Latest / Event Industry News Podcast / Northern Voices: NOWIE Members on Careers, Community & the Future of Events

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Northern Voices: NOWIE Members on Careers, Community & the Future of Events · Event Industry News Podcast

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Music.
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Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Event Industry News podcast with me,
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James Dixon, wishing you all a very good morning, afternoon,
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or evening, whenever or wherever you tune into today's podcast from.
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And I'm excited because I'm actually sat in something that looks like a studio
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today, rather than being sat at home in my living room at an upright piano with
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my laptop balanced on top of it, which is my usual podcast setup.
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We're in an actual place today, and we're in an actual place because 2025 marks
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the 15th anniversary of Event Industry News.
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Event Industry News was conceived, it was started and it spent its formative
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years right here in the great city of Sheffield which is where we are recording
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today and facilitating our actual
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in-person sat round the table podcast today and the team at Stream 7.
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Today's podcast has been recorded from the HQ of Stream 7.
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They are premium event live streaming, stunning visuals
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and immersive experiences stream seven has been at the
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forefront of event broadcasting for over a decade its
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experience team combines cutting-edge technology with industry
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expertise to generate worldwide reach and connect audiences
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with your event for more information visit stream7.co.uk and yeah thanks again
1:20
for them and for the great cups of tea that i've had this morning so far we're
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going to commit that to the recording so if you are listening to today's podcast
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may i maybe suggest for context context.
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By all means, continue listening if you're out and about walking your dog or
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doing something like that.
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But if you've got the ability to hop over to eventindustrynews.com,
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why don't you hop over there?
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Because the team at Stream 7 have got a great camera set up here.
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We're filming today's episode really professionally, unlike the little webcam
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that usually sits on my camera.
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So you can see all of our guests today and we're going to meet them.
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We're going to have a bit of a chat today with four people who are all,
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I think, members of the network of women in events, but it's not strictly speaking,
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you know, a NAOI sort of panel or discussion today.
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We're just going to be finding a little bit about my guests today,
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what they do in the industry and having a bit of a chat around the table, really.
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So let's start to my left.
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Leah Barron, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Tell us a little bit about yourself
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and what you do in the industry. Oh, hi. Thanks so much.
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So currently I am a venue manager for Supermassive, which is an immersive space
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in the centre of Manchester.
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So I'm the venue and site manager for that.
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But I started way back when initially doing World Music Knives while studying art history at uni.
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And then I had my own entertainment agency, so kind of creative production.
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From having an entertainment agency, I kind of
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got wheeled into the stage management because they were like,
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well, you know everyone here and you're organizing everyone anyway,
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so you may as well be a bit of a stage manager.
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So then I went into theater stage management, generally like immersive and interactive shows.
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Then the dreaded 2020 break happened. I moved country.
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I went and worked as a project manager for Adidas for a little while,
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which was kind of helpful, surprisingly.
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And then I started working at an event agency over in Amsterdam.
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I worked there for a couple of years and then I learned a lot about the pre-production
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of festivals and then moved back and here I am.
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So I kind of go from creative production to stage managerial to venue arts.
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Brilliant. And back here in Sheffield, right here in the north, back in the north.
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Evie Booth is sat next to Leah. Evie, welcome to the podcast.
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Thank you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do in the industry.
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So I do freelance events and marketing.
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I mainly, events wise, do, I'm in merch.
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So I'm the one that sells it, sorts out tours, all the fun stuff.
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Where the real money is now. Yeah, true, true. That's why the prices are so high.
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But then I'm also more into my marketing. I did a business management degree at uni.
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Didn't know what I wanted to do, just did it to get out of my town. and
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yeah I liked the marketing aspects all the units
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I picked were marketing didn't have a clue what I
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was gonna do got into merch and I think that's kind
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of heaved the way for me so I've done
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a few little tours merch and then I've seen I've
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been to festivals done like stage management and work with artists through that
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and now yeah I'm doing I've done a few music marketing courses with the school
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of music business and yeah i'm managing a few bands doing social medias for
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ticketing companies for venues.
