Thank you for coming!

Let’s talk about the only international Production Meeting in Europe, EPFE24, the 9^th edition of which take place on October 28^th, at the Budapest Arena.

This year there is a significant change in the title, from now on the new name will be Event Production Forum Europe to reflect the growth of EPFE internationally. So if you are from Dubai or Dublin, Madrid or Manchester, Helsinki or Istanbul, even Sydney or Sau Paulo, you are and have been welcome, we have had delegates from all of these areas.

Another major announcement that needs to be made is that all of our wonderfully supportive sponsors, over several years, EPS, Continest, Visual Europe Group, GD Staff, TIXA and Budapest SportArena have all reconfirmed their sponsorship again for this year.

We are also proud to welcome another new Gold sponsor, along with Continest and VEG, it is High Rise GmbH, we are grateful their being there for us.

(For more details about our sponsors see the Addendum 1.)

The sponsors’ support is very much appreciated and allows us to retain ticket pricing at a very sensible rate, again. This lets us attract everyone from students, trainees, a young and old cosmopolitan mixture of folk from the touring and production world, others from venues as diverse as theatres, arenas, stadia, hotels, sports facilities of all types, filming (a major growth industry in CEE) plus suppliers of audio/visual, staging, seating, flooring, F+B, trucking, security et al.

This year we will, at a suggestion made at the last event, encourage delegates to bring a young (or old…) colleague who are new to the industry with them, we will also be inviting local schools, colleges and universities to send students who have an interest in events. To encourage these „new” ones there will be a reduced ticket price. Trainees/freelance should have been employed or in the industry for two years maximum.

The format of the day will, by popular demand, remain the same. Two, 1.25 hour sessions in the morning and the same in the afternoon, separated by breaks for tea/coffee and lunch. This year we include a special one to one session at lunchtime.

This year’s timings are:

These sessions are panels of industry experts, plus others, talking about subjects that are very relevant to our industry. We pride ourselves in being the leaders in these subjects which, “strangely”, seem to become subjects of discussion at other conferences, after we have discussed them. We also pride ourselves in having very diverse, national and international chairs (or whatever the trending word is these days) and panellists.

Another major plus is that we encourage the delegates on the floor to become involved, from the very start, in every panel, we don’t do Q + A sessions!

The panel we did last year at EPFE23, about education, was a panel I had the privilege of repeating, as Chair, at Eurosonic in Holland this year. Several very interesting and positive items came from this which encourages us to continue the discussion at EPFE24.

Also, just recently someone brought up the subject of those who have been in the industry a while, and are approaching middle age, who want further education. Where and how? An interesting question, which we will include as part of the „Shut up, sit down and listen!” panel’s content, which will once again be chaired by Sanjin Corovic, from Production Pool in Serbia (Well, he brought the subject up first!)

Joining Sanjin are Andi Gal, owner of Road Production Studio in Slovenia, now also teaching Live Sound at the Institute + Academy for Multimedia in Ljubjana, Slovenia along with Romana Boskovic who is a full-time professor at Department of Art and Design, Faculty of Technical Sience in Novi Sad, Serbia. Finally, on this panel, we have Paul Boland, co-founder and director of CWB.ie, an independent Irish promotion and production house. Paul’s career started in the University Concert Hall, Limerick.

Another panel we are now putting together is „Brave New World”. Rather than rattle on about what has gone wrong recently, we want to talk about technologies and products that now exist, or are being investigated, that will improve our professional and personal lives. Ágota Zirkuli from the VEG in Hungary, who will be the „adult in charge”.

Along with Ágota are Tom Gavazzi, founder and CEO of Woom AI marketing, Croatia, who will be joined by Gavin Barnard, chief relations officer of Amplead, UK, and Niki Friesz, a student at a local university.

One thing that has to be said is that this is not a sales opportunity, the panellists will talk about what can and cannot be done with these systems, not how much it will cost you to buy this technology or its availability.

Additionally, we have a „one to one” discussion during the lunchtime, about the dangers of overdoing it and burn out. Franciska Kis-Marton, Mental Health Counsellor, will be talking to András Parák ACC, psychologist, PhD student focusing on workaholism & toxic productivity, about the problems related to mental health and how we can help ourselves and others. Ironically, the delegate who suggested this cannot attend because of a gig that day, but I am sure others will be interested!

To add more interest to the day, we are going to talk about Health, Safety and Security. This is a subject that crops up with monotonous regularity at conferences, indeed I have put this type of panel on several occasions whilst running a previous international conference. On this panel we have Roger Barret, SFIIRSM, F.IRSM, Eng Tech, TIStructE, MIoD, co-founder and Technical Director, Star Live UK and found of Star Live China, joined by Dave Downing, Grad IOSH, MIIRSM, partner in Safe Elephant, London UK and Brigitta Major, a freelance Production / Site, Stage Manager from Hungary.

