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!

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.

A few days ago the 2009 dates for the music festival tour Parklife were released by Sydney events company Fuzzy. Hurrah! 

So the dates for this winning festival are:

• Saturday 26th September – Brisbane
• Sunday 27th September – Perth
• Saturday 3rd October – Melbourne
• Sunday 4th October – Sydney
• Monday 5th October – Adelaide

You can find more info on each on and their retrospective Facebook event pages (of course) here. As far as the acts are concerned; there has been some comment around the place that Canadian electro duo MSTRKRFT and the UK’s Lady Sovereign will be touring. I’ll report back with an official list when it arises.

Also, if you’re a Sydney student looking to get some hours up on your degree, why not apply for a Parklife Internship? There are roles available in event management, PR, marketing, touring, HR and production. I would apply immediately, but I’m neither in Sydney or a student. Shame! You’d best hurry along though; applications are due this coming Monday, 25th of May.

Naughty nurses draw fire at CeBIT Australia.

I’m taking time out from the Twitter for n00bs series to laugh at a particular event exhibitor at the IT industry trade show CeBIT which I know many of my Twitter mates attended, journalist Ben Grubb included.

So it appears that promotional models at the event caused a stir, particularly among the marginalised female IT crowd, after they wore novelty doctor and nurses uniforms, plugging into a stereotypical porn fantasy. They were part of a marketing ploy by web hosting company NetRegistry playing on those cheesy sexual impotence ads and accompanied by posters baring the slogan ”Want longer lasting server up-time?”

Not only deemed demeaning to female geeks, the outfits were sort of innappropriate for a professional trade show. Playing on sexual fantasies? Um.. nice way to show that you couldn’t go above the cliched ’sex sells.’ At least it wasn’t as bad as Nando’s latest though, I’ll give NetRegistry that credit.

NetRegistry said the gag was directed by “women and a gay guy,” but what on earth does this have to do with anything? Does this for some unknown reason make it okay? I don’t think so. They offended people and it shouldn’t make it any different who gave the all-clear.

Grubb writes something which amuses me:

Mr Bloch [NetRegistry cheif] admitted the IT industry was challenging for women, but offered no apology for his marketing department’s strategy.

“I think IT is a challenging industry for women… clearly that is a problem,” he said.

But the executive was hesitant to draw conclusions when asked if his company’s actions would deter women from joining the industry.

I’m not hesitant at all to make to those conclusions, Mr Bloch. I am offended, not only by the blantant sexism in yet another marketing campaign, but your serious lack of imagination when marketing at an event. It might have been a bit of lighthearted fun to many, but you might have just kicked a lot of intelligent “chicks” out of the IT industry and back into the kitchen. And no, I am not collecting your latte!

Nicole thanks Semi-Permanent volunteer and attendee Natalie Perkins* for this guest post.

Semi-Permanent hit Brisbane on Wednesday, and I was lucky enough to grab a ticket in return for volunteering to pack the swag bags. This gave me the opportunity to see how the event was organised, as well as participating as an audience member. I left the conference full of ideas and inspiration, but I also left carrying a semi-permanent reminder of the awful seating at the Brisbane Convention Centre!

What was good was great!

The speakers were generally fabulous and were very relevant to my own area of art/ design practice. The standout speaker for me was Timba Smits, who is an absolute juggernaut of motivation, inspiration and hard work. I did a recap of Semi-Permanent on my own blog, and went into further detail on my favourite presenters

As a volunteer and a member of the audience, I was impressed with the organisation of the whole shebang. My fellow swag packers were design students from the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, and we all worked together as some kind of fabulous packing contraption to pack over 700 bags in around 2 hours. During that time I noticed that Sasha, our humble volunteer herder and conference organiser, was busily organising all the other aspects of the day. I didn’t see any dramas, everything looked under control! As a volunteer this was heartening, but as an audience member it’s even more meaningful because you want to know that the conference you’re attending is credible and well-oiled and valuable!

I was stoked to see that Mag Nation had a stall! I adore magazines and books and was keen to delve into a few throughout the day. I took home a copy of Wooden Toy issue 5.

What could have been done better?

Overall, the day felt a little bit like being in a full day of lectures at uni or TAFE. It was hard on the butt for a few reasons! The speakers did go overtime which meant that our breaks were sacrificed. Obviously if you get passionate people speaking about their creative practices, they’re going to go overtime. I don’t know if the scarce break syndrome was due to Brisbane’s Semi-Permanent being crammed into only one day, but I beg the organisers – can we graduate to a two day event next year?!