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All that stuff amazing amazing and moving
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around the table to evie's left hannah pew welcome to the
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event is your news podcast thank you tell us a little bit about yourself
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um so i'm here based in sheffield but i
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am a freelance event manager this
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is my first year freelancing i managed to
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take the plunge back in december which was
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very scary but nothing but rewarding since before
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that i kind of on foot i say unfortunately
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i was in corporate for a long long time and that was due to the 2020
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sort of lockdown but before that
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my main passion is being outdoor music
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festivals that's my bread and butter that's what I do that's what I've always
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done since sort of 2018 when I got into it
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and it was actually Sarah Nolte and Tranglines that got me into
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my events management career journey and everything else so
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anything artist liaison art stage
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your everything and everything that's to do with music
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festivals I've been there done that gone through the rain gone
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through the hard times but i absolutely love it and enjoy it so much so that
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i've now decided to manage my own company and myself and my skills and everything
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else and just move out i'm currently working for white claw and mass plus but
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definitely so i'd still think learning through.
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This event you're always learning and that's what i love so much about what
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i do we'll definitely get to that in a bit and we'll get on touch on to sheffield
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as well there's loads of stuff happening, a great place to be an event freelancer.
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And finally, person responsible for the great tea today, Emily Hobson.
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Emily, welcome to the podcast. You've been, you know, behind the scenes helping to facilitate today.
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So thanks, first of all, for your help in sort of setting up and letting the
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podcast come and record here. But tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do here at Stream 7.
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Yeah, so I am business development and marketing manager. I've been here for
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about 18 months. So I am actually quite new to the events industry.
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So I came over to Stream7. I was previously one of their clients.
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So I've got a sales and marketing background in a variety of industries.
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So I've spent time at charities, mainly engineering and manufacturing background
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as well, which, you know, is quite typical of the Sheffield scene.
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I started marketing in the steelworks. So, yeah, I'm still learning so much as I go along.
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We specialize in streaming and broadcasting, but do everything sort of end-to-end event production.
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But I am not technical at all. So this is a massive learning curve for me.
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I'm learning so much. I found that the events industry is so welcoming,
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like everyone is so friendly, which I wouldn't say is typical of engineering
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and manufacturing, particularly as a woman.
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So this is really refreshing. Yeah, really nice. I'm really happy to have everyone
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here and be able to host this today. It's really exciting for us.
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And just listen to those introductions there around the table. It's,
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We've all met sort of off camera and off air and their introductions.
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But actually then having a couple of minutes to listen individually to what
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you're doing, it always fascinates me how straight away there's similarities.
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How you all come from different backgrounds, different locations,
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but everyone's kind of said, oh, well, I did some of this and I've done some
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of that and I've done some of this.
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So you're multi-skilled transferable skills
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experience in in different aspects of
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the events industry whether it's working with venues with artists with
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production and so straight away I'm thinking right
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well that that's the great that's the obvious talking point isn't it transferable
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skills there is you know from your experience whether it's been a long time
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the industry or relatively short time Emily you've got to be able to do different
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things you know So you want to grab the baton and run with that because,
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you know, I'll come to you, Leah, first.
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You're in venue at the moment. But again, ticking all those boxes that I just
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mentioned of the transferable skills.
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Yeah, very much so. You've got to, I think it's kind of the name of the game, right?
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You've got to really, you've got to be adaptable. And you've also,
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yeah, you just, there's so many different facets to it.
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But I think actually what runs throughout it is the attitude of let's get this
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done. Let's work as a team.
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And you just pull it together. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
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And like also remember that everyone is winking it.
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You're like you you start off your events
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crew and you're like i know what an event is and that's kind of how you
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start it i know what an event is i've been to an event but now working
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it it's not what you thought it was and and even as
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you go along like you know one time you'll have to
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learn how to use a ratchet strap like i have no idea how to use
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how on earth do i use it which is a skill in itself but
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like and then later on you're like yeah no and and
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you think oh this is something that's so trivial
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and I don't even like I'll never use this skill yet and
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then one day you're in a pitch and you're like oh
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I remember that that was from that festival five years ago
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and and you just constantly even if it's like sewing
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or something really random but you know
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the flag's now broken and it needs to go back wow well let's
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do this and those sort of transferable skills
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that you learn throughout life and everything and I just
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think that's why events management as a i did
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it as a degree and i offer it to everybody
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because it teaches you business values it teaches you
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money management it teaches you time management project management and
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you can take those skills anywhere even if you don't want to be in events it's
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just such a rich knowledge fountain yeah and i think it's the first time a ratchet
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strap's ever been met on the on the on the podcast but it's such a it's such
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a brilliant example because you find yourself doing the most weird and wonderful
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things sometimes at events.
