42
EVENTS
Corporate Eye
Hayley Aguda, assistant manager at Deloitte,
tells CN about her role at one of the Big Four
accountancy firms
What is your
role at
Deloitte? Deloitte is one of the ‘Big Four’
accountancy firms and my role
within that is an assistant
manager, working specifically in
the private equity coverage team.
How many
events do you
run each year? We have an internal events team,
and I branch from that, running
events for our sector. I manage
20-25 events a year, and these
range from a chairman’s dinner
for 40, golf days for 100, or
perhaps an entrepreneur summit,
like one I ran for 275 people over
two days in February.
Do you work
with agencies? Some of my events are repetitive
and they take place bi-annually,
and others will be completely
different briefs. The summit I
worked on in February was
something new, so I hired a
venue-finding team. We do have an
in-house venue-finder, but I like to
use external help to compare and
to see what different ideas are
floating around and what’s new on
the horizon.
For production, we go for
in-house or preferred suppliers.
How is
sustainability
reflected in
the events that
you run for
Deloitte?
It is very important for us. Every
event we run we represent not only
our UK brand, but also our global
brand. Attention to detail is
imperative. We always work with
suppliers to understand that and
help us achieve that objective. At
the summit we worked with a
company which provides booths, to
run a speed-dating-type event. We
worked with them to ensure
everything was as reusable and
recyclable as possible, even down
to producing the booth panels, of
which there were 56.
Everywhere you go now you get
recyclable cups, trying to avoid
plastic is becoming second nature,
which we want to ensure is fluid
between all of our events.
www.conference-news.co.uk
Where do you
think the
events
industry sits in
the eyes of
Deloitte; do
they take
events
seriously? Absolutely. In my specific sector,
we use it as a marketing platform,
we are like a mini investment
bank, so we connect and help
with transactions, we use it as a
networking and marketing tool.
We bring clients together who
want to meet each other, and we
do that in various forms
throughout the year.
Are there any
changes you
would like to
see in the
events
industry? Transparency with costs. I have
worked with so many venues over
the years and they are not
transparent. When you do that
initial brief, you need to consider
all details. Things such as needing
to hire the venue room for the
build and associated extra costs.
As event managers, you think of
the bigger picture right from the
beginning. All the venues I have
worked with don’t foresee all the
little things you might add at the
last minute. For example, I need a
printer in my event room on the
day of the summit, can we borrow
that from the business centre, or
will it be an extra £250?