Do You Know What Business You're In?

DO YOU KNOW WHAT BUSINESS YOU’RE IN?

21 May 2019

DO YOU KNOW WHAT BUSINESS YOU’RE IN? If you work in, buy or use live events, do you know what business you’re in or dealing with? Art is just art, sport just sport, a message just a message, products just products and music mere music. Until you add an audience. Then you’re in the business of theatre. Also known as live events. Creating the most value and impact with a live event, exhibition or pavilion starts at the beginning; with the genesis of that live event and the theatrical principles that underpin it: The Facts Of Live. As we begin to look at some of the key topics in the book, if you’re interested in improving how you conceive, procure or produce live events, find out more details about The Facts Of Live at: www.TheFactsOfLive.com or get yourself a copy from Amazon by clicking here.


Will Glendinning The Facts Of Live

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU!

27 February 2019

THANKYOU!! – I’ve been radio silent for a while. Trying to work, and launch a book, and then deal with the massive response, which…well…it’s full on! Yet – what can I say but – thank you!! My new book – The Facts Of Live – which launched last week, became a number 1 bestseller in three different categories and even reached the top 10 stateside! Whilst I knew the book was a labour of love and would go on to be incredibly useful for many people, I had no idea just how much support I had – it really took me by surprise – and was quite overwhelming really.

Again – thank you!

The messages I’ve had from those who’ve read it already telling me it’s ‘game-changing’, or how it’s going to transform their businesses (and lives – it seems!) – have all been incredible too. Lots more to come as we explore the contents of the book and how it can help develop new creativity, ideas and innovations, reduce risks and increase the impact and value of live events and exhibitions for all. I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your support, it really does mean a great deal. Thank you! The Facts Of Live is available on Amazon by clicking here.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

– Hi I’m Will Glendinning, I’m a live event producer, designer, and director. And last week saw the official launch of my new book The Facts Of Live, and honestly, I’ve been astounded by the incredible response.

It became a number one bestseller in three different categories, and even reached the top 10 stateside. All I can say is, thank you. That’s amazing!

Thanks too for all the emails and messages I’ve had from people who’ve read it already, who tell me it’s game-changing or it’s going to transform their business, or lives even in one case.

Whilst the bestseller status is all well and good, what it really does is raise the profile of the book, creating a firm foundation for a movement to transform how anyone involved with, or thinking about getting involved with live events and exhibitions, develops new ideas, creativity, and innovation, reduces risks, and maximises the benefit they deliver.

Over the coming weeks, and based on the information in The Facts of Live, we’ll be looking at how brands, governments, sports and arts organisations, organising committees, event teams, agencies, anyone working with or needing live events; how they can conceive, procure, and produce live events that create the greatest value and impact.

Again, thanks for all your support getting this book launched, it really does mean a great deal to me.

Thanks again for watching, and I’ll speak to you again soon.


MY TAKE ON FYRE

MY TAKE ON FYRE

29 January 2019

FYRE – I’ve had so many messages asking me what I thought about Netflix’s Fyre documentary. I wasn’t in a huge rush to watch it as I figured it would just be an exercise in fault finding – and there are posts and opinions aplenty across the interweb pointing out Fyre’s failings. Given all the questions though, I decided to watch it, and rather than just finding fault, thought I’d look, more usefully, at how the disaster could have been avoided. 6 minutes of video, that looks at a few key areas that could have been addressed to bring Fyre to successful fruition – other than fixing the obviously dubious ethics . . . not much I can do about those! 

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Will Glendinning, I’m a live event producer, designer and director. I’ve had so many messages over the last few days asking me what I think about the Fyre documentary on Netflix.

Now, this is a documentary about what was supposed to be a high-end festival on a tropical island that went very, very wrong. I admit, I’m a bit late to the party, because I was in no rush to watch Fyre. For many of the same reasons some doctors don’t like watching medical dramas. It’s just an exercise in fault finding. But given I got so many messages about it, I decided to watch it. The fact that this documentary came out in the middle of the marketing blitz for my new book ‘The Facts of Live’, is a little fortuitous perhaps, but I’ll save the opportunistic plug until the end of the video. Now there’s lots we can discuss in Fyre or about it.