Extending the format over two days would mean that other interactive activities could be integrated – activities that alleviate the sore butt syndrome, and encourage networking and participation within the audience! I would love to see micro-activities between organiser-audience, speaker-audience, audience-audience that allow everyone to mingle and move their limbs and make connections.

Another bummer was to do with access to food/ drinks and the scarcity of time available to access those things. The convention centre has a Subway right across the road, and Melbourne St and it’s various delicious edibles about 5 minutes walk away. The shortened lunch break meant that people were scrambling to get fed and watered, and liberate their bladders! Can we integrate some kind of in-house munching experience? This would also enhance networking and community-making.

My last beef is with the swag bags themselves. I was a little horrified to see the amount of useless bits of paper in the bags. Can we rethink the concept of the swag bag for next year, so it’s inline with eco-design considerations? As a print designer, I’m already painfully aware of how much paper waste my practice produces. As an artist, I try to incorporate salvaged and reclaimed paper stock into my work as a way of off-setting my paper wasting ways. There are a bunch of smart and innovative people behind and around Semi-Permanent – this could be something that is solved in a really interesting way: through smarter packaging ideas, and encouraging sponsors to promote their products in more creative ways.

What downright sucked

THE SEATS. I will preface this by saying that I am fat, like a lot of people. I ended up with a bruise on my hip because of the stingy seating at the Brisbane Convention Centre. It made me think about how boring the venue choice was for such a creative industry. I absolutely abhor having to sit still for eight hours and it’s not just because I have a slamming booty. Do we need to sit in stadium seating? Is there any other way of holding a creative conference? 

What I find value in

As a conference attendee, I find value in the following things:

• Networking/ rapport building amongst local industry people
• Professional development – time management, industry insider tips, etc.
• Kick-arse speakers
• Access to limited edition stuff

Semi-Permanent Brisbane met most of these criteria. I did manage to do a small amount of networking (amazing considering the amount of free time was miniscule!) and I was impressed with the speakers. I would like to see more practical topics discussed – many creative people get too caught up in the creative process and neglect the management facet of their practice so I think it would be incredibly valuable to learn how other creatives do administrative stuff in an innovative way. I will be anticipating the conference next year, if just to see how many of the issues from this year are addressed. Until then, I’ll be icing my bruised hip and drawing… always with the drawing!

**Natalie is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator who doesn’t really like talking in the third person. Her personal illustrative work deals in symbolism, appropriation, the feminine, detachment and obsessive compulsion. Her proudest achievements include being on the verge of completing a double degree in visual arts and education for nearly a decade, being a housewife who can only bake cupcakes and making her debut on the Brisbane emerging arts scene this year by appearing in the Semi Permanent 2009 book and getting an invite to her first group show at KILN in July. Her work is currently showing until early May at KILN’s Works on Paper exhibition.

UPLOAD is for young people considering their options – life, love, work, the whole catastrophe.

I wrote back in January about my experiences at the UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. It was a fantastic week in many, many ways and I would like to extend my knowledge of this priceless event to you. And I’m quoting most of this blog entry because I could never explain UPLOAD even half as well as Edgeware have:

With UPLOAD, Edgeware offers stimulating, accessible, enjoyable explorations of enterprise development and entrepreneurial skills, delivered through a series of interactive, hands-on workshops with expert trainers and young, real-world entrepreneurs. UPLOAD is all about helping young people equip themselves to navigate turbulent times and to create meaningful, sustainable and responsible employment and life pathways.

Now, Edgeware have just released their 2009 young entrepreneurs program, which I am very excited about. I’m very happy they have also added in the teachers and youth workers workshop too!

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Over-18’s)

An intensive residential week at the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge. Delivered in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE, with a focus on building and growing fledgeling enterprises.

The UPLOAD Young Entrepreneurs Camp (for Under-18’s)

An intensive non-residential week in central Brisbane, taking place during school holidays, with a strong focus on personal development, teamwork and leadership.

UPLOAD Professional Development Workshops (For Teachers and Youth Workers)

Offered in half-day, full-day and three-day versions, focused on developing and practicing leadership and facilitation skills in the Edgeware model of youth enterprise development.

Futher information on these upcoming events and some charming photography from the January UPLOAD are available here.

BONUS Twitter list blog! As shared by the Edgeware team on Twitter: Top 100 Social Entrepreneurs, Businesses, and Ideas on Twitter