Events are complex entities that require a varied team to pull together and work towards a common goal.  I love that motivation and that level of team work - there can be no shirking, the timeline is flexible but the deadline is not.  However, you can’t do it all yourself so who can you befriend to help you succeed.

Getting to know your suppliers and working with them regularly can help you enormously. We’ve all been at an event and in need of some extra support. It may be that the client has requested a new meeting and needs an extra space to hold this, or it may be that you are shipping in an extra product and it absolutely has to arrive on time.  This is where you need to know who your friends are and who will go the extra mile to work with you.  It’s not about the companies that you’ve spent lots of money with, it’s about the people who care enough to listen and help you think outside the box.In my experience the best people for many situations are the practical, hands-on people and shippers are amongst the best.  I’ve worked with some for many many years and even though I now ship most of my equipment with different suppliers due to client requirements I  know that I can call many members of the team and they will at the very least, listen to my issue and offer some advice.  All of this, even if they won’t make a profit from the solution.  It’s this level of customer service that I value highly as it’s the level of service that I aim to give to my clients.AV teams are more of my favourite people onsite.  From making great travelling companions, to being great eyes and ears onsite and not to forget that they’re practical people who can explain technology clearly to onsite suppliers they have been invaluable.I could continue this role call but the basic premise is get to know your suppliers well.  They can get you out of many a hole and make events so much more fun.  So it’s back to that old adage - it’s who you know, not what you know. 

What is collaboration? To many it is working together with another company but is that collaboration or is it outsourcing?  When I’ve asked questions and commented on Linkedin it seems to me that most people just see collaboration as working with someone else irrespective of the payments.  I disagree - to be a real collaboration you need to pool ideas and share responsibility for a project.  It’s only when you can work at that level that real collaboration and great innovation happens.

Over the past few years I’ve dabbled at collaboration - I love the concept but have found that you need to identify the people you work with carefully and also know your own expectations and limitations.

The process of looking for collaborators is a great way to expand your network and get closer to like-minded people but do know what you want to get out of it or you could end up with lots of great meetings but little actual benefit.  By benefit I mean tangible opportunities.

I recently employed Kate of Passionate PA to cover a job for me - I was busy on another project and whilst I could manage the client and plan the event I couldn’t actually get out to the event. Kate  went out to Amsterdam on my behalf and managed the onsite logistics for me. Meanwhile, I handled a small event for her whilst she was in Amsterdam. It worked really well and we both got something out of it but I wouldn’t say it’s collaboration.  Our relationship was about networking, getting to know someone personally and outsourcing to our mutual benefit.

Collaboration is about working together towards a common goal. A group of colleagues from Business Xchange have got together to launch an online magazine called Whatify.  This is true collaboration - they’ve sat down, created the project, allocated roles and work together on a future that works of all of them.

So what do you need to collaborate?  Personally I think you need to be able to think outside the box, to be able to work slightly outside your comfort zone, and above all to know yourself and your limits. It’s a sharing of time, responsibility and profit.  It won’t suit everyone and you need to look carefully at the people you are thinking of collaborating with and go into it with an open mind.  It can create amazing things but it is a bit like a partnership so do go into it with your eyes open.

I haven’t found a project that I have time and ongoing motivation to join yet but I’m out there looking as I really do think that for small businesses it’s a great way to open your mind and your working life to new opportunities.

I’ve recently renewed my liability and indemnity insurance and once again the whole process filled me with horror.  It takes up a huge amount of time to fill in the forms (and I usually love forms!), then you have to estimate future turnover in an incredibly unstable market and what’s more guess how likely it is that someone will sue you and for how much.  All this, just because we’ve become an over cautious and legal-led society.

A large part of my role is based on doing things right - why take on a job for a client if you can’t do it properly?  I instinctively follow the rules and make sure that I comply but there is something about the insurance I have to take out that just leaves me cold.  As the owner of a small event management company with staff I had to spend an inordinate amount of time making sure that staff were taking acceptable risks and still I was responsible for their actions.

As such I had to develop company policies and procedures that would ensure that we did the best job we could whilst fitting into current Health & Safety law.  We started off by training all staff on Heath & Safety and drawing up Risk assessments.  We then created templates for all the essential forms and sat down and went through them so that they became an automatic easy part of the job and not an onerous chore.

Key to this was opening everyone’s eyes to the potential risk - what realistically might happen and what could we do to prevent it.  We had to consider the current laws relating to electricity in each relevant country and how we needed to apply them to our event?  Is there a better way to position the chairs so that we can maintain good access and yet get the maximum number of attendees in the room.