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I'm going to go, oh no, we need this to happen in five minutes. You go, well.
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I could do that on the show yeah yeah it's it's got to be done hasn't it yeah
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and and and yeah ratchet strap's a great one but like sewing you know you go
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about a year eight haberdashery.
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Well you're a merch store yeah yeah yeah
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yeah do you get much cool for people customizing stuff for
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you to be fair yeah it's getting more popular now
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and so i can't remember it was
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probably about three months ago i was selling t-shirts and
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then you could also buy they were like the football jerseys
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and you could buy a pack with like letters on the back to
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customize them yourself i had um i
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had an iron and i was ironing them on
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at the back of the merch stand and i never would
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you think like if you're not in merch and you would never be like right you're
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ironing at a show yeah but i was and it was good and i think that worked with
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the artist as well because then when people see their merch they're like oh
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it's personalized and i think it's a bit more of like a like personal thing
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with that artist and funds like that a lot now do you do you find when.
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You're working with younger people coming into the industry and um hannah you
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mentioned that you know event management degrees and i've been thinking a long
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time ago we actually did some some podcasts and through event is your news did
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some stuff with some event management students on the degree course at Sheffield Hallam University.
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So again, very apropos, you know, where we are and what we're doing today.
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And I'm just curious to sort of know what it's like.
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Do you kind of see yourselves as mentors in some respects when you're working with new people?
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Do you want to give them some of the experiences that you had that are positive,
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but also try and convey to them, you know, some of the realities of working in the industry?
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Yeah, I think we've got some interns at the moment and I'm sort of trying my very best to.
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Teach them through life and teach them through you know
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different oh this is like for example oh what
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time's build and break what build and break these
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things that you just get so ingrained in your brain and these like
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linger and you're like oh yeah build and break this is this and
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this and you'll have to know this and so i get
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so much written richness out of teaching them
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these things because i just think back to myself when i was at the beginning
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at university and it everyone said you shouldn't
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be going to university you should just be getting on the job experience that's the
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best way to get into events is on the job work I said
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no I'm going through university that's how I'm doing it and I just wanted someone
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at the time to hold my hand and tell me these things because I do feel like
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a lot of the times in events you do sort of just get so wrapped up and you've
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got to get so done you know you've got to that needs to be there that you you
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you go do that and it's like I don't know how to do that yeah this is the first
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time I'm doing this I don't had to do that.
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So I very much want to give back that knowledge to people and make sure that
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just events are great for everybody. And.
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Although events are for other people I feel
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like building events and managing them is an event in itself
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and you do get richness from that and that's where
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we that's why we stick into it because you do get
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that experience from that so learning from that is always maybe we'll get your
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take on it Emily you said you're 18 months into working with stream seven so
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presumably you must are you in a position now where you can look back and go
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wow oh I've known so much more now than I did when I walked in through the door
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yeah so obviously before I was here I used to be on the other side So I was
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the client, I was the organising the events.
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I didn't have a clue what went into the technical production.
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I'd just be like, I need it filming or I need this to show on a screen here.
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So I've definitely learned a lot about the ins and outs and what goes on behind
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the scenes of events as well and how hard event organisers work behind the scenes,
14:04
particularly when we're working with agencies.
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There's so many different parts and moving cogs. But this is what I think,
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like you were saying, why the NAWI group is so good.
14:13
You can ask any question on that whatsapp group
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and somebody will know the answer and also you're not scared too
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yes i know i'm really welcoming i used to be scared to
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like ask questions because i was like oh is this too stupid like are they gonna
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laugh at me for asking that but in this group like you could ask anything yeah
14:30
and no one will like judge you for anything because we were all there once yeah
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is it to have any sort of community or environment that promotes that is good.
14:40
I remember, you know, I started my career in advertising, you know,
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selling advertising in print media, you know, before I got into the events industry.
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And, you know, I remember being a young person being so nervous,
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you know, just to ask a question about something because you didn't want to
14:55
be seen as being completely stupid.
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And of course, you learn, particularly in events, that the stupidest question
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is the one that you don't ask.
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And it's usually the most important thing you don't ask the question and get the answer to.
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Later on, they go, well, why is this not done? Because I don't want to ask.
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And it's usually the most important.
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And you find that question is the one that everyone trips upon us for now.
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They're like, oh, well, we all assumed it would be this way.
