Two years and counting...

You may have noticed that the number of posts on this blog site had dwindled over the past year or so.  Why I hear you ask...basically it's been fantastically busy and as a result writing my thoughts on a blog site is the first thing to get cut.  I'm sure you're all very disappointed...

I thought, perhaps naively, that when we embarked on the exciting project of running Connect two years ago I would have time to keep the events world informed with my thoughts on various industry issues, developments, etc.  Despite our best efforts it simply hasn't been possible

That's not all we've learnt/experienced in our two years of trading:

• Running your own business is fantastic but not easy
• Events often require long hours...running your own business emphasises that
• Submitting a response to 'blind' tenders is pointless 99% of the time. 
• OJEC/OJEU is meant to provide a fair opportunity to win business...it does not
• Despite the shoutings the Government have made it no easier for small/new companies (classic example of this is public sector tenders requiring 3 years of financial records to be considered...)
• Twitter is a great way of generating free advertising/exposure
• Support staff (freelance or otherwise) are invaluable
• It's definitely a case of who you know rather than what you know
• Requesting feedback on an unsuccessful tender can often be futile
• Surviving (and in fact growing) during a recession is an awesome feeling
• Accounts/tax/VAT...confusing - employing an accountant is easily one of the best decisions I have made
• Setting up a second company within two years of your first is not adviseable...it is fun mind
• Some Governing Bodies are beyond frustrating to deal with - made more so when you know they are vital
• Fitting in home/personal time is vital

We've been in business for 2 years and 5 days as of today.  Despite the stress, hours, failed bids, broken IT equipment not one of those days has felt like a waste of time or a 'what I am doing' moment. 

I can safely say running your own business provides the ultimate rewards and buzz...the only negative is not being able to write as many of these wonderful 'from the mind of Mike' blogs!

I'll be in touch...probably in another 3 or 4 months ;-)

www.connectevents.co.uk

An alternative to the venue

After being quoted £3,500 to provide a wireless network for a recent event we decided enough was enough and looked into alternative ways we could offer our exhibitors a basic web browsing service without being charged an extortionate amount.

Detailed research of a subject we don't have an advanced understanding of followed - the result...individual wireless 'mifi' devices for each exhibitor, which we - the organiser - own for future events.  In addition to costing us less the devices also provided each exhibitor with five individual log ins rather than one code per stand. 

The negatives - of course there were some - were the lack of onsite support should something go majorly wrong with the devices and the potential issue with lack of 3G signal (from which they operate).  Thankfully the positives far outweighed the negatives and only one (out of 35) exhibitors mentioned the devices did not work - and that turned out to be a laptop firewall issue.

Total cost for these devices is about £2,000 per year (contract basis) but we can use them at each venue we use (signal allowing of course).  Even with the added stress of managing the service on site it was a no brainer of a decision. 

The thing is when working in IT events there is no exhibitor (or speaker) that accepts not having at least a basic level of Internet connection available.  Being honest I agree with that expectation.  As an organiser we would never promise free of charge high speed Internet but at all our small to mid sized events now we offer free Internet of a 'basic web browsing' level.  When venues have being charging us between £800 and £3,500 per event it becomes a 'luxury' item that can put strain on tightening event budgets.

It is for the above reason that we sought - and I believe have found - an alternative solution.

Venues have to take note of what is available out there for organisers (and indeed exhibitors / speakers themselves) to purchase to avoid having to pay a premium to use an often poor to average venue service.  At a recent event we paid £1000 for an open wireless network for 20 exhibitors - the network was so unstable (one minute full, the next almost none existent) that I was left feeling a combination of anger and intrigue...surely we could find a system that offers a better, more cost effective, level of service than that?!

It is the larger venues that are so open with taking the **** out of organisers and exhibitors - ExCeL for example charge £605 for one 1mb wired connection (no wireless available).  Now I accept that a wired connection comes with IT support and is infinitely more reliable than wireless but why can't a cheap, unsupported wireless network be offered?!  Especially when the same venue offers a cheap BT Openzone wireless service in it's foyer / lobby.  ExCeL are not the only venue - EC&O, QEII and Barbican Exhibition Halls and ICC are just three others that spring to mind.  I will point out regional venues, such as Saviles Hall and Villa Park, are vastly superior in what they offer compared to London.

We make it clear to our exhibitors & speakers that if Internet access is vital to their event experience then they should order a wired connection.  Venues can charge a premium (which they do) for those services.  However I can not see, or indeed have not heard from the various venues I have discussed this with, a legitimate reason (other than losing out on money & stress) why cheap / free basic web browsing wireless services are not offered at all venues.

The alternative none-venue option for us may not be perfect but at least there is now an option.  Fingers crossed venues start to realise this.

www.connectevents.co.uk

How vital is the right supplier?

Unlike most of my blogs I'll answer the question posed straight away...extremely vital.  Get the right supplier(s) on board and an event will be a walk in the park, however select inapprorpriate or poor suppliers and the opposite is true.