I no longer have staff and that brings both freedom and more challenges.  I always ask freelancers what insurance they have and make sure that they’re able to interpret my processes. These things take time and I still dislike that fact that society has gone that way but at least I know a lot more about the risks and can feel secure that my client’s needs are covered at each event.  

I have spent many years of my working life travelling from city to city to manage events.  Many of my friends and colleagues think it’s hugely exciting - what  pity it is to shatter their ideas but travelling can get solitary and boring.

So, is a job that involves travelling, glamourous or onerous?  I personally think it is down to your attitude and the small moments of local culture that you can grab.  

I’ve been to events where I’ve been to a city for 36 hours and only seen the airport, and the hotel conference facilities.  Luckily I had some great people around me so we did have a good time as we built up, hosted and tore down that event.

Another time we went to Milan I made the effort to walk from my hotel to the venue - a chilly one mile of real life and stunning architecture.  Even better our local man took us out for the most exquisite dinner one evening and I experienced the very best of Italian food. I may have had to deal with explosive Italian characters all day but this sure made up for it.

So each event is different but it’s the few hours of eating that are often the joy.  Take time to find a local or to research in advance and try new foods.  I’ve recently started to really push my taste buds and deliberately choose food I wouldn’t normally eat - I’m not talking sheeps eye balls here - still not going to go that far into local culture.

Take joy in the people and the moments and make the most of your time - travelling may not become glamourous, the hotel rooms may all still look the same but at least you can come home richer in experiences.

Many office based people spend hours sitting behind a desk and so events can be a shock to the system.  They go from 8 hours of sitting down interspersed with trips to meetings and visit colleagues to 8 hours of being on your feet, having little food or water and quite a bit of stress.  No wonder your staff hate exhibitions and events!

As an in-house marketing manager I could have only 3 events a year.  The rest of the time was spent at my desk.  So I went from a relatively sedentary life to one where I was on my feet all day everyday walking, lifting, unpacking and generally using muscles that had been hiding for the past 4 months.  Thankfully I kept myself quite fit and so it wasn’t too difficult but in later years I did have staff who would put a back out or just get so stressed by events that afterwards they would need considerable time off.

I’ve since made sure that I’m always event-fit and that my staff are aware of the physical challenges.  Even if you’re not doing any manual labour, the sheer stress and pressure of the environment can take it’s toll.

You may not be able to keep up the New Year fitness campaign up all year so do make sure that you do the following:
• wear comfortable shoes, preferably take two pairs.  One set to walk to the event and one set to wear there.
• when at the event keep a bottle of water handy and keep drinking.  It’s amazing how much better you feel when you’re hydrated.
• the after event parties are great but if you have to go back for a second day they can be exhausting.  I love a good party but do keep it in perspective - you’re there to work the exhibition stand and the after event socialising is an added bonus.

One last thing - don’t forget to smile, all the time.  You may be exhausted at the end of a long day but the visitor who’s just walked up still wants to be treated the same as the first one you saw.

It occurred to me recently that being a traveller and an event manager requires a certain amount of detective work.  It's a part of the job that I love - finding solutions to difficult or complex questions. From arriving at a strange airport and trying to work out how to buy a train ticket to finding a specific screwdriver in France on a Sunday - travelling and events give you lots of opportunity to play the detective.

Travelling abroad is something many of us do regularly and yet to get the most out of it I think you need to go beyond the standard Hilton Hotels and the oh, so easy taxi rank.  To use both of these is just to point and press but not to experience.  I urge you to try public transport and look about you as you travel.  It may take more time (but often takes less) but it will not only challenge you in many ways but also give you a new view of a different city.

I'm just back from Photokina in Cologne, Germany and once again I went for the public transport option.  First of all I have to work out what the very trendy but slightly obscure signs mean to find the right direction for the trains.  Then I do have rather a long walk to the end of my terminal and a 3 floor descent to the train station (but don't let any of that put you off!)

I then get to the ticket machine - the deserted ticket machine in an empty hall.  Now unlike many English ticket machines (indeed most English machines) these ones do have a wide range of languages available so providing I can find out how to select English I have an advantage over travellers in the UK.  I use my pigeon German to start the process but am immediately stumped by a system that asks me if I want VRS or DB.  The DB selection asks me if I want to go to Dusseldorf or some other city but doesn't give me the chance to put in the station I need.  OK, back track, let's try VRS.  Hurrah, I can do a station search here and I've selected my ticket. I even get to help another English person select their ticket without the long-winded route I took.  So I'm on the train and getting my next insight into Cologne.  The trains run on time, they're clean and I get some peaceful time to contemplate the job ahead whilst taking in the countryside and the people in the train with me.

