VISIT WATER ON WHEELS AT THE 2011 FEO CONFERENCE

The company I launched earlier in 2010, Water-on-Wheels (http://www.wateronwheels.ca/) will be featured as an exhibitor at the 2011 Festival & Events Conference Marketplace on March 3rd & 4th at the Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham Conference Centre.

Come and speak with us, see our set-up, sample our environmentally-friendly water bottle refill service, and receive a discount coupon to use when you book Water-on-Wheels at your event in 2011.

Water-on-Wheels is committed to assisting events decrease their environmental impact by providing water refilling stations that help decrease the presence of harmful plastic water bottles at event sites. Stop by the Water-on-Wheels booth at the FEO Marketplace where we will be showcasing our refill stations and our helpful staff will be onsite to answer your questions and take bookings for 2011.

Looking forward to meeting you at the conference!

Appointed Race Director for Girls on the Run GTA

After two years of working with Girls on the Run GTA (GOTR), http://girlsontherun.ca/, in various capacities I am pleased to undertake the role of Race Director for the 2011 "It's Cool to Be Me" 5K Race on June 11, 2011.

Girls on the Run Greater Toronto Area is a life-changing, charitable non-profit prevention program for girls in the 3rd through 8th grade that promotes its mission "to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living." through training for a 5K running event with healthy living education. GOTR programs instill self-esteem and strong values through health education, life skills development, mentoring relationships, and physical training - all of which are accomplished through an active collaboration with girls and their parents, schools, volunteers, staff, and the community.

Check out the GOTR website for more information about this valuable program, http://girlsontherun.ca/. If you'd like to volunteer with the GOTR race, email me at cotter.rebecca@hotmail.com - we're always looking for running enthusiasts and people looknig to make a positive impact on their community.

Water-on-Wheels - Making your event bottled water free!

In 2010 I started a business called Water-on-Wheels (WOW), wateronwheels.ca, that provides mobile water refill stations to events and festivals across Ontario. Water-On-Wheels stations connect to existing municipal water sources to provide event guests with the opportunity to refill their re-usable water bottles onsite at events.

Water-on-Wheels meets the growing bottled-water-free trend in the event industry. Having a WOW water station at your next event, festival, concert, or sporting event is a great way to decrease the event's environmental impact and improve its sustainable initiatives. WOW stations allow guests to re-fill their reusable water bottles for free thereby helping to decrease or eliminate the presence of commercially-packaged bottled water at your event.

WOW stations are great for indoor and outdoor events, athletic competitions, concerts, and public festivals. Having a fully-staffed WOW station at your next event is economical and environmentally friendly.

Visit the WOW website for more information wateronwheels.ca/ or to book a WOW station email me at bookings@wateronwheels.ca.

Vancouver 2010: Whistler Medals Plaza

For the 17 days of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics I had the extreme fortune of being an official VANOC volunteer with the Event Services Team at the Whistler Medals Plaza in Whistler BC. As a Host on the Event Services Team I performed multiple roles related to crowd management, access control and the spectator experience including: reading and interpreting accreditation, assisting customers through pedestrian screening areas, greeting and providing directions, ripping or scanning tickets (competition venues), attending to seating areas and assisting with emergency situations.

Without a doubt, the opportunity to be involved with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was an event coordination experience I will never forget.

Canada Day with 100,000 of your closest friends

Downsview Park's Canada Day 2009 festival was the second Canada Day celebration event I have planned for the park. Welcoming over 100,000 people in 12-hours the festival included free amusement rides, buskers, family entertainment, a Citizenship Ceremony that welcomed 142 new Canadians, and a spectacular pyro-musical fireworks performance.

The logistics for this event are fantastic and complex - everything from designating a fireworks blasting site, to coordinating parking for such a large crowd of people. In many respects "free" is a four-letter word, but it's also a great way of attracting people to an event. I've had a fantastic time planning and executing the two Canada Day festivals I've done so far for the park.

Edgefest 2009 - Year two of pouring rain

It helps when you know what you're getting yourself into...or so they say. The Edgefest concert was held at Downsview Park for the second year in a row on June 19, 2009. More than 17,000 people turned out to hear Metric, AFI, Alexisonfire and Billy Talent rock the stage in the pouring rain. Maybe it was the music or maybe it was the fact that it poured rain for Edgefest in 2008 too, but people didn't seem to mind - there's nothing like a good mudslide to prevent concert-goer's spirits from dampening anyway. Overall, the show was good, and music was loud, and the beer was plenty.

One year later...

Well, it's been quite some time since I last posted; having been "too busy" seems an unjust excuse though an accurate summary of the pace of life these last few months.

January 2009 marks two milestones of particular significance: 1) It has now been one full year since I joined the never-a-dull-moment pace of the Toronto events industry as the Event Coordinator at Downsview Park, and 2) January marks the close of my latest and longest event to date - Trail of Lights (http://www.trailoflights.ca), Canada's largest walk-through holiday light show - after 34 consecutive evenings.

2009 is already shaping up with many exciting events and festivals - some I am planning, some I am planning on attending. My experiences with both will be featured here.