As an organiser / event logistics specialist we pride ourselves on only working with the best (note not the biggest) companies.  Areas such as stand building, electrics, AV are too important to risk dodgy suppliers.  Where possible we encourage clients to use our suppliers on events we are involved in...sadly we do not always succeed.  Being truthful 90% of the time suppliers we have (rather than want) to use are decent enough...unfortunately there is that 10% exception and our experiences with this type of company emphasises the importance of the supplier to an events success.

Reliance is never good but you should be able to run an event with complete faith that the experts in their area (be it AV, stands, accommodation booking) know what they are doing.  As I say you still need to keep an eye on all apsects but only an eye, not all your time - that is why we bring suppliers on board.  It would be easy for Connect to offer an array of services that we are not remotely skilled in, just to attract a larger client base but if someone approaches us for AV or stand building we pass it onto one of our regular suppliers.  We could probably make a bodge job of it but a) we take too much pride in our work and b) it is not fair on a genuine paying client to do that.

Not all 'suppliers' are like that

A recent event experience has made me appreciate our suppliers importance even more...I won't go into too many details but it ended up with our team (Connect and our AV supplier) covering the client's supposed 'expert.'  Frustrating but it happens - once on site and faced with that issue the only option is to help out.

Hunter Events, Roadstar, Event Express, SO Group, DMS Graphics, Masters and EFI Logistics - all key suppliers to Connect and to be honest without their knowledge in their key areas the Connect service would not be what it is. 

So how vital is the right supplier...almost beyond words

Student Placements - the new core workforce?!

Despite the recession, shrinking level of work for companies and reduced employment opportunities for all (especially the young) the amount of work we have been involved in has been on the increase over the last couple of years.  However whilst the level of work has increased the value (owing to size of events, sponsorship levels) has tended to go the other way.  So we're working harder for less - not complaining, just great to have the clients in the current tough market.

What it also means is that ensuring you have enough staff for the peak periods is becoming harder and harder budget wise.  When big contracts were a common occurance companies could afford to employ people on large short to medium term contracts - this is not the case in todays market, especially for small companies.  So what are the options...from our experiences placements are a fantastic choice.

Over the last couple of years we have employed a couple of placement students and to be honest we could not have operated or performed to our usual high level without them.  Without being too blunt one of the major positives of placement students is the low cost and until we started working with placements I felt that may be the only one.  I could not have been more wrong.

Their motivation to work hard and keeness to learn sets them aside from a lot of the more expensive options.  Being placement students rather than just students in between study years ensures they have a genuine interest in the industry and market sector they are placed into, which makes a huge difference.

We have already set in motion plans to bring in a new placement student from September after the success of our current student, who thankfully has agreed to extend her stay through the summer.  I'd strongly recommend smaller companies take similar advantage of this system - genuinely priceless to the success of our company. 

Academic vs Commercial Venues

Having always focused on commercial venues it was a bit of a culture shock when in a recent venue search we had to target Further Education Colleges ahead of commercially driven properties.  To say we were pleasantly surprised by the standard of college event space would be an understatement.

Whilst not hundreds to choose from - not all colleges offer space to hire out - the ones that did offer external events the opportunity to use their space have clearly thought about what makes an event work - something that can not always be said their commercial counterparts.  Being honest I expected the majority of colleges to offer tired, inflexible space - the complete opposite has been true.

Venue space at most colleges I have viewed is easily accesible, bright, modern, flexible and ultimately a top event space.  Admittedly they often don't cater for the largest events but for those with numbers around 150 there are a number of great options.  South Bristol Skills Academy (part of the City of Bristol College) and The Learning Exchange (part of Liverpool Community College) are two that particularly impressed me.

College space still has the obvious draw back that it is least available in term time, which is when the vast majority of B2B events take place.  However those in charge of event space at Further Education Colleges often proved to be ultra helpful in trying to move classes, etc to fit our event - didn't always prove successful but demonstrates our educational establishments realise (or at least are starting to realise) the importance of hiring out available space to external companies.

Having another available avenue for impressive event space is a huge bonus, especially in the current economic climate, as college spaces are vastly more cost effective than their commercial counterparts (understandbly).  Another financial positive of utilising college space is that it creates another revenue stream for those establishments, which is more rewarding than simply lining the pockets of a multi-million pound hotel or conference centre.

I acccept we may have got lucky in the FE Colleges that we have viewed but despite that, Connect Events for one will openly and actively suggest college spaces to clients with events of the right type moving forward.

London 2012 - a reason to be positive

Glad to hear that LOCOG have released unrequired rooms back to hotels - will hopefully result in room rates becoming that little bit more affordable for those attending the games (or indeed those just visiting London)...and in fairness to the organisers releasing them back to the hotels this far out provides plenty of time for those requiring them to book.  Not long until the games now...