The reason this subject is included this year is because in May of this year I was asked to look over several large and small venues in Sofia, Bulgaria then discuss them at the Spike Conference and Showcase in Plovdiv, also Bulgaria (if you get the opportunity to attend, well worthwhile!). At the time I was awaiting an operation for a new knee replacement so getting around was a bit difficult. I was astounded to discover an almost total lack of handrails in the venues and went on to discover the same in Provdiv and, recently, noticed the same thing in some venues in Budapest. (Thinking about it, I remember having arguments with the architect, when we were building Budapest SportArena, about putting handrails on the staircases in the seating areas…) There were other problems, lack of fire escapes or signage, irregular stairs, pinch point in escape ways, etc. At the conference there were a number of bands attending the showcase and during the panel there were comments from them and other delegates, all saying that a lof of the venues throughout CEE had problems. Now that is not to say it is everywhere but there do seem to be problems, which can be resolved. Whilst I am not saying there should be the overload there is elsewhere in Europe, at least common sense should prevail. Naturally it is not only indoor venues H+S applies to, festivals and all outdoor events need to conform as well.

The security element of this panel was suggested by an Arena Manager because of the cancellation of the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna. Luckily intelligence picked this up beforehand. Whilst event security is an element that is normally well covered the threat of terrorism action is an ever-growing threat. After the Manchester Arena bombing in England, there was action, Martyn’s law, suggested in UK which is still going throught Parlaiment but what is happening or can we do?

Last panel of the day is the ever popular (I am assured) „Dinosaur Session” which allows me to talk to people who have been involved in the event industry for a while, hence the name. Over the years there have been dynamic and entertaining discussions. This year we are proud to say Bryan Grant and Mike Lowe, founders of, and still very involved in, Britannia Row productions, suppliers of high-end audio equipment and professionals to productions of all sizes demanding World Class Audio since 1975, will be my guests.

Mike has worked in touring and live events for almost 60 years. He was born and grew up in Liverpool and started to work professionally with Liverpool bands in 1966 as the guy who did everything else apart from play a musical instrument. He moved to London in 1969, a lifetime journey of some 200 miles.

His grandmother had played the triangle in the orchestra on the Titanic. Having survived the episode, she went on to rig lights for the Glenn Miller Orchestra in WWII. As the ship and Glenn had both been consumed by the sea, she decided stay on one land mass for the rest of her days and to call it a day. He is not aware of any other family involvement with show business.

However, narrow escapes did seem to run in the family so after a whole series of them had cropped up in all four quarters of the planet, Mike decided to come off the road at the end of the ‘70’s to save whatever luck he had left for future ventures.

This is where the biog takes a serious turn.

He joined Britannia Row Productions in 1987 where he is still a director. Britannia Row became a part of Clair Global Corp (CGC) in 2017.

He has been a trustee of the industry charity, Stagehand, since 1998 and its chairperson for the past decade. Stagehand supports live event production workers at times of serious injury and physical or mental ill-health. Since 2017, Stagehand has provided course fees for Mental Health First Aider training for live events production workers. During the COVID 19 pandemic, Stagehand made over 3000 grants to production workers to help keep roofs over heads and food on tables.

Mike is and has always been passionate about music, live performance, live audio, the well-being of those working in the industry and training, especially for young people entering the industry.

Mike and Bryan Grant, his co-panellist, met in 1973 and regularly collaborated on projects becoming business partners 37 years ago. They have heard each other’s stories several hundred times each and find them quite nullifying. On rare occasions, for one or the other of them, some long forgotten gem rises from the sludgy depth of their grey matter like the raising of the Titanic or a glorious apparition of the Virgin. They are rare and wonderous moments to behold. Unlikely to happen at EPFE24, but, you never know your luck. Try and stay awake just in case…

1971 Spring: Started in the US, driving a bands gear to do some shows in North Carolina.

Given a job with the Megaphone company, lasted 6 months, came back to UK, got a job as PA tech with Stoneground, a San Francisco outfit doing shows around the UK. Did short UK tour with McKendry Spring, another US band. 

1972 Toured with Roy Harper FOH mixer and PA tech.
Joined IES as PA tech and engineer, toured with Captain Beefheart, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Dr John, Beck, Bogart and Appiche, Gilbert O’Sullivan, some festivals, one offs etc. Fired for being a shit stirrer, got a job as a backline tech with Led Zeppelin.

1973 Quit Zeppelin, did a tour as PA tech with Genesis on their UK tour. 
Joined Sound City Hire, did some shows with bands, Family, etc., built some PAs for them and basically ran it until offered job running IES. 

