Latest / The Backdrop Podcast / Episode 17 - Sean Philby, Regional Managing Director, Encore

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Episode 17 - Sean Philby, Regional Managing Director, Encore · The Backdrop Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: Our guest today brings more than 20 years of commercial hospitality and customer experience leadership to the live events industry.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Sean Philby built much of his career in hospitality, holding senior sales and marketing roles with Malmaisson, Hotel du Vin, and Radisson Hotel Group, where he ultimately oversaw sales and marketing across the UK, Ireland, and Western Europe.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: He later moved into education as global head of customer experience and acquisitions at Inspired Education Group, adding another dimension to his experience in customer strategy and international growth.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: In 2022, Sean joined Encore, initially leading its global sales organization across EMEA before taking responsibility for sales strategy and growth.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: In January 2026, he moved to Dubai to become regional managing director for the UAE while continuing to head GSO across EMEA.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: His career brings together hospitality, customer experience, commercial strategy, and now technical production, at a time when expectations around live events and the technology behind them are changing rapidly.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Today we'll talk about that journey, the business of technical production, and what the event industry can learn from hospitality and where he sees the industry heading next.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: We welcome to the backdrop, Sean Philby.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: As I was I was mentioning to Dan, we we have uh this is episode 17.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't had anyone representing technical production.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're not a super technical guy, um, but you don't have to be to create a a strong organization, to lead a strong organization.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: But you just arrived here uh February 5th, I think you said.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Jan 5th.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, sorry, Jan 5th.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So how are you liking Dubai so far?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: A few ups and downs.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love Dubai.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, firstly, um I feel nice to meet you and thank you for having me.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh yeah, I moved into Dubai from Jan uh on January the 5th.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um little bit of context.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been with Encore for about five years.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was the commercial director for Amir.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I kind of still am.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I wear two hats at the moment.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm commercial director, premier, regional managing director for UAE.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Moved across on the 5th of January.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, we had a kind of a bit of a crisis come end of February.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: So uh strange transition across, but uh I was familiar with the region anyway.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've been to Dubai a number of times from a business perspective.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um super excited.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I actually really went hard to try and get the the managing director's role because um I was I was I love the culture over here.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like um it's it's kind of unique in UAE, the very kind of entrepreneurial type approach, and I kind of consider myself to be somewhat of an entrepreneur.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Difficult to say given I've never actually worked for myself.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've always worked in corporate companies, but I have a kind of entrepreneurial spirit, I believe.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and I think that that that merges very, very nicely with the culture that we have over here.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the transition's not been too tough.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the people I work with are fantastic, so that's made life a little bit easier.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, I mean, despite the the turbulent start to my career, I'm super excited about what the rest of the year has in store.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think 27 will see some recovery.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh indeed it will.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: It will.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And and and and welcome to Dubai.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's definitely uh a dynamic place.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's if if anything, it's not sleepy, it's very exciting.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and there's a lot going on.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh one thing about uh the UAE in general is that they continue to push to be exciting.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and they no one no one uh allows uh moss to grow on on the the events calendar here.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: So you have uh jumped into a new seat.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, as you mentioned, you've jumped into a new scene.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, your landscape has changed a little bit.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: You come from a hospitality background.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: So have you had to, from an international hospitality background, have you had to try to recalibrate?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Have you been forced to recalibrate your leadership style a little bit with this new sector?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I wouldn't say necessarily recalibrate um my management style.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, there's been some changes to uh the approach that I've had to make because of the conditions we're in.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I came across the original context for me coming across was that we felt that this market would or could work with uh a more commercially focused managing director.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: The the business kind of generally felt that because of what you were mentioning about how it works here, how quickly the market changes.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you come to a market that actually is not in that environment.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, it's all about consolidation and and and survival, honestly, you know, once we get to February.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So there was a change where that was concerned.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Suddenly you go from, you know, how do we expand?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: What does new business look like?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: How do I get the team engaged in new ways of working, new opportunities, new clients?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you go from that to how do we manage costs?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: How do we survive this challenge?