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But in the end, you all look at each other and you're like, oh,
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oh, that wasn't us. And that was very important.
15:23
So, yeah, I've totally gotten over the stupid question concept.
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Yeah, I don't care anymore. I will ask anything.
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And even if people do laugh at me, I'll laugh with them.
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Possibly, sometimes often the most important. Well, I've found it's usually
15:39
something really simple that's been overlooked. Yeah. Like on a side.
15:42
You don't want to tell someone. Why is that TV not plugged in?
15:44
Everyone's just assuming that someone else has done it all. Yeah.
15:48
And that's why, like, back to what you said earlier, do we see ourselves as a little mentor?
15:53
Like, I'm only 23, but, like, even someone, like, older than me that hasn't
15:58
worked in merch, for example, I will try and teach them as much as I can because
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I needed teaching that, like, once upon a time.
16:06
I needed someone telling me to do this. So I always tell people.
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And if they, like, they don't want me to, then they can say, like, if I'm too much.
16:15
But I think it is important, like, I think with events, everyone's all over the place age-wise.
16:20
Like, I've been teaching someone that was, like, 20 years older than me.
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Also, like, four years younger than me, it's completely different.
16:28
And I think that's the beauty. There is, to a certain extent,
16:31
if you're in a real specific field, obviously age does always something.
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But I think the age thing just goes out a window. And if you don't know something
16:40
and someone knows something, then that person tells that.
16:43
Then the age thing just goes. And I find that really refreshing.
16:46
It does. And we're also in a constantly developing field. Yeah.
16:49
There's always new things and developments happening.
16:52
So, like, you can't just be like, oh, I learned that 10 years ago.
16:55
Like kids doesn't know we don't do that it's just
16:59
something new like every mall yeah yeah it's
17:02
crazy but it's a really exciting place to be yeah it is
17:05
nothing's ever the same now and i love that yeah
17:08
well yeah it's it's a common misconception isn't
17:11
it that with age comes experience because it doesn't and
17:14
more so than the events industry because everybody going back
17:16
to sort of pathways everybody's pathway that i've ever
17:20
met in events is a slightly different pathway
17:23
yeah some people come to and I didn't really come into working in
17:26
events profession I've been a freelancer for 15 years
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but the first five years of that was sort of doing comms work
17:32
and stuff so it's probably been I can say genuine
17:35
10 years of working in the events industry so I was in my mid-30s so
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you know if I'm working on a job with people who
17:41
are much younger than me but much more experienced the age thing is completely
17:44
irrelevant and going back to what you said about this you know the
17:47
whatsapp group that you have access to and and organizations like
17:51
naoi to have that ability in any industry to sort of tap into the expertise
17:57
of people regardless of age yeah i think it's really important isn't it it's
18:01
so yeah it's okay with it being my first year of being a freelancer little things like.
18:08
What do I need in my contract? Yeah, yeah. How do I approach pay?
18:12
How do I approach negotiations? How do I approach legal battles?
18:16
And I'm 30 years old, I've been in the industry for a long time.
18:20
These are all completely brand new things to me. And it's, does this contract look okay?
18:24
This person's paid me late, do I pay them a late fit? It's those intricacy ones
18:28
as well that really, really have helped me on my journey and made me feel,
18:32
and when you're self-employed, you can feel a bit alone sometimes.
18:34
You don't have people to bounce off and things like that. and
18:37
then that kind of is my workplace that is my
18:40
office that I go into and I go guys can you just check this for me
18:43
and things and you just suddenly don't feel so alone and you
18:46
get updates as well like oh here's some jobs that are going or oh
18:48
this festival's having a hospitality night and so
18:52
oh this guy they're having a hospitality Christmas so you have a
18:54
Christmas party now and even though he's self-employed and you work on
18:57
your own it is just a community that is yeah very well
19:00
appreciated I think like there's surely got to be more freelance
19:03
as an event than possibly any other industry i don't know how true that
19:06
is we'll have to fact check it but like yeah and i
19:09
think that's why it's probably so friendly and welcoming because everyone's kind
19:11
of in the same yeah and everyone kind of knows each other you're only like you
19:16
talk to someone like oh i know them with them here and stuff like that so it's
19:19
everyone's sort of like one step removed aren't they yeah and just i i'd say
19:23
this every year but you meet so many fantastic people one year and you go through
19:27
the whole summer and you meet them at one event you'd probably meet him like 10 years Yeah,
19:31
you want to see him? Yeah. I'm like, fine. Yeah.
