The Vancouver Special Event Show 2007!
Well it’s that time of year again when we can attend our very own, local special events show and conference. Held at the RiverRock Casino in Richmond, BC, this two day event will incorporate educational conferences, a trade show and a lot of networking opportunities! Come see us at Booth 44/45, meet some of our Board members and get information on CSEP and Eventworld Montreal! You can still register for the conference by following the link on our home page or go to www.canadianspecialevents.com.
Review of Vancouver Venues Before and After 2010
Over 90 event professionals packed the Olympic Inspirations Gallery at the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. We convened to learn first hand from our panel participants about the changes occurring with the major venues in Vancouver and surrounding areas.
Jacqui Cook, Rowing - 2004 Olympian, from RBC Royal Bank opened the event and set the theme of the Olympic venue experience from an athlete’s point of view. She described how the legacy of sporting venues will help Canadian athletes in years to come.
Tom Cornwall, Director, City Venue Operations, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, addressed the audience, and reminded us that over 3 billion television viewers worldwide will be viewing the Games, our cities and our venues. He then gave us an overview of where all of the Olympic sites are going to be throughout the Lower Mainland, their uses and the estimated time of arrival for athletes from the Athlete’s village, which is located on the south east side of False Creek.
Mike Granek of Pacific Show Productions was our MC for the night. He introduced the panel for the evening, and as seated in the photo from left to right:
- Graham Ramsay, Director, Business Development, BC Place Stadium
- Sue Griffin, Executive Director, BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
- Harvey Jones, V.P. & General Manager, Arena Operations, Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment and General Motors Place
- Michael MacSorley, Vice President, Operations, Pacific National Exhibition
- Lee Malleau, Manager of Sponsorship and Partnerships, and Economic Development, City of Richmond, Richmond Oval
- Vali Marling, Director of Operations, TRADEX
- Donna Hunter, Director, Client & Event Operations, Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
Throughout the panel discussion, we learned about what expansions and changes each location is experiencing; when and what upgrades are taking place; how it will effect our event booking times and when the upgrades will be available for event booking purposes.
Panelists also shared their plans on how to keep their existing client base happy and well serviced while preparing for, and working around the Games. Some venues have already reported bookings well past 2010.
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BC Place Stadium
BC Place Stadium will receive upgrades to accessibility, concession, washrooms, Level 3 suite upgrades, new scoring and signage systems. The stadium will be host to the Opening & Closing Ceremonies, and the nightly Medal Ceremonies of the Olympic Games, as well as the Opening Ceremonies for the Paralympic Games.
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BC Place Stadium
GM Place is a state-of-the-art facility and will only see “overlay” changes to accommodate dressing rooms and on-site media facility.
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Pacific National Exhibition
The Coliseum at the PNE, which was built in 1968, will get a much needed face lift with seat replacements, an international ice sheet, new ice plant, lighting, and a new scoreboard in time for the Memorial Cup in May.
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Richmond Oval
The Richmond Oval is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2008. It will be a long track training facility Pre-Games. Since the National Training Centre already exists in Calgary, the true Olympic legacy of this building will be its conversion to a high performance sport, recreation and wellness centre Post-Games. With two international ice sheets, basket ball and badminton courts, 200 meter track and field area and more, this building will be managed to attract world class sporting events.
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TRADEX
TRADEX in Abbotsford reported that their 70,000 foot expansion should be completed for 2009; an increase of event business using their large outdoor display area as well as corporate events that utilize the neighbouring Abbotsford Airport for single day, fly in/fly out events.
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Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
The new Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre building will triple its space to 500,000 square feet. During the Olympics, the new building will be the Broadcast Centre while the existing building will be the Press Centre. This area will also be the media transport hub to all venues in Whistler and Vancouver.
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Thank you to all of our speakers; Culinary Capers and staff provided for our pre-event networking appetizers; our venue hosts, Sue Griffiths, Allison Mailer and their team at the Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
We appreciate the support of our February 21 Event sponsors:
Buffet Blowout Update
The ISES Vancouver Board received the unfortunate news this week that the Langara College Display and Design students would not be participating in this year’s Buffet Blowout!
With less than 30 days to go to the event, the Board has decided to postpone and re-work the event.
We are developing a pilot program for a “New & Improved” Buffet Blowout! The date should be the 3rd week of April, (before the really busy catering season begins).
Our aim is to turn this Grand Dame of a signature property of ours into a fabulous fundraising event, which will involve some of the top caterers and décor companies in our chapter area. We are also working on Media participation and judging, and have already received great interest from some high profile public personalities.
Peake of Catering and The Butler Did It Catering are on board with us at time of writing, as is Q1 Production Technologies. We sincerely thank them for their ongoing support!
For more information and to climb aboard this year’s Buffet Blow Out Pilot program, you can contact Dwayne or Martes at the following e-mail addresses:
Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks!
Member News
Member Doug Matthews from Gear Six and Capilano College faculty sends word of a new job posting site for fellow members to utilze. Visit http://www.capcollege.bc.ca/services/career/student-employment/Home.html
Potential employers with questions, contact Christy Watts at 604-990-7828 and cwatts2@capcollege.bc.ca.
ISES Eventworld 2007, August 16 to 18 - Montreal
Click on the Eventworld banner at the top of this newsletter and get more information about Eventworld 2007 in Montreal! Practice your French and stay tuned for more information about this conference and ISES Canada activities at Eventworld Montreal!
ISES Reporter Credits
Photos by:
Photos courtesy of Brian Dennehy.
Newsletter written & edited by:
Martes Farrugia, thanks to Diana Hambrook
Strategic Partners for 2006/2007
Thank you to the following companies for showing their support:
