I got into the event industry because I bought a share in a nightclub in Mayfair in 1990 as an investment. Very quickly I realised events, entertaining people and the life that came with it were for me and I gave up my day job. I opened two more places in London and an event management company and my teeth were firmly ‘cut’.
I have worked here since iVent was established in 2009.
I was attracted to this particular role because I saw how the world of events was changing and believed that much of what happened in the event industry could successfully translate to online. With companies cutting traditional live event budgets and a greater emphasis on ROI, improving organisational efficiency and cutting CO2 emissions, the perfect storm for online events to work was created.
Not many people know that I have been a reiki master and teacher for the past 10 years. It is one of the greatest ways to relieve stress and genuinely changed my life. I took it up after coming back from a trip to India where I managed to pick up some sort of disease that just wore me out. Reiki was the only thing I found that seemed to work to get me back on my feet, but at £40 a session I decided to take it up myself. I have not looked back since.
My worst experience at an event was at a solar eclipse festival in 1999. Many events were planned in Cornwall, which was singled out as the best place in the UK to see the eclipse. We were responsible for providing the juice bars at the biggest one. With an expected audience of 5,000 people and a bill that included Van Morrison you would have thought it was a guaranteed success – 36 people turned up.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that no matter how good technology ever becomes, there will always be place for face-to-face events. The minute we start to prioritise technology instead of focusing on the people attending an event we are doomed. The majority of our online events are delivered to support existing live events or either to connect hubs of people, who for budgeting or scheduling reasons can’t all be together in the same place at once.
The best event I’ve been involved in was an online event for WSP Engineering that spread across two days, seven countries and had over 300 delegates in attendance. The concept was, ‘follow the sunrise’. Each region of the organisation took it in turn to host the event as the sun rose in their country. Connecting people who had never met before and giving them the opportunity to network and take part in this global phenomenon was a fantastic opportunity and demonstrated how online events can deliver experiences that were simply not possible before.
If I could do it all over again I would kick back, take some time out and really enjoy things more as they happened. I am always looking at tomorrow instead of appreciating today.
The one thing I can’t stand is that people still think events are easy. During the economic boom I watched every neighbour and his dog set up an events company from their spare room only to fail fairly shortly afterwards. It is one of those industries you can’t learn in a classroom; it is all down to experience and requires a broad set of skills. I respect anyone who has set up and run an events company and is still going strong after five years, especially the past five years. Those that think it’s easy give the rest of us a bad name.
Outside of work I spend my time writing and illustrating my own series of children’s books based on my own children. I also play the guitar, badly, cook slightly better and frequently get bored on the treadmill in the gym.
If money were no object the idea of having one’s own island definitely appeals. I think Branson got it right, especially given it can be used for events too. In the real world though, wouldn’t we just want to help those with nothing? I can’t imagine anyone would want to do anything else but help those with less if they had infinite resources.
The one thing I can’t do my job without is a smartphone. I can run the world from my smartphone. I think if Bond villains had had Blackberrys they may well have beaten Bond and ruled the world.
If I could switch places with anyone else in the industry it would be my 3D self. We have a very smart avatar based platform that we can insert into any of our online events and can create avatars that look like just like us. It would be fun to see life from his perspective.
If I ruled the event industry I’ll let you know when I do.
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