But I want to focus on my three main takeouts, which are: hopium, structure and leadership, and awareness.

Admittedly, the hopium in Fyre was pretty strong stuff, but people starting or launching events based largely on goodwill and sometimes hope, is more common than you might think. Countries bid to host major sporting events long before all funding is in place, way before all the practical details and feasibility have been sorted out. And whether it’s a huge benefit concert, a small community event, a music festival or brand new arts or sporting event, the old ‘build it and they will come’ mentality is alive and well. At least in the early stages of most event ideas.

Video: “How am I gonna get the bands to come?” “If you book them, they will come.”

You do need a bit of faith and optimism, or hopium to plough through the not inconsiderable obstacles that can stand in the way of bringing live events to fruition. Converting hopium into something tangible though requires the right structure to support it and manage or guide its ambition. This was clearly missing in Fyre. There were people around Fyre’s main people that had some relevant experience, but not much. And any experience is almost pointless unless it’s structured properly.

And that’s my second takeout. Structure and leadership. Whether it’s the Olympic Games, a festival, an experiential brand event, an exhibition, a conference, a ceremony, or any other type or scale of live event, if these fundamental questions can’t be answered almost immediately, there is no way on Earth that event is being produced, planned or delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible. Which one person is the overall lead, ultimately responsible for delivering the event? And have they got the contextual experience of having delivered similar before in similar circumstances? Which one person is the overall lead for all the content or creative direction, and have they got the relevant content or creative experience? Which one person is responsible for the physical delivery of everything? And have they the contextual experience of having delivered similar before? And which one person is responsible for all the logistics and operations requirements: travel, accommodation, catering and all the rest of it? And have they got the contextual experience of having delivering similar before? These could all be the same person on a small event, or they may have massive committees or teams involved. But ultimately there needs to be a directly accounted individual in each of these four roles.

On larger, multi-faceted events, you just divide the event into smaller, obvious, sub-events and ensure they have the same structure. However, the person ultimately responsible in this structure doesn’t necessarily need to be the public face of the event. The person championing the cause publicly or bringing the money in, like the main character in Fyre, can simply report into and work with this structure. Live events move and change quickly. Without this structure, everything, for everyone, is more painful and more wasteful than it needs to be. Whenever I look at an event that has issues that need addressing, be they large or small, it’s almost always comes back to this structure not being in place. There was no such structure with Fyre and no one seemed to ask about it.

Which brings me to my third takeout from the documentary. Awareness. The funders and celebrities backing Fyre didn’t come out well in this documentary either. This is partly down to ego, though mainly down to lack of awareness. When it comes to live events, there isn’t the awareness there is with other sectors.

If you’re ill, everyone knows you need a doctor. You need legal advice, everyone knows you need a lawyer. Want a house designed and built, and everyone knows they need an architect and a builder. You may not know what they all do, but you know you need them. With live events, people tend not to know what they need or just give it a go themselves. There just isn’t this same common awareness when it comes to live events.

Those supporting Fyre, perhaps with more awareness, could have asked these simple questions. Those trying to create the Fyre festival could have put this simple structure in place. Importantly, the person leading the structure needed to have the relevant contextual experience. Which in this instance, means someone who had a proven track record of delivering similar events. And with enough charisma, diplomacy and courage to stand up to and support someone like Fyre’s chief protagonist. And able to support and lead the rest of the people involved too. Fyre may then have successfully come to fruition in some way, shape, size or form. Or halted in good time. Make no mistake, the line between success and failure of many live events is wafer thin. Scarily so at times.

Fyre failed due to untamed ambition. A lack of structure, a lack of relevant experience, a lack of awareness and simply by no one asking the right questions. Or even knowing what questions to ask. Some of those involved in Fyre clearly had questionable ethics. Though, I got the sense from the film that those behind Fyre did actually, initially, want the festival to be a success. But, as is so common, those who own the idea or ambition were blinded by that ambition and their own agenda, often aren’t willing to hear or accept qualified advice and as a result it ended up spiraling out of control.

The fact no one at Fyre was seriously injured or there weren’t more serious consequences than unfortunately people losing a lot of money was one of the most astonishing parts of the Fyre story.

