cat places. So what better way to be recognised than to be named one of the top event companies to work for the country?

Well done guys.

Well last week, mobile network Orange took it upon themselves to spread some unseasonal cheer with their ‘Winter Warmers’ campaign. The idea is simple, people tweet using the #winterwarmers hashtag recommending friends who are having a rather rubbish day. If their cause is worthy enough the Orange team jump in their van and hand deliver a woolly scarf and a cup of hot chocolate to the deserving party. Over the course of the week, Orange’s Street Team hit Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton and London, spending a whole day in one city spreading peace on earth and hot chocolate.

Now I’m a big fan of these ‘good will’ campaigns but am finding it very difficult to work out what the commercial gain is for this particular one. Although it’s a fantastic idea, what do Orange get from it? I suppose I’m answering my own question by writing this blog, but it doesn’t make me want to suddenly change phone networks or internet provider. Nevertheless it certainly generated a considerable amount of buzz on twitter with people recommending their friends throughout the city. Perhaps that was precisely it though and the gorilla tactic was purely for brand awareness purposes.

From looking at the recipients of the gestures though, I’m wondering if some deeper research had gone into it. The majority of people who received winter warmers were from the creative industries, many of whom are big players (or are seen by many as). Maybe I’m looking far too deep into this harmless good will campaign, or perhaps Orange deserve more credit than they’re given?

Nick Clegg and David Cameron need not flex their creative muscles when it comes to smearing the current PM as it seems that Gordon Brown, shovel in hand, is more than happy to dig his own gave.

Having been advised recently to engage more with the public as it was felt he was previously seen as being too aloof, the PM has gone on the offensive meeting the public left right and centre. It seems though that his advisers forgot who their candidate was; the George Bush of British Politics.

The PM was in Rochdale when he came across life-long Labour voter Gillian Duffy. Towering over the pensioner, Brown began confidently defending policies on pensions and accepting praise for the state of the school system in Rochdale. When presses on the issue of migration the PM (seeming somewhat flustered at this point) tried to deflect the question stating “a million people come into here…but a million British people have gone into Europe”. Deflecting the question he returned to policies where Labour has had some success in an attempt to end the matter on a high.

However Brown was unaware as he extradited himself from the situation that his microphone was still. He began engaging in a personal conversation with one of his assistants in which he blames ‘Sue’ for making him speak with the woman and called the woman in question a ‘bigot’, assumedly relating to her pressing on the immigration issue.

This is not the first gaffe the Prime Minister has made but it may prove to be the final one. In Dec 2008 he was ridiculed in the House of Commons when giving a speech regarding the banking system. Meaning to say he saved the banks he instead professed to having ‘saved the world’. Needless to say, the Tories pounced on this momentary slip and the session descended into a debacle. Then in 2009 at the 65^th anniversary of D-Day the Prime Minister, seemingly gushing over his new friend President Obama, repeatedly referred to Omaha Beach as ‘Obama Beach’.

So whilst Brown tries to extricate his foot from his mouth (in the process blaming the news company who owned the microphone for taping a private conversation), Nick Clegg and David Cameron are certainly not going to be hiding their smiles in the wake of the latest Brown gaffe.