Corporate Events Plus

4 projects this month looking into work for later this year and in the first quarter next year. One thing I am finding is the difference between supplier costs. We all used to have a rate card in the head and know what services and hired equipment cost. Now though you really do have to get quotes to be sure you are keeping a budget aligned.

Good to see that some venues have had a spruce up in recent years. The London Metropole has some particularly eye catching carpet now.

Always beneficial to have face to face meetings and I enjoyed meeting a new group of people in London this week.

A good year of business and some interesting work to fondly look back on.

We started with a derig of exhibition work in Madrid, packing for travel and storage – very hot working conditions both inside and outside of the venue.

Then work preparing and installing an Exhibition for 5 weeks in Vienna during January which was minus 12 degrees C.

Then building a booth in Barcelona our 3rd European location for work before completing 2 projects in London and to round off the financial year we are now looking at costing projects for the first 3 months in 2025.

A project this month in London at The Tate Museum saw us working with water.

How effective – 80cm of water can be if you use a black pond liner and black vegetable based die to give the water a look of infinity depth.

But – it can be challenging working with water – double check any seams – double liner the area – have a robust plan to clear up any spillages or to cope with leaks.

This water feature definitely created another dimension to a floating catwalk.

Before we knew it – we had derigged and it was as if we had never been

One of the interesting bennefits of working in this industry is that we often get to work in re purposed buildings when previously used structures or buildings are tuned into event spaces

This month we have completed work at Protien Studios in Shoreditch London at the former Bristol car manufacturer building and been on recce’s to the Tate Tanks at the Tate Gallery, the Tanks being the oil storage area for the previous power station.

The Tanks

In over 25 years we have had such a great relationship with our clients and not only been rewarded with great work ,we have been paid for our work.

But when you are spending month after month chasing some finance department in a company in another country to pay for work agreed you can see why people spend alot of time on arranging contracts before turning a wheel. In live events there is a deadline – things need to happen and often quickly.

A note to self, do not take requests at face value have faith in your experience and look at the warning signs. Leave projects when your gut tells you to, do not stay engaged with a project just because it is a big brand name and those in charge are spinning a hopeful yarn.

On a positive note, there are discussions in the pipeline for another project we successfully completed and were paid for at Mobile World Congress. We are looking forward to seeing the new design for Barcelona 2025.

What a start to the year January into February the completion of the F1 Exhibition into Vienna and then straight onto Mobile World Congress in Barcelona working for HPE from February into March. So great to work with familiar faces again and back in Europe. Time for a good rest and a recharge of the batteries before heading onto the next adventure

We have just completed the Technical build of the F1 Exhibition in Vienna – on site for the whole of January and into February good communication on site with 4pm Heads of departments meetings part of the success. Sometimes there is no substitute for many hands to make light work when large scenery plinths need to be positioned.

1st day of the month and we are on our way to Austria

I am really looking forward to the next 5 weeks on site delivering the Exhibition build for F1 Exhibition Vienna. This is the second country the Exhibition is visiting until the summer when it moves onto the next location

Winter clothing packed – gloves, hats and a smile

Great to step off the work hamster wheel for the festive break – some quiet time to focus on the forthcoming projects abroad without the distraction of zoom, Google chat, slack huddles and the like.

Interesting, I have been to 2 meetings with clients and suppliers recently where we have been physically drawing alterations on a plan when we have been gathered around a table face to face.

In this busy world of back to back conference calls to be able to meet in person occasionally brings a slight relief to the toil of Zoom, Teams, Skype and Google Meet meetings.

Next month we start a build in Vienna – I had better pack a proper coat – it is forecast to be minus 6 in Austria, that will set the teeth chattering!