Tonight show format for MEA Awards is a hit

Published On:May 11, 2012

This post is in: articles head slider, In Any Event, MEA

by Trevor Connell

It all started on the red carpet – there to greet guests were Staging Connections’ stylist Anthony Del Col and Tanya Brown (National Business Development Manager) interviewing the arrivals for a direct webcast of the event. Then red carpet photos by EventPix in front of the media wall, then off to the bubbly.

SCEC staff went all out to cap off their great support for the conference with an outstanding room design for the event topped off with a great menu for the dinner.

In keeping with the theme of the conference the format for this year’s awards changed considerably. A live band on stage and Toby Travanner hosting like a tonight show – this worked a treat.

The band from Song Division were tight and kept the room pumping (maybe a bit too much, but more on that later) and Toby’s banter was spot on along with his interviews with the sponsors – just enough to let us know who they were – then on with the presentations.

Having a live band did produce a particularly memorable moment when Anna Cesarano raced to the stage to collect another award for Doltone House and just grabbed the microphone to belt out the words to the song the band were playing as a sting – she definitely was “so excited”. Anna had also competed in the MEA’s got Talent competition the previous night. Post event parties at Doltone House must be a lot of fun.

After the awards finished the Song Division band headed to the foyer where another stage was set up for them and from there they blasted the dancefloor. And I mean blasted – the sound was way too loud for that space. Fortunately the ballroom was available as a respite for those who valued their hearing.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere the chatter in the room during the presentations was such that Rhona Walker was threatening to get on stage and tell the audience to “shut the f… up”. Fortunately Toby managed to quell the noise to a certain degree, but let’s face it; too many attendees at these awards dinners have no respect for anyone else in the room. Maybe it is because at other events that they organise, or attend, themselves they see the same appalling behaviour (I certainly have) and think that is now the norm.