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: So there were some significant changes that I had to make in terms of, you know, my ambition uh and what I was trying to achieve from a business perspective.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I think in terms of management style, it stays the same.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I'd I'd like to think that anyone in Encore that's worked with me or or for me will say, I'm, you know, I'm very open.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I like to keep things honest with our teams.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's make sure that we're sharing.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think the key to this industry and probably any industry and any leadership style is open communication.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure that everybody knows what direction you want to travel in and engage with the teams to understand kind of where they're at on that journey and try and make sure that we're all kind of at least moving, you know, as one uh in the right direction to, you know, what whether that's driving the business forward, protecting what's going on in the business, that kind of thing.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a challenging seven or eight months.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh yeah, I've I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh delighted to be here.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I uh I know that with that hospitality background, there's there's a lot that that that carries over.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um we had a conversation before we started filming about um the importance of a hospitality background in in almost any industry.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's really, really a strong, strong um uh, you know, background to have and and experience to have before going into anything.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I've I mean I I really enjoy Encore.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: I've worked with Encore since they were Eclipse, which is not that long ago, but uh but they've got an incredible team and they sort of they get on with it and they they do an incredible job.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they have for me for eight years, uh, the eight years that I've been working with them are or more.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: But with hospitality, how uh, you know, I want to deep dive a little bit.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: The team culture, the client experience.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: How do you translate hospitality?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: You you talked a little bit about it, but let's deep dive a little bit more and how you translate your hospitality background and that mindset into technical production and working with clients and that client experience and uh the service that you provide for those clients.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do you know it's fascinating actually because um I was chatting to someone just recently and I was saying to them that, you know, I 20 odd years of my career has been as a hotelier in hospitality.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually feel like five years with Encore now, I feel like I'm a better hotelier now than I was five years ago when I was working in purely in hospitality.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason being, and you you referenced it perfectly, the client is king, and it doesn't matter what industry you're in, that's always generally going to be the case.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And what I found, and we were uh we were talking to it before we started, you know, most of our clients look to Encore to provide solutions.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: They have a vision for what they want their event, but they don't necessarily know the technical elements that need to be pulled together in order to deliver that.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think where hospitality comes from, it's about making sure that the client is front and center, understand what their requirements are, understand what their needs are, and what is their objective?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: What are they looking to get out of this?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you put that hospitality mindset into whether it's technical events or whatever it might be, that is key.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: You have to understand what they want to try and achieve.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you adapt your services to kind of fit um with that event experience.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the other thing that makes the hospitality piece really interesting, we have as a tendency, uh, technical event companies have a tendency to only think about the technical event company and the agency or the client at the end.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: But there's a really important stakeholder in everything that we do, and that's the attendees of these events.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And when we talk about putting the client first, I think that's a hospitality uh, you know, mindset is what are the people, I think that, you know, we we try we try and put uh a couple of things into the heads of both our SARS people and our clients.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what is the what is the attendee of the event?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: What are they thinking when they come into your event?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And what do you want them to think differently when they leave?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there's the that's the the kind of antithesis of what you're trying to achieve in your event distribution.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that helps us to understand, okay, so what's the journey that the attendee has to take through this event?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where the technical element comes in.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: So client first, and then how do we make that journey as seamless as possible from an education perspective?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the client wants that attendee to be to have the best experience possible.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you guys create that the the look and feel of that.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, working with the the scenic companies, the decor groups um to create the the the the sound and the energy and the and the and the light and everything around that.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: But you work uh in Encore works and well, all technical production uh organizations work within sort of a very complex uh ecosystem.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: So you're navigating between manufacturers and and clients, technology, uh creative agencies that you have to work with and have to work and sort of you know a tethered to at the at the at the waist uh to try to deliver.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: But how do you decide with between what clients um really should be uh engaging in sort of a deeper investment?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: How do you decide on that?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Or how do you advocate for that on deeper investment?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And what collaborations should maybe be kept at more of an arm's length?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question because actually uh you alluded to it before, you know, Encore's uh a complicated uh business or a complicated business model, in so much as there's two elements to it.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have a a venue proposition, so we are in-house in venues, and then we have a production proposition where we can follow the customer wherever they go.