INSPIRING WOMEN
Sharon Reynolds
Building back better
Immersive AV managing director Sharon Reynolds tells Mike Fletcher about the long road to rebuilding her business after losing everything during the pandemic
There were moments when I didn ’ t think my interview with Immersive AV managing director , Sharon Reynolds would happen . A few weeks before we were first due to talk , her sevenyear-old son caught the flu . Reynolds stayed up with him for three consecutive nights . Inevitably , she then caught it . But her bout of flu turned into pneumonia , which steadily got worse .
“ I ’ ve never been so ill in my life ,” she tells me when she ’ s finally feeling well enough to talk . “ I knew I ’ d been working myself into the ground and was planning a holiday to recover . I guess this new strain of flu had other ideas and this is the result .”
Listening to Reynolds ’ story , it ’ s clear that she hasn ’ t stopped since before Covid hit in 2020 . By 2019 , she was heading up two hugely successful companies - Immersive AV which had been offering full technical production and content since 2016 , plus ITR , an equipment hire firm which Reynolds had been building since the turn of the millennium .
The year before the pandemic , Reynolds was advised to mothball Immersive AV because of too many duplicate roles across both companies . All operations were transitioned over to ITR and the resulting full technical production and hire company entered its 20th anniversary year with 66 staff and a turnover of over £ 6.2m .
Then , Covid hit and ITR ’ s equipment would sit dormant in a warehouse for almost two years with the lights off and the doors locked . “ The banks threw over £ 1m at ITR in loans and support but the longer the crisis carried on , the more obvious it became that it was never going to be enough and my baby was going under ,” she recalls .
Reynolds ’ only option was to call in the administrators . However , she was determined to do the right thing by everyone , before using the mothballed Immersive AV company to rebuild and begin by delivering virtual event solutions .
“ We sold our building for £ 1.2m to make sure that everyone was paid off ,” she says proudly . “ I have extremely high moral standards and my son will testify to the fact that I hate deceit and dishonesty . Not every failed business during the pandemic acted with the same integrity we did , but the difference is that I can now sleep at night .”
With the loss of ITR , Reynolds also parted ways
“ I wasn ’ t going to lie down and allow 20 years of hard work to be lost .”
with her long-term business partner , Steve Hallsworth who had been by her side since the beginning .
“ It was a very lonely time but I wasn ’ t going to lie down and allow 20 years of hard work to be lost ,” Reynolds says . “ I sold everything of worth that I could and even drew down 25 % of my pension to fund a rebuild . The administrator allowed me to buy back ITR ’ s assets ( stock , vehicles and the URL ) and Immersive AV was reborn .”
Reynolds has spent the past two and a half years relentlessly rebuilding her business from the Covid ashes . Immersive AV now employs 26 people and has a predicated turnover of £ 4m in the next financial year .
“ I have no desire to grow as big as ITR became ,” she admits . “ My business model now is to form collaborative partnerships so that we maintain our expertise but bring in strategic partners that can provide growth without the overheads .
“ For example , we partner with a content house called Curve and we ’ re in talks with a stand builder to partner in international hubs such as Barcelona . Our clients are everyone from organisers to contractors , agencies and venues so we need to be transparent . Adding partner services to our full technical production offer will protect us against getting too big . But our clients need to know that anyone we introduce has the same standards we offer .”
As EN was going to press , Immersive AV and its staff were waiting to find out if they had won any of the numerous industry awards they ’ d been shortlisted for in recent months . Reynolds knows that an increase in awareness of her rebuilt brand will lead to further partnerships . But what she needs first is a recovery to full health and that muchdeserved holiday . EN
Winter — 47