Miss Nicole Jensen

BERLIN — Crowds of people streaming into a techno music festival surged through an already jammed entry tunnel on Saturday, setting off a panic that killed 19 people and injured 342 at an event meant to celebrate love and peace.

SBS World News Australia claims the reason behind the Love Parade disaster is police closing the parade grounds due to overcrowding, and instructing punters in the tunnel to turn around.

Authorities also suggested that some of the people killed or injured might have attempted to flee the crowd by jumping over a barrier and falling several metres. Witnesses described a desperate scene, as people piled up on each other or scrambled over others who had fallen in the crush.

So why? How could this happen? That tunnel was the sole entrance to the grounds. The Love Parade is one that hosts 1.4 million people and the venue could only hold 500,000. There’s yer problem!

This was my first thought. If an event is a repeat or regular one, you would believe adequate health and safety measures and procedures to be in place. With 1.4 million people reportedly through the gates and a claim of being the largest techno music festival in the world, the Love Parade should have had access points to the grounds to reflect this.

My second thought went to overcrowding (hence police refusing entry to over 300 people in the tunnel) and control of this. Why didn’t they have this covered? An eye-witness account reports (translated by Google from German to English):

Although many security controls were in place that would monitor compliance with the “Love Rules”, but the way to the controls was extremely narrow, began pushing the first and it lasted for only a few metres close to 90 minutes.

On the right side even more dramatic scenes. There was a small emergency stairs, each of which could escape from one person upwards. Here, too, now appeared more and more police officers… In those seeking help were people who had already lost consciousness. It was a bad experience of having to watch the rescue operation with, for now all we feared that we might be the next crushed.

Next to me I suddenly saw a policeman with a young man forced his way to the stairs. “Can’t you go or should I pay them?” Actually, the man gave me an even better shape right impression, then I saw his hand he held up convulsively. I had not looked closely, but his fingertips were covered with blood. Maybe he was overthrown in the crowd and accidentally had a lot of shoes shredded his hand.

They also mention that last year’s Love Parade closed due to overcrowding. Why, then, hasn’t something been done about it? If it is known that the venue is maxed out at 500,000, why are 1.4 million people permitted to attend, even when they expected 800,000?

The founder of the Love Parade, Matthias Roeingh, known as Dr. Motte, blasted the planning for the event, saying “one single entrance through a tunnel lends itself to disaster. I am very sad.”

Me too, Dr. Motte. And it sounds like current management isn’t too keen to run again after this catastrophe.

(Sources: msnbc.com, SBS World News Australia, @BreakingNews, images here on Flickr,  BBC News)

Building Resilience is a not-for-profit association, set up to empower individuals who suffer from depression or low moods to seek assistance through conventional, natural and creative therapies. More than one in five Aussies are facing this every day, so it’s a very important issue that can be worked on in safe, comfortable surroundings.

The programme, starting in Brisbane on July 27th, encompasses both educational and active aspects to support and treat anyone in their journey fighting depression.

Program creator Nadine Zrinzo has been battling depression for the past 15 years.

“What I learnt is that everyone’s experience with depression is different and that a one size fits all approach will not always work. We all need to manage the complexities of our lives, families, jobs and other priorities, making it sometimes necessary to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to managing depression.”

I agree! And the programme reflects this pretty well. Some of the topics covered are conventional such as psychology, exercise, nutrition and medication; others are natural such as acupuncture and naturopathy; whilst some are creative (yay!) such as art therapy. The topics covered for the course starting on the 24th August are available at the website. My favourite angle they examine is self-care, something I struggle with a lot.

There are just twelve participants in each work group, so there is a relaxed atmosphere. They even let you bring a loved one for support. Sometimes the people around us need a hand too, and it can help them understand what really helps us get by.

“We are endeavouring set up a program that helps participants to gain clarity about their path to happiness, through the assistance of a variety of trained practitioners.”

Details

When: Tuesday 24 August – Tuesday 6 October
When: 6pm – 8pm
Where: The Exchange, Shop 1, 42 Blamey Street, Kelvin Grove, QLD

Building Resilience is celebrating their first round on August 24th, with an introductory 50% rate. Check it out, or pass onto anyone you think would benefit.

