Ericc, who is the CEO at New Millennium Business based in Sydney, works with event owners, organisers, governments and companies engaged in event delivery and is recognised as a ‘go-to’ person in Australia’s event industry.

He says some of the biggest challenges for event designers and managers are making effective use of space within their venues to deliver the best return for their investment, innovating within current guidelines to create new event opportunities, and being able to adopt new spaces in highly desirable locations. “At the moment, a lot of venues are under-utilised because of concerns about noise transferring from one section to another, or simply because there are not enough defined, self-contained spaces to operate different stands or presentations,”
Ericc said. “Non-traditional venues like parks and pop-up spaces are also especially challenging for event organisers, as they’re often in areas not purpose designed for events, where space and noise management are even more difficult. “This presents a huge opportunity for hire and rental companies to present their clients with solutions to these problems through an entirely new product category. The key is finding products that really address these problems and are easy for clients to use – and make it easier for them to think beyond their traditional ideas. It’s all about better and clever utilisation that generates more revenue and drives new ideas.
Ericc says multi-use products like temporary sound barriers that also act as partitions can deliver great ‘bang for buck’ for clients. The versatility of this kind of product makes it a good investment for hire and rental companies. “There are opportunities for hire and rental companies to extend their clients’ investment by showing them new ways to review and replan how they manage people and venues alongside traditional events support such as lighting towers, generators and fencing,” he said.  “The trick is to present an exciting, dedicated venue for audiences and manage crowds within well-designed spaces.”
He points to products like ECHO BARRIER®’s portable noise barrier as a potentially income-generating addition to a rental company’s offering. “This type of product creates a number of new options for event management clients that might allow them to use traditional sites more effectively, and could potentially open up new venue opportunities because it would help organisers meet noise requirements at venues that may have been previously unsuited to loud events. “And because products like this are highly portable and easy to set up, they lend themselves to events that run over several days, with different requirements and venue layouts from one day to the next.
Flexibility is so valuable.” Ericc says ‘pop up’ venues could especially benefit from this kind of product. “What clients need are products that allow them to adapt their set up easily, to meet venue requirements and provide temporary useable spaces.

In my experience, councils are actually pretty cooperative and open to new uses of their spaces; it’s just a matter of introducing products that make new ideas possible to execute. “Products like ECHO BARRIER can offer customers the opportunity to present totally different venue, advertising and branding options.  Event management customers are looking for new ideas like this. The hire and rental companies that make them available could see real business benefits.”