Orientation 2012: No point sweating the small stuff

Otago University Students' Association events manager Kitty Brown is the director of student Orientation at the University of Otago, this week. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

There is a running joke among the organisers behind student Orientation this year that the annual Otago University Students' Association event will be the "mother of Orientation" gigs this week.

That is because OUSA events director Kitty Brown is six months pregnant and balancing her impending motherhood with a chaotic and busy schedule to pull together the "2012 Orientadium".

Billed as the "biggest O-week in New Zealand ever", the OUSA event is on unfamiliar ground this week, with new partners and several new venues involved for the traditional student welcome party.

Mrs Brown, who joined the OUSA events team about four years ago as a co-ordinator, is in charge of her first Orientation this year.

"It differs every year, but this time there are so many more new challenges. We have new venues and also different roles given the new partners involved," she said.

Looming large over Orientadium this year is Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium, which is being used for the roster of headline gigs throughout the week.

"It is uncharted territory for us and a huge challenge. It has been hard for us in the lead-in, because we really do have little idea about how things will pan out," Mrs Brown said.

Although the stadium has hosted several other recent events, such as the Masters Game Village, the new venue lacks the comfort factor of the traditional OUSA "home" of Orientation's headline events at the University Union building, which is undergoing a $5 million redevelopment.

Although she admitted to some trepidation about the unknown factor - the stadium - she was positive about the team OUSA had assembled to run the Orientadium and the multipurpose nature of the facilities which were available at the indoor venue.

"We've consulted the stadium staff and have decided what function we want the different areas to serve.

"They've helped us work out how we want to utilise the venue - despite there being no template for what we want to do," she said.

OUSA and stadium managers Dunedin Venues Management Ltd have reconfigured the Otago Daily Times eastern stand to make a concourse, where a concert stage will be built for headline acts, such as David Dallas, Shihad and Shapeshifter.

Concertgoers will be directed through the North Stand concourse where food and beverage will be available for patrons, before they arrive at the main concert area.

"We're hoping it will provide a template for future events," Mrs Brown said.

About 5000 patrons are expected for the big concerts, with the main ticketed events being open to staff members at the university and the general public, she said.

Having the stadium as a venue has also increased expenses for OUSA, Mrs Brown confirmed.

She declined to specify an exact amount but said more than $100,000 was being spent on Orientation this year.

With the changes to the first-time venues and also the introduction of new Orientation partners the University of Otago and the Dunedin City Council for different aspects of the week-long list of events, a busier than usual schedule had eventuated this year, Mrs Brown said.

"The workload last year was beyond anything I've ever had to tackle before ... Lucky I was pregnant," Mrs Brown said.

Her pregnancy had "surprisingly" brought extra levels of energy - something she knows contrasts with tales of other expectant mums - but it is a difference of which she is glad.

"I've been really lucky with it, I guess. It has definitely given me a boost and helped get me through. It has also put what can be a stressful time juggling different details of the job in to perspective. There is no point sweating small stuff," she said.

Having a "terrific team" of young and enthusiastic helpers and OUSA staff, predominantly students, was also one way of becoming revitalised by work.

Mrs Brown was raised in Christchurch and studied hospitality at the Canterbury Polytechnic and Institute of Technology.

She started working in restaurants and bars "like many students, first as a dishwasher and then waiter", before she travelled with her husband, a chef, on their OE to the United Kingdom.

The couple worked at a restaurant run by celebrated English chef and TV personality Rick Stein in Padstow, in Cornwall, before taking on a hospitality and event organisation role at a boutique residence in the Lakes District in the northwest of England.

Stints managing cafes, restaurants, and bars as event venues followed back in New Zealand, before the Browns moved to the Otago Peninsula and bought a house there.

The variety and scope of event organisation with OUSA was a big attraction of her job, although the "hectic energy" of student events was initially a concern, Mrs Brown said.