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!