INVESTMENT
41
Martin Fullard meets Rachael Kenny, events
lead at Investors in People and CN30 under
Thirty winner
What does
Investors in
People do, and
what is your
role?
Our purpose is to make work
better. ‘Make Work Better’ are
three words that are easy to
understand, but not easy to
always get right. We provide
organisations with the right tools
and support to keep their people
happy and healthy. It is important
because a lot of people will
spend a total of 80,000 hours at
work and we think they deserve
more from it than just a pay
cheque.
My role is events lead, and I
work as part of the marketing
team. We put on events
throughout the year to bring our
community together and to share
our purpose.
How many
events do you
run each year? In 2020 we have between 25 to
30 events planned. These range
from an awards ceremony for
900 people to online webinars. I
work across all of our events
alongside two others who make
up our events team.
Do you work
with agencies? The majority of our events are run
in-house by us. However, for the
Investors in People Awards, which
is our biggest event of the year, we
use an agency to help with the
venue and production.
As a small team, having an
agency on hand to manage all the
suppliers, and to bring everything
together on the night, really helps
to enable us to concentrate on all
the other aspects of the event.
How
important is
sustainability
to Investors in
People, and
how is it
reflected in
your events? As with many organisations it is
becoming more important, and as
an events team we are always
looking for innovative ways to
make our events more sustainable.
We use technology to register
guests, replacing name badges
and saving on plastic and paper.
We always try to not over order
on food to prevent wastage, as well
as use venues and destinations
with good public transport links.
www.conference-news.co.uk
Where do you
think the
events
industry sits in
the eyes of a
corporation? Corporate Eye
I believe
the events
industry is an
integral partner for corporations
to make the most out of their
business development and
marketing opportunities. In such
a digitalised world there is really
no better way to bring your
community and clients together
than offline at an event.
We crave face-to-face contact
in a way we didn’t before because
socialising and networking has
become a more online
experience.
Are there any
changes you
would like to
see in the
events
industry? I would like to see improved
security measures and the
implementation of Martyn's Law,
making security checks a standard
part of the package when hiring a
venue. I have been to far too many
venues when anyone could walk
off the street into an event without
being questioned. I did my MSc
research on this topic in 2018 so it
is something I am passionate
about.