Sunday, January 15, 2012
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2012
On January 10, 2012 it was my pleasure to do a contract for DanielsStephenson Public Relations and Production and have the opportunity to work the onsite event production of this year's Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. Held at the beautiful Carlu event venue in downtown Toronto the awards were presents for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Male Performance, Best Female Performance, Best Male Supporting Performance, Best Female Supporting Performance, Best Screenplay (Adapted or Original), Best First Feature, Best Documentary and Best Canadian Film as chosen by Toronto's critics. A great gig to work!
Friday, January 13, 2012
I am extremely pleased and excited to announce that on behalf of my company, Water-on-Wheels, I will be leading an education workshop for delegates at the 2012 Festivals and Events Ontario Conference at the Sheraton on the Falls, in Niagara Falls - March 2, 2012!The workshop, entitled - Going Blue: Eliminating Bottled Water from Your Event - will explore how event coordinators are taking their green initiatives to the next level themselves by providing hydration stations with access to tap water and making their events reusable-bottle and cup friendly. This session will explore the negative environmental impact of disposable plastic bottles at events, the subsequently evolving practices of hydrating guests at events and festivals that have decided to 'ban the bottle', and the impact of bottled water bylaws on festivals and special events across Ontario. We will also discuss unique and innovated ways you can engage sponsors using hydration stations as sponsorable property, and how Water-on-Wheels can help you prove the value of your event's water refilling initiatives.
The workshop will be very helpful and informatiove, it's definitely NOT TO MISS!
Visit the Festivals and Events Ontario website to register for the conference, attend the WOW workshop and visit the WOW booth on the Marketplace tradeshow floor, March 2 and 3rd. See you at the conference!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
My latest gig - Toronto Christmas Market
Like Christmas? In the Christmas spirit? Just looking for a great festival in Toronto in December? Stop by the Distillery Historic District and check out the latest event I've been working on - Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market. Likened to the outdoor Christmas markets popular throughout Europe, the Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market is 17 straight days of holiday shopping opportunities, music, entertainment, pictures with Santa, and outdoor fire pits. Each weekend of the Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market the Distillery District is licensed site-wide, so you can stroll the walkways and take in all aspects of the festival while ejnoying a mulled wine or refreshing beer. This has been an extremely interested event to work on, and a great team to work with! See you at the market. Happy holidays!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Humber Et Cetera Newspaper Article Featuring my Students
Check out this week's edition of the Humber Et Cetera campus newspaper featuring a great article about one of my students' class events - @wicket4women - in support of Girls on the Run GTA! If you are in the Finch Ave and Humber College Blvd neighbourhood next Wednesday, please stop by the Gym at Humber College North and supporting the students as they execute their first event!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
New Semester - New Events!
I've been opening lots of exciting new doors this fall. I'm back at Humber College teaching two Special Event Management courses in the School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism, my students are doing 8 new events that have me extending my event leadership skills to a whole new level, and I've finished my first event season as the Outdoor Events Coordinator at the Distillery District.This season I've had some great experiences coordinating the District's installations for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Food Truck Eats, TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Diner en Blanc, and countless others! If you've never experienced the Distillery District, or even if you have, and are looking for new Christmas shopping and entertainment options, check out or Toronto Christmas Market Dec. 2-18, 2011. It's an event not to be missed!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Blue is the new Green
As a member of Festivals and Events Ontario, I had the pleasure of writing an article about events in Ontario that are going bottled water-free for the most recent FEO Newsletter. Enclosed below is a copy of the article that was published today!
GOING 'GREEN' NOW MEANS GOING 'BLUE' FOR MANY FESTIVALS & EVENTS IN ONTARIO
The practice is called Bottled Water Free (BWF), and it's taking the concepts of environmentalism, sustainability and 'being green' to a whole new level. In the event industry BWF is about eliminating the wasteful presence of commercially packaged single-use water bottles from event sites and offering practical and environmentally-friendly onsite hydration solutions that use existing municipal water sources.
The responsibility of keeping event attendees hydrated is an ongoing challenge for event coordinators, especially those planning large public events, festivals, concerts and athletic events. Coordinating water stations at runs, walks, and bike-a-thons can be a significant logistical undertaking especially when it means pouring water from bottles into cups. Meanwhile with the passing of the extended festival liquor licensing in the province of Ontario, at many licensed festivals beer is more readily accessible than water, presenting an array of health and safety concerns for coordinators. The traditional source of hydration, bottled water, can be expensive to supply without a sponsor, and regardless of its origin, single-use bottled water inside an event site has a negative impact on an event's waste management plan.
For these reasons and others, many events across Ontario are choosing to encourage patrons to 'bring-your-own-bottle', and providing free onsite access to sources of municipal drinking water such as drinking fountains, or hydration stations and refill stations that connect to hose bibs or fire hydrants inside the event site. In an ever increasing number of municipalities across Ontario, the BWF concept runs deeper than the environmentally-conscious planning choices of individual event coordinators. Ontario municipalities such as London, Peel Region, Goderich and Blue Mountain, among others, currently have bottled water bans, by-laws, or minimization plans in place aimed at limiting the environmental impact and decommercializing access to water in these communities. As of December 31, 2011 Toronto is expected to complete transitioning in its municipal bottled water ban prohibiting the sale and distribution of bottled water at all remaining City facilities including parks and event spaces. Coordinators with events on City of Toronto property in 2012 will be some of the next in the industry to utilize alternative hydration options at their event sites.
