The Maiz – Mustang Muze

The unexpected: desert, then on-tray. By John Maizels It’s been pretty much plastered all over the the web that I and Julius (aka J-Man, publisher, editor, chief strategist, and totally unpredictable director of all things CX) went on an adventure-filled road trip to InfoComm 2012.  As Road Trips go, we had everything except Bing Crosby…

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Failure on launchpad: Super due to almost ALL CASUAL CREW

At ENTECH CX heard case after case of production firms complaining that they KNEW other firms were NOT paying 9% super for casual contractor crews. One larger production firm are telling contractors they are not entitled, and routinely charging 9% less for labour. Here’s the GOOD / BAD news: ALL CONTRACTORS are REQUIRED TO BE…

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Safety Summit endorses Code or Guidelines

The National Safety Summit at ENTECH attracted a truly representative cross section of the entertainment and events industry on Thursday 19th July. It was standing room only at Melbourne Park, as the industry heard how a Code or Guidelines could be put together, and discussed wider safety and training issues. The Summit endorsed by a…

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G20 proves NSW Government is MAD to demolish Convention Centre!

“The decision to host the G20 Summit in Brisbane highlights the dilemma faced by the exhibition and event industry which is still waiting for a government decision on interim facilities while new conference and exhibition facilities are built at Sydney’s Darling Harbour”. says Spice News. The G20 decision was slammed by the NSW Government, who…

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Bankwest kills iconic venue

Think long and hard about who you bank with. Bankwest fell over in the global financial crisis and was purchased by the CBA (Commonwealth Bank) for a low $2.1 billion. CBA then set about gutting the Bankwest loan book, calling in anything that they didn’t like. They had a commercial reason to do it: any…

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Industry Events – the 2012 Winter master list!

We’ve never had so many seminars, training sessions, and trade events to attend! So now CX brings you the master guide to what’s on, and where, all the way to spring time. Best of all, some of these are not only free but you also get catering! First off the rank is ROSS VIDEO, holding…

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Working Smart – How to find, inspire and keep good staff

Yahoo Google and most Silicon Valley firms face a skills shortage not unlike the technical production industry. But with profits per worker as high as $2.2 million per worker (Apple) and averaging $208,000 across the board, the comparison is not financial. Most tech production workers account for as little as a few thousand in net…

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Radiohead Roof Failure: More Info

As with the Indiana disaster last August, there is absolutely nothing official being said by anyone, at the ernest advice of lawyers, who would always sanction silence. It is our policy to run an intelligent and unbiased debate on ANYTHING that affects our industry, so here goes…. First up, here is a BEFORE photo of…

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Guidelines for Event Safety

In the absence of any agreed standards, let’s start right NOW and assemble best practice into one simple set of guidelines. Start with the rule in place at some of the better concert production firms: 1. Crosscheck before flying. Notice how flight crew ‘arm doors and crosscheck’? That’s so they don’t blow the safety slide…

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Fairfax slash and burn. Media: WTF?

With 1,900 jobs to go, and broadsheet (huge) to become tabloid (like Herald-Sun) the board at Fairfax have been spooked by the raid on their stock by mining magnate Gina. She now holds one-fifth of the stock. Great analysis here. Imagine CX had a buy-in board. Presently this is a family firm, kinda had been…

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