19:34
He's like that. It has things and their life stories change.
19:37
But it is, although the events industry is massive and I'm sure you could never
19:41
meet ever, you just all seem to feel like one big family. It's almost like trauma bonding.
19:47
But you do feel like one massive family that have all just been in the pits together. Yeah.
19:52
And I love it. You're going into the trenches. Yeah. You meet up with them,
19:55
don't you? On build day one. Yeah.
19:57
You shared some emails. Oh, we're not seeing you in a year. Yeah.
19:59
But straight away, you're kind of like, oh, you got, you know,
20:02
the venue artist comes back, you see the production manager, whoever it is.
20:05
And, you know, it's like, oh, great. I remember working with you guys before. Let's work again.
20:09
And I find that our memories, our capacity for remembering things in the event
20:15
industry is, again, is like no other industry.
20:18
I know we're built on systems and notes and stuff like that.
20:22
But you just remember stuff from certain clients. They really like to do it
20:26
this way or last time we had this issue.
20:28
So let's preempt that and make sure that we kind of get around it.
20:32
It's an amazing sort of ability to remember stuff, isn't it, in the industry?
20:36
One thing I wanted to, just going back to the networking, it strikes me as almost
20:41
redefining what the term peer group means.
20:45
Because, you know, when I was growing up and they referred to a peer group,
20:48
it was always age specific. Or your peer group is anybody else who is 16 years
20:53
old or 17 years or 18 years old.
20:55
And for now, the peer group is women in events, isn't it?
20:59
It's a redefining of what the peer group is now. And have you...
21:04
And how sort of index, you've got this WhatsApp group that you've mentioned
21:09
a couple of times now, but I said that we weren't going to talk too much about
21:13
now, but I'm curious to find out a little bit more about sort of the support
21:16
and the actual meeting up.
21:17
You know, how often do you get to meet like we are today around a table and
21:21
just have a chat and a conversation is something that's facilitating.
21:24
Yeah, there's a few like events that when we were on the train here,
21:26
we were looking at going to the Sheffield event together. Right.
21:29
Like networking event was it.
21:31
Yeah. But also, I think it starts, correct me if I'm wrong, October.
21:35
They do like a little, is it level up mentorship?
21:37
Right. Yeah. So you can, with someone that's more experienced in the industry,
21:41
they'll pair you with someone.
21:43
And I think, I remember the timeframe, but it's like October till like June, maybe it finishes.
21:49
So quite a few months. And yeah, you will work with them throughout like your career.
21:52
They'll give you advice, like regular FaceTimes. You can meet up with them.
21:57
But more you've got the group as well but
22:00
that's to help focus on more like oh they're
22:03
doing exactly what you want to do this is how you
22:05
can do it yeah that's good which I think is nice there's loads
22:09
of like resources and stuff online but like they're really starting to
22:12
build like a community I think we were chatting before the
22:14
podcast weren't we we were kind of saying like we don't know
22:17
how the lady who runs it does it because they're just filming her
22:20
stuff she's a goddess and I don't know how she
22:23
finds like she has hours in a day than Beyonce saying i'm sure it's so nice
22:28
you're looking for something you're like oh i didn't realize you could find
22:31
that here and like like i said that whatsapp group sometimes there's messages
22:34
about i think pay and then the next day the message is about where can i get
22:37
this from or does anyone know and i'm just like so partnerships with insurance
22:41
companies yes partnerships with like.
22:44
Account management software companies you know all these other discounts to
22:48
things that help you So you can find anything,
22:51
anything, anything at all.
22:53
I got my own merch card sheet from now. Oh, really? Yeah. So even like software.
22:58
What's the typical thing that you're naming?
23:00
And, yeah, I got charts and, you know, software for that. Yeah.
23:05
And I think you know it's been used by other people in the events industry.
23:09
It kind of gives you that sort of backup rather than just like Googling it and
23:12
downloading the first thing you can buy. If it's on that, it works.
23:14
You know it's sort of tried and tested.
23:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely tried. And we're going back to sort of like some
23:20
of the mundane stuff, you know, but it's got to be there, you know.
23:25
And we live in a world, let's face it, where, you know, anybody,
23:28
regardless of what your role is in the events industry, there's a level of admin
23:31
that has to be achieved now, you know, from a safety point of view,
23:34
you know, call it box ticking, call it what you will.