1973 – 1975 ran IES, many bands like ELP ( met Mike Lowe then), Doors, The Who, Jack Jones, Judy Collins, Frank Zappa, Cockney Rebel, Doobies, festivals Knebworth,etc etc. Quit in 1975. 

1975: did advance for Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here” US tour culminating at Knebworth. Turned down an offer to join newly formed Britrow Audio. 

1975 – 1979: tour managing; Steel Eye Span, Wire, Steve Hackett. 

1979 – 1984, Britrow Productions with Robbie Williams as part of the Britrow group of companies owned by Pink Floyd. 

1984 management buy out from Floyd by me and Robbie. Shared acts with Mike Lowe who was running Turbosound Rentals by now. We did control, they did speakers. 

1975 – 1992 formed an alliance with MSI in the US to do their acts in Europe, ours in the US Pink Floyd, the Cure, Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, Neil Young, Luther Vandross, Iron Maiden, Barcelona Olympics, festivals etc, etc, etc. Finished relationship with MSI in 1992. 

1992 – 2017 Mike and I bought Robbie out,continued to provide PAs to Oasis, The Cure, Floyd, Nirvana, Foofighters, etc, etc, etc, Golden, and Diamond Jublees, London Olympics. 

2017: Sold to Clair Global, continue as non exec directors, UK hub for US acts, still doing the Cure, PG, Foos etc etc etc plus many new artistes.

Looks promising…

Finally, in the evening, there is a continuation of the day when we have free food and drink for a few hours. Always a popular and enjoyable time allowing everyone to talk (and listen..) some more and let off a bit of steam..

So, ticket prices, (please don’t forget this includes a 27% tax, plus local taxes and all food and drink.).

Full Price tickets from 1st of July until October 28^th at the rate of:
Delegates: 35000 HUF
Trainees: 20000 HUF (use the code epfe2024trainees)

All prices are includes VAT + local taxes, and all food and drink.

Event hotel rates are available to Delegates and those associated.
Reservation link in English: http://www.danubiushotels.com/en/epfe24
Reservation link in Hungarian: http://www.danubiushotels.com/hu/epfe24

Venue: BudapestArena

1143 Stefánia út 2., Budapest, Hungary.

So, that’s that. Pop the date in your diaries, get your tickets booked and it will be a real pleasure to see you all, old and new, on October 28^th!

Be lucky.

Carl

Addendum 1. | Sponsors. Invaulable!

WHEREVER YOU GO, WE ARE THERE …

Emotions. Passion. Heartbeats. EPS brings events to life all over the world and has the network and capability to support customers in embracing a new era of climate-friendly events. As a leading international infrastructure service provider for live events, with 15 international subsidiaries and 28 years of experience, eps supports around 5,000 events of all types and sizes every year. The company, headquartered in Martinsried near Munich, provides high-quality, sustainable products, innovative technologies, and top-notch services, including project management with tailor-made CAD drawings and assistance with glamping and VIP areas. Whether it’s barrier systems, turf and ground protection systems, temporary grandstands, or site materials, eps stands for custom-made event solutions. For example, the proprietary GIGS® Stage Barricades, a modular front of stage barricade system. They offer a wide range of combination options and functions to enable many flexible barrier solutions that can withstand heavy-duty crowd pressure. Another example is eps’ Arena Light Panels, a comparatively lightweight, trip-hazard-free aluminum heavy-duty flooring system that is installed more quickly and efficiently thanks to high-tech, semi-automated vacuum machines. The eps subsidiary in Poland provides, among other things, various crowd control solutions, a comprehensive range of event flooring, seating solutions, and cable protectors for concerts, festivals, sport events, film productions, and more. Whenever there’s a challenge that needs solving, eps’ in-house technical design and engineering team is already working on it. For additional information, please visit eps.net.

TIXA Hungary Kft. is an innovative company in the Hungarian music industry dealing with ticketing solutions, concert & festival organization, and artist management. While creating an inspiring, diverse, and safe workspace for our employees and interns, we are working on adapting successful methods from the international music industry to the local scene. Since the beginning of TIXA, our team has been working to ensure our customers have convenient and quick access to the events they love. We not only provide our customers with an easy-to-access, simple, and user-friendly website but also with monthly program guides, special offers, and friendly and supportive customer service. Beyond ticketing, we also support our partners with other services to assist their events and bands, such as cashless solutions, webshop setup, social media ads, and newsletters.

At Visual Europe Group we specialize in audiovisual technology and event production services. We are passionate about pushing the limits of what’s possible, and we transform creative ideas into spectacular realities. From the most advanced stages and spectacular drone shows to the smalles conferences, all tasks need to be performed with the same quality, enthusiasm and expertise.
We are gold sponsors of Event Production Forum East, because, as one the biggest operators in the Central and Eastern European event technology market, we believe we should all share knowledge in this ever-changing field and provide a bright future for event production.