If you or someone you care about is in crisis and requires immediate assistance please contact one of the services below:

Ambulance Services – call 000
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Help Line 1800 55 1800
SANE 1800 18 7263

Over the weekend I attended 10thousandgirl’s new life and financial planning workshop for young women. It kicked arse, so I vlogged about it. The second video contains more lifestyle tips and info I learned from the event, while the first video is an outline of the event itself. Forgive me, I did forget a lot between Saturday and now!

My HUGE thanks go out to the 10thousandgirl team (specifically Tara Grimshaw, Anneli Knight, & Zoe Lamont), Jo Baker, ING Direct, Napoleon Perdis Make-Up Academy and Opportunity International Australia. I owe OIA a massive apology as I completely forgot to mention their presence at the workshop entirely.

Cool things to check out:

I’m off to BTUB now. Catch you all another day!

Hi there, readers! It’s been ages since I last wrote here due to a number of reasons of which I shall fill you in on now and then some things you can see from me this year.

Brisbane Twestival Local, September 2009

Oh, Christ! How this was a busy time for me. I wish I’d written about this earlier. But it pretty much went off with a bang and I’m still proud of how everyone worked well on it. My first major event as king pin and I think I did a pretty good job, despite my more natural outlook of criticising my hard work to the dickens.

March 2010 will see Twestival Global again, but due to the many activities I have planned for this year, I won’t be on board the committee other than to hand over the reigns.

Regarding BTUB and Brisbane Twitter social events, I am not likely to be organising any events or managing the calendar. 2009 was my year to volunteer and now I’m likely to not have any time for it. It’s been swell, tweeps, but I can’t do it any more.

University

In September I applied for a Bachelor of Business (Events) at Griffith University. In December I was accepted and so in March I shall start back at study after a year out of the lecture hall. Nice, nice! Rather excited actually and looking forward to it. My completed Diploma of Events Management means a year is taken off the BBusiness, so I’m only looking at a two-year outfit.

Employment!

Get this; I have a job! A job! Employment! And it is the best job I’ve ever had. (They know this already, so I’m not just talking it up here for brownie points) I’m the administration officer for Women in Technology, a winner industry organisation for women in the IT, biotech, engineering… any technology career path, actually. They do some pretty awesome things (for stacks of fantastic members who pay practically nothing for the networking opportunites), and I’m rather looking forward to organising the events and programs for this year. They even let me set up Twitter and facebook for them!

Moving house

After two years in St Lucia, I’ve now relocated to Stones Corner on Brisbane’s south-side. It means at least 50 minutes to work, uni and the boyfriend’s place; but at least it’s affordable and in a pretty cool area. Many thanks again to the miracle of my Twitter friends who spent one Saturday in December helping me move. That was EPIC and I will never forget the kindness of these people.

Internet Censorship

Here’s my political contention of recent months (even a year). The Australian Federal Government wants in your Internet on the premise of doing Australian families’ parenting for them. National mandatory Internet censorship (just think about each of those words: National. Mandatory. Censorship.) They plan to block websites which not only host illegal content but also “refused classification” content. This pretty much means content that is legal to view but is stuff that the government (or their stakeholders) don’t like. Not only is it a very scary thing for future governments and citizens to adhere to and control, but it’s going to be quite expensive, ineffective and… well, do you really want the government stopping your kids from getting useful information on how the world works?

I won’t blog all about this today, but for more information you can check out the amazing websites of Somebody Think of the Children, Electronic Frontiers Australia and the Brisbane filter opposition.

The LoveBuckles / Drumming

This is my boyfriend’s kicking band. They’ve had stacks of gigs lately, the most recent for my dear high school friend’s 21st in Coffs Harbour, NSW. It went OFF and I feel lucky that I was there to enable it. And go on road trip. And surround the sleeping drummer with a fort of milk crates. What a bunch of lads!

As for my own musical pursuits, I’m very happy to have my drums all out and shiny for practice. For someone who started in primary school, I should really be much better and I can’t wait to see improvements. You should come by for a jam one day!

And that’s it!

Phew. That’s the essentials for a NJ.com update. As for this website in 2010, it will be updated and mainly used for video blogs and reflections of events/business stuff learned at uni and WiT.

