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About US Events Fantastic

About The Events Fantastic Team

Meet our team and see why we are the best fit to help you create memorable events!

Thomas Brown – Director

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Thomas grew up in Michigan and developed an early love of the Walt Disney theme parks and the high quality of their immersive theme environments from visiting every year while on summer holidays.  He also attained a love of the technical side of theatre that he developed while working with his Dad’s touring theatre troupe, throughout high school Drama courses and while attending the University of Michigan (U of M).  One of his proudest achievements was being accepted into the prestigious NYU Film School. Due to financial reasons, Thomas wasn’t able to pursue the programme and instead ventured to Florida to study theme park management attaining the highest Disney University degree available the “Ducktorate” in Theme Park Management.  Yes, it is a real thing and yes he most certainly has the diploma to prove it.

Upon graduating from U of M with a Bachelor’s degree in Organisational/Interpersonal Communications – yes that too is a real thing – he ventured to Perth with his dual citizenship to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations at Edith Cowan University.  It was while interning in the Wesfarmer’s Public Relations department that he found his love for Corporate Events while helping stage an annual general meeting.  He quickly pivoted into the corporate events sector, joining the technical and creative team at Corporate Theatre Productions where he volunteered his time before becoming a full time member of the team. While there he was headhunted by Gearhouse Group Australia based on the Gold Coast and as they say … The rest is history. Which of course can be found in the timeline of the company history of the website.

Thomas, what do you love most about your job?

“After 23 years working in corporate events my favourite part of the job as company director is having the flexibility and freedom to work with our team and partners across the globe to create and innovate without any of the “red tape” many companies I see are restricted by.  I love bringing a product or event idea to our Australian Industry where it never previously existed, watching it become a successful product line or service.  I’ve been really fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with our team and so many great clients who love experimenting, innovating and stepping outside of the box.  Events are about ensuring that your attendees are presented an engaging, entertaining, motivating, educating, memorable and post-able social media experience.  Helping to create those experiences by all the various things we do behind the scenes with the trust of our clients is what makes this job so much fun.”

Thomas, share a memory about another team member/s that makes you smile in pride….

“There are so many brilliant memories I have with all of our team members that make me smile with pride.  But most recently the proudest moment I have had and was unfortunately only able to share with Caroline and Aaron was the Special Event Award we won last year in New Orleans for Best New Product/Technology for our Augmented Projection Mapping onto our Stealth Modular Panels.  Although I ensured at the acceptance speech that each of our team was recognised, the pride comes more from knowing how much influence, commitment and never give up determination each of our team had by innovating and creating our Modular product line.   We all share the pride of being a part of something we designed, developed and brought to the Australian Event Industry with the help of our clients, suppliers and brilliant team at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.” 

What is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

“We were honoured in the first 10 years of our business to be the Official Theming Supplier to the Gold Coast Indy 300.  This event was so challenging for us as a company because of the volume of décor required, almost guaranteed rain and 4 days of working against the race track clock.  The challenge was to ensure no matter how messy the race fans or weather was each day that all of the corporate on track suites looked perfect.  It was definitely one of the most fun events to work on but also one of the most challenging for 10 solid years.  My other favourite/challenging event was when we built a Volcano offshore at Hamilton Island for a Holden launch.  Working on a 6m x 6m platform, during the windows of high tide, on top of the Great Barrier Reef was an experience I won’t soon forget.”

One Word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

Caroline – Efficient

Kerrie – Detailed

Neesha –  Skills

CJ – Loyal

Brian – The Original Aaron

Aaron – Determined

Paul – Ideas Man

Peter – Chatty

Brad – Adventurous

Jimmy – Hilarious

Caroline Hutchison – General Manager

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Caroline is an accomplished Corporate Event Manager who has built a successful career within the events industry, currently leading the vibrant and creative team as the General Manager of Events Fantastic Australia. Caroline has over fifteen years experience, having started her career in the Corporate Event world organising all aspects of conferences, awards, and company events.  Four years ago with a desire to delve further behind the scenes and explore the creative and artistic side of events Caroline traded in her Corporate Event Manager “client” role to join in the vibrant team at Backdrops Fantastic Australia as a “supplier”.  Having extensive experience as both a client and supplier, Caroline uses this experience and understanding to ensure that the creative outcomes provided for clients always aligns with their event objective – which often ultimately is to make the company CEO, Event Organiser and the event as a whole look and feel great to the delegates – of course not necessarily in that order.

