Corporate Events Plus

”the capacity to recover from difficulties”

Interesting conversations this week on site in Barcelona about resilience.

During a large scale build it is important key information is cascaded to all the contractors on site. Location of first aid points, muster point in the case of a building evacuation etc,

The conversation turned to resilience and what we had planned – not a specific line on a quotation in the build up to the project or infact a headline topic of conversation during our pre event production meetings.

However, what was clear was that we had built in resilience within our multitasking team and our own process of documentation during our usual pre event planning.

Maybe ‘resilience’ is another of those industry buzz words.

crew cups of tea – just like home

Sometimes a request is made onsite and the crew go over and above delivering a solution to please.

David from one of our suppliers responded to a request for an adaption of a radio headset to modify it from a two piece ear headset unit to a one piece headset by cutting and swapping plug ends with a hard wired comms system because the wireless system only came with 2 ear headsets, deft handiwork with the soldering iron and a modification from 5 wire to a 3 wire system meant the Producer was able to listen to the show comms and the live reaction of the audience wirelessly during the event.

I can not remember the last time we needed to get the soldering iron out on an event but we had one in the extensive tool kit we carry with us.

We also used some different narrower yellow jacket product to cover a necessary 32 amp 3 phase power cable supply on this wide screen event in Portugal.

Over the last 6 weeks we have been to venues where we are working in 2018. Portugal, Holland, Spain, and Ireland with visits to Antwerp in Belgium and Berlin in Germany for technical meetings with suppliers for those events. Not only do we go to the preferred venue but sometimes visit other potential venues for evening events to be held by our customers or check out venues that could give an interesting dynamic for a future event.

I was really impressed recently with the restoration work completed at the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam, the courtyard ceiling structure with it’s integral LED lighting was stunning.

Attending production meetings in Soho in London I get to walk through town and the Christmas lights in Carnaby street are fun this year

Moiré effect is a visual perception that occurs when viewing a set of lines or dots that is superimposed on another set of lines or dots, where the sets differ in relative size, angle, or spacing.

It is a bit like a shimmering effect.

This is one of those ‘marmite’ moments where the customer might like the effect created by having a double sided cemi see through treatment to a room division or could in fact prefer a crisper single see though option.

The benefit of course in trying this out in advance is that the recordings of images and video can help sign off design aspects of the project without the worry of having to adapt once on site.

During builds on site time is money especially when you are looking at potential runs of 10’s of meters of material, we simply do not have the time on site to ‘play’ with the look and feel.

Putting the effort in now – 4 months in advance of the project build we are gladly planning ahead.

We also found that with our chosen material for the preferred density of see through properties that once lit creases in the printed material were very prominent where the material had been rolled back up for transportation. We tested a steam iron which removed the creases. The scale we will be using the product with in February next year is vast so we will need to ensure we have some industrial sized steamers to deliver the finished surface we want on site.

At the end of a project a sigh of relief for some but for others this is a very important part of their role on site. Drivers are responsible for safe loading sometimes with the use of fork lift trucks and the careful securing of assets particularly if they are to be used again.

We have also been using our own transport at Sandown Park

Phew – sat in the office tidying up the post event paperwork for the last few back to back events. Work in Cologne Germany, Barcelona Spain and Esher in Surrey has seen us on site at the Coalface for the last 2 months. Delivering Exhibition booth builds and live event management for Envy Create, Ivory Worldwide and Unum. Meetings for future work in the diary for confined projects next year – This afternoons task is to get the 2018 Wall planner up to date, work already booked in for 7 months next year and a project for 2019 already – this is quite unusual at this time of the year but does mean we are able to invest and plan our time more effectively I am not complaining.

This month we have been working on our outdoor event work, offering the ability to prepare the overlay of outdoor events with the purchase of some new equipment for preparing event car parking & access to out door events.

ENTRY/EXIT – CAR PARKS/VEHICLES

Arrange separate vehicle and pedestrian entrances/exits to the site.

Arrange entrance queues so they do not obstruct vehicle access or road junctions.

Make sure the entrance/exits are suitable for prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Ensure the entrance/exits are appropriately signed.

Make sure the entrance is well stewarded and an accurate form of counting used to prevent over crowding.

Outdoors, provide at least two pedestrian exits from the site.

Exits should be not less than 1.2m in clear width, spaced well apart around the site and clearly signposted. The exits must be kept free from obstructions and well lit if the event is likely to last after dusk.

Keep car parking well away from the pedestrian areas of the site. The parking area should be clearly signposted and do not permit vehicles to park anywhere else.

Provide stewards (with torches if necessary) for the car parking areas.

If the area to be used for car parking is a field or similar, ensure the grass/hay/straw is cut and removed the day before the event.

Except for emergency purposes, ensure no vehicle movement in the public areas of the site during the event or as the public are leaving.

Parking areas (As advised by the Health and Safety Executive)

• be clearly signposted;
• be firm;
• be level;
• be well drained;
• not be slippery;
• be well lit (if possible); and
• be as close as possible to where people need to go when they leave their vehicles (for example, refreshment facilities for visiting drivers).

Over the course of a year alot can happen,

Items put into storage can be miss placed, broken without being informed or damaged by accident – on checking the inventory list for a repeat project I found the Welcome desk that left site carefully wrapped last year to be looking decidedly second hand!

The first touch point for the customer is so important when arriving at an event

We have 2 weeks to make a new one – much better to find out now than in 2 weeks time – it is all too easy to trust to luck but always worth crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s to maintain the standards we work to.

Who would have thought in the depths of a basement in the heart of London you could create a 30m tunnel with flush fit multiple display screens, telling a story along a journey to a technology expo area after being given a glimpse into the future of IT by a leading guru using a 50 monitor video wall to tell his story during a plenary session.

Technically Directing the process of a design and fit out vision for Alive Communications we brought the design of Paul Bonomini to life. A difficult project to say the least but rewarding to have successfully delivered the project.

Before we know it we will start to work on our summer projects, this year has been a particularly busy year.

In today’s digital age the importance of face-to-face communication for Production Meetings seems to be fading, With the trend of many team members working remotely from home offices it is possible to send an entire day without actually interacting with people. People rely heavily on the convenience of emails, text messages, and social media.

Is face-to-face communication being left behind?

The Digital Dilemma

Miscommunication is one of the major causes of inefficiency and work-place conflicts. Many of these issues can be attributed to digital communications and the various ways they can be interpreted.

I came across this quote recently;

“When we assume that other people know what we’re thinking, and what we are expecting of them, we do them a real disservice. Assuming that we’ve been clear about what we wanted, we blame them when things don’t go as planned.” – Heidi Grant Halvorson, Forbes.

Of course nothing is failsafe, it is still possible to miss interpret something even in a face to face meeting

However there are Face-to-Face Advantages

Non-Verbal Cues

You can gauge how interested someone is in what you are talking about by reading their body language. I already employ this notion in video conference calls by always using my camera option on the computer to encourage others to engage visually.

If you are in a meeting and your colleagues are fiddling with their pens, or checking their watches, you know that you have to:

• adjust the tone of  your voice or
• use more exciting language to capture their attention.

Likewise, if colleagues and partners are actively nodding their heads and smiling, it is clear that they are engaged with you and your message.

Effectiveness

Face-to-face communication and in-person meetings can boost efficiency. Instead of spending an entire day e-mailing back and forth, you can include multiple elements of a project in one meeting instead of multiple emails.

There is a real benefit to ‘brainstorming’ together to solve problems on a project and solutions can be agreed quickly.

Recently we have been making face to face project meetings for heads of departments a priority – we have all been wondering why we let face to face communication slip.