ASCEND GLOBAL MEDIA– OPERATIONS TEAM
In 2019, the operations team had a year to remember. It delivered the company’s largest event of the year, project-managed a new registration CRM and WinTechSeries app, and introduced Professional Matchmaking at events.
But in everything the team did, it succeeded. Its commitment to excellence and constant improvement was plain to see in the exceptional on-site experiences that it delivered, its diligent and effective management of sponsors, exhibitors and budgets, and the huge success of the WinTechSeries app in particular.
The team also ensured that the first ever ‘AfterParty’ was a hit with attendees to the WinTech series, and negotiated effectively with suppliers throughout the year in order to bring down costs while bringing up quality. The team’s success came about not just because of its conscientious approach, but because of the genuine pride its members take in the work they do every day.
BANKS SADLER – IBM EVENTS TEAM
The Banks Sadler IBM Events Team run a wide variety of demanding events across the year, from c-suite level conferences, tech focused educational events through to incentives. In 2019, the team delivered 15 events for IBM, ranging in size from 10 – 2,000, taking the team across the globe, from Bali to Milan, India to Melbourne. Due to the nature of IBM’s business, the events can be significantly challenging, involve substantial levels of security and require the team to engage with high-level leadership on a continual basis.
CAMPDEN WEALTH – EVENTS TEAM
Campden Wealth run events for ultra-high-net-worth individuals whose family businesses have a minimum annual wealth of £100M+. Due to the nature of the community, the team work to ensure a high quality level of service is delivered across Campden’s events.
The team have collaboratively run over 20 events in the last year in 6 different countries (England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi). The operations team saved 63% of an event budget in London from November 2019. The most successful launch event due to cost savings, Saudi Arabia Family Enterprise Initiative (SAFE 2020), managed to get the Venue and all AV (including LED wall and stage and operations) free of charge through strong negotiations.
The team work towards creating a more sustainable, seamless experience and maintain personable, long-lasting relationships meanwhile utilising technology to keep events exciting and refreshed within this sector.
DRPG – LIVE
Known for creating inspiring and award-winning events, from conferences and roadshows through to product launches, exhibitions, venue sourcing and incentives trips. DRPG’s dedicated in-house operations team use the latest technology and DRPG’s purpose-built production facilities to deliver outstanding events every year. Collaborative in our approach, our team provide the best solutions for our clients to creatively connect with audiences, create engaging experiences and lasting impact that truly deliver against objectives and beyond.
ENGAGE BUSINESS MEDIA – MARKETING AND EDITORIAL TEAM – OPERATIONS
Despite being described as a ‘boutique’ events company (which is a polite way of saying ‘small’), the operations team at Engage Business Media continually punches well above its weight-class to deliver ten high-quality events each year which our delegates agree are a cut above those offered by much larger events companies. With just six members of the operations and logistics team, the ground-breaking events delivered demonstrate the excellence, organisation and efficiency of the team. Our achievements include growing our portfolio of events from 2 conferences and 5 small forum meetings in 2015 collectively welcoming 800 delegates to 10 events collectively welcoming 5,600 delegates in 2020, with average delegate satisfaction scores of 90%. We have also seen turnover increase by 279% since 2015, with a YOY growth of 61.8%. So, if EBM is David and the large corporate events companies are Goliaths, then we can rightly call ourselves ‘giant killers’. As well as delivering a best-in-class service, we are also doing this with a tenth of the budget and a team of just six individuals.
HGA – EVENTS
Manchester-based Events Agency HGA have been delivering the UK’s best events for more than 30 years. With outstanding in-house skills and technical resources, their passionate team of Event Producers, AV Technicians, Digital Developers, Designers and Video Producers all work together under one roof. This year they celebrated their milestone 30th birthday and 55% growth with more new clients than ever before.
A prime example of this dedicated teamwork in action is the epic eight-day conference and product launch they produced for chemical giant, BASF. With over 1,000 pieces of kit including a full-scale working barn, two tractors and an 80ft, 3-tonne, curved LED screen this was an ambitious event that had a big impact on delegates. An immersive conference full of engaging content, we had elaborate sets and creative breakout spaces tied into the chemical and farming themes, one of which was even rigged with indoor rain special effects. HGA also built a bespoke cocktail making app as part of the evening entertainment to wow guests with the chance to craft and taste their own creations.
The creative thinking, and imaginative engineering HGA created a living, breathing event that has since been rolled out across the whole of Europe.
PAGEANT MEDIA – OPERATIONS TEAM
As the team is split over two locations, strong communication is key. We use Slack and weekly video conferences to bring everyone together to discuss live issues and share new ideas. We split larger projects into elements for multiple team members to work on in order to give them exposure to different types of work, meaning that more junior coordinators get first hand experience of managing complex events early in their careers. The team are also targeted on attending each other’s events to build their onsite experience and learn best practice.
Earlier this year, we identified and introduced ten key competencies to provide clear progression paths for all the team, and we operate bi-annual reviews with clear objective setting to help keep things on track. Individual team members are also given the flexibility to focus on areas that are of interest to them – we have two event managers who specialise in venue sourcing, and three who are becoming experts in sustainability.
SLEEK EVENTS
Sleek Events is unique in the way the business has grown purely by word of mouth and referrals. It is our relationships with clients and excellent reputation in the industry that has enabled Sleek Events’ development and growth. Recently, we were named as #19 on the 2019 Virgin Atlantic Sunday Times Fast Track 100 as one of Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales, as well as being named in M&IT’s 20 event agencies to watch out for in 2020.
WILMINGTON HEALTHCARE – HSJ EVENTS AND EDUCATION
The event operations team understand the importance of continuous improvements and saw tangible results in 2019 events. Embracing change, viewing this as an opportunity to grow and improve both individually and at event level. They are mindful of the effects events have on the planet creating a sustainability policy that has impacted positively how they deliver their events. Their negotiation, organisation and budget management are skills that they demonstrate daily. The team ethos is keeping the customer at the heart of all decisions made to ensure that they deliver relevant, engaging events for all our customers, which was achieved in 2019.
