PRODUCTION PROTECTION
Nigel Bennett , project director at agency Cheerful Twentyfirst , shares tips on looking after your event ’ s production team
ot so long ago , the office served as project HQ . We could easily spot if someone was stressed out or having an off day . We ’ d make them a cuppa , tell them to take a walk around the block and lend a helping hand .
Virtual events operate under similar high stress circumstances , but stress looks different behind a screen . As remote work is mass adopted , it ’ s important we take steps to extend office culture , recognise when someone needs that cuppa or ten minutes away from their laptop , and create the space for colleagues to raise their ‘ digital hand ’ to ask for help .
We recently delivered a global virtual conference where our team had to be operational and on point for three days straight . After 72 live hours on the front line , here are a ew baseline procedures we implemented to protect our production teams and manage stress effectively .
Resource appropriately , especially across time zones
Working across seven continents was always going to be tricky . The biggest time differences were 19 hours apart , between East Coast Australia and West Coast America . We established regional project leads to work with local clients , meaning
Nigel Bennett
someone would always be available on comms .
We built timezone considerations into the schedule . For example , our video team ( based in the UK ) was working late into the morning to remotely direct a shoot in Singapore . We deliberately allocated a rest day the following day to give the team capacity to sleep , recover and come back bright-eyed and ready to go the following day . These were simple considerations , but highly effective in managing wellness in the lead up to our live days .
Respect working hours and finish times
Our UK delivery team worked in relayed shifts to make sure everyone had allocated breaks and could ( at the very least ) go offline for their dinner . We established dedicated teams for day and night but with so many complex moving parts , events often ran in parallel or had some overlap . For the onsite team , we made sure everyone was booked into local accommodation to ensure no one was making long drives after the sessions .
Be attentive and aware to safeguard culture
We spoke regularly about things outside of the project , touched base every morning for a team huddle , and made sure the team was always connected via chat or comms channels . Each ‘ shift ’ had a dedicated runner , ensuring there was plenty of tea , coffee , hot meals and , of course , chocolate . Ultimately , virtual or hybrid events can have a huge impact on the wellness of production teams . The key , in my opinion , is overtly offering support , keeping in regular communication and making conscious efforts to check in with every individual on the team , making every effort to give them a chance to raise their ‘ digital hand ’.
Now , let ’ s put that kettle on . CN www . conference-news . co . uk