SRS Productions | The Melbourne Winter Festival

SRS Productions would like to thank and congratulate client Echolot Pty Ltd for creating such a spectacular, scenic, aromatic and inspirational winter event this year, being The Melbourne Winter Festival. These eight months of being assigned to this project have gone so fast and I am regretful that 'winter' has come to an end! (In my mind it has been winter all year round- but the fun alpine-chalet style winter of The Winter Festival)

Working with and for Echolot has been such a pleasure. Together we worked tirelessly to source the perfect location, being that of the beautiful iconic Melbourne location of The Royal Exhibition Building & Melbourne Museum Forecourt, as well as sourcing highly skilled on-site event managers from Venues2Events who competed with many to get the job.

Thank you to those who formed partnerships with The Melbourne Winter Festival through SRS Productions; The IMAX, The Melbourne Museum & Royal Exhibition Building, The Medibank Ice House, The Melbourne Ice, Spreets.com.au , The Warwick Foundation, Voodoo Legwear, Lendan Skin care, Helly Hansen, Zet Photography, Track Visual, St Kilda News, and many more!

Thank you to our key event sponsors; Strepsils Cool, Lipton Chai Latte, Helly Hansen, Swiss Tourism, Austrian Airways, JCDcaux, NOVA FM and Hilton on The Park.

Many special thanks to the variety of talented entertainers who performed live music, cultural dance, professional figures skating and ice hockey demonstrations, and a BIG, HUGE, MASSIVE thanks to all those guys & girls who competed in Australia's first ever of it's kind; Ice Blitz Fun Race.

Last but certainly not least, thanks to all of you who talked about the Winter Festival on Face Book, Twitter and your respective blogs- 'real people talking' is the best advertising!

2011 ICE BLITZ FUN RACE- qualifier August 6 and event August 20 @ The Melbourne Winter Festival

Kids Under Cover "UMBRELLA BALL" at Crown Palladium

There was plenty of celebrity action on Saturday night the 16th of July at Melbourne's luxurious event venue, Crown Palladium. But most importantly, Melbourne's finest got frocked up for an important local cause. Kids Under Cover assists young people and their families, helping end the cycle of poverty, and provides relief not only to the kids, but to their parents and carers too.

Rosetta Musial and I were sooooo excited to be sitting with The Australian Ballet's principal artist, who were also honoured guests, (see directly below) Amber Scott and Adam Bull- We are both massive fans of the ballet, both having trained as dancers, so it was a real treat for us to spend some time with these guys! It was nice to bump into someone you know- media personality and one of the night's MCs Brodie Young, a friend of mine, sitting only a table away from us with his partner Ashlea.

Here are some more pix from the night! If You're a fan of Channel Nine's 'The Block', then you will recognise some faces in amongst these shots...

For the Full story on The Kids Under Cover Umbrella Ball for 2011, visit www.misociety.com.au

SRS Productions and Venues2Events visits Bondi Winter Festival for some field research!

Last week my client flew myself and our onsite event managers for Melbourne up to Bondi to get a taste of the Winter Festival vibe before we kick of the Melbourne event running August 18th to September 4th.
Many thanks to the Swiss Grand Bondi for making us very comfortable and putting us up for the night.

I took a whole bunch of shots to show you- Wow, I can see why people just LOVE Bondi, and the bayside city culture of Sydney in general. It was a chilly Winter's day, but look at that clear blue sky!

The photos I took were taken before gates opened to the public (so you can get a full view of the rink size, props and fixturing, as well as day and night shots.) Day time is very popular with young families, where night time is where a lot of teens and uni student aged folk like to come out to play.

I now have a newly found appreciation for "Gluhwein".
For those of you who are not familiar with what it is, it's a red wine (known as mulled wine) combined with a sweet and spicy (cinnamon, cloves etc) syrup and served hot. OMG! You must try the Winter Festival Gluhwein- they have the recipe perfected. They also do these amazing little shots of hot cherry port with cream on top, sprinkeled with cinnamon; delux! And for a non-alcoholic treat, the hot chocolate topped with whipped cream is a winner.
Another great hot drink to enjoy, which just happens to be a freebee, are the chai lattes offered in the Lipton marquis. Melbourne will also be running a Lipton marquis which has proven to be a very popular destination within the festival.

There is plenty of decadent food to enjoy, both in the Alpine Ski Hut and sold independently by stall holders. The stall holders occupy these cute little mini alpine huts, selling cultural food, special desserts and product retail, such as winter clothing shops.
All the friendly guys & girls working as event staff looked smart and very comfortable in their Helly Hansen outdoor gear. Lucky for them that they also get to keep it!

Young and old alike head over the Winter Festival not only for some super fun ice skating, but for all the sights and aromas of an alpine Winter.
Rather than me blather on any longer, how about I just allow these images speak for themselves!

Event organisers conference by VENUES2EVENTS at The Sebel Albert Park

On behalf of my clients' at The Australian Alpine Winter Festival, we are thrilled to be working with Venues2Events for the Melbourne Winter Festival.

