Published by Neil ThompsonAfter a challenging couple of years, the live events industry is back with a bang. Meeting and event enquiries are soaring, international incentives have made a return, and everyone is back to doing what they do best – delivering memorable face-to-face experiences for clients and audiences around the world.
So, there’s no better time to remind ourselves what is so great about our industry. We asked this year’s winners of The Meetings Show’s Tomorrow’s Talent initiative – 10 sharp, under-30s – to find out what they most love about working in meetings and events…
Olivia Poppy Salvage, senior events coordinator at doTERRA is excited by the endless opportunities and variety that the industry offers: “Career options are so vast, event design can be as creative as you want it to be, and no event is the same. Even if the format is the same, venues can be different and there are so many different touchpoints to customise, so it’s never a boring job. For me, a huge part is the travel my work allows, I’ve seen corners of Europe I never knew existed, and had some of my favourite experiences through landing my career in this beautiful industry.”
aniel Wilcock, freelance event and project manager at Wilcock Event Services also loves the variety the job brings, as well as the amazing experiences he gets to enjoy while doing it. “I really enjoy the opportunities there are to constantly expand your range of skills and knowledge whilst working directly on site, or even virtually, at events and experiences. Plus, the fact that I often get paid to be at amazing gigs, football matches, world-class concerts and exclusive parties is also very cool. However, what I love most about working in events is how tangible it is. We deliver a real product for real people,” he says.
After living in a virtual world for two years, these future leaders are really enjoying being back on site. “I love seeing everything come together. You start out six months to a year before the event is going to happen and you see everything evolve and start to take shape,” says Shakira Browne, senior events manager, Ultima Media. “Initial ideas, that sometimes didn’t seem possible actually coming to life on the day is an amazing feeling – my favourite place to be is on site!”
Laura Jensen, senior content & community executive at RX agrees: “The buzz of being onsite and seeing people enjoying your event makes the year of work towards it more than worth it.” She admits that she had never really considered working in events before she stumbled into it, and now she can’t imagine leaving it. But her favourite thing about the industry is the opportunity to meet and connect with so many new people: “Everyone is so passionate about what they do and so interested in what’s happening in the industry that you always find out something new whenever you meet someone.”
The people you meet, and the relationships you form are what many of the Tomorrow’s Talent winners most love about working in events, including Marali Kempthorne, team leader, Meetings & Events UK at Reed & Mackay, a TripActions company. “Only those within this industry can truly appreciate the demands and stresses that an event can put on an individual and each stakeholder is driven to ensure that it’s done right. I truly believe that you can only be as good as those who surround you, so I love hearing of experiences, where individuals have been and what challenges they’ve faced,” she explains.
Jessica McNulty, senior events co-ordinator at Quadrant Events, says: “Watching the events people around me really inspires me and pushes me to keep learning. From my management team and other colleagues, along with our experienced freelancers, seeing our teams consistently deliver exceptional events across their specialties and skills is really rewarding. I also love seeing the impact of great client relationships based on years of trust and the best delegate experience and am excited to now be involved in building my own special relationships with clients old and new.”
Milly Pickles, event executive at Parallel Blue, believes that the way the industry came together as a whole during the pandemic shows just how important strong professional relationships are, and how community is at the core of the industry. “Together, as an industry we have managed to bounce back, and events are now booming, and I find this incredibly inspiring.”
Sarah Zarywacz, event executive at ECI Partners, agrees: “There’s not a single person I’ve met in this wonderful industry without an interesting story, and we can all learn so much from each other. As a community, we come together to innovate and break barriers, particularly since the pandemic, and I can’t wait to see what hurdles we leap over for our next chapter!”
To register to attend The Meetings Show, visit: https://www.themeetingsshow.com/register