23:37
But we work, particularly in the UK events industry as well.
23:39
That's something else that we should mention, you know.
23:41
There's a lot to be proud of because the way we do things and you guys do things
23:45
when you're working hands on at these events is often looked at from other territories
23:51
as to, well, that's how they do it.
23:54
That's how we need to be doing it. You know, you said, you know,
23:57
you moved abroad during the pandemic.
24:00
And, you know, what's it like from your take?
24:03
Have you seen examples where you're aware of sort of other event territories
24:08
looking in and saying, well, that's how they do it. That's how we need to do it.
24:11
I mean, it's like arts and festivals. And I know for a fact that a lot of,
24:18
I feel like a lot of countries look for the UK, particularly for festival culture
24:21
and standards of production within festivals.
24:25
Glastonbury is an obvious one, but also, you know, Boontown.
24:29
Yeah, yeah. And yeah, and also from working, so when I was in the Netherlands,
24:33
I was also working quite internationally. I was working with China and Mexico
24:37
and such and it was, yeah, I think, I think we do, I like to think we've got a pretty good ride.
24:43
I mean, at least. I think that's, you know, what
24:46
we're always sort of looking for each other rather
24:49
than there's one that sets everyone else apart everyone is
24:52
always constantly learning from each other like i
24:55
worked in paris and other places and and you do kind
24:58
of take bits from either side there's not one and stand
25:01
out i guess yeah there isn't the festival economy in the uk is it's insane it's
25:06
huge i think it's what we do best it's it's huge and so the the fact that that
25:11
is such a prominent economy and i know that is not the case in even our european
25:15
country i'm i think that's interesting And how it's embraced as well.
25:19
And I mentioned, you know, at the top that we're back in Sheffield,
25:23
which is where Adventure News was born.
25:25
It's where the Stream 7 HQ is where we're recording from. And,
25:28
you know, a couple of weeks ago, which was Tramlines. Yes.
25:31
And it's iconic. You know, it's shaped the city, but the city has shaped the
25:37
festival in many respects as well because of its deep-rooted music culture and
25:41
everything that the city was about and how it's...
25:44
In many respects, the festival is indicative of people who work in the events
25:47
industry because it's grown organically.
25:49
It was never contrived and convoluted and, right, we're going to set up a festival
25:52
and this is what it's going to be.
25:54
Much like people who go into work in the events industry, they've gone in to
25:57
sort of put a bit of music on in a pub.
26:00
And 15, however many years later, they find themselves with this behemoth.
26:05
And, you know, what's your sort of hands-on experience for that?
26:08
Tramline shaped me as a person.
26:11
I moved out from Newcastle. I'm from Rotherham originally, but I lived up north
26:15
and then moved down from Newcastle.
26:16
I was like, I need a job. And I got a job at the Harling first weekend.
26:20
I know I'm at the Harling, the both place of Tram Lines. And I got a job then.
26:25
They said, right, first weekend is going to be Tram Lines weekend.
26:27
You're not going to see the live day. I said, welcome.
26:31
I'll get stuck in, work the whole weekend. And then the next year I worked the VIP bar at Tram Lines.
26:37
And I'd never worked festival before, worked anything, worked at VIP bar.
26:40
And I turned to Sarah and I said Sarah how do I do this for the rest of my life.
26:44
I loved this weekend I loved and it was just working at
26:47
a VIP bar you know it wasn't even main stage or anything
26:50
like it was I said how do I do this and she said I will
26:53
teach you how to do this I will take you on as my protege and I
26:56
will teach you how to do this so she taught me everything and
26:59
everything but unfortunately obviously Sarah did sadly
27:02
pass away and I kind of took that on and
27:05
said I'm going to take everything she's taught me and I'm
27:07
going to take that on with me so it shaped me as a person tramlines but
27:10
tramlines as a festival starting from sarah's brain
27:14
of going we've got no one in the bar how do we get people
27:16
in the bar where our students go how do we get people here and it
27:19
started from the idea of how do we get people in and
27:22
not even just the harley it was how do we get people in town
27:25
other bars just literally she started you know i
27:28
can remember years ago seeing like i think it was like reverend and the mate
27:30
yeah just in a post before like and that's
27:34
how it was amazing how do we get people in a city center when
27:36
the students all go and that is how tramlines started just
27:40
that one little idea and it didn't take you know
27:43
traffic manager at stage where it was right let's get
27:46
a dj in a bar let's get some bands in a bar let's get you know on
27:49
the street let's get everyone on the fringe and things like that and just
27:52
see that grow into what it is today and and it
27:55
change other people's lives and it you know it's almost become a ritual of sheffield
27:59
of tramlines and everything else and we've become so proud of it it's that whole
28:04
journey is so inspiring and I know I'm biased because I'm from Sheffield and
28:10
I knew Sarah but it just it that.