Caroline is an active member of the event industry and believes in giving back to the community and industry through volunteering, sponsorship and raising the bar of excellence within the industry. Caroline is a board member  for Meetings and Events Australia and actively involved and member of  Business Chicks, Women In Tourism, Gold Coast Tourism and Burleigh Business Women.

Caroline, what do you love most about your job?

I love my job because everyone shares the same vision and is dedicated to the mission, we’re always changing — always evolving — and I get front row seats watching the process of a simple idea growing into a international business.

Caroline, share a memory about another team member/s that makes you smile in pride….

My tag line for our business is that we’re a small but mighty team and although we’re not quantity based with hundreds of team members we certainly achieve a lot. We’re very fortunate to  work with so many great people that when put together make one big family and my memory that makes me smile in pride is of our youngest team member Aaron. We were fortunate enough to nominate him for the prestigious Australian Event Award for Young Achiever of The Year which is no small feat. We put the nomination in, organised for him to attend with his family unbeknownst to him and although we couldn’t be there physically to see him win the award we were running a concurrent event in Sydney for 1000 guests and while live streaming while simultaneously going live to screen we saw him announced as the winner was a proud moment for me, not only for the fact that he deserved the win but how humble and graceful he was in receiving the award  – which if you know Aaron is a bigger feat than winning the award.

What is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

This would hands down have to be May of 2018, 2 events, 2 separate venues, 2600 chair covers to install and 1 very pregnant mumma to be. I don’t know if you’ve ever installed a chair cover before, but imagine a very large basketball under your shirt, trying to reach the floor with your finger tips.

One Word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

Thomas – The Hurricane

Kerrie – The Conductor

Neesha –

CJ – The Quiet Achiever

Aaron – The Bull

Brian –

Paul – The Perfectionist

Peter – Mr Chatterbox

Brad – Bean Counter

Jimmy – The all-rounder

Aaron Sunderland – Production Specialist

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Aaron is

Aaron, what do you love most about your job?

The reason I love my job is each day brings a new challenge constantly keeping myself and the team on our toes, also having the opportunity to work with a great team and build and grow with them and the business.

Aaron, share a memory about another team member/s that makes you smile in pride….

It was a moment of pride for the whole team, Thomas in particular who is constantly dreaming and pushing us to new heights was able to see one of his ideas come fruition to being recognised on the world stage when Backdrops Fantastic took home the award for Best Technical Achievement or Innovation in New Orleans at The Special Event 2018.

What is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

It would have to be our “Awards Season” of 2018, multiple events, multiple states all co-ordinated with our in-house team, venue and local teams to pull off 5 massive Awards shows and one mega conference where we first implemented our Kloud Modular Set, It was a mammoth effort by all involved and we managed to pull it all off “almost” without a hitch.

One Word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

Thomas – The Dreamer/Motivator

Caroline – Top Dog

Kerrie – Meticulous and calculated

Neesha –

CJ – The teams foundation, keeps us grounded

Brian –

Paul – Einstein, always another idea!

Peter – What do you call someone you love to hate?

Brad – Bean Counter

Jimmy – The Godfather.. if he was a comedian

Kerrie Napier – Admin Specialist

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Kerrie is

Kerrie, what do you love most about your job?

I’ve lived and breathed events for some 30 years and love both the industry and the people in it.  I’ve been involved in all facets of events but never from the supplier perspective so it’s great to see things from the other side of the fence and having the opportunity to help our clients create their own magic.

Kerrie, share a memory about another team member that makes you smile in pride…

I’m unable to single out any particular one of my colleagues but the thing I really love most about our little crew is their dedication.  There’s no 9 to 5.  If a job needs to be done then it needs to be done and we always find a way to do it.  It’s pretty awesome to know that whatever the problem, we’ll find a solution between us and get it sorted.

