Corporate Events Plus

September has been a very busy month of pre production and site visits in Barcelona and London.

It has been really beneficial meeting in an office once a week, there is only so much you tend to take in or engage with on a ‘teams’ call or a ‘google’ chat meeting.

Face to face meetings to collaborate really work. Quick updates by the coffee machine or in the lift enable moments on your mind to be caught and discussed.

Of course it means an early start some mornings, joining the commuters and through the summer it has been quite pleasant, as a team we have even been able to share lunch by the thames in London.

Jury service

What an interruption to business and a loss of earnings.

But, in our society a necessary task that we all need to be part of.

2 weeks of disruption working for the Crown Court to judge as part of a team the actions of someone who should have known better. One persons actions affecting 12 juerers and those who they have done wrong to.

In our work we get to see so many different types of business’ – the time wasted in court by witness’ not turning up or evidence being gathered and scrutinised can have you sitting on the sidelines waiting for the completion of your task. If I kept clients waiting that long we would not be in business!

Now the public service has been completed we can get back to the day job and plan for those future events – next stop is Cambridge , then London, then Barcelona for meetings.

It is much better being in your own environment – I am not sure I would like to work in a court full time – that would be a different type of strain for sure.

But with fear and some dread.

If it is still working why replace it?

Why risk changing something that works perfectly well?

Historically I keep my laptops for afew years – passwords, documents, photos and contacts all precious to enable me to do my job on the machine and backed up on a hard drive but when changing the laptop you know there is some effort involved.

There never is a great time to do this – we are busy on events all year round – the laptop is the tool of choice for video calls, storing information and researching for projects, it’s so valuable to my performance at work.

Looking at the shelf in the corner of the office I can see I have faith in Apple Mac – the product just works – interfaces with printers well, infact the transfer of information between phone and laptop and desk top is seamless.

Something I am very keen to hold onto.

Next week I am on Jury service for 2 weeks – it is not ideal – there is work ongoing, calls booked in, meetings face to face to arrange and a living to be earnt.

However, if we did not have a justice system where a broad cross section couldn’t help make important decisions where would we be as a society? So I am going to do my bit for society and try and catch up pre and post court sessions to keep apace with the projects we have ongoing. By the end of the 2 weeks I also hope to be fully up to date with the latest laptop.

Recce’s to Barcelona, London and Vienna followed up with live projects at the Global Consumer Goods Forum in Vienna technically looking after meeting spaces and a gala dinner with ballet dancers and string quartets. A great way to spend the summer.

Having also completed a site visit in London at the 02 it was interesting to fly over the Dome only afew days later after having been so close the Dome.

Working in the events industry we gather temporary teams of people to deliver something exceptional.

It could be suppliers giving apprentices their first taste of onsite work or indeed younger people who are trying a new industry.

I have to say it is refreshing to work with keen young and foreign crew. I particularly love the oppertunity to pass on knowledge I have learned whilst in my time in the events industry. One day I will not be doing this work – it will be time to hand over my work to a younger set of professionals so if I can give them a help along the way with some ‘wisdom’ that is what I will do.

Like young Francesco, living in Copenhagen but originally from Argentina working in Live events touring and promoting DJ’s but working in a corporate environment. So great to be in the company of his energy.

Of course – with a large project with 200 crew there are some grey hairs and for good reason too – to work with like minded people on site – to deliver a project safely, to budget and to keep the original concept alive while doing so needs those with grey hair to call on experience to either rob Peter to pay Paul or adjust materials to be used to deliver a design.

A show case by DB Pixelhouse, Aztec and Gravit8 at Farnborough Exhibition Centre this week.

It is alway worth keeping up with technology and to see what other companies are using for display solutions.

Curved LED convex and concave solutions

A good idea was a Pod Cast studio built in B-matrix with acoustic audio panels internally – could this be an attraction on an exhibition booth for Vlogers & Podsters to share launch content live from the booth?

The latest LED panels have a smooth almost laminate surface which will reduce panel misalignment.

Another project completed in Barcelona, working with teams in the Fira on Mobile World Congress 2026

That is 14 years on the trot apart from the event I did not work on after Covid and many of the suppliers have been part of the success of the project over that time.

Our rigging and lighting team consisted of 5 lady riggers and the booth constructor headed up by another fine young women Anais.

It’s good to work with new people too, different ideas and different approaches to problem solving, a really enjoyable project to be involved with.

We are entering into a busy first quarter of work with the build of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona looming and a site visit in Copenhagen for an event in May at the Bella Centre.

Interesting venue and one where the natural daylight will be a key factor in choosing the type of projection or LED display technology due to the glass nature of the building.

‘’A holiday or form of recreation that involves doing the same thing that one does at work; the term is recorded from the late 19th century, when excursions by bus were a popular form of holiday.’’

Our work has included many exhibitions since the pandemic and in past years the event of Retromobile at The Porte De Versailles in Paris has clashed with the pre event planning and on site work of Mobile World Congress.

This year however I have been able to squeeze in time off for good behaviour so they say and get to go over to Paris to see how the French produce exhibitions.

It is a perfect opportunity to experience the visit as a delegate  –  from what I hear the exhibition is substantial so it will be a good fact finding mission to see if there are future work opportunities.

This week we have been in Barcelona with suppliers, testing demo build equipment and light fittings for high lighting messaging.

In 2 weeks time we are off to Copenhagen to look at work in another exhibition Centre The Bella Centre so we are having a true dose of a European experience to kick off 2026.

Where have the Creative Conference Producers gone, are there many left?

Chatting with suppliers about past work – reminiscing of days gone by and events toiled over brought up an interesting point for discussion.

Events I am seeing now are just not as creative in terms of event environment and stageset build and the way the presentation content is expressed.

Budgets being reduced does not help – the client driving the project with limited experience or event producers who have not experienced the heady days of audio visual and business theatre with roll plays, actors or ‘Son et Lumière’ (French phase meaning sound and light)

‘You only know what you know’

In this day of ‘digital media’ the information is given – but is the event memorable?

Does the delegate leave the event having a memorable experience?

Some ‘big news’ messages are spun out via the internet / intranet whereas in the past the importance of the information would have been done face to face. Are the management who are giving the information now hiding behind the screen?

So many live event projects now feature a large LED surface and once the image has been shown – it is gone but is it remembered? I must admit I am looking back with fond memories of projects past, actors working with scriptwriters, producers creating environments with set designers and the guest presenters we have worked alongside, dramatic scenery builds and large scale projected images that stunned an audience in a theatre style environment. Is my own creativity waning with the acceptance of the focus being a digital image?

It is bothering me this digital phase of presentation and events. Maybe the new year will bring new presentation styles and engaging projects. Fingers crossed.