It has as they say ‘Been a funny old year’ with some of the most challenging issues the events industry has ever experienced.
In February we had our usual stand at Confex, for the first time it was held at EXCEL in London’s docklands. Little did we know that literally 3 weeks later it was to become the Nightingale Hospital.
Sadly, but for obvious reasons, the two other shows we normally attend, CHS in Leeds and Birmingham, and Venues and Events Live in Old Billingsgate were postponed.
We hope to be back at them all and say ‘HI’ to friends old and new at all these as soon as it’s safe.
On other fronts, we’ve not rested on our laurels, in fact, quite the opposite. Not least because we re-launched the website completely rebuilt from the ground up with lots of new features.
Since we started, it’s the third generation of the site, carefully researching with clients and considering how we can make a good thing even better.
We’ve added not only more talent but added features as to finding the perfect speaker, host or entertainer for your event.
We’re delighted to welcome new people such as the fabulously motivating Kriss Akabusi MBE, rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward, former digital minister Ed Vaizey, the wonderful Louis Theroux and Olympic cycling legend Chris Boardman MBE to name a few.
After the initial postponing or cancelling of many events in March we quickly saw clients adapt.
They fell into a few different groups:
Clients who already had experience of online events such as those who used our Remotely Speaking service immediately defaulted to virtual and hybrid event formats.
In fact, more recently we were able to help a number of clients celebrate Christmas virtually with online Christmas Parties such as the ultimate pub quiz with pub landlord Al Murray..
Then, some postponed until the Autumn thinking that all would be back to normal, we soon discovered this unfortunately proved over optimistic. They then reviewed the situation late summer and re-formatted their events to virtual but keeping their dates.
Thirdly, we had clients who were nervous of creating an online event. Event those have now realised they could no longer hold back and have committed to a virtual online format. Ironically, with many of their customers and staff working from home it’s all the more important to communicate clearly and effectively with a first rate motivational speaker and keep all their stakeholders inspired.
To that end, the fabulous Blaire Palmer offered some great tips and talks on working from home with kids and as a single parent working from home she should know!
Plus our co-director Jane Farnham made an appearance on the 414-Marketing podcast to discuss everything you may wish to know about becoming and/or booking a public speaker.
And of course, Great British Speakers has two companion sites, Great British Voices and Great British Presenters jam-packed with talent from the corporate and broadcast world available to add value to your project.