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um and what we have a tendency historically to have created is is uh a segued uh customer base.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have a venue customer who is more of a kind of, it's almost service-oriented.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they come into one of our venues, we service their requirements, and then they go to a different venue the next time around.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, often that client might not even know that they've had an encore experience.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: They, you know, their their um liaisons were with the venue or the venue team, and we just kind of delivered the end proposition.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: A venue on the other side, we have a production customer where we have global customers who tour with us and travel with us and will use us wherever they go, whether it's inside one of our venues or not.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the transition that we're trying to make is helping some of our venue customers make a more seamless journey to becoming a strategic partner of ours.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't just experience Encore through a venue partnership.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: They actually understand, well, this Encore can travel with me.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: I can get that consistency that every event manager is looking for is how can I make sure that if I'm doing a roadshow, how can I make sure that my 10, 12, 15 event roadshow is consistently being delivered, irrespective of what country it's taking place, what venue it's taking place in.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what we can try and do is identify who are those customers.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's help that transition into a strategic customer rather than a venue partner and take them on that journey with us.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we need to invest our time.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Who are those companies that have those opportunities that are open to us?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that way we enhance their experience of us and the relationship that we have with them, which then makes you more robust, right?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're kind of you've got a seat at their planning table rather than a seat at the table around delivery.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the that's where our investment comes in.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's where we really need to focus.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: So speaking about investment, your own investment, your own capital, when you are event technology, for example, when you're investing in event technology, event technology is moving faster than budget cycles, procurement cycles.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's hard to keep up from from you've got capability shifts and hypercycles.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: And how do you know when when when you're putting that capital forward, how do you know when it's time to invest in new technology ahead of time, or wait for the technology, you know, with a within a capability shift, to wait for that technology to mature on its own and then purchase or or I yeah, I think that's a it's a great question.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it and it is um uh synonymous with with how the industry is currently.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: We we take a pragmatic approach where that is concerned.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um core doesn't go into the market from a CapEx perspective and buy significant amount of new technology kit.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: But what we will do is we will use uh our trusted kind of preferred partners.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: We will subhire some of that new equipment until we see that it's starting to get embedded.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It is a system that looks like it's going to grow roots and and and stay, and then we go into a kind of capex situation where we will purchase the product.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: We generally are not necessarily gonna go out and buy the latest new equipment hoping that it becomes a trend.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: We will wait to see that the trend is starting to form and then we we buy the capex.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: So a little bit pragmatic where that is concerned.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're not aggressive on on on uh on new technology necessarily.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: This is gonna sound like you're you're in your in in the job interview again.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: What so when you're when you're steering the company, um I guess often saying no to a project or learning to learning to to sort of understand what projects to pursue and which ones to not pursue is margin revenue capacity, the capital um um what do you how do you learn to say no?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean and why do you say no to dirt certain projects?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to say any project, you don't have to to to to do any examples.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um what do you how do you know when to say no to certain projects to do that?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Start by saying with difficulty because my background is commercial, so I'm I'm kind of grounded in saying yes to things and uh and then trying to figure out how it's hard to say no to business.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh however, but there is strategic discipline.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and and actually ironically, uh, you know, Encore have in the past been a little bit guilty of are we actually challenging or going after the right type of business?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the approach has to be about transparency with your teams.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's try and understand what resources do we have, what technical equipment do we have, what capacity do we have as an organization, and then making sure that, you know, our pipeline supports what that capacity looks like and focusing on the area of our business that we think we can do the most amount of good in, you know, from a from a customer's perspective.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll go back to the previous question.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: That is about identifying which are your which are the customers that we should be developing a much more robust relationship with, where we go on a journey with that customer.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I would focus on those customers and delivering their service rather than trying to be all things to all people and take on every RFP or RFQ that comes through through the door.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's try and identify the relationships that we know we can really develop, that we can develop together.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and those are that's really where the focus comes.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how we attempt to kind of prioritize what we go after.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: But like I say, it's a challenge because to your point, it's very difficult to say that's not for us.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, every every dollar right now is is critical.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that that reputation, that identity is really built on technical excellence that your clients know that, you know, uh that sort of underscores your your your existence in everything you've done, um in everything Encore does.