Another new client win for Line Up: British Gas

British Gas has appointed us to manage a two day internal event for 800 staff this month.  The strategic event, for the Information Systems and Business Process division, incorporates the theme of ‘One British Gas’ and will be staged at Beaumont House, Windsor.    It’s our first job for the company, so we’re relishing the opportunity to prove the value of our work.

British Gas employees will be invited in 4 groups of 200 to hear about forthcoming developments in a series of walk-through presentations led by members of the management team.  To accommodate the numerous important messages, we’ve designed and built a series of small presentation spaces, each having its unique presentation format and supporting materials.

Lose yourself in Abstract America……

If you haven’t been to the new Saatchi Gallery yet, you should go just to see the building.  The marriage of old and new is seamless and really quite stunning.  New glass additions meet fabulous old brick facades, now resurrected as interior walls.  Walkways criss-cross corridors and the crisp, perfect whiteness of every wall provides the ideal blank canvas for each and every exhibit.

The 13 galleries currently play host to Abstract America – the reason why you should visit the new Saatchi space now.  Working in a creative industry, it is always a thrill to see artistic talent that really inspires.  Not all of it is necessarily pleasing to the eye: some of it makes you giggle, some of it makes you wince and the odd piece – for me, anyway – brought to mind that wonderful Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.  Oh, what was it called?

Anyway, the whole is very, very pleasing indeed and well worth the trip.  My two favourites – both of which were truly different but outstanding for their individuality – were by Guerra de la Paz and Jacob Hashimoto.  The first features disturbingly realistic legs of several people who appear to be buried in a huge heap of discarded clothing.  You genuinely feel that, should you tickle one of them, the thing would go down leaving all of them giggling because you almost fell for it.  It’s not a living room piece but it’s well worth seeing.

The second was, for me, more the kind of art that you’d actually love to have in your house if you had a wall big enough.  Continent, as it is called, is an incredible creation of beautifully designed rice paper swatches and bamboo suspended by a wooden frame on nylon thread.  But that does it no justice at all.  It has colour, depth, skill and passion oozing out of it and it really was a joy to stand and stare.

Although my visit was for sheer pleasure I couldn’t help thinking that here was the most wonderful event space.  So go for pleasure, book it for business, you won’t be disappointed.

Preparing for 2012 and beyond….

With thousands of young, hopeful athletes now in serious training for 2012, have you ever thought about who coaches the coaches?  England Athletics, the sport’s governing body, has around 11,500 registered coaches all of whom are working hard to ensure that our team is ready to seriously compete on home turf.  Their current mission is to arm these coaches with the practical skills to help improve their coaching performance.

Working with David Hemery, CBE and former Olympic Gold Medallist, England Athletics has developed a new approach to coaching and mentoring that it aims to roll out to all UKA registered coaches.

That’s where we come in.  We’ve been briefed to work with David and the team at England Athletics to create a set of films, covering 11 key athletic disciplines – including long jump, triple jump, pole vault, javelin, hammer and discus – that set out to persuade coaches to adopt this new ‘performer centred approach’ when working with other coaches and athletes.  Mentoring is at the heart of this approach and the films will demonstrate the principles in action.

The films will be shot over 5 days in July at Loughborough University.  They will be edited in-house at Line Up and delivered in September 2009 via the UK Athletics website.

Go back to our website to see more Line Up video highlights or visit us again to see the final films.

Goodbye Michael……

Since Michael Jackson’s death last week, the media have likened his influence and musical legacy to that of Elvis Presley and John Lennon.   I’ve been gauging opinions on this for a few days now and have realised that it’s a real conversational hot potato and a very subjective issue.

But, love him or hate him, nobody can deny that Michael Jackson’s death won’t have widespread ramifications.  The UK events and corporate hospitality industry will be hard hit with the cancellation of 50 scheduled concerts over 9 months.  The O2 will obviously feel the immediate impact but, since the tour was selling incredibly well – given the current climate – corporate hospitality agencies, ticket agents and local hotels will surely feel the shockwaves too.

The insurance liability of the tour promoter, AEG Live, is still being debated in most of the papers but given their initial struggle to get full tour insurance and their promise to ‘self-insure’ to get the tour up and running, it looks like the global recession will have been a walk in the park for them to date.

So, whether or not you agree that his death is as significant as Presley’s or Lennon’s in terms of musical legacy, it cannot be denied that he was a truly global megastar who will leave thousands grieving and thousands of others reeling at the far-reaching ramifications of his death.

On a lighter note, my personal Jacko favourites were in the early days with the Jackson 5.  Perhaps because I love the 70’s and the afros, perhaps just because I’m getting old or perhaps because he was just better  before show business got to him too much.  Here’s how I will remember him …………

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYx3BR2aJA4

How about you?