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SEA150 behind the scenes of events- Industry Professionals Interview Report
1. 1
SENECA COLLEGE
Meet An Event Professional
SEA 150 Final Assignment
Submitted to:
Christopher Bacchus
Written By:
Nora Hao, Vika Zheng, Ivy Ye
2015/4/17
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Introduction
Amy Falkinson
Amy Falkinson is a full-time Event Coordinator and Venue Manager based out of
Toronto who is dedicated to always providing superior service to her clients. She
has a passion for developing sound relationships with both internal and external
employees, vendors and suppliers. She brings a creative approach to work each
day and dedicated to continually developing her venue's business. Above all, she
is ways focused on having an entrepreneurial spirit and producing successful
business results.
Amy Falkinson began working at Steam Whistle Brewing as a tour guide and
event staff while at Ryerson University earning her Bachelor of Commerce degree.
It’s then that she fell in love with the history of our building and loved working at
weddings, helping to make a perfect, magical night for couples. Amy has been
our Senior Venue coordinator for three years, helping to substantially grow our
wedding business while also taking care of corporate and other third-party events.
Leanne Pepper
Shehas been the General Manager at Faculty Club at theUniversity of Toronto
members club since1994 and sincethen shehas led thetransformation of the
club into a vibrant community of Alumni, Faculty and their families. Despitethe
name, the Faculty Club is oneof the best hubs for alumni to stay connected to
theUniversity long after they graduate.
Sheis also a Certified Etiquette, Protocol and ImageCoach, and shetrained in
Washington DC at theWashington School of Protocol, so that at theFaculty Club
they can offer etiquette, protocol, and imageworkshops to studentsand alumni
to help them further advancetheir career goals.
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Current position details
Amy Falkinson
SteamWhistle Brewing - Senior Venue Coordinator
April 2012 – Present (3 years 1 month)
-Coordinateall 3rd party on-siteevents at thevenue. Work directly in
conjunction with event clients, suppliers and vendorsto ensureeach event is a
success.
-Building strong relationships and partnershipswill all external suppliers and
vendors.
-Assist with thedevelopment of new projects, training for new event staff, and
supplier meetings in order to continuethegrowth and improvethesuccess of
our event operations and Venue
-Managegeneral event inquiries and correspondenceregarding hosting events.
Offer support and guidanceto prospectiveclients, welcoming them to the
brewery, conducting siteinspections and effectively communicating the
expectations and procedures specific to our Venue.
-Carry out special projects and events on a changing basis.
-Managevarious administrativetasks including processing roomdepositsand
contracts, updating master event calendar as necessary, and inputting and
updating of data for monthly venuereports
-Creation and editing of event documents as needed.
Leanne Pepper
The Faculty Club University of Toronto- General Manager
July 1994 – Present
I'm proud to havebeen theGeneral Manager of theFaculty Club for almost 20
years.
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I loveseeing theclub as a thriving hub for business networking, social gatherings,
family events, conferences, and of coursebeautiful weddings.
This year I'm making it my mission to get themessageout to UofT Alumni that
theFaculty Club is a great placefor them to stay connected with theUniversity
for many years to come, or of coursecome back into thefold.
This spring weunveiled UofT Bees who will liveon theroof of theclub, and we
are working hard on a rooftop garden with theUniversity Dig In group too. Come
by anytimeand ask for a tour.
10 years ago I qualified as a professional etiquette, protocol and image
consultant. Hereat theclub we offer training to members, alumni, students, and
external groups. I also instruct theChristopher Leadership Courseat U of T on
public speaking and building confidence. It's a joy to see peopleprogress in this
area of their life.
I believe that members of theclub benefit from theseessential lifeskills, as well
as the rich networking opportunities and extensiveevent calendar weoffer.
The Club also gives back to thecommunity by working with Evergreen, and
having a commitment to environmental sustainability.
Educational Background
Amy Falkinson
RyersonUniversity
2009 – 2013
Bachelor of Commerce, with Honors
Retail Management, 4.0
Bachelor of CommerceDegree Graduatefrom theprogressiveand forward
thinking Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University
Majored in Retail Management, a uniqueone-of-a-kind program in Canada
focusing on thefast paced and dynamic world of Retail
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Leanne Pepper
WashingtonSchool of Protocol
2003 – 2003
Certified Etiquetteand Protocol Consultant and ImageCoach, Dining and
Business etiquetteand ImageCoach
George BrownCollege
1980 – 1984
Hospitality Culinary ArtsProgram, certificate
Past and Current Projects
Amy Falkinson
Past Projects
Lobster Boil at Steam Whistle Brewery on Jul 1st, 2014
It’s party to celebrate Canada’s national day with lobster and beer.
(Unknown, Steam Whistle)
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The Good Beer Folks Show at Steam Whistle Brewery on Jan 1-31, 2015
Steam WhistleBrewery is known as a great supporter of theToronto arts
community but did you also know thatmany of our very own Good Beer Folks are
artistically inclined as well? Actors, musicians, painters, photographers,
printmakers, designers and craftspeople no disciplineuntapped. During the
month of January 2015, sixteen of our very own Good Beer Folks will be
showcasing their talents at theSteam WhistleGallery.
(Unknown)
Square2 at Steam Whistle Brewery on Feb 4-28, 2015
Showcasing theworks of threelocal artists (listed below), Squared2 features a
collection of over three dozen pieces all presented in a squareformat, perhaps
reflectiveof thecurrent trend of how images are shared digitally through online
platforms such as Instagram, Facebookand mobile.
