66
Boredroom
The social
debate:
what do
people think
when you
tell them
you work in
events?
CN editor Martin Fullard asked
his LinkedIn network of event
professionals what responses
they encounter when they tell
others they work in events
LinkedIn question
Martin Fullard
Editor, Conference News
When you think of the ‘Events Industry’, what
comes to mind? Or, more to the point, what
do non-events people think you do when you
tell them you “work in events”?
Tell me!
Franco de la Croix-Vaubois
Founder, Event Organisers Network
and co-founder, MEET South West
A standard answer I get is: “What like a wedding
planner?” Typically I explain that I work in
events, helping people and organisations plan
their meetings, conference and events. Usual
response is “sounds fun”.
Lizzy Dring
Director, Right Angle Corporate
That we organise parties! People actually have
no concept of what goes into events!
Ryan Curtis-Johnson
Head of PR & marketing, DRPG
They tend to think it’s all party party party!
Ben Cole
Production director, Some Bright Spark
David Preston
CEO, Realise.me.uk
My mother thinks I fly to lots of nice places
doing some sort of meeting. Many friends
only get it if I add exhibitions to my
description. If they’re not in a business which
attends conferences, trying to actually
describe the enormity of what constitutes an
event and what it takes to organise one is
really quite difficult. Imagine this: I worked on
an in event for 70,000 people in Las Vegas
for a week (AWS). If nothing else the budget
was more than $100m!
There is a lot of expectation on two counts: that
we just magic up private parties filled with
countless celebrities (nope) and also that we jet
around the world to glamorous locations and
tour the sights (only partially true...if you work in
events you tend to see a far less glamorous side
to places!). What can be frustrating is that even
today, with formal qualifications as a route into
a well-established sector, the lack of public
knowledge and understanding on what goes
into events means that it’s still not seen in some
circles as a ‘proper job’. Personally, I have no
problem with that, I love that fact that it’s not a
‘proper job’, and all that that means!
Thomas Heiser
MD, Focal
Point Event
Management
Mostly people think
just of the production
side of the business.
They rarely consider the
strategy, stakeholder/
project management etc
that is actually the hard
part!
Alessandra
Porta
Event sales,
marketing and
positioning
People think events are
simply lying around, waiting
for us to be organised.
Bradon Levalds
Client services
manager, SDI
Marketing
Definitely they think
throwing parties! I usually
say “live events” to help
explain it a little further
because a lot of people
don’t know how many
different channels there
are within events.
Festivals, music,
conferences, trade shows,
experiential etc.