SRS Productions recruited Venues2Events as senior on-site event managers for Melbourne 2011. I was fortunate enough recently to have been invited as a guest to their very informative conference ran at The Sebel Albert Park Melbourne. The grand ballroom was packed out with eagerly awaiting guests (it was a very cold and wet Melbourne winter morning- one of those mornings where you deserve a pat on the back for crawling out of bed that extra early!) and an eloquently presented full buffet breakfast served in a cute bento box awaited us at the early 7:30am start time. There was even 'real coffee' being served by The Sebel's baristas. This was what everyone there certainly looked forward to and needed!

Topics of discussion included sponsorships & partnerships, professional fees and industry standard service rates, commissions & ethics, and creative & proactive ways of providing excellent service to clients. Staging Connections did a sensation job with the audio-visual, and guests had the opportunity to take part in Q & A, and very importantly, exchange business cards. Hopefully everyone there had the chance to network among them selves, as I certainly found the time to get chatting with the lovely bunch at my table.

SRS Productions values alignment with high standard, innovative and progressive collaborators. After the wonderful experience I enjoyed recently, I have no doubt that working with Venues2Events will bring forth many great things...

The 2011 Australian Alpine Winter Festival- MELBOURNE

SRS Productions is thrilled to be working with the The 2011 Australian Alpine Winter Festival. This project began with SRS Productions back in October 2010 and I am personally pleased to say that the progress we are making as a team is moving forward in leaps and bounds.

SRS Productions is assigned to manage PR, copy writing, location sourcing, senior level staff recruitment, national level sponsorship acquistion and other related tasks for the Melbourne festival. This festival, being in its third year, is running in Sydney, Bondi and for the very first time in 2011, Brisbane. Frank PR who are based in Sydney are assigned to these other major cities. In addition, The Winter Festival has hired some other fantastic external contractors who are bringing their skills, experience and exciting new ideas on board.

Melbourne is set to be ran at the Melbourne Museum and Royal Exhibition Building, an arrangement solely sourced and secured by SRS Productions. We are optimistic and excited to be working with Museum Victoria and our event sponsors to make Melbourne the best it has been yet. Kim Hesse and Maree Trevenen of Venues2Events are our newly appointed senior event location managers and we are extatic to have them on board with us.

So, now to what this amazing event is all about!!...

The Australian Alpine Winter Festival, best known as 'The Winter Festival', is a large scale, open to the public, ongoing event that celebrates the vigour, romance, food, outdoor fun, ambiance and fashions of WINTER.
Each festival features an Olympic sized ice skating rink with an ‘alpine ski hut’ style dining area, licensed drinking areas, gourmet food experiences, and other designated areas for festive activities and live entertainment.

Some of the scheduled fun includes celebrity cooking shows, ice shows performed by elite level ice skaters, corporate day programs, schools programs and an ‘Ice Bar’ for adult night life. The general opening hours for this festival are from lunch time 12pm to 10pm or later on weekends TBC.

This festival is very Australian, yet it also incorporates elements from alpine cultures from around the globe such as Europe, Canada and North America. Anyone who enjoys great food will be highly satisfied from visiting the Winter Festival- another element we pride ourselves on is that we serve gourmet quality, winter themed food using recipes sourced from all around the world. Visitors don’t just have to skate, there are many great winter attractions besides the ice rink.

Many special thanks to our generous sponsors: Unilever Lipton Chai Latte, Strepsils Cool, Lufthansa Austrian Airlines, Helly Hansen, Swiss Hotel,and JCDcaux (media partner)

Festival dates:

• Brisbane 09 June – 26 June
• Bondi 30 June – 24 July
• Sydney 28 July - 14 August
• Melbourne 18 August – 4 September

The Winter Festival runs nationally for 12 weeks in total duration. In 2010 The Winter Festival nationally enjoyed over 400,000 visitors. This year in 2011, we expect over 500,000 visitors due to the extra and new location of Brisbane. In 2010 The Winter Festival reached an audience of 7.5 million.

If you have any sponsorship or PR enquiries, please email: info@srsproductions.com.au

And of course, do make sure you visit the Winter Festival website!

www.winterfestival.com.au

VIP book launch party of 'Intuition' held at 'Where A Girl Goes' in Melbourne

The ultra chic Melbourne based artist-entrepreneur Cristina Re hosted a decadent gathering at her Oxford Street store in Collingwood, 'Where A Girl Goes'. This was not just because she is fan of Paul Fenton-Smith's work, but because this multi-talented young woman happens to be the illustrator of this novice friendly, self help guide to palmistry, psychic sciences and clairvoyance.

I felt I was immersed in my true element- surrounded by the prettiest of designs, an intellectual crowd, exquisite food, and perfected visual merchandising for the launch of Paul Fenton-Smith's latest book called 'Intuition'.

During the evening Cristina and Paul both addressed the guests to thank everyone for their support and attendance, as well, Paul Fenton-Smith gave us a small demonstration by randomly selecting a happily participating guest to explain to us all a bit about how "cords" from our past can hold us back from truly moving on in our lives. He certainly is a very charismatic man!

Some of Melbourne's well-known were in attendance, such as model Helen Cauchi and screen and stage actor Nick-Simpson Deeks. I was totally enthralled by Cristina's beautiful shop, as I am sure all the others were too- I know for certain that I will be back with my friends to enjoy an afternoon of hi-tea and to purchase some gifts (probably for myself) as her majestic collection is just absolutely divine to say the least.

A very speial thank you to Markson Sparks and MiSociety for this event invite.