The dedication to going bottled-water-free is also prevalent across college and university campuses such as Fleming College Frost Campus, Queen's University, and Ryerson University and school boards including, Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and Waterloo Region District School Board; significantly decreasing the number of single-use bottles present at the multitude of events that occur in these environments. Additionally, campaigns such as Bottled Water Free Day endorsed by a variety of provincial employees' unions and corporations, demonstrate the desire for bottled-water-free corporate events such as conferences, tradeshows and meetings.
Providing patrons with access to free water refill stations positively influences more than just the event's environmental impact. One water refill station connected to a continuous-flow municipal water source such as a hose bib or a fire hydrant can easily provide enough clean, filtered, chilled water to refill over five thousand 500mL reusable bottles in an 8-hour period. Making this quantity (or more with multiple stations) of water available for free to event-goers can significantly decrease the number and severity of dehydration cases presenting at an event's first aid and EMS stations. Additionally, replacing the presence of single-use bottles with refill stations at sporting events and festivals can result in considerable waste management cost savings in the areas of litter picking, waste disposal and recycling charges. Adding value to an event's sponsorable assets, water refill stations can be sponsored by existing event water sponsors or new companies with environmental mandates in exchange for station branding rights and onsite bottle-filling activations.
Bottled Water Free events are emerging as an industry best practice in response to society's expectation that event coordinators continuously evolve and improve their efforts to decrease event waste and provide sustainable alternatives. Water refills stations provide a practical solution to accessing existing hydration infrastructure at event sites and for bringing the water to the people; making blue the new green.
GOING 'GREEN' NOW MEANS GOING 'BLUE' FOR MANY FESTIVALS & EVENTS IN ONTARIO
The practice is called Bottled Water Free (BWF), and it's taking the concepts of environmentalism, sustainability and 'being green' to a whole new level. In the event industry BWF is about eliminating the wasteful presence of commercially packaged single-use water bottles from event sites and offering practical and environmentally-friendly onsite hydration solutions that use existing municipal water sources.
The responsibility of keeping event attendees hydrated is an ongoing challenge for event coordinators, especially those planning large public events, festivals, concerts and athletic events. Coordinating water stations at runs, walks, and bike-a-thons can be a significant logistical undertaking especially when it means pouring water from bottles into cups. Meanwhile with the passing of the extended festival liquor licensing in the province of Ontario, at many licensed festivals beer is more readily accessible than water, presenting an array of health and safety concerns for coordinators. The traditional source of hydration, bottled water, can be expensive to supply without a sponsor, and regardless of its origin, single-use bottled water inside an event site has a negative impact on an event's waste management plan.
For these reasons and others, many events across Ontario are choosing to encourage patrons to 'bring-your-own-bottle', and providing free onsite access to sources of municipal drinking water such as drinking fountains, or hydration stations and refill stations that connect to hose bibs or fire hydrants inside the event site. In an ever increasing number of municipalities across Ontario, the BWF concept runs deeper than the environmentally-conscious planning choices of individual event coordinators. Ontario municipalities such as London, Peel Region, Goderich and Blue Mountain, among others, currently have bottled water bans, by-laws, or minimization plans in place aimed at limiting the environmental impact and decommercializing access to water in these communities. As of December 31, 2011 Toronto is expected to complete transitioning in its municipal bottled water ban prohibiting the sale and distribution of bottled water at all remaining City facilities including parks and event spaces. Coordinators with events on City of Toronto property in 2012 will be some of the next in the industry to utilize alternative hydration options at their event sites.
The dedication to going bottled-water-free is also prevalent across college and university campuses such as Fleming College Frost Campus, Queen's University, and Ryerson University and school boards including, Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and Waterloo Region District School Board; significantly decreasing the number of single-use bottles present at the multitude of events that occur in these environments. Additionally, campaigns such as Bottled Water Free Day endorsed by a variety of provincial employees' unions and corporations, demonstrate the desire for bottled-water-free corporate events such as conferences, tradeshows and meetings.
Providing patrons with access to free water refill stations positively influences more than just the event's environmental impact. One water refill station connected to a continuous-flow municipal water source such as a hose bib or a fire hydrant can easily provide enough clean, filtered, chilled water to refill over five thousand 500mL reusable bottles in an 8-hour period. Making this quantity (or more with multiple stations) of water available for free to event-goers can significantly decrease the number and severity of dehydration cases presenting at an event's first aid and EMS stations. Additionally, replacing the presence of single-use bottles with refill stations at sporting events and festivals can result in considerable waste management cost savings in the areas of litter picking, waste disposal and recycling charges. Adding value to an event's sponsorable assets, water refill stations can be sponsored by existing event water sponsors or new companies with environmental mandates in exchange for station branding rights and onsite bottle-filling activations.
Bottled Water Free events are emerging as an industry best practice in response to society's expectation that event coordinators continuously evolve and improve their efforts to decrease event waste and provide sustainable alternatives. Water refills stations provide a practical solution to accessing existing hydration infrastructure at event sites and for bringing the water to the people; making blue the new green.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Follow me on Twitter
@wateronwhls - tweeting about the events we are helping make #bottledwaterfree, Toronto event news, event industry trends and news!
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