28:14
The inspiration that these events can have on people that's
28:18
what keeps me going well you just said you had your light bulb moment
28:21
effects didn't you yeah you got the bug the adrenaline
28:24
was pumping you thought i want to do this and and i've
28:28
just like scribbled i said virtually scribbled on
28:31
my ipad here light bulb moments have you all had
28:34
i'd be curious to know have you have you had light bulb moments in
28:37
your sort of career or working since you worked in the
28:40
events we've going yeah this is this is really good and
28:43
I really love this I think probably yeah but on the other side when I
28:45
was planning an event I planned an event that we.
28:48
Are still involved in actually called North Star Science School
28:51
and it was the first one we'd
28:54
done and all my colleagues it was during sort of the
28:57
COVID era I think it was 2021 they all got
28:59
COVID like three days before the event so I
29:02
was just completely on my own but everyone like rallied around
29:06
yeah and everyone helped me like printing off sheets
29:09
doing registrations sticking stickers on chairs like
29:12
which completely was not part of what they
29:14
were meant to be doing there but like it was just a case that everyone
29:17
just mucked in and helped out and I think that is what the events
29:20
industry is all about like everyone will just if
29:23
it comes to like crunch time everyone just pitches in and
29:26
helps and I was kind of like oh you do it's
29:30
only like sort of heartwarming people will just help you
29:33
out even though you know they don't need to they don't have to but I was just
29:36
like oh yeah this is like planning events once you've done an event from sort
29:40
of start to finish and you see it come to life and you just there's no feeling
29:44
like it's like your baby like oh seeing everyone enjoy it you're like oh this
29:48
is incredible it's when you're facing main stage and you have a plate in your hand and you go,
29:53
This is.
29:58
Yeah, you know what? I'm crying every day, but this is fine.
30:02
It's gone now. It's done.
30:03
And yet you'll still have a moment either during or immediately after.
30:07
I'm never doing that again.
30:09
Every time. Why are we doing this? Ridiculous. I was in the Slang Dunk Festival. Oh, yeah.
30:17
The whole day of March. I think I got there at like six in the morning and I
30:21
didn't leave until like four in the morning.
30:22
Yeah and my feet my feet were killing me and i remember i got back to my hotel
30:27
room and i just laid in bed and went why did i do that yeah but then i was just
30:31
like for a little bit and i'll do it again tomorrow yeah and i did do it again
30:34
tomorrow for another gig so that's exactly why we're speaking out it's like
30:39
it's like later like you know like giving birth.
30:49
I can't comment, sadly. I can't comment on that one.
30:53
It is, it's taking that really hard with the really good.
30:58
And I think if you didn't have an equal balance of eating, it's almost like a bad relationship.
31:04
You know, you get really bad, bad It's low with the brain and your teeth falling
31:08
down and you have to do a 12-hour shit. But then you have your really, really good.
31:12
And you really, really, you know, like you say, everything's gone wrong.
31:17
Everyone needs to lift this. And everyone just chips in. And yeah,
31:20
it's taking my eyes with the load.
31:22
I've done marketing campaigns and then I've sent it to a client and they've
31:27
been like, oh, just one more tweak.
31:28
And it's been like 20 tweaks. And I've been like that and I've been like, why do I do this?
31:33
But then seeing what that campaign's done for the event, how many ticket sales
31:38
we've got, or like people coming from different countries, then it's all like,
31:43
it's worth it. I'm like, fair enough.
31:45
Those 20 tweaks was worth it. And I bet you've all had that moment like your
31:49
own head where you go, of course I'm going back to it. Yeah.
31:53
Who am I kidding? Who am I kidding?
31:58
I wouldn't want to do anything else, to be honest.
