Mary-Anne Waldren creates and manages original events to suit sponsors and large audiences alike.
Theming programs
Mary-Anne has helped Radio National to produce more than 70 forums over the past 18 years and to theme them to sponsors’ topics without compromising the ABC’s editorial integrity. She has applied this model to commercial programs, such as the long-running radio program, How Green Is My Cactus?, and TV comedy hit Good News Week, which she presented live on stage five years in a row.
Mary-Anne has overseen the management of hundreds of events relating to science and business.
High-profile media launches
Launches can grab headlines, even when they have small budgets. The Water Olympics, for instance, ranked tap water from every Australian capital city and the results made the news in each of the eight cities. It was newsworthy when customs sniffer dogs apprehended then Governor-General Sir William Dean. Solo sailor Jesse Martin did a fee to abseil from a helicopter to a solar boat but the army provided the helicopter in return for the benefits of being associated with the low-emission race.
National tours
Mary-Anne has brokered dozens of sponsorship deals that have covered the costs involved in importing celebrities and touring them around the country. Celebrities who have participated in these tours include:
Author of The Creative Economy John Howkins; vacuum cleaner baron James Dyson; creativity specialist Charles Landry; psychologist and best-selling author Dr Susan Blackmore; NASA astronauts Franklin Chang-Diaz and Sally Ride; author and creative industries' specialist Kate Oakley; inventor of the term "lateral thinking" Edward de Bono; environmentalist David Bellamy; Britain's Chief Scientist Sir Robert May; Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a book on endangered species, the late Douglas Adams; Editor in Chief of New Scientist Alun Anderson; Director of Britain's Royal Institution and popular science writer Professor Susan Greenfield; authors, broadcasters and award-winning documentary makers Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest; IVF pioneer and BBC Broadcaster Sir Lord Robert Winston; British geneticist, author and broadcaster Steve Jones; Neurologist Professor Colin Blakemore, and the award-winning young inventor of the dripless teapot Damini Kumar.
Targeted events
National experiments: Millions of rural and urban participants have taken part in everything from the plastic-bag famine and the sleep project to the Wager on the Weather. Rural dwellers are particularly responsive to net-based events.
Parliamentary briefings: Politicians and journalists have benefited from topical and expert briefings on subjects ranging from stem-cell research to water issues.
Master Entrepreneurs Program: This program fills a niche by providing the maximum amount of valuable information in the minimum amount of time.
Solar and Advanced-Technology Boat Race: Mary-Anne staged this race in the ‘90s on Lake Burley Griffin. It attracted international as well as student entrants and was sponsored by Bayer. The first overall winner of the race, Solar Sailor, was rewarded with a $10,000 international patent prize, which enabled them to put a solar ferry on Sydney Harbour for the Olympics and eventually sell their winged sail technology to China.