Maybe it's something common to event managers or maybe just me but I love a challenge.  Simple as this was I was able to use logic, reasoning and communication to find solutions and give myself a treat at the same time.  So get out of your taxi bubble and come and see the real world.

There’s been an interesting discussion on Linkedin recently.  It focuses on why Event Managers still carry around large ring-binders of information when technology is clearly available to remove that need.  What’s interesting is the passion and firm convictions that the discussion has thrown up - it’s clearly an emotive issue.

Technology has jumped through so many hoops over the years, speeding us into places we couldn’t have explained 20 years ago.  It makes me sound ancient (I like to think experienced!) but I’ve been organising events since the days of having to find a payphone to chase a supplier or ask strangers for local information.  Somedays it’s incredible to imagine that we could organise events without having to resort to having maps, Google or emails in the palm of our hands.  I never even had a laptop or mobile with me until I formed my own company in 1997.  Nowadays it seems incredible but events did go ahead and there were successful.  I’m not sure if I was more organised with nothing was left to chance or whether I relied more heavily on my suppliers and associates in different countries.  I always knew that their knowledge could supplement mine in times of emergencies.  

In some ways the advent of all this technology has meant that we’re always multi-tasking, we’re expected to work on the next event, whilst setting up the one you’re at.  Yes, we’re gaining new skills but I do believe that it is to the detriment of other elements - how much time do we really have now to sit down and look at a project holistically? I mean to really sit down and calmly and quietly go through the options without distraction.  We’re so overloaded with information that sometimes it’s easier to react than to plan and without good, robust, well thought out plans our events will be much worse off.

Event Management must evolve to take this into account, the next generation of staff won’t be worse or better at their jobs.  They’ll just work in a different way.  As youngsters they’ve grown up handling multiple and constant information streams, so maybe they’ll also evolve to compartmentalise the information better and pull out relevant strands when they need them.  Maybe this means that they’ll be able to manage without paper backups and use their technology to it’s best effect.  

I’m a huge believer in technology but I resent what I have to do to manage it onsite.  I know I must charge my phone and laptop everynight, I have to monitor what applications are running in the background so they don’t suck the power when I most need it.  I have to pack my bags carefully to make sure that I have all the chargers/cables and adaptors that I might need.I’d happily do away with the paper binder but maybe not until there is a true internet cloud and show organisers can guarantee getting the electricity hooked up when I order it!

Earlier this year I visited a tradeshow in London and found it quite a sad experience.  The organisers had obviously struggled to sell the space and had brought in some companies that had paid the money but obviously didn’t really care or understand the tradeshow.  Many exhibitors seem to be questioning whether they’ll attend next year but whose responsibility is it to get the audience?

Over the years I’ve heard many exhibitors complain about the cost of exhibiting and how the show organisers are just not delivering the right quality of visitor but are they right in doing so?

I would always dispute that exhibitions are expensive. They can be but it’s all about working out why you want to be there and what you want to get out of it - then matching your expectations to your budget.  But that’s a whole new blog.  

For now I want to look at the role of show organisers to bring in the visitors.  Yes, show organisers have a marketing budget. Yes, they have some responsibility to get visitor numbers – they certainly have the incentive but do you really think that once you sign on the dotted line you just need to get the stand and staff there?  

Even if a show organiser has done a tremendous job of getting visitors to the exhibition, you as an exhibitor need to make sure that your clients and prospects know where you are within the show and have a reason to visit you.

I would always encourage clients to have a pre-show campaign – it can be a simple banner or link on your website or a signature on your emails.  Hey, why not do that anyway and then think of more targeted elements? What are you showing at the exhibition?  Is it new and exciting?  Why should people come visit you?  Create a call to action then add it to your newsletter or make a specific email campaign.  

Again it all comes back to why you’re there – if it’s a branding and PR exercise with existing clients and prospects then get your sales people to call their contacts and make appointments to show them the latest and greatest offerings.  If you’re exhibiting to meet new prospects then work with your whole team to decide how you’re going to handle passers-by.  Who’s good at walking up to strangers and engaging them?  Who’s best at evaluating whether the person is a worthwhile lead?  How do you deal with time-wasters?  If you have a strategy and use it effectively then you will make the most of your investment and really get the quality leads you need.

Lastly, why not work with the organisers on joint marketing campaigns?  Like you they’re interested in making the most of their investment and want to engage with new visitors.  What can you do together to target new and existing audiences?  Can you encourage them to use social media to extend their reach?  If they’re already using Twitter, what stories can you feed them?  Can you work together to come up with new ways to engage the visitors on the show floor?

So take a step back and look at the exhibition objectively – work out what you want to get out of the event and then get your sales and marketing teams working on how to pull those visitors in.