If you haven’t watched Fyre, it’s an hour and a half long car crash of a story that still, in my view, leaves many questions unanswered.

Anyway, if you want to avoid your own Fyres, the official launch of my new book The Facts of Live, which is all about how to conceive, procure and produce live events that create the greatest value and impact, is on the 12th of February, 2019. Head over to www.TheFactsOfLive.com to find out about the various offers available for launch day and to find about the other resources launching the same day too. Thanks for watching, and I’ll speak to you again soon.


My New Book

MY NEW BOOK: THE FACTS OF LIVE

15 January 2019

Finally – after 4 years of work (and about 20 years of research), my new book ‘The Facts Of Live’ officially launches on Tuesday 12 February 2019.

The Facts Of Live addresses the fundamental issues behind the struggles I’ve spent 20 years witnessing clients, buyers, events teams, organising committees and agencies unnecessarily endure – be they of their own or other peoples’ making. Enough was enough.

There’s an endless supply of books, courses and people that can help with the different aspects of live events – from event management, marketing and sponsorship through to the technical, content and creative.

The Facts Of Live though demonstrates how these aspects are best utilised, engaged with, procured and held together to conceive, procure and produce live events that create the greatest value and impact.

The official launch of The Facts Of Live and the full version of the extensive accompanying (and free) online resources is on Tuesday 12 February 2019. Check out the video below and www.TheFactsOfLive.com for more information and offers available on the official launch day.

THE FACTS OF LIVE SYNOPSIS:

Art is just art, sport just sport, a message just a message, products just products and music mere music – until you add an audience. Then you’re in the business of theatre – also known as live events.The Facts Of Live distils over twenty years’ experience with almost every type of live event.

Whether you’re in the sport, entertainment, arts, marketing, communication, government or the not-for-profit business, creating the most value and impact with a live event, pavilion or exhibition starts at the beginning – with its genesis, the foundations that underpin it, and key principles: The Facts Of Live. 

There are an endless supply of books, courses and people that can help with different aspects of live events – from event management, marketing and sponsorship through to the technical, content and creative elements. The Facts Of Live though addresses the fundamental issues that need to be understood about how these different aspects are utilised, engaged with, procured and held together to conceive, procure and produce live events to create the greatest value and impact.

  • If you’re looking to procure or outsource events or exhibitions, start by reading The Facts Of Live.
  • If you’re are looking to build or improve your in-house team or organising committee start by reading The Facts Of Live.
  • If you’re an agency looking to improve how you produce events or exhibitions start by reading The Facts Of Live.

The Facts Of Live condenses 20 years of research across every type of event of every scale and for every purpose demonstrating how to:

  • Effectively nurture creativity, ideas and innovation.
  • Procure live events, goods and services, even when you don’t know what you need.
  • Understand the talent you need, don’t need, when you need it, how to identify it and how to structure it as powerfully as possible.
  • Reduce time, cost and complexity.
  • Reduce financial, operational and reputation risks.
  • Get the best out of your own people or those you bring on board with proven leadership principles.
  • Glue together the myriad of issues, people and organisations you’ll be relying upon against a backdrop of constant change and uncertainty, an immovable deadline and with everyone watching.

Whether you’re a client, buyer or in an event team, organising committee or an agency – if you’re involved with live events, or thinking about it, The Facts Of Live is for you. 

I handcrafted The Facts Of Live and the accompanying online resources to help as wide a range of people as possible who work with live events, exhibitions and pavilions.

The principles and practices in this book are those I use in my day-to-day work. This is not a theoretical textbook, this is proven, practical and powerful information.

I hope you enjoy reading The Facts Of Live and thank you for taking the time to do so.

Will Glendinning


Why The Stress?

WHY THE STRESS?

9 January 2019

STRESS AND LONG HOURS – are often considered to be an inherent part of working with or in live events. Like any work, live events and exhibitions have their stresses and issues, but any insanely long hours and incredible stresses, in my view, have little to do with the live events themselves and are, for the most part, unnecessary. They have a great deal more to do with experience, structural issues and, understandably – emotions.

