Usadba Jazz Festival

On June 15^th and 16^th it was again time for the Moscow’s annual Usadba Jazz festival. This year the chosen location was Archangel, around an hour and a half drive west from the centre of Moscow. This year was no normal year; the festival was celebrating its 10^th anniversary and for the first time since it began the festival went beyond the usual framework in honour of the 10^th anniversary. Unlike other years several mini events and projects were held on the lead up to the festival; these included a Manor jazz pre party held in Gorky park on the 2^nd of June, a jazz from Holland event also held in Gorky park but on the 13^th of June, ‘Homestead in the City’ ran from the 19^th of May till the 10^th of June in the Moscow shopping mall. ‘Homestead in the City’ was in support of the young musicians contest and provided a space where competition participants could showcase themselves and videos were posted on the Internet.  There was also a Gala dinner held on the 31^st of May. All these events built anticipation and excitement for the main event.

The event site at Archangel had several different areas with a number of varying attractions the first being Aristocrat, this was inside the main courtyard and the stage was for traditional jazz. The next was Parter meaning, stalls and this area was a large open grass area between the Moscow River and the front yard estate, this is where the fashionable stage was playing mainstream jazz, funk, electronic, ethno-jazz and jazz-rock. Kapriz is where the country and swing stage was and Ground Plus which was situated to the left of the main stage where there was a designers market, workshops and exhibition. The last two stage areas were Bereg (Bay) where acid jazz and Dj sets were playing and the Jazz Club was the area for young performers to showcase their talent and hold jam sessions with each other and attendees. Other areas included a VIP Zone, Jazz Market and food stalls all around the event site.

The area that we are most interested in however is Sberbank’s Interactive City, as eventum-premo was the agency behind the ideas and the organisation. The interactive city was free to visit and upon entering guests received passports, which they were to get stamped after visiting each activity. Activities on offer were board games, a library where you could read a book, movies, an observation deck, photo booth and of course free wifi. A Green bar was also available where you could relax and enjoy non-alcoholic beverages and you were able to receive advice on the services that Sberbank have on offer. Elsewhere on the event site there were mobile offices provided by Sberbank where you were able to receive the same advice and service. The balance of leisure activities and information represented and advertised the bank positively and positioned them well to the younger generation due to the festival setting.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the event and fully experience the Sberbank Interactive City that eventum-pemo created due to illness, however, from speaking to colleagues I heard it was a great event with beautiful weather and attendees enjoyed the activities on offer. The hard work that went into the event was apparent in the office as throughout the week members of the team were absent as they were setting up and getting ready for the weekends events. This event was the last one taking place whilst I am here in Moscow so I was very disappointed to miss it but I still feel privileged to have experienced a wide variety of events and experienced the organisation and lead up to the festival.  It has been an interesting and educational insight seeing the work that goes into creating and putting on these successful events.  

        

Oriflame

On Saturday the 8^th of June I was given the privilege of attending one of Oriflame’s, a Swedish cosmetics company, annual events. It is a prestigious event within the organisation and an honour for employees to be invited to. Therefore making it an incentive for employees, as only the top sellers from around Russia are able to attend. As well as being a big event for Oriflame it is the biggest event in the first half of the year for eventum-premo. The evening consisted of a sit down dinner, drinks, awards and entertainment for guests. 

Gostiniy Dvor was the venue of choice for this particular event; situated in central Moscow within close proximity to Red Square it was a well-chosen location for a high profile corporate event. The concept for this years event was a cruise ship entitled the Dream Liner, this was apparent on the large screens displaying the Dream Liner symbol and during the opening ceremony the backdrop screens of the stage displayed a cruise ship sailing the sea and a ships helm appeared on stage with the two captains opening the show. As well as this, dotted around the venue were tower constructions with spinning lights on top to represent lighthouses. This theme presented to the Client by evetum-premo was particularly appropriate as unbeknown to evetum-premo the largest Oriflame event incorporating three countries to take place in 2014 will be on a cruise ship, therefore making this particular event in Moscow act as a teaser for 2014.

The event came across as very high end with a red carpet lain out at the entrance to the venue. A blue carpet continued the high end feel inside the venue running down the middle of the venue in between the tables which were also decorated well with tablecloths and seat covers. Important figures from the organisation were filmed upon arrival, streaming live on the big screens throughout the venue enabling all attendees to witness their entrance. Later to officially open the event VIP’s were formally introduced and paraded down the blue carpet, lined with loyal and admiring Oriflame employees, leading them to the VIP section to be seated.

The VIP section was cornered off by decorative barriers and they received different food, as well as their waiters/waitresses being dressed as sailors, referring to the Dream Liner theme. I feel it was a good idea to create a separate VIP area to provide further incentive for employees to aspire to reach the VIP area.

The evening continued with a parade of award winning employees on stage, allowing them to have their moment of fame for their hard work, their awards were cheques for various amounts of money and each received a white rose as a small favour. Around 600 people were part of this stage parade causing a congestion problem backstage whilst they were attempting to reach the stage, the event team were quick to respond and solve the problem and the parade was undisturbed and the guests none the wiser.

Leading me onto the fact that I had access to the backstage area, an interesting insight for me. There were pop up dressing rooms for performers of all kinds as well as the events staff. A great amount of coordination and organisation was required in the area when it came to acts and performers making their way to and from the stage.  There were a wide variety of performers for the event from dancers, to drummers, a children’s choir among others and a celebrity appearance from C.C Catch, a famous Dutch pop singer best known for her career in the 80’s and 90’s.

The most striking part of the event for me was the stage, it was the centre focus of the event with two large screens on either side and a large O in the centre depicted by what I interpreted as flames, a clever way of representing the brand Oriflame within the staging.

 The eventum-premo team for this type of event of around 3000 people usually consists of 5 to 7 members and takes 2 to 3 months of preparation time. This particular event also took 3 days to set up and prepare the venue but as soon as the event finished it had to be dismantled and the venue cleared by 11am the next morning to ensure an extra day of rent did not have to be paid for the premises.    

                                       

My only observations from the evening were that I felt more decoration could have been used to implement and confirm the theme of the Dream Liner further, for example there were railings up one side of the venue hall that could have been covered with decorations of some kind, for example buoys or even made into life boats. Secondly, I felt the venue was a great selection but my only thought was the glass ceiling prevented the audience from experiencing the full potential of the lighting effects for the majority of the evening.  Finally I failed to see any unity within the event team working at the event, I would suggest all females to wear the same dress and all males the same suite so they are easily identifiable as well as looking professional. Due to the formal atmosphere of the event and the focus on the Oriflame brand I understand why there were no evetum-premo logos around the venue however, name badges for the team brandishing the logo would subtly advertise the company and let guests know who created the event. Overall however, I was extremely impressed by the event and how the eventum-premo team were able to think up a concept and deliver an event of this scale with few problems to the satisfaction of not only the Client but also the guests who looked thoroughly entertained throughout.