Rob Willis Email & Phone Number

Australia

With 25 years of industry experience, Projex Events was brought to life with a view to offer it's specialist event services to operators of medium to large events and festivals across Australia and beyond. With heavy involvement in overall Event Management and Planning, Bar Ops, Liquor Licensing, Production & Logistics, Entertainment Provision, Stakeholder Management and more, most recently across events such as the Night Noodle Markets nationally, the world’s biggest fun run City2Surf, the Bondi Beach Latin American Festival, Taste of Manly, Sydney Half Marathon and sustainability leaders at the Ocean Lovers Festival to name a few, achieving preferable outcomes around Licensing & Permitting, strong relationship building with key stakeholders and the overall smooth execution of all aspects of events are some of the main outcomes of each event Projex Events is involved in.Key roles and responsibilities may include:- Event management, stakeholder meetings, planning and execution- Budget control and Management- Apply for and negotiate event liquor licenses for events and venues across Australia- Complying with relevant liquor legislation and special license conditions- Engagement with stakeholders including event organisers, sponsors, attendees- Engagement with regulatory stakeholders including Police, Licensing, OLGR, ALEC and Council- Managing large numbers of staff across management, front of house, security, back of house- Organisational culture, recruitment, rostering, training, policies - Supplier contract negotiation, budgeting, financial planning, business analysis, stock control, event reporting, board reporting- Design, build, operate event bars and supporting infrastructure

Sydney, Australia

Canvas Events draws upon over 20 consecutive years of being at the forefront of contemporary hospitality experience to seek provision of enjoyable, remarkable experiences for patrons at every touch point. We continue to set the benchmark in Australian hospitality experiences within venues, festivals, and events. In recent years we have brought our unique hospitality experience mix to events such as the long running Night Noodle Markets operating in Australia’s major cities, the world’s biggest fun run City2Surf, the iconic Bondi Beach Latin American Festival, and sustainability leaders at the Ocean Lovers Festival to name a few, creating an enhanced customer experience and a direct flow through to food and beverage yield. My key roles and responsibilities include:- Event contract management, stakeholder meetings, event planning and delivery- Apply for and negotiate event liquor licenses for events across Australia- Complying with relevant liquor legislation and special license conditions- Design, build, operate event bars and supporting infrastructure- Engagement with commercial stakeholders including event organisers, sponsors, attendees- Engagement with regulatory stakeholders including Police, Licensing, OLGR, ALEC and Council- Managing 100+ event staff across management, front of house, security, back of house- Organisational culture, recruitment, rostering, training, policies - Supplier contract negotiation, budgeting, financial planning, business analysis, stock control, event reporting, board reporting

Sydney, Australia

Aside from the normal day to day operations as the Operations Manager, I took on the role of Licensee for the venue in late 2013.Complying with all the relevant liquor legislation and special license conditions are the main responsibilities of a licensee.Seeing the venue is located in the Kings Cross precinct, there is an array of extra conditions imposed on our license such as the mandatory use of ID scanners, 1.30am lockouts and a number of drink and service restrictions. With this also comes regular dealings with local and government agencies such as Police, Licensing, OLGR, ALEC and Council.As a direct result of the new laws that were brought in in late 2013 the area itself has seen a significant drop in patronage (-85%) and an even more significant rise in costs relating directly to the new laws and liquor regulations.Despite all of this, and thanks to tight management, highly capable staff and adapting marketing strategies The World Bar is still a thriving hospitality hotspot amongst locals and travellers alike, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Sydney, Au & Queenstown, Nz

In August 2011 I started a project that would see a major improvement in the use of in-house systems at The World Bar:• Successfully scoped, developed and implemented end to end a business management system, incorporating payroll, staff management, staff training, rosters, WH&S, ordering, stock taking, inventory control, invoicing, reporting, budgeting and much more• Identified problems in previous systems and the need for a better and more effective platform• Self taught FileMaker technology as outsourcing the project was not within the given budget• Rolled out the program across venues in both Australia and New Zealand• Used FileMaker technology, including Cloud hosting, network sharing,FileMaker Go, ODBC and PHP web publishing• Business impact:o Reduced total staff wage costs from 13.5% to under 12%o Heightened awareness and efficiency through automated communication on any reported problems and issueso Automated and consolidated all previous systems into the one program, minimizing confusion and human errorso Improved overall efficiency by introducing the use of iOS devices and remote access

Sydney, Australia

As the Operations Manager of The World Bar I manage a team of 50+ staff consisting of management, marketing, front of house, accounts and security. This involves HR, quality assurance, rostering, policies and procedure development and much more. Aside form this, supplier contract negotiation, budgeting and financial planning, business analysis and stock control were also my lookout.High level staff training and tight scheduling have meant a huge reduction in wage costs, plus the contract negotiations and setting accurate price levels have seen a significant reduction in the cost of goods for the business.Above all however, working closely with all sides of the business combined with smart marketing strategies has seen the business survive a very turbulent time in the area and Sydney's hospitality industry in general.