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: So when you are developing uh a commercial team and you when you're aligning that that commercial team, how do you get that that team to sort of underscore what made you um you know a draw as a with that technical excellence without changing the imperative, without you know, without changing what you've built on, but still trying to gain new clients with maybe new ideas and this is such a good question because funnily enough, it's very topical right now.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: We have a situation where, and we mentioned it before, we have two elements to our business.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: A venue business and we have a production business.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, 70% of our revenue comes out of our venue business, out on the on the venue side.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we have historically as a business had a culture where we we we refer to something called Bob, so business on the books for our venues.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And the and we have I'm I'm I'm loath to say a passive sales approach because that sounds negative.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: But but the way that the that Encore historically would operate would be to say to our venue teams, wait for the client, the venue client, to provide you with their business on the books, then service that client to the best of your abilities.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we would we've always historically operated.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're making something of a transition as a business.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we're saying, well, actually, that's that's one way to operate.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: But even in the venues, we don't want them to be passive.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: We want them to be proactive.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: We want them, you know, knocking on the meetings and events doors in these venues and saying, hey, who who's who's coming in today?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Who's where are the site visits today?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: How do I?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we're looking to try and educate our teams to be a to to change the culture a little less passive, a little more proactive in terms of how they operate, and then being able to kind of identify, we're gonna go, you know, on the front foot to go after some of this business rather than take the business that is kind of coming to us and try and service it as best we can.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that transition takes a lot of education.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And what we're doing in the business now is transparent communication, training, development, speaking to our people about how we do that.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because the one thing I want to avoid, and it's come up in a few conversations when we start talking about this, where people in the T in the company are saying, we need to be a bit more aggressive as a sales function.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, well, I don't want to be aggressive.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how I want to operate.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's a very fine line between being proactive and then going a little bit too forward on it and and and getting to that point.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to be professionally proactive, make sure that we're we're forward thinking in in communicating the services that we can provide our customers rather than allowing our venue partners to come to us.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a a cultural change that we are currently in the process of of implementing in the business.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: But you're you're an international organization.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are all over the place.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um you are um very, very, obviously very, very strong in the Middle East.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: So where does that where does the global playbook get to make changes for for the Middle Eastern playbook?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, where does where do you get to say, you know, the the projects of scale and the economies of scale um get away from standardization to create a full localization playbook?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, d is it something that's not permitted, but is it something that that happens often here?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, actually we're we're we're very fortunate where that is concerned.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are certainly some elements of restriction in terms of the global playbook, and you have to stick to it.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Largely that's around brand marketing, to be honest, you know, and and and that side.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of your regional strategy or commercial strategy, it's pretty regionalized.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're allowed to kind of to be fairly individual where that is concerned, you know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: We we've pushed hard to make sure that we have a regionalized social media.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So even though there's this fairly strict brand guidelines, we can kind of go a little bit off piste when it comes to social media.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll be aware in this region, social media is so much more influential than it probably is in any other region.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I measure in January and you know, I rented my apartment exclusively from WhatsApp.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't know if there's any other country uh in the world that that that would be the the experience of renting an apartment and it's 99% completed and conducted via WhatsApp.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a kind of transition that we had to make, and we've done that as a business.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: We look more regionally at our at that, you know, social media and our marketing.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: There are some, as I say, there are some general global brand guidelines that we have to stick to, but generally, um, there's the ability for us to be able to pivot and make sure that the strategy that we're adopting fits the culture and and the region that that we're we're working in.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So the the I guess every industry has orthodoxies that have a lot of unanswered questions.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: What is it that you feel about you know this industry, about the live events industry that uh is is slowly being disproven.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh well, well, slowly being um understood well until the markets prove it wrong.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So what what do what do you feel about what do people need to know about the live events industry that that they probably don't understand?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: So what I love about this question is that I think it's unique that the the period of time that we're in now as a live events industry is unique in so much as we have a situation now where there are multiple demographics and generations in our event live event audience, and each of those generations absorbs information in a different way.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: So when we go into the event world, when we go into an event now, you can't have a single way for the attendee to absorb the information that you're putting across.