32:01
People say like because i'm 23 and people are
32:04
is this what you want to do for the rest of your life yeah it is
32:07
like i don't want to do anything else i've never thought about it
32:09
as soon as i got into this i haven't thought about oh should i do
32:12
that should i do that i've only thought about oh i've spent
32:15
expanding my skills to do something else
32:18
in events as well yeah yeah yeah yeah and i think that's
32:21
the beauty of it it's not like you're on an assembly line and
32:24
that's your job for the rest of your life you are constantly oh i fancy doing
32:28
stage management and learning about or Arts Liaison yeah I really enjoyed that
32:32
one time and you can constantly evolve as a person and do different things so
32:36
it isn't just that conveyor belt to the end it's everything and it.
32:42
In some respects I've got one eye on time and
32:45
as we sort of start to wrap up today's episode you know it
32:47
almost brings us full circle to start this conversation when asked
32:51
about sort of transferable skills and you know evolution and
32:54
constantly developing that there's there is that sort of thematic element
32:58
isn't there to to working in in this industry that
33:00
nobody comes into it and ends up just doing one
33:04
thing yeah because yeah partly that's because
33:06
the the the nature of the event demands
33:10
that you've got to be doing other stuff but there is
33:13
it strikes me that there's a there is a continuing sort
33:16
of desire and passion amongst people and none more so I think
33:19
just sat around the table today is is a snapshot of the wider industry of people
33:24
have a desire to actually improve don't they get better they want to do it which
33:27
again when we compare to other industries is not always the same is it no it's
33:33
because it's an industry with our hearts on the line in it and And I don't think
33:37
you can say that for other industries.
33:38
I don't think anyone comes into an event management firm because of money.
33:42
No. Do you know what I mean? I think they do it because we want to do it,
33:45
because we want to put that together and put that into the world and see that
33:49
magic and connection happen. So we care.
33:52
I still do volunteering positions because I like it.
33:55
You know, I don't, obviously we all need to live and pay our bills,
33:58
but I do volunteer because this is what I enjoy to do.
34:02
There's an emotional investment there that you've made and committed to.
34:05
And, you know, it's never going to change.
34:07
Interesting. Fascinating. And it's been great to have this conversation around the table.
34:11
It's been ages since I've done an episode of the podcast where we've had like
34:15
a group of people around the table and just a chat and a conversation rather
34:18
than me kind of backwards and forwards with somebody.
34:21
So, yes, it's been brilliant to have a chat today.
34:24
We should probably just give a shout out for Network of Women in Events,
34:28
their website, social platforms.
34:30
Didn't tell us a little bit more about it, LinkedIn groups, stuff like that.
34:33
Who wants to sort of chip in here?
34:35
Presumably if you Google them, you'll find them really easily.
34:37
If you go on the website, you can sign up to be a member.
34:39
It's £20 a year, which is worth it, 100%. You get so many resources.
34:44
You make some great friends. There's a WhatsApp group.
34:47
There's every social media page ever.
34:51
And there's a lot of discounts. Yeah, you get discounts for a lot of things
34:54
because members of NowWe work for them. They'll offer discounts.
34:59
When I worked for Skiddle, we actually did a partnership with NowWe.
35:02
Right. was their official ticketing partner and stuff like that got me in there
35:09
and that made me aware of it so we offer.
35:14
A bit of discount for uploading events on Skiddle and stuff like that so I get
35:19
stuff that you could upload like you could offer a discount for something,
35:23
you make some great friends you had a very good time with you on the train and
35:28
yeah you meet people that you probably wouldn't.
35:32
Meet, maybe. There's people from everywhere on there.
35:36
All of a sudden. Amazing. Well done. And long may the good work that that group does continue.
35:41
And thank you all for joining us today. The guests today on the Event Industry
35:44
News podcast, Leah Barron, Evie Booth, Hannah Pugh, and Emily Hobson.
35:48
My thanks once again to the team here at Stream 7 in Sheffield.
35:52
Hello, hello, hello. We've got branding. We've got TVs.
35:55
We've got proper desks set up. Real life skilled technicians working behind
36:00
the scenes to make everything work.
36:02
Thanks very much to the team from them. And as I said at the very start,
36:05
do check out stream7.co.uk for a little bit more information on those guys.
36:10
Before we wrap up today, just a couple of mentions.
36:12
If you started your journey today by listening to an audio version of today's
36:16
podcast, wherever you get your podcasts from, please do make sure that you go
36:20
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36:26
And you can also find and have a look through the A to Z supplier directory.
36:29
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36:35
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36:38
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36:59
Thank you.