Not every planner gets to design mass participation road events amongst some of the world’s most iconic landmarks. That’s what Pont3, an events management company, have the privilege of doing for the Sydney Harbour 10k road run – an annual event amidst the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge that attracts 7,000 attendees.
We spoke to Simon Bryan, Operations Director at Pont3, about how his events agency uses OnePlan to design and organise the event that features 10k and 5k races.
Simple to use, with greater collaboration
Before OnePlan, Pont 3 faced the same problems as many event professionals who have had to rely on non-specialist tools to patch together their event plans. It’s an out-dated approach – to try and mash together an event plan without a specialist or collaborative solution.
Simon says, “For years we had to take screenshots of maps from Google Earth, then put them into a powerpoint document, and add shapes and lines for infrastructure and course routes, with a key for people to try and understand. And of course, they weren’t to scale.”
With OnePlan’s easy-to-use platform, the Sydney Harbour 10k race is now planned on a system designed for road events. “The mapping tool is simple to use and the OnePlan team has been fantastic to deal with,” adds Simon.
For Simon and his team in Australia, collaboration is key. The team includes a wide variety of roles including the Race Director, General Manager, Operations Managers as well as Sponsorship, Customer Service and Volunteer Managers. They have brand partners as well as local government stakeholders. Using OnePlan means that all stakeholders can access the event plan 24/7, see changes in real-time and be confident that everyone’s working off the same plan.
“The collaborative element of OnePlan is great. It means we have better communication with our partners by easily sharing digestible plans at scale.”
Simon Bryan
Operations Director, Pont3
Simon continues, “The collaborative element of OnePlan is great. It allows for greater team collaboration. OnePlan streamlines our process in a way that we hadn’t realised was possible before. It means we can have better communication with our partners by easily sharing digestible plans at scale.”
A suite of features to improve efficiency
Pont3 has a strong track record in producing mass participation road events. They include RunWest Festival, Father’s Day Run, the Wellness Walk and the Spirit of Tasmania Running Festival, in addition to the Sydney Harbour 10k.
Their event sites typically contain a number of marquees including for registration, information, volunteers, bag drop, sponsors, food and beverage and/or food trucks, as well as the start and finish lines. Their infrastructure has to cope with the demands of a mass participation event and so consists of 6ft fencing, toilets, generators, site sheds, light towers, cool rooms, stages, track mat, gantries and more.
Using OnePlan the Pont3 team can easily add items they need at an event to the plans they create. Operations Director Simon Bryan believes this delivers a more productive way of working which ultimately helps the financial outcome of their events. “The tools and features are so easy to use – it has everything we need. OnePlan increases our efficiency, which helps us create more profitable events.”
The tools and features are so easy to use - it has everything we need. OnePlan increases our efficiency, which helps us create more profitable events.”
Simon Bryan
Operations Director, Pont3
As the covid pandemic impacts how events are now planned and managed, the Social Distancing Toolkit has been particularly beneficial. “The social distancing measurement is really handy,” says Simon. “One of the benefits of using OnePlan is that we can now provide venues and stakeholders with quick and to-scale Draft Venue Plans.”
Taking advantage of the Nearmaps integration
The Sydney Harbour 10k road event sweeps a route amongst the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, so accurately mapping the event is fundamental to everything that follows in the event plan. The Pont3 team takes advantage of OnePlan’s integration with Nearmaps, ensuring the highest quality local maps, that gives them confidence in building out centimetre-accurate plans.
OnePlan has brought a huge improvement to the quality of our plans.”
Simon Bryan
Operations Director, Pont3
“Being able to access Nearmaps is a real plus. It means we can design our event in OnePlan using highly accurate maps, and it aligns with our premium event delivery strategy,” Simon continues.
With other mass participation road events planned, the Pont3 team is looking forward to progressing its new solution. “OnePlan has brought a huge improvement to the quality of our plans,” says Simon.
To try OnePlan for your next event, click here to sign up for a free 5 day trial.