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's an absolute critical element to understand, you know, that perhaps people have to bring their own device and have some kind of learning capacity in bringing their own device, that we need some element of summarized information.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the the younger generation now, they want their information immediate and they want it in short, succinct sections.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: The older ones like me, you know, perhaps want a little bit of data to be able to run through and and and have m more analysis in there.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you the the the there is this kind of sentiment of you know audience engagement, and but that's the orthodox approach.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, it it's so nuanced now that that audience engagement cannot be one-dimensional, has to be multi-dimensional to factor in the kind of audience type and what have you.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the big change.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we have, you know, and that's why people like Encore can add some real value to a customer's um event experience because we can add that consultation.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, who who are you?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: What is the demographic of your attendees?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: What is the message that you're trying to get out?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: And let's make sure that the methodology of communicating that information has the same multidimensional sets of results rather than just okay, the message is this, so we'll put that on a PowerPoint and present it.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: There has to be these other um mechanisms that are put in place in order to deliver it.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: So when you're working with clients, and I know we had this conversation before uh we started filming, working with clients, you you there's there's that sort of that line that I think you know, we we agreed on uh the concept of this that there's there's advocacy and then there's that that the the human touch where it's sort of you you want to be you want to get the overall vision from the client.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, you they create the mood board and you create the architecture behind it to make sure that it's uh it's supporting their their vision and the and their end goal.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: So does that include saying no to some things in meaning that if they don't need something, but they feel that they could, you you're you're there to give that sort of honest advocacy, and your team is there to say, listen, you don't need that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need you, you know, we can we can create less is more sometimes.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think we had this conversation before on the show with with a long time back, but I find it I think it's very interesting, especially when when clients hear that to say, you know, I that that honesty is is is really king and when it comes to the the relationship building.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Really interesting thing.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I I b because my commercial background, I'm I'm I'm heavily involved with a number of our our kind of global corporate clients.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: And to your point, that's the client, ironically, although a lot of people in our position or or or companies in our position don't think that's the case, that that we should be saying no to customers, actually the client wants it.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: The client wants that level of consultation that we go, well, hang on a second.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: You're asking for this, have you considered that?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: You maybe don't need this and you maybe don't need that.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we also talked about before, you know, the technical experts.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a tendency for a technical expert to want to use the premium technical product in terms of delivery.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: But of course, that premium technical product comes at a price.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, the client wants us to be able to say, listen, you don't need that.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: We can maybe dumb that down that technical delivery a little bit.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: You'll still get the same message, you still get the same quality of information that's coming across.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is absolutely imperative.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the then the essence of delivering and and and developing a client relationship that endures, that won't be a one-event relationship.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our ambition as Encore is that every customer we want to be go on a journey with that customer.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to deliver their event.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, I have an interesting conversation with my teams where I say the production team deliver an event, the sales team deliver a series.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, your response, your sales team's responsibility is not the event we're delivering, it's the next one.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: One after that.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the only way to be able to engage in that is to have those types of conversations to be able to really demonstrate value.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we don't need this.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: We can make this different, we get the same set of results, but it doesn't have to cost so much.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need so much technical resources, whatever it might be.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I think, yeah, absolutely, that's that's the utopia.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's uh really, I I think we've covered so much um in terms of Encore's um sort of methodology and the way that it approaches uh clients.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, just to get it was really interesting to hear your hospitality to technical production landscape um journey because I know a lot of hoteliers, and it's really such an incredible discipline that does, as we said at the beginning, translates so well.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I I wish you an amazing 2020 rest of 2026, super 2027.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I know you guys are gonna kill it, and I'm really, really happy that you came today and and joined us.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um welcome again to Dubai.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the salon de company Dubai.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Sean.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Take care.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Here at the backdrop, we work hard to bring you the people, the stories, and the perspectives behind one of the world's most dynamic industries, events.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: So if you enjoy the conversations, like, comment, subscribe, and join in the conversation.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: It all helps us keep the backdrop growing.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for watching.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: The backdrop was recorded live at One Central in Dubai United Arab Emirates.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was hosted by Michael McClennan and produced and edited by Dan Powell.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.