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(Unknown, Steam Whistle)
Happy Birthday Toronto on Mar 6, 2015
Happy Birthday Toronto is a celebration of thecity’s fundamental past, the
evolving present and its promisingfuture.
(Unknown, Steam Whistle)
-Steam Whistle’s annual St-Patrick’s Day Party on Mar 14th, 2015
To celebrateSt-Patrick’s Day, Steam Whistlehosted a very exciting party onsite.
Brewery fresh beer, traditional eats from theIrish Embassy, Irish dancers from
theWoodgate-Shamrock Irish Dancers and foot-stomping livemusic by Brogue
and Scantily Plaid with no shortageof good times all around.
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(Unknown, Steam Whistle)
Current project
Wedding and summer party for a law firm.
Leanne Pepper
Past Projects
The faculty club is a membership club, has hosted weddings, holiday festivals,
and other privateevents.
Originally called theCosmopolitan Societywhen founded in 1907, thePrimrose
Club was a privatemeeting placefor Jewish business and professional men. The
PrimroseClub remained at 41 Willcocks until1959when theUniversityof
Toronto acquired thebuilding for its new Faculty Club.
The Faculty Club opened its doors in thesummer of 1960 to faculty and senior
administratorsof both genders. For morethan a half century, theFaculty Club
has served as an important social centre for the University of Toronto community,
including faculty, administrativestaff, alumni.
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Current Project
Thursday, April 16th 5:30pm for 6:00pmDinner Speaker: Allan Stratton‘FACT
BASED FICTION’
3 CoursePrix Fixe Menu $45.00 (Inclusive) Member $50.00 (Inclusive) Non
Members
(Club)
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Presentation Summary
Interviewee Summary
Amy Falkinson loves her work. The way she balances her work and life is
schedulethetime. She was studying in Ryerson University when working in
Steam Whistle. That’s a very tough for her. When putting every appointment into
timeline, shecould figureout her daily lifewell-organized and refused those
things shedidn’t need to do. According to therecent events shehad held, the
futuretrend of theevent industry would bemorepersonalized. Every brand
requires their sign and color spread out in the venues. That’s also the way that a
brand builds its brand image. Her favoriteevent is theonethat associated with
Tiff. In that event shemet many new people from different fields including media,
actors and good suppliers. Speaking of theemergency, therewas almost no
emergency happened because her job is to securethe event to be safe and
smooth. Sheloves her job and she would keep doing her job becauseshe can
meet new people and create new events everyday and that makes her feels
fresh.
Leanne Pepper has worked in faculty club for morethan 30 years. It was her
professor of GeorgeBrown College introduced her to work in faculty club. Before
shecame to faculty club, shenever imagined to work as a club manager. It is the
passion of working in faculty club build her career. The importancechange
started when shebecame a teacher to teach etiquettein theclub. The world
changes fast, shefelt young people, as her futurecustomers, arenot likethe
members shehas now. Shehave to be moreflexible to new technologies and art
favors. However, food is always hot topic. Theway shedeals with thetrend is to
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open moreevents of food. What’s more, sheheld a rock & roll music event last
year and that’s a new thing to faculty club.
Overall, the event industry grows faster than wecan imagine. Both of them
suggest new graduates to bepositiveand get morevolunteer experience before
they found a event related job. This kind of experience shows not only knowledge
of theevent field but also enthusiasm of working for events. Experience is much
significant than education background.
Process Summary
Why would we interview two professionals whilethis assignment only requires
one? The reason is that we are international students, weeager to know more
about theevent industry in Canada, and we have2 resources from our dear
professor Chris. Fortunately, wegot connections with SteamWhistleand Faculty
Club of Toronto University fromChris class, so wewent back and contacted the
senior venuecoordinator of Steam Whistle - Amy Falkinson and thegeneral
manager from Faculty Club - Leanne Pepper. Another compelling reason why we
interview them is that thesetwo professionals represent two stagesof thecareer
life: one is new graduatefrom collegefor a few years, the other one is in the
golden stageof her career. Wehave learned a lot from them through the
interview. The challengethey face, theway they found they job and theangle
they treat their career are totally different (seeabovereport). We strongly
believe it is meaningful to interview two professionals in steadyof one.
In order to makeour presentation moremeaningful, media aid is important. We
planned to havephotos, video and report as theway we document our
interviews. Beforewe went to meet theseevent professionals, weborrowed
tripod from professor Chris and a Canon camera from our classmate. During the
interview, we both videotaped and voicerecorded thewholeinterviews. Voice
record is necessary to ensureevery word had been saved becausecamera is
easy to shut down. On the other side, photos and report is thebest way to
document and wecan writethe details of theinterview which might not been
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record by electronically equipments. Overall, we used morethan 2 media aids
to makesureour interviews havebeen documented well.
During theinterview, we asked them about thereason to join the event industry,
their favoriteclients, way thebalance lifeand work, their insight of thelatest
trends in event industry, etc.
We apply theprotocols from what welearned from class during this fun activity.
It's our first timeto haveinterview with professions, and thevenues arefar from
our place, so we need to plan the commutebeforehand to makesurebepunch.
Moreover, we need to dress properly to demonstratea professional image
though weare still collegestudents.
Additionally, wefound that thephotos or stories of professions who work behind
thescene mostly posted onlinefew, which fit thecharacteristic of their rolewell.
On theother hand, there is a need to create moreexposure for behind thescene
people, thereis a lot of treasureto discover.
