Watch now: Haymarket Media Group’s events team talk to us during their annual sports day on Twickenham Green on a sunny August afternoon.
Live events is a massive growth area for global media company, Haymarket Media Group, so its portfolio is constantly expanding, meaning lots of exciting new projects and events to get your teeth stuck into. The 60-strong team includes events managers, conference producers, delegate sales executives, marketers and content producers. And Haymarket is currently looking for top event talent to join the dynamic team.
We spoke to six Haymarket events employees to tease out what makes a career in events so fulfilling for them, why Haymarket is a great place to build a career and their top tips for those considering applying.
Behind the scenes
Anton Riolo is head of content for Haymarket Media Group’s professional association group’s events team. He looks after all the content and programmes for the events, including the speakers.
Anton Riolo, head of content, professional association group, Haymarket Media Group
For Anton, the most interesting part of his job is the research work that goes on behind the events: "We work tirelessly behind the scenes to understand what the industry is going through, what problems professionals are experiencing and how we can help shape a powerful events programme. We are also tasked with the great challenge of finding the right inspirational speakers that will really make a difference to the audience.
"I think it’s really exciting because you become a little bit of an expert in the subject area you’re working on and you get to meet many people who are leaders in their field."
If you are interested in a career in Events at Haymarket Media Group,
Memorable moments
Working in events is something that event manager at Haymarket Media Group, Marina Whittaker has always wanted to do. She particularly enjoys being on site running the events and dealing with any problems that arise.
Marina recalls her most memorable moment working in events at Haymarket so far: "My most memorable moment would have to be running our PR360 event - we used to run it in London and this is the first year we ran it in Brighton. It was the biggest event I’ve ever run solo, I was so anxious I could barely sleep the night before! Seeing it all come together is my biggest professional achievement to date and the experience has definitely given me the confidence to take on even bigger events in the future."
Marina Whittaker (front right), event manager, Haymarket Media Group with her team at PR360
Gemma Boyd (pictured right), senior event manager, has been working at Haymarket for five and a half years and this year’s Media360 event in Brighton was her most memorable: "It was our most successful year and as part of my role as the event manager, it was my responsibility to book the evening entertainment. I decided on a New Orleans brass band called Mr Wilson’s Second Liners who were absolutely fantastic. It gave a real buzz to the event and I was really proud of that."
She also recalls a more recent moment from last month: "It was a Sprintathon in aid of Stand Up for Cancer for our ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 brand - it was a fantastic day and we raised over £100,000!"
Diversity of work
Working in events offers a diverse range of interesting work. As Claudia Laing, head of marketing for the professional associations group, comments: "You cover multiple channels from marketing, events, operations and sales, so you really get well rounded exposure to business. Events is constantly changing, constantly looking at new technologies and new ways of thinking. So if you’re someone who’s keen and eager to learn and progress then this sort of environment will really support you."
As the head of delegate sales, Hari Tharmanayagam’s role involves managing a team of sales executives selling across the division’s range of large-scale events within the portfolio, which includes carrying out the marketing for events such as Media360, PR360 and some of the renewable energy events within the wind sector.
Hari Tharmanayagam, head of delegate sales, Haymarket Media Group
Every day is different in the events team at Haymarket. As Hari explains: "One day you could be working on an event selling delegate tickets to people in South America, Asia, North America and Europe, and the next day you could be working on a product selling to c-level executives in the media industry. So it’s quite a broad range of sales activities we do here, which means there’s never a dull day!"
If you are interested in a career in Events at Haymarket Media Group,
Why Haymarket Media Group?
"An iconic British brand"
Orson Francescone, director of events, describes his role of heading up the events team at Haymarket Media Group as "a real honour and privilege". He says: "It’s an incredible, iconic British brand delivering content and events all over the world. We have a fantastic team from conferences to exhibitions specialists, delivering events to our customers all over the world".
Orson Francescone, director of events, Haymarket Media Group
"Every day is fun"
Every day is different, as Orson comments: "Every day is fun. Every day we learn something new. It’s probably one of the best places to come and learn how to develop yourself into a true event professional."
"There are no bad ideas"
Haymarket’s events team thrives on innovating and launching new ideas. As Anton comments: "Haymarket is such a great place to work in events because we’re empowered to come up with new concepts and try them out. There are no bad ideas! That’s a really big win for us because it means we can leverage everybody’s expertise and ideas to make a real difference in the market."
"The people"
The events team all concur that people play a big part in creating the successful and collaborative culture at Haymarket. As Gemma enthuses: "It's true what they say, it is the people that make Haymarket so special!"
Claudia (pictured right) confides: "I’m fairly new to Haymarket and so far everybody I’ve met has been lovely. It’s a really welcoming environment and everybody is very helpful and eager to offer assistance."
"What makes me come to work in the morning most is seeing all my colleagues, because they're my friends now, as well as getting on with my job because this is what I've always wanted to do," says Marina.
"People love to come here and work with each other and the products that we sell. A lot of our products are market leading so the people within the team really enjoy growing with the business itself," Hari adds.
"Flexible working"
Haymarket recognises that the ability to work flexibly, whether it be around the office or to strike a work/life balance is becoming increasingly important to many events professionals.
Gemma comments: "Haymarket Media Group is a wonderful workplace because of the culture - it’s really relaxed, friendly and everyone's very professional. It’s also flexible as we can work different hours and strike a real balance between work and home life."
"Haymarket is such a great place to work because of the dynamism - it’s always very busy and you’re always sitting in a different place. You've got a laptop and the flexibility to move around the office. Also, the flexibility around our working hours makes such a huge difference," adds Anton.
If you are interested in a career in Events at Haymarket Media Group,
Top tips
Gemma and Claudia offer these top tips for those looking for an events role at Haymarket:
- Be a team player: It’s really important when you’re running events to work together as a team and support each other.
- Be proactive: Think outside the box and be tenacious.
- Have a can-do attitude: If someone asks you to do something, think to yourself, ‘I’m going to go the extra mile’ and be enthusiastic about it.
- Put your hand up: Voice your opinions and don’t be afraid to get things wrong or challenge the status quo.
- Be open-minded: The events industry is constantly changing so you need to be resilient and adaptable to change to succeed.
Claudia concludes: "It's quite a fast-paced, fun environment and we’re always looking at new ways to optimise the event and customer experience. Ultimately, if we're not supporting our customers’ needs, we're not going to deliver a good event, so that's paramount. It’s important to be prepared to get things wrong, learn from it and move on."
If you are interested in a career in Events at Haymarket Media Group,
