I'm not normally moved to write for our blog or open myself up that much to our other social marketing tools that we use to stay connected to the larger world outside our little sandbox, but the events of 2009, both recent and now distant, are compelling enough that I wanted to take a few moments of my time, and hopefully yours, to share.

let's go back to the moon next2009 has been a difficult year for all of us in the event industry and although production glue has been extremely fortunate  to stay relatively busy, we have had to jump through hoops and reinvent ourselves throughout the year and we have bent over backwards to support every project of every type that we could to maintain our small production family. We started the year off (actually ended 2008) with serious concerns - the financial world was falling apart, the auto industry was in ruins, pharmaceutical companies  were postponing and outright canceling all year, and corporate meetings of all types became taboo – the very future of corporate events seemed perilous. Our ability to make payroll was a question we had never had to face before, let alone if the principals would be able to pay themselves. The crumbling of every area of our industry in what was typically our busiest period was disheartening to say the least. Both Eric and I wondered not only if our company would survive, but what we would do if it didn't - there simply was nothing going on  and neither of us had ever experienced such a dry spell. Fortunately for us we have always believed in diversity and we had some irons in the fire and some committed Broadway Theatrical work (US national tour of Mary Poppins) that kept us busy. Not the most profitable work, but work nonetheless, and enough of it to keep the lights on and  a couple members of the team working. 

On Alpha holding at Juliet. By the time the snows in Chicago had started to melt, slowly but surely the network began to come back to life ever so tentatively. Eric and Matt being their industrious selves had not stayed dormant during the winter - they had aggressively broadened our range of services and made serious inroads into music festival production. Their toils began to pay off and bookings for the summer began to come in - small, often straightforward work, but work nonetheless. Also some very hard work by Jennifer had secured some significant full service work that propelled us through the 2nd quarter and towards the fall. We spent the next several months keeping up with the increasing workload and wondering if we had run the gauntlet well enough. The most important thing to Eric and I was that we had not had to lay anyone off and that although we might have suffered, we were able to maintain our production family and in fact grow it. There have been changes to the faces that make up production glue this year, Rich Cocchiara has moved on and we wish him well in his pursuits. Our core team of Technical Directors- Jack Hilley, Tim McDevitt, and Lucas Zimmerman- have continued to gel and evolve under Matt Richman's guidance and continue to impress with flawlessly executed projects. We have added new members to our team, Jon Midgal as our resident signage expert and GM (which title comes first depends on the task at hand), as well as Cheryl Adler who is working as an associate event producer with Jennifer for those occasions when we are asked to do it all here in NYC. Other new hires are in the works for 2010 and our family of event production specialists is growing. 

We have our challenges ahead - 2010 is an important year for production glue and for the entire industry - have the last 18 months or so just been a blip?  Have we  passed the low point? How lasting will the effects of reduced budgets and reduced timelines be? Will companies continue to travel for corporate meetings? We believe that  in actuality the corporate marketing budgets do still exist, but the message is different. The tone has changed and shows will continue to be more austere for a while, but we will work our way out of all pipe and drape shows slowly but surely; we will find new clients to push the edge  who want to create a "wow" for their customers - getting positive media attention is still just as important to corporate america as it ever was.

For us, 2009 has been a story of success and growth in the face of extreme adversity and for that I am truly thankful.

before the winds...Speaking of extreme adversity.... my recent project - the unveiling of Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two - was by far the most challenging project I have had the honor and pleasure of being a part of in some time. In fact,  my recent experience  with this project is what has moved me to make this contribution to our blog and to share my thoughts. – If you've read this far, keep reading - as I can honestly say that  what transpired the night of 12/7/09  influenced me more than any other event of 2009, and perhaps more so than any in my career. 