Tricky to cover in depth with a single video, but as part of a broader aim to help brands, governments, agencies, and whoever else – create, procure and produce live events with greater value and impact, this 6 minute video offers some perspective on the stress and long hours often associated with events and exhibitions and how to mitigate them. Being the most fundamental issues affecting everyone involved, I’ll be exploring them in more detail in due course…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Will Glendinning, I’m a live event producer, designer and director.

When people find out that I work with live events, most of them ask me or they tell me rather, that it involves massive stress and long hours. It seems to be a widely held belief. There was even a survey last year suggesting one role in the event sector was the fifth most stressful job in the world.

Yes, there are stresses, all jobs have them, but are things really that bad? And if they are, why tolerate them? Now I will freely admit I’ve done my fair share of long hours, overnighters, and endured all sorts of stresses, but that doesn’t make it right or necessary.

Whenever I see clients, event teams, organising committees, agencies, or individuals struggling with live events, it can in almost every situation be traced back to one of four issues, none of which are really about the live events themselves though.

These four things are inexperience, the wrong structure or poor support, enthusiasm or fear which are more similar than they sound, and attitude.

Let’s look at each. Firstly, inexperience. Unlike certain sectors, construction, law, and medicine, to name just three, there are no qualifications required for being able to say you’re almost anything or able to do almost anything at all at any level when it comes to procuring, producing, or managing live events and exhibitions. As a result there is an enormous amount of inexperience in play.

It’s a double-edged sword. Without experience, how do people learn? The answer of course is having the right support structure, but often this doesn’t exist, and people with either very little or just a few years’ experience can be left exposed, procuring, producing, or managing live events unsupported. The same is true of the wrong experience. So often people try to apply project management, procurement practices, or processes that work well in other sectors to live events.

Like putting a square peg in a round hole though, it rarely works very well. The result of this inexperience or the wrong experience is typically poor decisions and a lack of foresight or perspective resulting in unnecessary and avoidable stress for themselves and those around them. If you’re going to use or hire those lacking enough or the right experience, make sure you’re willing to accept the consequences, stress and potentially long hours, or more usefully have, get, or put in place the right support above and around them.

Secondly, the wrong structure or poor support. A little like the previous point, again so many companies, organisations, committees and agencies develop their own structures and approaches which always seem to be slightly different. Live events are at their core straightforward, yet they are often made super complicated and lack the right support structures.

And again there is nothing stopping anyone starting an agency, an event business, or building an in-house event team, regardless of whether they have any or enough or the right experience. More often than not event structures are often designed with either a business’s aims or a client’s expectations in mind rather than what is best for a specific event. This is an issue I see time and time again.

If a team is structured to deal with the business or client’s requirements first, that team is inherently going to be compromised when it comes to dealing with the live event’s requirements, which are different, leading to, yes, more stress. This can easily be rectified though.

Get the right team and talent with the right experience in place, get the right support structure in place, so that everyone, yes, everyone has someone to fall back upon. The event comes first. Make sure that a team’s structure is designed to support the needs of the event first and everything else second. Now this is a big topic far beyond the scope of this video, but it’s something that I’ll be exploring and discussing in more detail in due course.

Thirdly, enthusiasm and fear. These are the hardest issues to mitigate. They sound different but are kind of the same. Live events are inherently exciting and high profile in some way, shape, or form. Because they are exciting and with so much invested emotionally, it can be difficult, heart-wrenching sometimes, to leave them be for any period of time. Similarly, because all live events are high profile at some level, people involved can be nervous or fearful about leaving them be for any period of time.

It is perfectly possible to shift work and staffing requirements such that no one works excessively long hours, however many people choose not to due to enthusiasm or fear that something might go wrong or not quite perfectly without them.

This is human nature. It’s avoidable but most people choose not to avoid it. You can call it enthusiasm, passion, responsibility, stupidity, whatever adjective you want to use, but this is the reason I work long hours when I choose to do so. It’s the only time crazy hours should really be considered. It is avoidable though. Not avoiding it is a choice. There is an argument I hear often that there isn’t always the money to staff projects properly or clients won’t pay for this, that, or the other. This is another big topic, but there is almost always a way, especially when you look at what is being spent unnecessarily elsewhere.

