Libbie Ray left school at 15 to become an apprentice chef in her father’s restaurant. Today she is co-owner of AV24/7 and a mentor to young women in event technology. Join Libbie on her journey from growing up on the Hawkesbury River, via restaurants and venues, to television studios and then into the event industry. Support the show
Darryl Lovegrove is a singer and an entrepreneur. His singing career started in the school choir – he featured as a soloist on a recording made by the choir. Darryl went on to be a pop singer and appeared in many musical theatre productions. When his flatmate (photographer and opera singer Mark Bradley) was asked to put together a piece for a corporate event he asked Darryl if he knew any opera, Darryl had actually learned one piece for a play he had unsuccessfully auditioned for....
Ruth is an organiser. She became one of Australia’s first In-house PCOs through her work as a Practice Manager for a group of doctors then went on to manage a number of medical associations. Ruth went on to run numerous medical meetings on her own before joining ICMS Australia and then Pharma Events. But Ruth is also a traveller and a journalist – these, and many more attributes, she shares in our chat. Support the show
From the archive: 2007 presentation by Nick Eltis In 2007 the ISES Melbourne chapter hosted a breakfast where Peter Jones introduced guest speaker Nick Eltis Nick is one of Australia’s leading Technical Directors and he spoke about the challenges involved in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games – like flying a tram into the MCG. Nick refers to number of images during his talk which can be viewed here Support the show
In the second half of this interview Sandy reflects on the highlights of the Sydney Olympics (including that heart stopping cauldron moment). Post Olympics, Sandy kept in touch with the event industry as a head of the judging panel for the Australian Event Awards and has maintained his passion for indigenous issues and indigenous arts in particular. To wrap up the interview Sandy shares his thoughts on the recovery process for the arts and events industries over the next few years. Support th...
During his career in the Australian Public Service, Sandy served in the DFAT in postings as diverse as Pakistan, Germany, Canada and USA. As PM Bob Hawke’s Chief of Staff he was at the centre of one of the most progressive times of Australian political life. Headhunted to lead the SOCOG team, Sandy takes us behind the scenes of the build up to the Sydney Olympics. Support the show
Di Henry’s first parade involved 1000 sheep and a bullock train trundling through the Sydney CBD to promote the Royal Easter Show, and she brought out Robosauraus to the RES. From that she went on to Mardi Gras parades and then the 2000 Sydney Olympic torch relay followed by a dozen more Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games relays. Di spent 2012 in England organising events for the City of London including a royal wedding, and the London Olympics city activations. Then back to the Sydney ...
In part two of this interview Andrew takes us on a journey behind the scenes of the Athens Olympics in 2004, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games of 2006, White Night Melbourne, then back to Athens for the Special Olympics and finally we find out what took Andrew back to rural Victoria and what he is up to now. Support the show
Andrew Walsh is a storyteller who has produced some of the biggest events in Australia and the world. In this wide ranging interview we cover how Andrew started in theatre in Melbourne while still at school then worked on various theatre productions including the original production of Rocky Horror in Melbourne. After moving to Sydney, Andrew worked for David Beal at Audience Motivation which at the time was the leader in what we now know as business events. Following the o...
This extensive interview starts with Johnny’s career running music venues in Sydney and the 1973 Aquarius Festival in Nimbin. Then a year in New York and London as part of the arts and music scenes – especially the emerging punk movement (hanging out with The Ramones and the Sex Pistols among others). Back to Sydney and the thriving cabaret scene including the Paris Theatre and Sedition. Then going mainstream to run Newcastle’s Matara and Bicentennial festivals in 1988 and becoming the foundi...
Roslyn Mcleod OAM started her first business providing tour guides for the 1971 Rotary International Convention in Sydney. That business developed through supplying tour guides and interpreters to then become a PCO. Arinex is now one of the foremost conference and destination management companies in Australia. Roslyn shares her school days in Sydney and Perth and how learning Latin and Japanese prepar4d her for that career. This first episode takes us through the early days of the confe...
Roslyn Mcleod OAM started her first business providing tour guides for the 1971 Rotary International Convention in Sydney. That business developed through supplying tour guides and interpreters to then become a PCO. Arinex is now one of the foremost conference and destination management companies in Australia. Roslyn shares her school days in Sydney and Perth and how learning Latin and Japanese prepar4d her for that career. This first episode takes us through the early days of the confe...
Philip was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this interview Philip talks about growing up in apartheid South Africa, how started in business with his mother and catering for President Nelson Mandela’s 79th birthday. Philip moved to Sydney in 1998 and had to start all over again to build, what is now a very successful event business. This wide ranging discussion goes into his philosophy of design that has gained him a reputation for creating truly unique events for his clien...
Lena Malouf grew up in Canowindra in regional NSW and learned retail from her shopkeeper parents. Engaged at 18, married at 19, then starting a business with three young children Lena had to be resourceful. We follow her career from opening a floristry business in Wollongong in 1957 to teaching at Ultimo TAFE, then back into a floristry business that thrived in Sydney with contracts for the major hotels along with weddings – including that of Elton John to Renate Blauel in 1984. During this t...
While training at the William Angliss Institute Anne failed egg boiling but managed to run a catering business on the side. Anne relives her career in hotels in Melbourne, Sydney and back to Melbourne – ranging from basic chores to senior sales roles. Following a couple of decades in hotels Anne joined the MCEC as Director of Sales in 2009. Then two years ago she was appointed CEO of Saxton Speakers Bureau. As a true Melburnian Anne has a passion for AFL - along with the rest of...
Andrea is a girl who likes to party. Fortunately she is the Managing Director of Onstage Entertainment so she gets to design the entertainment for fabulous parties – mostly for her clients, but sometimes for her own amusement. Andrea’s memories from school in suburban Brisbane include the “royal flush” and appearing in the school musical with Leigh Sales (ABC 7.30). Appropriately Sales played Lois Lane in Superman the Musical, Andrea doesn’t reveal her character. At 19 Andrea land...
Ian Stuart recalls busking in northern England following university - then a job which eventually brought him to Australia. Reconnecting with Bryan Holliday, who Ian had met in England, the pair setup a business (Sound Information) that provided audio recordings of conferences - on cassette. Ian and Brian bought into ICMS Australia and built it into one the foremost conference organisers in the country. Ian shares some behind the scenes stories of a couple of those rather interesting co...