As you might expect, we were pretty busy over the holiday period, with Excel equipment in use at quite a few big events:

Woodford Folk Festival

What must be the biggest folk music event in Australia took place over six days and included The Dreaming, Australia’s international indigenous festival. Festivalgoers this year were lucky to get great weather.

Blah Blah Blah Music Festival (infrastructure supplier)
This boutique music festival featuring underground music acts that you don’t get to see at the major festivals, celebrated its third event at South Bank in Brisbane on 28 December. Excel supplied all the event infrastructure. Read more at the Blah Blah Blah Festival website.

Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters played to a packed Metricon stadium last month at the Gold Coast stadium’s very first music event. Read more about the gig on the Metricon stadium’s website. Excel supplied additional infrastructure for the gig, which also featured actor Jack Black and his band Tenacious D.

The Wiggles
A slightly younger audience were wowed at the RNA Showgrounds last month by The Wiggles. As their concert followed on from the Stereosonic Festival earlier, some Excel marquee and flooring equipment was on the bill at The Wiggles concert.

Magic Millions

(click to enlarge)

What’s happening in February

If you want to go iceskating in February, Queensland would probably not be the first place you’d go looking. But you’d be wrong of course, as Iceworld Acacia Ridge is an Olympic standard ice rink. So as not to disappoint their customers, Iceworld have set up a temporary icerink in their car park while the main rink is being refurbished for two months from January 23rd. And, you’ve guessed it, the 20m x 40m icerink will be housed in a large Excel marquee.

You may not notice a huge difference on our website – it hasn’t had a major redesign. Instead, this year we are focused on making it easier for you to find what you are looking for on the site.

Here are some of the changes:

Search Box

An improvement we have already introduced is a search function on every page – just tap in what you’re looking for and hey presto it pulls up all relevant pages. If you’re looking for particular information this is one of the best ways to find it.

New Pages – News & Events

We’ve added a News page which archives all the news stories and articles we’ve run in our newsletter and on the site over the past few years. We also now have an Events page which is to let you know about Excel’s own events, like the Brisbane Melbourne Cup event last year.

And there are more improvements coming – watch this space!

Here is what a few of the guests had to say about the day:

“Fantastic day that impressed me so I believe most guests would have been impressed and hope to attend next year”
BQ – QR National

“This was an excellent event, powder room was fantastic, amenities were outstanding, our clients were very impressed and we hope you do it again next year”
JW – IOOF

“Service was Fab – Everything about the event screamed quality and was a talking point for the remainder of the week”
4KQ Sales

“I loved the marquee it was fantastic”
Get Hummered client

“Air conditioned tent was very good, Hummer transport was excellent, the high wire acts were sensational”
Lennons Heavy Equipment

“I thoroughly enjoyed the event and am keen to attend next year”
IS- Daikin

And we’re looking forward to putting on the event again next year!

Michael Caminiti, Brisbane Event Management

Jeannette and Michael* working together meant that we really did not have to worry about this side of the event at all, leaving us to focus on the hospitality and the event itself. Excel worked in conjunction with Michael Caminiti from Brisbane Event Management to plan the styling of the marquee. The Excel team really went beyond the call of duty to make sure that everything worked perfectly for us.”

Joanne Silcock, Marketing Executive Brisbane Racing Club

Lindsay Bennett, Lindsay Bennett Marketing

The event was organised by Lindsay Bennett Marketing, who said:

“The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival worked with Excel Event Equipment Hire for the staging of the 2011 event which enjoyed sell-out crowds in what has become Queensland’s premier fashion event. It’s always a joy to work with suppliers that understand the challenges of staging major events and we look forward to continuing this partnership in 2012.”

We also now have some great photos from the event:

However, all our hints and tips are buried in our news section, so we thought we’d pull them all together for you.

gap

Excel Hire Hints & Tips – How to organise the perfect event

Common questions – glasses and marquees
Safety Compliance – securing marquees
Choosing the right table linen
Questions to ask when hiring a marquee
Three quick tips for your next event
Three top tips for successful events

On Sunday 25th September the Australian Open Polo Final was held at the Channel Seven Doomben Polo Fields inside the Brisbane Racing Club’s racecourse. We were delighted to be involved with the supply and styling of the Bollinger Pavilion at the event, where Phillip Johnson from e’cco bistro provided a delicious lunch for the 150 people who watched the day unfold in luxury.

The world class polo field was purpose-built in the centre of the racetrack at Doomben and the event, hosted by Channel 7 sports presenter Pat Welsh, attracted more than 2,000 spectators. Other celebrities in attendance included Dean Miller from Channel 7 and Camilla and Cat from Nova 106.9. The heats for the competition were held at various properties in Beaudesert and this year is the first that the finals themselves have been held in Brisbane.

Excel became involved with the Australian Polo Open Final through their involvement with the Brisbane Melbourne Cup Day in just a few weeks time, in conjunction with Michael Caminiti of Brisbane Event Management.

Joanne Silcock, Marketing Executive at Brisbane Racing Club, who was responsible for staging the event, was searching for assistance to fit out the Bollinger Pavilion. With one month to go, Joanne contacted Jeannette at Excel after learning about their capabilities from the Melbourne Cup Day planning.  Joanne was delighted with what Excel were able to do in the short timeframe:

“The event was a great success and this was thanks in no small part to the support that Jeannette and the team at Excel were able to provide us. Excel have a huge range of furniture, fittings and marquees – a range that is almost unrivalled in the event equipment hire industry, and their equipment is good quality, clean and modern.

Jeannette and Michael* working together meant that we really did not have to worry about this side of the event at all, leaving us to focus on the hospitality and the event itself. Excel worked in conjunction with Michael Caminiti from Brisbane Event Management to plan the styling of the marquee. The Excel team really went beyond the call of duty to make sure that everything worked perfectly for us.”

If you’d like to come and watch, or even learn to play, there’s more information on the Brisbane Racing Club website. The next polo event planned is Polo in the City on 12th November.

*Michael Caminiti of Brisbane Event Management

Eiffel Tower Vase

75cm tall in either black, white or clear (as featured at the recent Bollinger Pavilion at the Australian Open Polo Final)

Crockery

Stackable Bowl 110mm x 40mm deep

Square Bowl 120mm x 120mm x 50m deep