Finally, number four, attitude. Live events with their constantly changing requirements, uncertainty, immovable deadline, and being very public, can make even the most mundane tasks feel like hard work, and the pressures in turn this can put on people, particularly those with less experience, can be immense. The last thing anyone needs is bad attitude.

If you deal with other people in any way, shape, or form, bear this in mind, regardless of what you’re going through yourself, have some empathy, consider what others could be going through.

It’s at this point I’ll typically be told that certain talent, key clients, stakeholders, the public even, or important people, are who they are and come with a certain attitude. This is true and you’re not going to change them. You have a choice though. You can choose not to work with them or you can learn how to not let what others do or say affect you in any meaningful way.

These are the four most typical causes of the long hours and stress often cited as being part of working with live events. Like any work, working with live events can be stressful and can be extremely hard work especially when there’s so many moving parts.

However are the exceptional stresses and long hours so widely reported a mandatory part of working with live events? Well, if you let them, yes, but if you learn, if you develop, and if you try to do something about them, for the most part they’re avoidable.

The choice is yours.

Thoughts and questions welcome, and I’ll speak to you again soon.


Considering Event Management?

CONSIDERING EVENT MANAGEMENT? CONSIDER THIS

1 January 2019

EVENT MANAGEMENT COURSES – there seem to be an abundance of them, with many perhaps seeing it as a default option if they want to ‘work in events’. I often wonder where so many graduates are going to go or what they are going to do.

The world of live events and exhibitions is awash with junior and mid-range ‘event management’ people. That’s absolutely not to say there isn’t room for more, especially brilliant or entrepreneurial ones, but there are a great many other people and talent the live events world is not awash with and could do with more of.

Wanting to ‘work in events’, and only considering event management may mean overlooking some of the greatest opportunities to make an impact and do great work ‘working in events’. 6 minutes of potentially valuable video if you or anyone you know is considering an event-related career or education options. Feel free to share it with anyone you think it might help…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

– Hi, I’m Will Glendinning, I’m a live event producer, director and designer. Now, I keep seeing an increasing amount of event management courses and event management graduates. And I often wonder where all these graduates are going to go and what they’re all going to do. And I also often get asked what I think about event management courses. Now, I’ve never done one so it’s hard to judge, but I don’t necessarily think they’re an automatic route into a career in events or into exhibitions. So, if that’s what you’re considering, I’ve got a few pieces of advice, a few thoughts that could be quite valuable.

And of course, feel free to share this video with anyone considering their options. The organisation, or the management or production, I mean, you can call it what you want, but the event management of live events and exhibitions is becoming increasingly commoditised. At a junior and mid-range level, there’s an abundant supply of people. Some are great, some are good, some less good. However, in my view, there are a huge amount of opportunities if you want to work in or with live events. But first, we need to step back, go back to the beginning and look at the bigger picture.

No one wakes up in the morning and thinks do you know what? What I really want is an event. What they really want is to sell something, communicate something or to entertain people, or all three. Those are the only three things you can do with a live event. Coincidentally, these are also the reasons many people are attracted to working with live events in the first place. If you’re considering doing an event management course, either at the beginning of your career or later on in life, because you like organising things, or you love spreadsheets, or you just like the idea of it, then great, you’re good to go, you don’t need to watch the rest of this video.

If, however, what attracts you to live events is selling stuff, communicating with people or entertaining them, there are a myriad of alternatives that, if you’re good enough, or work hard enough to become good enough, are worth serious consideration. If you spend even just a little time scanning the myriad of live events and exhibitions happening around the world, you can’t help but notice many of them are merely slight iterations of each other, with many being, to all intents and purposes, very similar.

Where are the new ideas and where’s the new thinking? New ideas, new thinking, new creativity, that’s where the real opportunity exists if you really want to make an impact. And given that live events are about selling, communicating and entertaining, consider three things.

One: Learn to sell. People who are exceptional at selling, either selling an agency’s wares to a client, selling events to customers, or selling a client’s product or service to their audience or to their consumers through whatever live medium and with whatever tools, are rare and therefore valuable. Learn how to sell from people who can actually sell. And by selling, I mean getting money in return for a product or service, not just people who talk a lot. Selling is a craft. And don’t forget to learn how to sell yourself, sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what you learn.

