8 Days Out. Meet Shannon.

With just over a week left until St Kilda Festivaling, we meet the man himself - Production Manager, Shannon.

Hi Shannon, introduce yourself please. Don’t be nervous.

Hi I’m Shannon, I’m the Festival Production Manager.

I’m responsible for all the production and operational elements of the Festival. I manage a team of 9 very capable people who help me do that.

And all the other people who make the Festival happen?

Outside of the core team, on site the Festival directly employs around 80 production and ops people everyone from stage managers, site power coordinators, site managers, logistics people, signage installers…

Indirectly there are another approx 500 people working: security, cleaning, rigging and all the other jobs that make it all go smoothly.

For those people wanting to get into production management, tell me a little about your career path…

I started as a theatre company stage manager at a small country town in South Australia. Then I learnt all elements of production – everything from sound, lighting, staging, set building, pyrotechnics… I got my truck and bus licenses and became a multi skilled technician very quickly.

[There’s way more to this... Commonwealth Games Technical Director – River, World Masters Games and a million other big events around the world… he’s done everything……..he’s even met the Pope whilst working on World Youth Day in Sydney]

But before that you were a DJ?

Yes, I may have been.

I have been known to have spun some steel.

That’s DJ speak.

What was your favourite choon to spin before the ugly lights came up?

Ooo, good question

Ummm… Mr Jones by Counting Crows

Well, we all want something beautiful

And Just a Gigolo - it was good to finish with, about going home … alone…

Oh, that’s sad…

Back to the interview

How many St Kilda Festivals have you worked on?

This could be my twelfth.

Yes it is – I think I started in 1999 working in site management… and there was no Festival in 2006.

Wow 12! You will have seen a lot of changes?

Yes, when I started there were 4 stages. This year there are 10. Not all music, there’s the Kidzone stage and the Hare Krishna Stage. A lot of variety.

There’s a lot more community activities on site. The new Live N Local Stage for example – it’s such a great launch pad. People know this and as a result there’s greater participant engagement across the board.

12 St Kilda Festivals? What keeps you coming back?

It’s hard to put a finger on it. No 1 stage or element, just the St Kilda-ness.

It’s a meeting place for people and ideas, a melting-pot-gathering. As it’s free, it attracts all types of different people and after all these years it still has a raw feel to it - it’s not too polished like some other events, or overproduced. And I guess that’s what I like the most.

I enjoy it.

And I come back because I always see ways that it can be improved without changing its character. For me, it’s as much about protecting the Festival as it is about staging it.

And the chicken parma from The Balaclava (over the road from the office), that’d influence your decision too wouldn’t it?

Yes, you’re right, that plays a significant role in making me return to St Kilda.

I do like a good chicken parma.

Tell me about your favourite. Where would one go to purchase the best parma in Australia, in your opinion?

Oooo you’ve really put me on the spot there. That’s tough.

*Concentration…thinking….*

Any from the myriad pubs in south Melbourne I’d say. Although I do have a soft spot for The Balaclava. Chef does well, he tries his best!

Tell me about the crazy times... Festival week? What happens in Shannonland?

We all move to the site offices and everything is set up. The week before Festival Sunday is a continual bump in with all the stages being erected and other infrastructure going in. By Friday and Saturday, we in the production team are working 16 hour days.

On Festival Sunday I have a 4am start. First off, monitoring the road closures and checking that everything’s going to be ready to go by 10am when the people arrive. During the day I make sure everything’s running smoothly, deal with issues as they come up.

At the end of the day we start bumping out immediately, as soon as everyone’s on trams homeward bound. And then we start the clean up. By 8am on Monday morning, St Kilda is in its best condition with shiny roads and sparkling footpaths. If I’m lucky I may make it to bed by 4am on Monday morning.

Do you get to see any of the Festival?

Not really, I try to pop into the VIP area at the Main Stage for about 5minutes.

Which band will be using up your 5 minutes on this year?

This year I’d like to see Hungry Kids of Hungary.

Really?

I’ve heard they’re new, cool and popular. I’d like to see what that’s all about.

And after the Festival?

I fall over.

No, really, it takes me about a week to get back to normality. After the debriefs I’ll take time out and try to do very little for a week or so… then straight into working on the Queensland Music Festival.

No rest for the wicked!

Indeed Shannon.  Life is a dance floor.

12 Days to go! Meet Russel.

Wow! only 2 weeks to go til St Kilda Festival 2011. Lets' meet Russel. He's worked on about a million events and is very clever...

Hi Russel, introduce yourself please

Hi, I’m Russel, the Festival Production Coordinator. I liaise and procure.. bit like a Gopher.

Yes?

I find and get things for production and operations.

Like what?

