Building a town

Exhibitors. Check. Event design. Check. Endless proofing. Check.

Two weeks before Fieldays begins, Mystery Creek’s Fieldays event manager Lee Picken is feeling comfortable.

Picken has been closely involved in 2015 Fieldays planning and organising, and seen the Mystery Creek site unfold and develop in front of her eyes at a steady pace, from her office overlooking the action.

“When I turned up this morning and looked out the window to the site I said ‘someone needs to get a photo of this.’ The activity is really starting to build.”

What she sees two weeks out is a lot of movement on the site as Mystery Creek team members and exhibitors secure their Fieldays territory. Tents, marquees and more tents, contractor vehicles, trucks, tractors and ground movers. A totally different site from what she saw six months ago.

This year’s event planning began the day after last year’s finished. There were briefings to be held and after a small break, it was into Fieldays organising again.

Green and bare is how Picken describes Mystery Creek six months ago.

Three months ago she could see the site begin to transform in preparation for the 900 exhibitors and more than 120,000 expected visitors.

This was when earthworks began. The dirt was being turned, the lake was being filled and the old tractor pull site was filled to make room for 35 new central exhibition spaces for this year’s event as part of Mystery Creek’s 10 year development plan.

While the grounds are busy, so is Picken and her team. This is the stage when important details are planned, decided and put into place.

For example, details that surround Rural Bachelor, what sort of heats they are going to do onsite and before that, what the amazing race will look like, where the contestants will start, and where they will visit. It is all information that Picken and her team of 36 have to brainstorm, plan and finalise.

Fieldays events are also organised by Mystery Creek’s communication executive Rachel Middleton who runs the Media Centre and deals with all aspects media related, social media and public relations.

Three months ago Middleton was also working on Fieldays sub-events such as Rural Bachelor, Ag Art Wear, and No 8 Wire. It was the time when most of the events were open for entries so her job was to promote these over all their social media and public relations platforms.

Site progress. Check. Rural Bachelor plan. Check. Social media promotions. Check.

One month ago, earthworks were nearing being finished. “Twenty-five large trucks were down there, there was a lot of dirt and there was activity like you wouldn’t believe. There was a lot of movement, it was really exciting,” Pickens said.

In the office the team were finishing off the final details like nailing down costs, tickets and quotes.

On the communication side of the office the Fieldays programme and the Fieldays Focus were being written, proofed and proofed again. These are the important documents that are sent to exhibitors and include all relevant information for visitors.

“While the delivery is on the days of Fieldays, between now and the event it really turns into ensuring you have run sheets done and the pricings are correct. For me it is leading the team in that direction, managing them and making sure there are enough resources to cover everything.” Picken said.

Team management. Check. Tickets. Check. Final details. Check.

Four weeks out, the Fieldays site was starting to look very white with marquees going up, Picken said.

“I remember last year being completely blown away at the build-up and how quickly the marquees go up and how quickly the site changes. I love this stage.”

One week ago the biggest priority was finalising.

“You are just another week closer so you want to ensure that you are another week into the planning so that by Wednesday you are in delivery, you have done everything.

“It is an interesting process. You look three weeks in and you go ‘oh my goodness’ I’ve only got three weeks to go but actually, you come to the next week and you look at what you have done. The accomplishments in just a week are amazing.”

Outside, all you can see is more white and more progression and a lot more activity starting to happen down on the site.

Picken’s main priority is managing the team under her, making sure workloads are not too much and, if they are, dealing with stress and getting extra resources as needed.

Middleton and her team are getting media packs together, dealing with media enquiries, media releases and managing social media. Middleton says the final thing to do before Fieldays is to get a good night’s sleep.

Although Picken’s and Middleton’s work schedules can become extremely busy, they both agree that their roles are rewarding and their teams are fantastic.

“By having the team that we do nobody is ever on their own so that’s why if there is [an issue], somebody might bring up something that they think is a red flag, we will address that in a team meeting, talk about it and it is usually sorted by the time we walk out,” Picken said.

“I love my role, it’s diverse and dynamic, creative and proactive. I’m always talking to different people and I work in an incredibly passionate team. Overseeing communications for the southern hemisphere’s largest agricultural event is pretty exciting when you get a chance to stop and think about it.” Middleton said.

With just two weeks to go before Fieldays gates open most of the major aspects are now signed off and Picken’s and Middleton’s roles require them to solely focus on putting the final touches on each area to make sure of a smooth overall event.

Finalisations. Check. Delivery time. Check. No red flags. Check.

Fieldays. Ready.