The Orlando Eye is a giant Ferris wheel in Orlando, Florida. It carried its first passenger on April 29, 2015 and is one of the newest attractions in Orlando and the largest observation wheel on the East Coast. Special Event planners from around the country had gathered at the Orlando Convention Center. Stacey Paul Barabe organized an event in which planners would go on the Eye and brainstorm ideas on how to improve their industry. About ten people could fit in each capsule and a moderator asked questions to generate feedback and ideas.

In the digital age, it seems that people feel that all ides are in the public domain. One organizer told the horror story of pitching an idea that the client rejected and then they produced the concept on their own.  He learned about this theft when they asked him to pitch ideas for another event several years later. The packet he was given had photos of past events and he saw all his creative ideas had been used without consent or payment. The moderator was from England and there the industry is standardized. She was shocked at how little thought is put into public safety at events in the United States. She suggested that architects have a standard where they are paid up front for their time and that Event Planners should do the same. The issues are very much like the problems faced by illustrators today. People love creativity, the just don’t want to pay for it.

We went perhaps a quarter of the way up, when the wheel stopped, and then went in reverse. We guessed that an Event planner in another capsule
must have gotten claustrophobic and had to get off. When we were 400 feet up, the meeting was put on hold, so everyone could enjoy the view and take pictures. The Orlando skyline was visible to the North East along with a new roller coaster that looks like the Saint Lewis Arch. Epcot was visible to the South West because of that big sphere but the castle was hard to see. I was told that on a clear day you can see all the way to the space coast. The eye does a full rotation in 20 minutes. That meant that I had to rush the sketch. When you get off, the wheel is still spinning, and you step onto an arched ramp back to the platform. You exit of course through a gift shop. Outside the eye, two women in long flowing blue gowns were balanced on long poles. It was another great sketch opportunity but I needed to get to the Tin Roof to get to work creating back up sketches for the lunch meeting.