Two: Learn to communicate. People who are exceptional at communicating ideas, concepts and messages to an audience either using words delivered at a live event in speeches or presentations, in documents pitching or bidding for live events or developing ways of communicating with whatever live medium at live events and exhibitions are rare and therefore valuable. Learn and master existing ways of communicating or learn or create new ways of getting a message across, compellingly and convincingly. Communicating is a craft.

Three: Learn to entertain. Now, if you have Beyoncé’s talent, great. But you don’t have to be Beyoncé. Designers and creatives able to think and design in three-dimensional space and create environments and experiences that emotionally engage audiences are rare, so maybe learn theater design. Or learn how to produce or curate events that people actually want to attend. Learn any design, creative or artistic skill that has, or could have, relevance in live events and exhibitions. Music, performance, digital interactivity, architecture, whatever it is, learn or nurture something that leads you to come up with new, interesting, creative or thought-provoking ideas. Once you’ve learnt the basics, work out your spin or approach and then master it. Entertaining is a craft.

All three of these disciplines, selling, communicating and entertaining, are crafts. You can learn them from other people, on courses maybe, or you can just try stuff and find your own way. Do whatever works for you. If you want to add real value though, you need a craft. The better you become at applying that craft, the more valuable you become. All of these disciplines can be applied to live events and exhibitions in any sector. For brands and marketing, to arts events, to sports events, for governments, for not-for-profits, everyone is looking for new ideas and the quest for reinvention is constant.

When someone wakes up in the morning and wants to sell, communicate or entertain, they will only do so with a live event if the idea for that live event is good enough. As a producer, a huge amount of my time is spent looking for talented people, coaxing ideas out of people, persuading people to be brave enough to have their own ideas and supporting them to do so or coming up with ideas myself. Then once that spark of an idea exists, nurturing it into something that works is tangible and that can then be delivered, or event managed. The ideas come first. Everything else, including event management, is second.

You can do an event management course as well, or just find the right people to help you. Or go and work with people that value your ideas. But if your real passion or desire is selling, communicating or entertaining people, if that’s what makes you tick and if you have the talent, or think you can develop it, learn one of those skills, learn a craft and then learn to master it.

The stronger your ideas, the stronger you’re creative, the more powerful a live event’s going to be, and in turn, you become more valuable. Now, of course, live events needs both the ideas people and the event management people, but both are hard work, so work out which you’re most passionate about before you decide which path to go down. Or do both.

Anyway, food for thought, questions welcome, and I’ll speak to you again soon.


will glendinning

Do You Direct or Do You Lead?

DO YOU DIRECT OR DO YOU LEAD?

13 December 2018

LEADERSHIP – Explaining what you want, telling people what needs doing and heading up a team isn’t leadership. That’s direction. Leadership is, in part, about supporting people so they can be the best they can to deliver the greatest version of whatever it is you’ve directed them to do. Live events exist in a unique environment of constant change against an often immovable deadline whilst everyone watches you. This can skew time and logic, creating unique pressures. Whether you produce your own events, are a client, run or work in an agency or are anywhere in the supply chain, if you have anyone reporting to you or working for you – you’re in a leadership role. As timescales shrink and expectations rise, direction alone isn’t enough. Empathetic leadership is paramount. 4 and a half minutes of video to help…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Will Glendinning. I’m a live event producer, director and designer.

I’ve been having an increasing amount of conversations recently about leadership in events and exhibitions, and what that actually means. During a presentation I was giving recently, I was explaining that most of the time when I’m producing or leading a live event, much of my time isn’t spent on producing the event as such, but actually making sure that everyone’s happy. This flummoxed most of the room. So much so that one person actually stopped me and asked me to explain.

Live events exist in a unique environment. You’ve a myriad of issues, people and organisations to seamlessly glue together. Scope and specifications usually change rapidly. You’re rarely going to be in complete control of everything affecting your success. Typically, you’ve an immovable deadline and to top it all off, everyone is watching: you’re completely exposed.

