FEBRUARY | THE COLUMNISTS
Access’ regular
columnists talk
resolutions,
perceptions and
size...
Practicing what we preach
through face-to-face
Jonathan Emmins, founder,
Amplify
New Year is a time for setting
agendas and resolutions. As event
industry insiders, we spend our
lives bringing people physically
together yet, when we’re busy
ourselves, making time for coffee
and meet-ups feels like a luxury,
despite our intrinsic understanding
of the power of relationships.
No matter how shiny your shop
window, people deal with people.
Nothing beats developing personal
bonds and recommendations
through face-to-face meetings.
Think less about ‘networking’, and
more about having an inquisitive
mind, finding people interesting. It’s
an approach rather than an event,
as much from informal routes such
as coffees, dinners, clubs, events,
friendships and festivals than more
traditional ones.
Consciously or unconsciously,
this curiosity has probably got
me and Amplify to where we are
today; and in all likelihood will take
us to wherever we go tomorrow.
So in 2019, as in previous years,
my resolution is to continue to
find people fascinating, to make
new friendships and connections,
to actively listen and to give
conversations the time to see
where they go. Because when you
make that face-to-face connection,
everything just clicks.
Influencing influencers
Josephine Burns, chair, Without
Walls BIG & small
Simeon Aldred, group creative
director, Vibration Group
This year’s Stage 100 is topped by
Steve Tompkins, the architect, with
the following citation: “He does not
produce shows or run a theatrical
empire but has been responsible for
a quiet revolution when it comes
to the way that both artists and
audiences experience theatre.”
Sadly, there’re few outdoor artists
in the list (something Without Walls
will change) not least as The Stage
defines influence as: “The capacity
to make something happen, to
cause something to change.” And,
hey, that’s what we do!
The outdoor arts resurgence
across the UK is gaining
momentum - new festivals are
popping up all over and more artists
are coming to love the challenges
and joys of outdoor performance.
We have the evidence. The
Audience Agency’s Outdoor Arts
Audience Report (July 2018) says
outdoor arts amplify a sense of
community, attracts massive
audiences, gets people involved
in arts activity as audiences
and participants; particularly
25-44-year-olds - note the cultural
sector generally sees attendance
increase with age.
Outdoor arts are changing how
places are perceived and enjoyed,
shaping how audiences engage with
the arts, and how our artists in the
UK are establishing a reputation for
quality and inventiveness. At Vibration Group we learnt a
very valuable lesson about half way
through our current business life
which revolutionised our growth
as a business, nearly doubling our
profits in one principle.
As regular readers will know, we
are a £50M+ turnover organisation,
with businesses across a wide range
of event sectors. Sounds great,
right?
Well, to loads of our clients this
was a massive turn off. Being bigger
than your client; having more staff
than your client; being the biggest
player in the market was nearly
always wrong for our clients.
Our clients wanted and still want
event suppliers and brands that
reflect them, so if they are boutique,
they want cool, boutique supply.
If they are a big promoter, they
want heavy-lifting, large-scale
production.
Our lesson was to have the scale
and flex in our group to match our
clients’ needs: be big when they
need you to be big and be small
when they want small.
We have kept our many event
brands and investments as
independently run as possible from
the main Vibration Group brand so
we can keep to this key principle of
big and small.
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