Plant [that’s big machinery], CCB [that’s barrier fencing], transport…

And I coordinate contractors drop offs, times in, make sure they’re all coming when they’re supposed to be. And that everything’s being installed as it should. I and the rest of the Production team are ‘watchdogs for safety'.

What are you doing at the moment?

Finishing ordering everything, umm… also collecting all the band backline specs.

Riders? Anyone asked for anything outrageous?

No they’ve all been reasonable requests so far.  Water, comfortable chairs…

Ordering golf buggies?

Yes – all kinds

Special 6 seater limo-like buggies for transporting musicians to the stages, there’ll be a couple with tray on the back; like utes, a fat off-roader for the beach, a mini jeep buggie in case we need to tow anything….

You’ve worked on loads of big events haven’t you?

Yes, in various roles. I started working in events ion 2003 – when I was the Coordinator of Volunteers for the Rugby World Cup in Sydney. I’ve also worked on the Commonwealth Games, West Asia Games, the Pope’s World Youth Day visit, yes, all the glory jobs like installing the Popes toilet, and no it wasn’t made of gold but nobody else was allowed to use it, and I looked after the Torch Relay transport and logistics for the Vancouver Winter Olympics…

Splutter. *chokes on paddle pop* .Recovers

Wow – loads. You’re good.

Hmm, for all those jobs, you have to have a good practical knowledge of operations… and for logistics be good on the fly at maths.

How many paddle pops have you eaten today?

Just one, this is my first.  Well actually, only a quarter so far.

Oooo, yes, I see, you are good at maths.

So, you like to sing? You’ve got quite a voice

Ahh, yes, I do like to sing. Friday Classics makes me happy. We in the production team are going to form a choir... or a band course they don’t know it yet.

That’s a good idea.

What will you be doing on Festival Sunday?

I’ll start at 6am and spend my whole day out on site. I’ll be all over the place, the bossy person on the ground, checking all the infrastructure, making sure everything’s safe and working as it should. I’ll relieve site staff when they go on meal breaks.

I’m also going to try and enjoy the sun (as I’m working) and watch some bands on my way past the various stages.

I can’t wait to see the stage up on the Foreshore. 

Yay! Me too – so exciting!

Thanks Rusty, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you today!

4 Week Out. Meet Meghan.

With only 4 weeks to go (actually 3 if you don't count this week) until St Kilda starts, it's a hive of activity here at St Kilda Festival HQ. The full line up was announced this week and the programs are out. If you haven't got your hands on one yet, check out the website stkildafestival.com.au for all the amazingness we have planned for the week.

There's so much to see, watch, enjoy, experience. It's all very exciting.

Right, on to the interview. This week we meet Meghan.

Hi Meghan introduce yourself please.

Hi I’m Meghan, I’m the Festival Sponsorship and Signage Production Coordinator. I assist all the sponsors with their on site logistics and look after production of all the signage that goes up.

We’ll start with signage first:

What sort of signs?

All signs – everything from road closures, toilets, directional signs (arrow this way, arrow, that way), entry & exit and all the promotional ones – Stage line ups, all the flags that go along The Esplanade etc…so many signs

How many altogether?

Over 350 are installed onsite altogether.

That’s a lot of signs.

Yes it is.

The first of the promotional signs - the big tower banners that are put up along Jacka Boulevard are actually arriving here at the office this afternoon. They’ll be installed next week which is exciting.

Oh they just arrived – YAY, 10 down 340 to go!

And the others? When do they go up?

The rest are installed from the day before Festival Sunday. (Saturday 12 February). A team of 12 work all day Saturday and then start again at 2am Sunday morning. They have to have them all up by 10am when the Festival starts.

They’re all taken down again from about 10pm on Sunday night. It doesn’t take nearly as long to take them down, the team has to be finished by 2am when the site is cleared and back to how it usually is the other 364 days when the Festival’s not on.

They have to be careful though as we reuse a lot of the signs from year to year.

Oh, what are the biggest and smallest signs?

The biggest are the massive banners on the side of the Main Stage – they’re 7 x 6 metres

And the smallest is only 13 x 7cm.

Ooo tiny – what are they for?

They’re ‘replacement signs’ – little stickers that cover up or replace information on signs that were used last year. Date changes mainly.

And the other part of your job – Sponsorship. Tell us about that please.

Ok, so basically, I make sure that all their on site needs are met, that everything they need to have for their activation is there and done in a safe way, so they’ll have a happy and successful day.

What does that entail?

I help the sponsors with any infrastructure they need, like marquees, tables and chairs as well as power, signage…

At the moment, I’m making sure we’ve got all the right information from them so that their St Kilda Festival goes exactly according to plan.

Collecting their event management plans, risk assessments, OH&S management plans…

We’re also organising film & photography permits and sampling permits - for those wanting to hand stuff out.

And compiling lists of names of the people they’ll have on site so we can get them accreditation passes (on site access passes) and make sure they’ve all completed the online safety induction.