Another 150 helpers needed to assist with record numbers for the Australian University Games, Gold Coast.

The Australian University Games are only four days away and the organisers need volunteer support. Every year Australian University Sport offers hundreds of volunteer positions at their sporting events. Whether it be in administration, operations, transport, marketing, media, sports specific, or just generally helping out there is a role for everyone.

Volunteering is a great way to gain experience, meet new people and be involved in fantastic sporting events. There are roles available leading up to, and during event delivery time.

This year will have the most students competing since the games began in 1993, with competitors from 44 universities across Australia and New Zealand making the most of the Gold Coasts weather and beaches.

The Australian University Games, proudly supported by Queensland Events, is on the Gold Coast from 27 September – 2 October, 2009.

Click here to be a volunteer now!

(From an email from Queensland Events.)

Next Saturday I will be giving up my day to lead a team of 10 volunteers at the Brisbane music festival Sounds of Spring. Pretty cool, huh?

I’ll be starting early in the morning and going until midnight, but it will be worth it. Acts such as Little Birdy, I Heart Hiroshima, The Living End, Tim Rogers, Hungry Kids of Hungary, The Beautiful Girls, Drawn From Bees, Shihad… and stacks more. Shall be fun seeing what goes down there behind the scenes. Rad!

National News | News.com.au

So I’m not really sure what I am to think of this other than “what a rad idea! But it would never work in reality.” I guess there are just some out-there ideas you’ll never know will take off until you dive in.

This isn’t children growing up too fast; at least not as much as adult-captioned t-shirts or heels for toddlers. Children have parties and dance too, you know. The temporary tattoos are fine too; I remember having one of my first when I was five or six. And I’m still into roses, but I’ve not a real tattoo or joined a biker gang.

Entry prices include healthy snacks for children, a “chill-out” play area, bathrooms kitted out with nappy change tables and a goodie bag and glass of champagne for parents.

Sounds safe and healthy to me and I hope that chill-out area has Pass The Parcel or a ball pit. Or even a corner of teddy bears! And the champagne for the parents is a great addition; if I were the mother of unpredictable young children, I’d take every chance I could for a glass of champagne while knowing my kids were safe.

While I’m positive a children’s event would be the second-last* event I’d like to hold, I don’t think this club is the worst thing adult society has thrown at children in recent times. If anything, I’m sure the kids are having a blast.

*weddings just aren’t my thing.

Hello, readers! How is everyone today? Just a general update of the awesome things I’ve been up to lately.

Last week I was lucky enough to score a free ticket to Creative Drinks. My dear friend Hannah Suarez of Brisbane Creative Industries was the speaker of the evening and did very well. Her presentation is on SlideShare here and includes some helpful networking event tips.

Tuesday I was also in attendance at my favourite Brisbane events company Iceberg Events‘ Networx, Working the (Real & Virtual) Room. Director of Paragon Associates, Lisa Butler kick-started the evening with information on busting networking myths and emphasised that anyone can learn to network effectively. More friends of mine were speaking on the topic of working the virtual room (specifically Twitter) – in fact, the whole panel trio of Darryl King, Clare Lancaster and Greg Lexiphanic! Ignoring the occasional train screaming through South Brisbane, discussions of Twitter and social media run amok against a background of a Twitter projection of the #networx hashtag.

Yesterday I attended ANZ’s Small Business workshops discussing online marketing (specifically Google’s AdWords and social media) and brand awareness. The day was a good one and I met various new people interested in learning more about their businesses online. I was even outed as a secret live-twitter bug, which was a great example to those wanting to understand the scope social media can have. There are more ANZ Small Business workshops happening all around Australia until around November, so get in quick to enrol (they’re free too)!

Lastly, things are rolling faster and faster for Brisbane Twestival Local. Committee positions are being snapped up fast, bands and artists approached, venues scoped. We are hoping to gather the support of the voted-in beyondblue: the national depression initiative as our charity of choice to support, a charity I have long been a fan of.

Phew! I think that’s about it. Oh! And the BTUB Wine Night was a complete success as well. My first paid event as a freelancer. Feels good, man.

Looking for full-time employment has unfortunately taken a back seat to these activities. It’s a shame I’m having so much fun… well, no. Not really.