This is also what makes live events exciting. There’s a reason we want to be there watching it live rather than watching it on a screen somewhere. Live events are the most raw, real experience it’s possible to create. They’re the most powerful medium you have to sell more of your stuff or to get people thinking differently or to entertain people.

The only other industries with a similar emotional dynamic, though more serious consequences, are perhaps the military and emergency services. Where, what’s happening here, right now, is the only thing that matters. The military and emergency services though have far greater support network and redundancy than most events do. Egos, personalities and politics are also an intrinsic part of any live event, given they’re essentially about showing off in some way, shape or form; making the unique set of circumstances even more volatile and unpredictable.

This emotionally charged, illogical and irrational perfect storm that producing live events creates is the reason so many typical project management approaches, no matter how lean or agile they are, only work to a point. And if you see anyone leading or producing a live event relying on such practices alone, it should ring alarm bells immediately.

A craving for certainty and a fear of failure can engulf a live event’s planning and development in process and paperwork. The resulting bureaucracy though can pose a far bigger risk to your event than the risks that you were trying to mitigate with that paperwork in the first place. Especially as that immovable deadline of your live event accelerates towards you.

You need some process and paperwork of course, but it’s about the right balance of process and competency. It is people, competent people, that make live events happen and who can make the snap and impulsive decisions necessary, often without anywhere near enough information, but using their sixth sense, to get a live event over the line. People are far more valuable and useful than any process or piece of paperwork will ever be, it stands to reason therefore, does it not, that they should be your number one priority?

I have led and been directly accountable for live events that have had just a couple of people working on them through to events with over 20,000 people working on them. And I can assure you, empathetic leadership is, categorically, the best approach.

Live events are produced and developed in an alternate reality of skewed time and logic. And this means that even the most mundane tasks can push people over the edge. This is why I spend so much of my time making sure people are happy, as I know, and have proven, that if people are happy, supported and valued they will not only do what they are supposed to be doing, but go that extra mile when the curve balls hit.

And they will hit. Whether you produce your own events, whether you’re a client, whether you run or work in an agency or if you’re anywhere in the supply chain, if you have anyone working for you or reporting to you, you’re in a leadership role. Leadership in events and exhibitions demands four things:

One, you need to care, about everyone working for you. Whether you like them or not.

Two, you need to find that extra minute to check your team, agency, supply chain or those working for you are happy. Ask them if they have what they need. Ask them if you can do anything to help. Ask them to be honest with you. And repeat, often. And then sort out, help with or fix whatever comes up. Don’t let it lie. You are responsible.

Three, if you’re angry or upset with someone, perhaps someone not performing as you expect them to, you take the higher ground and rather than snap, you pause, you consider what they could be going through given the unique environment live events exist within and then you suck it up, you don’t take your anger out on them. You calmly fix it, or you help them, or you do whatever you need to do, it’s your responsibility, they’re your team, your people.

And number four, be nice. Always be nice.

These four things are what empathy and leadership are about, it costs you nothing and you’ll be amazed with the results.

Anyway, thoughts and questions welcome.

And I’ll speak to you again soon.


will glendinning

Safe is Overrated

will glendinning

SAFE IS OVERRATED

11 December 2018

I have never really done ‘safe’. I risked my education to pursue a passion, hoping it would more likely lead to a fulfilling career than the education I was avoiding might have.

It did.

I went all in to try and get my first ever job at the only company I wanted to work for. There was no plan B, it was do or die – it had to work.

It did.

I then eventually moved from that job to run a company with no clue how that was going to pan out, but I knew my involvement would make a positive impact.

It did.

I then went out into the world on my own, without a plan, and set up my own stall selling my wares to the world, hoping that would work out.

It did.

Not content with the professional risks, I endured adventuring in some of the harshest environments on earth hoping such activity would deliver evermore incredible experiences.

It did.

With a wealth of experience and knowledge behind me, I then also set about advising people and organisations who sought out my help, hoping my guidance on how to create, procure and produce live events would improve the value and impact they achieved.

It didn’t

Ok, that’s not completely true. It did and it didn’t. And this frustrated the hell out of me. I successfully helped many people. Yet there were some I couldn’t help. Which baffled me.