How many people is that for then?

Oh, there’s hundreds. All the sponsor bump in crews, their promotional staff, subcontractors and volunteers….  

So much information….

And what about you on Festival Sunday, what will you be doing?

I’ll be starting very early – with the signage installation crew to make sure that all goes smoothly. Then I’ll check in all the sponsors to make sure they’ve got everything they need and help out with anything that comes up.

Or down if it’s signage.

What are you most looking forward to seeing?

Save the Children Make your Mark. It’s a big marquee where they’re asking people to ink up their thumbs and ‘sign’ a petition to help children worldwide survive to see their 5^th birthday. It’s a great concept for an activation. I suppose we’ll see everyone at the Festival walking around with inky fingers.

And will you get to see any bands?

Luckily, I’ll be outside a lot, so I’ll get to see things as I walk past. I really want to see Hungry Kids of Hungary – they’re on the Main Stage at 6.30pm.

Ooo so do I. Then Opulent Sound at O’Donnell Gardens…

So many good bands…

Well, Meghan, I’ve learnt a lot about signs this afternoon. Thanks for that. You have a happy rest of your Friday.

5 Weeks Out. Meet Annie.

Hi Annie, introduce yourself please

Hi! You know who you are!

Ah for the benefit of those reading this blog entry…

Oh ok. Hi! My name’s Annie and I look after the marketing for the Festival. I like it. It’s fun.

What are you doing at the moment?

Ah interviewing myself.

…and in the broader context of your job?

At the moment, I'm mainly making the website. It's really time consuming however when it's finished...very satisfying.

Our programs have gone to print and will be distributed around Melbourne from next week – exciting.

From now, I will be working with designers to finish all our signage, making up some competitions so you can all win stuff, liaising with our publicists… general promotional business.

Your job sounds quite creative, do you love it?

Yes, marketing for St Kilda Festival is a great job. Where else in world is a suburb closed to traffic for a day so people can come listen to music and experience such amazingness for free?! It means we don’t have to put resources into pushing ticket sales, but can really get behind promoting all the artists and activities that are happening. Actually my favourite and most satisfying part of my job is getting behind the emerging artists and promoting them. It’s a great launch pad for them – to be part of such a well known event with massive audience.

What do you do during Festival Week?

I’ll go to Yalukit Willam Ngargee and loads of Live N Local gigs – as many as I can get to. I’ll be doing a lots of facebooking and twittering, keeping everyone up to date with what’s going on.

On Festival Sunday I’ll be looking after our VIPs and our market researchers and checking in on our charity partners and merchandisers to make sure they’re having a good time and that their events are all running smoothly and according to plan.

I’ll try to catch every band playing, especially those on the New Music Stage – the line up there this year is really strong. AND I will definitely catch Tim Finn so I can sing along badly, loudly and shrilly to the songs I grew up with.

Does that mean you’re going to play your kazoo?

I will have it on me but it will depend on whether Tim invites me to play on stage with him. Not everyone appreciates the kazoo, you know…

It’s my favourite…

Last blog interview we were talking to Dean about Neighbours, are you ridiculously excited about Ten’s involvement?

YES. I LOVE NEIGHBOURS. I’ve invested many years of my life into that show! Neighbours is my specialty subject.

That’s quite impressive (if a touch obsessive)… who is your favourite person on Ramsay Street?

Ooo I don't have favourites. I feel like I know them all too well. They all bring a special something to the street. Although I have always had a soft spot for Stefan Dennis.

Did you always want to marry Scott Robinson?
No, I liked Guy Pearce’s character, Mike, better. Actually Henry was my favourite back in those days.

That’s understandable. Mona was a really good song. I can see the attraction there.

Soooo anyways you were talking about facebook and twitter what’s the most interesting/strange/awesome thing anyone has ever said on facebook or twitter?
Um, it’s mainly just general chit chat and news at the moment. Pretty much every day people ask me the dates of the Festival.

Can you highlight that again for those who may not have come across those daily posts?

Ha. Ok. Here they are:

Yalukit Willam Ngargee – Saturday 5^th February

Live N Local – Sunday 6^th – Saturday 12^th February

Festival Sunday – Sunday 13^th of February.

Don’t forget them!

You are the inventor of this amazing blog. Can you tell who is reading it and where they come from?

We’re getting lots of people reading it. People from Russia and Peru even, but mostly Australia, the UK although actually there are some other interesting ones I can’t remember off the top of my head. Everyone wants to know what we’re up to. It’s highly fascinating.

When are you going to tell us and the punters out there who else is gracing our beachside stages?
All will be revealed next week! WOOHOOOOOOO!

Can you please give us a hint?
No.

Why not?
Because. Be patient please.

Ok then…

Thanks Annie!