Kerrie, what is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

The most challenging time at Events Fantastic (with a bit of fun thrown in) is without doubt the craziness in the two month lead-up to Christmas.  Everyone booking at the last moment trying to secure their theming for their Christmas parties and events; courier trucks going in and out all day to destinations all around Australia; our crew doing back-to-back setups and all of us living on the edge – it’s manic and then on 24 December it’s all over.  Phew!!!

Kerrie,one Word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

 

Caroline – The Strategist

Thomas – Mr Imagination

CJ – Mr Cool

Aaron – The Tornado

Paul – The Fusspot

Peter – The Socialite

Brad – The Joker

Jimmy – The One and Only

 

CJ Williams – Warehouse Specialist

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CJ is

CJ, what do you love most about your job?  ​

Being part of a team who share the task of creating a vision, putting it into production by physically building it, logistically working  out how to move it, installing it on an event ,removing it, maintaining it  and getting ready to be hired out so others get to enjoy it!

More often than not, these tasks come with certain time pressure and stresses that I tend to forget about and let go when I see the wow factor written on the face of a new or long-time client.  That’s just one of the rewards to being a member of this team. 

CJ, Share a memory about another team member that makes you smile in pride…

Over more recent times we have developed a great base of casual workers who we regard as just as important as our team members who help to relieve  the strain and pressure that this industry comes with sometimes. Over the few years I’ve been here I’ve seen so many come and go for all sorts of various and personal reasons, but lately we had a great run with certain individuals standing by us through thick and thin!

One thing I smile about with pride is my son Denz.  I’m just so happy to see him take the lead on certain things when required which is something that wouldn’t have happen not too long ago.  He’s come along way and has so much more to learn, but I feel he carries the right nature to be part of  anything he wants to.

CJ, what is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

The Star Christmas event at the Crown Casino Gold Coast 2017 comes to mind because of the many changes that had to happen throughout the event . We used over 1900 of our Stealth panels which was nearly our entire stock!  We had to round up and call back all our panel stock from all the current dry hires to help cover the event. One area in particular that was a major challenge for me had to be the main foyer outside the Ballroom. We had to theme out over 70mts of this area from floor to ceiling with décor ,modular walls , backdrops ,buffet centrepieces, carpet and even a small space that  was sectioned off the children. Once it was completed it was used for  pre-Christmas events then we had to bump the whole of the foyer out to allow contractors to come in and lay brand new carpet before we re-installed the entire foyer exactly the way it was for the Christmas Day event.   Yes, a real challenge and such an awesome effort from our team to get accomplish.

CJ, one Word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

Caroline – Ambitious Leader

Thomas – The Creative One

Kerrie –  Contagious 

Aaron – Maverick       

Brad   – Jovial    

Paul – Methodical      

Pete – Boisterous       

Jimmy – Tested and Proven

Brian Goff – Warehouse Project Specialist

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Brian Goff

Brian is..

A 43-year veteran in the entertainment & events industries, across many genres and roles.

Brian, what do you love most about your job?

Working with a creative, dedicated, motivated and talented team of like minded individuals.

Brian, share a memory about another team member/members that makes you smile in pride?

Aaron winning the Young Achiever of the Year award in the Events Industry in 2017. This made me smile with pride, as not only is he a team member, he is also my son.

What is the most fun or positively challenging event you have worked on while working at Events Fantastic?

As I have only recently joined the team, I have not worked on an event as yet, however, moving the company into a new premise, has had both challenging and fun moments.

One word or phrase to describe each of your fellow team members – Go!

Thomas – Driven

Caroline – Driver

Kerrie – Thorough

CJ – Methodical

Aaron – Achiever

Paul – Thinker

Brad – Fiscal wizard

Jimmy – Jed Clampet

Neesha – Multi skilled

 

Paul Igglesden – Installation Assistant

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Brad Lawrence – Accounts

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Jimmy Platt – Transportation Specialists

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