In fact it is now under 6 months to the London 2012 Olympic Games - is the excitement building?  Doesn't appear to be in our local area but after watching the indoor Athletics meeting at the weekend it seems that within the sport excitement is growing almost on a daily basis.  I really hope the country supports both events (Olympics and Paralympics) whole heartedly for a number of reasons but mainly to demonstrate to the world that as an events location the UK can't be beaten for support (perhaps the FIFA team may realise they made an error in not appointing England the World Cup hosts in 2018...ok perhaps not).

In the current climate we need every bit of positivity that we can.  When I say we I mean the industry, the public and the country in general.  Whilst we are not Greece, Spain or Italy we are still in the midst of an extremely tough economic and social period and a positive summer - in terms of atmosphere, excitement and anticipation - would go someway to lifting spirits ahead of the rest of the year.

London 2012 will, all be it temporarily, create jobs and that alone is a reason to be glad that the games are being hosted in the UK rather than elsewhere.  Yes not all the jobs are paid, a vast number - 70,000 - are volunteer positions but for those who have been out of work just having an occupation to get up for (rather than the challenging daily job search) will be a boost.  In fact to that end London 2012 has actually set up a programme to help those unemployed people near to the Olympic site - perhaps not ideal for those based elsewhere but it's something that would not have been happening had London2012 been Madrid2012 - for example!

I'm not oblivious to the supposed negatives of London2012 - for a start it has (will) cost our country a reported £9.3bn, which is a huge amount of money given the aforementioned economic climate within our country...and Europe as a whole.  Additionally whilst this vast amount of money has been spent on venues, opening ceremonies, etc not enough has been spent on helping athletes train and prepare for the Games...this is plainly wrong given it is the athletes performance that will largely determine how positive the atmosphere is during the games.

Despite the above (and more) negatives London2012 is a very good thing for the UK.  If you haven't got tickets - like me - or are not that fussed yet - like a lot of people - it's time to start focusing on the lesser spotted sports such as fencing, swimming, javelin, archery and rowing; it's time to start getting excited about British athletes winning in random sports that for 99.9% of the year no one worries about.

It's tough out there on a financial, economic and social level so use this tailor made, on your doorstep excuse to inject some positivity into your year.

The customer is always right...or are they?

I’m currently sat on the Brussels to Ebbsfleet Eurostar returning from organising a successful pan-European conference forum.  Whilst pleased with the events outcome I’m only just calming down from, and starting to actually believe, the ‘customer service’ on offer at a prestigious (and expensive) 4 star Brussels Hotel.

To put it politely they had a ‘different’ approach to customer service than most hotels and venues I have had the pleasure of working in.  This property appeared to start with a strange idea of “the client is always wrong...!”  We asked for a room to be changed round – after being told by our client – an hour and a half before anything else was happening.  Most venues, whilst perhaps thinking ‘no,’ would oblige – mainly because we are the paying client.  This hotel not only refused but then in the middle of our event registration started to aggressively confront my colleague and I suggesting that we were being out of order for daring to change from the agreed function sheet.  To say we were not amused is probably an understatement

I have had several experiences of venues where the junior staff (those getting paid the least) have been rude and unhelpful but the management have been great.  Never have I experienced it the opposite way round.  The ground staff were usually happy to help but were instructed by the management that they couldn’t.  It’s hard to describe in words – that are printable – exactly how unbelievably bad their service was.  If it had happened just the once it would not have made such a lasting impression but it happened on a number of occasions, with the venue even stating that we are very unorganised...for asking for 4* (yes four) additional round tables in our main room.

* The request was made 45 minutes prior to the session – plenty of time; after moaning at us for 25 minutes they then had to rush making themselves more stressed.  It’s just madness

Their manner and attitude towards us would have made an inexperienced eye think that they were the client and we were the hotel, not the other way round.  The fact that we had a 300 person event taking all of their rooms (bar 4 20person rooms) seemed to matter little, if at all, to them.  We pointed out we were paying them around €45,000 to use their property – this didn’t even seem to register as a worthwhile point in their strange little heads.

Rant aside...the whole experience has made me think about the difference between running events in the UK and Europe.  Having organised over 10 European events my thoughts were that there was no difference.  Style of rooms, food, etc changed but the general ‘client is always right**’ view seemed to exist across the continent.  I presumed Brussels – a congress focused city – would be the same, if not better.  My initial reaction is the opposite.  Perhaps it is just the hotel we used, as they are an independently owned property rather than part of a chain, but I am now eager to run our second Brussels based event so I can compare. 

** The client is not always right...but their ideas and requests are the most important

I am shocked and surprised at the lack of service.  If a venue disagrees with me or my teams approach that is fine if it is dealt with in a professional manner.  When the venue’s management staff openly start to berate us – the client – in full view of all attending the event I have a major issue (which was expressed).  When the venue’s senior management have to apologise for their staff on day 2 of 3 you’d think it would improve...not get worse!  I can safely say I will never use that venue again (which facilities wise is a shame, as the main room was fantastic) and unfortunately it has put a dampener on a great event.

Oh well, we’re back in the UK now, land of the fantastically friendly customer service...!

www.connectevents.co.uk