ou are only ever as good as
your team. And for me, the
team is the foundation of
every successful event
that I plan. I share this belief
annually with a lecture to event
management students at
Manchester Metropolitan University.
They look to me for leadership
wisdom and anecdotes from my 30
years in the industry. But hot off
their lips after the lecture are
questions around how to break into
the industry and how to get that first
job. My best tip is always: for
goodness sake, spell check your CV.
The number that I receive
containing errors is ridiculous. The
devil is in the detail when it comes
to event planning, so start by
getting my name right and a
well-proofed CV.
The next 12 months will highlight
the true impact of Brexit. For me,
one of the greatest challenges will
be around recruitment and staff
retention. The EU has provided a
pool of talented employees for the
events, and wider hospitality
sector, for years. There has already
been a slowing of skilled migrant
workers from the EU which will
surely become a greater issue for
the UK economy as a whole. So, I
turn my focus to keeping and
nurturing the team that I have now.
At the end of 2019, I launched a
profit share scheme for my
employees. Their energy, enthusiasm
and creativity will not only be seen in
the events we plan, but in their own
success and financial gain. The aim
for me is to motivate growth and to
keep the team invested in the
Every company
will have its own
strategy – or
should. As an
industry though,
we have to work
harder together.
WORKING
HARDER
TOGETHER
Liz Taylor, MD at Taylor Lynn Corporation,
urges large agencies to help make the
industry more attractive to talent
www.conference-news.co.uk
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company’s
Column
success.
I am also an
advocate for the value of a
well-chosen intern. My events
director Jess Randall is a point in
case. She came to me with
enthusiasm in abundance and a
willingness to listen, and I offered
her a 12-month paid internship
from her Uni course. There was
that instant spark that I look for. My
gut told me she was going to be a
success and after her internship, I
followed up with a job offer that I
haven’t regretted for a second.
She brought Uni knowledge with an
ability to communicate, and a
wisdom beyond her years. And she
made me reconsider my previous
belief that the UK event
management courses were not fit
for purpose. I stand corrected.
Every company will have its own
strategy – or should. As an industry
though, we have to work harder
together.
Time for my soap box: the event
industry is a creative jigsaw puzzle
of large producers and small,
independent event planners.
Therein is the first and perhaps
biggest problem. In an effort to
make the industry more attractive
to workers with flexible working
hours, profit-share, better salaries
and training, we are appealing to
the larger agencies who have the
resources and capacity to nurture
their talent with corporate
solutions. For the small event
agent, which rely on a core team of
just two or three, how do they fit
into the picture? Perhaps Brexit will
give us all the proverbial kick in the
backside that we need to bring the
industry together.
We need to make our sector
appealing, energising and fun for
people to work in, while managing
the logistical issues around
recruitment,
skill shortages
and legislation.
It’s top of my
list for 2020…
who’s joining
me?