The project was an adventure from the very beginning - an event to unveil a real commercial spaceship - the height of adventure travel as envisioned by Burt Rutan and Sir Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic is a  bold (and perhaps brazen) proposition, but it is the cutting edge of exploration for the masses.  People used to think planes would never cross the Atlantic and that computers would never be affordable (or smaller than a car) - so who knows where this advance in exploration will take us? Many who have been to space ardently believe that the more people that go to space and see the world as the small blue dot in a vast sea of black, the more people will work for peace and climate change. A creative concept hatched by GroupDelphi (Justin Hersh, Tony Erpelding, Dave Salinger, Fritha Knudsen, Victor Friedberg) and John Featherstone of Lightswitch was an equally audacious response to an audacious RFP. 

an awesome reveal - lighting by John Featherstone! Virgin Galactic wanted a plan for a reveal event and a party to celebrate the official debut of SS2 (spaceship two) in early December either in LA or at the proving grounds in Mojave - all in about 9 weeks from the date of the RFP.  The winning concept proposed by GroupDelphi  called for the entire event to take place out in the elements - to do the press conference, the reveal, and the post reveal party right on the tarmac at the very proving grounds for the spacecraft. It was no easy concept and weather was a central topic of the first conference call - the possibility of high winds was discussed as was the possibility of everything from 70 degree temperatures to the chance of snow. We looked at historical weather records and although  there certainly was  the possibility of a significant weather event, the probability of it hitting for an extended period of time was minimal - weather events seemed to last for a day, maybe two, and then move on. They also seemed , historically, to be manageable and within the limits of the structures we wanted to use. It was not a plan without  risk- but neither is Virgin Galactic and the concept and the level of risk involved was certainly palatable. 

it looked so cool at night....Although we always kept an eye on the weather as you would do with any outdoor  production, we were all quite calm and confident leading up to the event - we had a plan,  it was solid, and we would execute that plan. We  had also created, in conjunction with David  Salinger of GroupDelphi and with the Mojave Air and Space Port and local agencies, an extensive emergency plan for all possible events. 

Of course, as these things go, the weather for all the the site surveys and the first 4 days of the load in, including the dress rehearsal, was beautiful - mid 60's sunny, no wind, no rain - perfect. Unfortunately, the forecast began to worsen that last day and sure enough it looked like we would get some rain and some wind on our event day and maybe the day before. What was forecast for Saturday (two days before the event) was 9 mph winds and a little drizzle. By  6 am on Saturday we had 15 mph sustained winds and had gusts during the night on the site up to 30 mph and much more rain than a drizzle. From there it only kept getting worse - we kept one eye watching the weather reports and the other  eye on safety, making further contingency plans and  wind break and ballasting provisions. By Sunday it seemed like we might make it - perhaps we had been through the worst of it and we were in clean-up mode for most of the day. Monday (event day) was a little wetter but not as windy at first.  We cleaned up some more,  kept our heads down,  kept moving forward, and we were all confident that we were going to get through it. The forecast was calling for winds that were on the edge of our limits - but not over. The decision was made to go for it - do the event as planned. 

the governator at the lectern!In fact, the event did go as planned as the arrivals were on schedule, the press conference went off and the guests were ushered out for the reveal on the taxiway - no doubt it was windy and it was cold - we had recorded gusts of 40 mph and sustained winds of 28 mph, which with wind chill brought the temperature down to the low 20’s. Anyone who's been in that can tell you that it feels a lot worse, but the important thing was that we never allowed our guests or crew to be in danger. Post-reveal, the party began and the winds actually abated a bit - the rain stopped, the sky cleared up, and it looked amazing. The drinks were flowing and it all seemed good, but the forecast was not good. We were monitoring NOAA closely and a high wind advisory had been issued for the area - recorded winds at Edwards Air Force base 10 miles away had reported winds over 70 mph. At the same time we got a call from the Mojave tower which was just 5,000 feet from us up the runway, and they said they were recording wind gusts in excess of 60 mph. It was almost like we were in the eye of a hurricane as it was the calmest period we had seen in two days. A unanimous decision was reached quickly with Emergency Services, the Producer, and the Client - let's get the guests out of here now. We started an evacuation as winds became increasingly violent. It was very hard to move people out, no one wanted to leave the relative comfort of the tent for  the biting cold of the tarmac. Fritha, our producer, led the charge and moved 15 bus loads of guests and reporters out of the event site in less than 30 min. I know that coordination and rapid response saved lives - there is no doubt in my mind about that. With all guests safe, our focus  shifted squarely  to ourselves. I still thought we would be ok, but I had no idea how bad it was about to get. The wind picked up and was easily over 70 mph sustained winds - the inflatable dome structures had failed. We made sure  they were excavated and clear of all personnel. We then began giving evacuation orders to all our crew. I felt real personal danger, I was very worried that the structures that were upwind of us might be failing and we would be in serious peril.

