Corporate Events Plus

What a busy March and farewell to another European crew after projects in Barcelona.

Projects small or large can follow the same path for successful delivery.

A key factor I believe is a tidy working environment, larger projects often involve more suppliers on site. All suppliers have their own agenda – working practice – contentment in their own mess, however, I look at the project overall and I believe productivity is improved by trying to create a clear working space so the next supplier to arrive can ‘hit the ground running’

This year in Barcelona, I have employed a cleaner for 2 hours at the end of the working day after the suppliers have gone home so that the site is additionally cleaned to be free from clutter. This extends to meeting tables – washing up cups and mugs – not leaving debris.

It is a much better environment to arrive at the following day for work especially at the beginning of a 12 hour day. If we were working in a conference room we would not dream of using a bench circular saw without a covering on the floor or a dust collector or cleaning up afterwards. By bringing the same tidy thought process into the exhibition environment I am hoping to keep a safer working environment too.

These are images of our current work site after the working day, we have 6 suppliers on site with up to 50 tradesmen on the booth during the day.

This month has been a tough month for me personally, unfortunately my mother after a short illness with Cancer slipped away in my arms just after Christmas. Not only have I had the benefit of a strong family and friends this tragedy has also brought to the fore the importance of having a strong, understanding and committed team at work.

Reflecting on the last few weeks where we have been busy with pre production and meetings for projects in February and later in the year, I have been able to take great comfort from knowing I could lean on my colleagues and valued suppliers for support to help carry me through what has been a very difficult time.

One man does not make a team – never truer words said

Moving equipment and scenery requires reliable transport, I know it has taken 17 years but after hiring vans and using transport company’s we have decided to invest in our own bespoke tailor made van, twin side loading doors for ease of kerbside loading a special order and a 13amp socket for keeping the laptop fully charged while on the move installed too

Customers will see us coming that is for sure with our choice of bright red livery for the van.

Trips to Barcelona and Berlin to progress projects for the new year with tests for backlighting brand colours confirmed. A good year this year – a variety of projects in many different sectors completed with customer satisfaction too. The shift of projects towards Exhibition services this year has continued – it appears to be a consistent market for us now.

Made of MDF, are you sure?

I love going to see suppliers to discuss project requirements face to face, in this busy world of the faceless email I do not think you can put a price on going and seeing for yourself how companies are continuing to trade.

Are the same staff in place, is the workshop tidy, has the supplier invested in new technology to benefit a saving of time or an ability to add additional value to the project.

Visiting a long-standing supplier in Barcelona I was pleased and amazed at the investment of a 3D CNC machine and the fact that they were reproducing a wooden replica tram for a European manufacture for exhibiting at future Transport Exhibitions. The compound curves were impressive and with each door being manufactured in 6 hours the machinery was giving a time saving of 4 man days per door.

During an exhibition this month we did tests before going on site to see how much impact there would be in using actual vegetables to attract the eye to explain how just because something does not look uniform it does not mean that the vegetables are not tasty. During the exhibition the display attracted alot of interest so it worked. A proffessional artist helped to bring the design to reality.

One thing we did realise was by making the shelf sections not so deep we would use less produce and therfore reduce wastage.

Busy month of pre-production on a project for a worldwide set of 60 exhibitors across 2 days for an event in London next month. Planning venue access for suppliers and exhibitors along with Health and Safety compilation to satisfy our own and the venue requirements for food demonstrations and innovative technology displays to be used in the catering trade.

The Exhibition world is such a varied place to work, Automotive, Gaming, Retail and now Catering some market segments we have been managing this year. What is common to all of these sectors is the fact that exhibiting is still seen as a key tool of engaging with potential customers face to face. We are seeing a real lean towards company’s openly exhibiting as opposed to just Conferencing.

What a benefit that was, a larger than life set of scaled drawings for the build, I don’t think I have ever worked with a larger scaled plan, however, what a difference that made on site. Clear to read and a good way of orientating one’s self when arriving new on site. Especially when creating tens of meeting rooms with individual requirements that impact furniture, audio visual and developer crews.

Another Gamescom event done and dusted, this year the Business Centre was a much quieter environment away from the cut and thrust of the gaming halls with the loud music stages and trailer clips of games to come or up dates to games being displayed.

A worthwhile tip to save costly on site storage costs if you already have transportation waiting for the return journey, design your exhibition crates so they can easily be deconstructed and stored back on the trailer, here are some before and after crate images.

This project in July and August definitely fills an otherwise low spot in the events calendar. Thousands of gamers make for Cologne in Germany for this annual event. This year instead of being in the cut and thrust of the main gaming halls with all the noise and hub hub we are production managing in a different hall creating meeting space in the Business area. Good news this week, we have 2 further projects confirmed for next year in financial and retail sectors – a far more promising future order book outlook than past years at this time of year.

A couple of all nighters this week just before we wind down for our annual leave. Production Managing the installation of a pop up drinks promotion experience working through the night not to disturb the offices of Finsbury Av Square in the City of London. Precision lifting over statues and avoiding trees and overhanging glass canopy’s, the pin point accuracy of the lifting operator had to be admired.