On Monday 13th April, the YO Events team went on a road trip to the annual Amplify Summit held in at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
We jumped on the 7.47am train equipped with as much energy as we could gather for such an early morning. Chelsea and Jesse accompanied the team and very competitively vied to win the ‘train scavenger hunt’ (the answer on who won will change depending on which one of them you ask).
After a series of trains and trams, we arrived at the Amplify Summit just on time at 10.30am.
The Amplify Summit provides an opportunity for all Victorian Amplify committees to meet, connect, share experiences, participate in workshops and trainings and witness the talent of other young performers across the state. It’s a day of connection, workshops, music, learning, networking and advice from industry professionals.
Each year, the YO Events team go on an adventure together to attend the Summit and participate in the full day of activities.
We started the day with a Sound Tech & Lighting Basic workshop, exploring the fundamentals of live production and key sound and lighting skills that support gigs and events.
The next workshop was a Music Industry Toolkit facilitated by independent singer-songwriter Suzi Yaghmoor (who recently released her debut album which you can check out here: Suzi | Spotify). Suzi shared her experience in the music industry and took us through the foundations of a sustainable creative career including invoicing, networking, social media and all the business basics for working in the music industry.
After lunch, we split into two groups to attend hands-on workshops in areas we were interested in. Ivy, Emily and Lauchie participated in a DJ Workshop facilitated by none other than DJ Foura (check out her music here! FOURA | Spotify), learning the fundamentals of creating atmosphere, mixing tracks and using a deck.
The rest of the group attended a Photography & Videography workshop where they with presenter Lucinda Good (click here to check out her Instagram) who provided her experience and career journey from taking photos of local bands or friends on a small digital camera in the early 2000s to photographing performers like Yung Blood, Ed Sheeran, Dune Rats, and the Foo Fighters. Lucinda shared, within the space of a very short 45 mins, as much as she could about photographing performers, stages, sets and events, touching on lighting, the rule of thirds, balance, space and always ensuring to capture the moments not the subject. Lucinda gave important advice about the moments in event photography and videography.
“Moments are arguably the most important thing to capture as a live music photographer.” and “To capture the moment doesn’t mean photographing every single thing but being thoughtful, observant and feeling the moment.”
After all the workshops and trainings, we then regrouped for the closing performance of the Amplify Summit in the beautiful Elizabeth Murdoch auditorium, by Samara Bright.
With the Summit done and dusted, we then left for team bonding and a chance for some more light-hearted fun after a heavy day of learning to enjoy a team experience at the Escape Room Melbourne. There we split into two groups again to escape the two different rooms.
Chelsea, Alyssa, Sadie, Lauchie and Ivy went to Kellar’s Magic Emporium, expecting to prove their worth in an audition to become the grand magician Kellar’s next assistants. Their escape room was a series of three rooms, each becoming a little more frantic to escape than the next, and in the nick of time, we solved all the puzzles, riddles and codes we needed to finally get out. Although, in order to not spoil the room for anyone who hasn’t been, we weren’t sure that we wanted to become Kellar’s assistants in the end.
Where, in the second Mine Escape Room with Jesse, Elliott, Emily, Moon and Tyler, there was the pressure to escape a collapsed mine filling with poisonous gas. The team worked together to all the strengths in such an amazing way to find clues, keys and a way to escape! The process involving pulling apart furniture, looking through peep holes and scanning around with a UV torch for signs.
After a very long day, we enjoyed some Grill’d together before heading back on the train to Bendigo. It was a great day of connecting, learning, music and fun and we can’t wait to go next year’s Amplify Summit.
Thank you to The Push, all the supporters and facilitators for putting on such a great event.