nothing is stronger than the wind in the endI thought of my family, and I thought I needed to stay safe so I went for a vehicle to seek shelter and to look at the structures upwind. I realized at this point that it was only going to get worse. Nothing temporary was going to survive these winds - it was blowing hard and steady at more than 70 mph. I worried that there was no where  for any  of us to take proper shelter other  than a single 40’ sea container. On my way to the truck I realized that we still had at least 75 staff onsite - we all needed to get to safety and fast. I found Matt and we quickly moved  to get everyone out  immediately.  Along with Emergency Services we ordered everyone to go to the vehicles and to proceed to the road that was out of range of flying debris. A last ditch effort was being made to save the clearspan - there were 30 people trying to hold back the wind that was caving in the gable end. The ship was going down and there was no way anyone was going to save it, I told them to let it go - get safe. With the immediate site clear Matt and I went to check on the structures upwind - they looked ok, not great, but still standing. It was then that the clearspan gave way, as Matt and I watched from about 250’ away - the end wall collapsed, the counter weights were flipped off their moorings, and the 82' wide tent flew up in to the air like a kite, successively flipping 12,000 lbs of concrete blocks at every bay. I have never seen anything like it and I hope I never do again. I was confident we had cleared the site and that  all were safe but we proceeded to check in within all crews and confirm that all were indeed safe and accounted for. The entire time period from when the evacuation started to when the site became a disaster zone was less than 60 minutes.

The  gravity of the incident took some time to set in - I realized the next morning how lucky we were no one was killed let alone that no one was injured - it could have been so much worse. I was recounting the events of the night before  to my wife that morning and I realized that I thought people were going to be seriously hurt, and possibly even  killed. I had never been in such an extreme situation before.  I have had tense moments before - dealt with snow storms, high winds, extreme heat, put out more than a few fires (literal and figurative), but I had never been so exposed to the elements and had them be so severe. In the heat of it you don't think about it, you push on but I felt lucky that we had all escaped. The tents were destroyed as  were many production elements -  but that's just stuff and stuff can be replaced. We did it right and we did it by the book, but I know there was some amount of luck involved and that fate was shining favorably on us that night. 

the model survived unscathed Three days later  as I was walking my son to school, his hand in mine,  he asked  how my spaceship launch went and I realized what was important - what I would always remember from this event. I would remember that stuff is just stuff and that people are important - put people first. 

I wish to thank my family, my friends, and all the event professionals I and the rest of the glue team  had the pleasure of working with  these past 12 months, for an amazing year - it's been the hardest on record and Eric and I are confident that 2010 is going to be better, and we can all rest assured 2009 is behind us.

All the best to you and yours in 2010,

Tom Bussey
 founding partner, production glue

Update on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 12:25PM by Tom

Additional supporting links for Bizbash coverage of the Virgin Galactic event:

http://www.bizbash.com/losangeles/content/editorial/17370_after_virgin_tent_collapse_vendors_voice_confidence_in_their_work.php

http://www.bizbash.com/losangeles/content/editorial/17287_virgin_unveils_spaceship
_in_mojave_amid_high_drama_and_high_winds.php

The link to the YouTube Video of the tent collapse as seen in the video above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbS7lX3mGdg