How is it someone who has been responsible for some of the most ambitious and complex live events in recent history, someone who’s run and built successful companies and who’s had his work praised at the highest levels of business and governments could often find himself being told that the advice he was giving was wrong? Only for it then, repeatedly, to be proven much later and after great expense and pain, that I was in fact, right?

It turns out there were two reasons.

Firstly, people believe what they want to believe. When it comes to live events, a sector of industry often built on fragile agreements and ambitious not-completely-thought-through commitments – logic and facts aren’t always popular.

Secondly though, there was a more fundamental issue. The issue wasn’t that I was right, and all these other people were wrong. It was just that I hadn’t worked out how to craft my experience, thoughts, opinions and advice into convincing arguments or narratives. I had been too focused, or entrenched, in my own version of reality to see other peoples’.

I hadn’t worked out how to frame my guidance in a way that resonated with different audiences – people with different perspectives and priorities. The fault, or issue, was mine.

The issue wasn’t my experience. The issue was my inexperience getting my experience across.

A tad frustrated, I knew I had to make a change. After all, it’s what I do, I make things work.

I think it was early in 2015, I decided, once again, to take the plunge, dive in at the deep end and go on a voyage of discovery. Both literally and metaphorically. And again, without knowing quite where I’d end up. I knew I needed to retrain in some way, though in my own way.

I needed to go through a bit of a reinvention to succeed in my ambition to position myself as an authority to, in turn, attract the people and opportunities I was looking for. I had the experience and track record, I just needed to package and present it differently. Staying safe wasn’t an option.

I sold up, I sold almost everything I owned. 2016 was spent doing things I could more likely enjoy in my 40s than my 90s.

This included making a little bit of history – sailing to and then becoming the first British person to freedive in – Antarctica, an expedition requiring two years of planning and training. Like all my other exploits, I had no idea what I’d see, do or find, but, it proved to be incredible.

It wasn’t just adventures in nature though. A (or rather, another) personal development journey began. An adventure in and of itself. I worked with some incredible people, I analysed, I wrote, I crafted, I created a lot of crap, I spent an ungodly amount of time and money working to improve how I think and how I work. Some of it worked. Some of it didn’t. All of it was useful.

What is the meaning of life?

Out of all of this came a certain clarity. Whilst it was pretty obvious looking back, it required me to actually step back to work out what life was all about.

Life, for me anyway, is about experiences. Finding them, or creating them.

The experiences adventuring in nature continue, but I’ll save the slideshow for another time. What also came out of this whole adventure was a new perspective and a renewed passion for an industry, or craft, my craft: live events. A passion that had been challenged by, well…so many challenges. Whilst I love the craft of live events, the business side of live events, remains at its best – complicated and at its worst, but not that uncommonly – utterly insane. A topic for a separate article.

I set about focusing this renewed passion and perspective on working with, on, in and around live events, but on my own terms.

My expertise is yours

I see so many people and organisations struggling when it comes to creating, procuring and producing live events. Many unaware that their struggles are totally unnecessary. It’s perhaps no great surprise as there are few authoritative voices offering any freely available and qualified guidance.

People tend to rely instead on what they’ve always done, word of mouth, limited experience, experience only within a specific sector or with a specific type of event, using strategies and tactics from other sectors assuming they’ll work with live events or just relying on hearsay.

I decided to do my bit to fix this. I am crafting and broadcasting guidance and insights in various forms. You may have spotted a few videos popping up over the interweb. You can expect more.

These are not random opinions or wishy-washy theories, they’re impartial, hard-earned and well-proven information and content. Why am I doing this? Well firstly, I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around – I offer it all for free and without expectation, and if it happens to resonate with anyone – who knows what it could lead to?

Secondly, I enjoy doing it and it’s needed. There’s that saying: people don’t know what they don’t know. I’m putting people in the know and I know the value of what I offer. Doing this also helps me continually improve how I present the advice and guidance I have to give. Everyone wins.

This is not all I am doing on this front though, expect some other interesting announcements soon.

Producing, directing, designing and consulting

I enjoy, more than ever, creating live experiences. I work with brands, sports and arts organisations, governments, not-for-profits, marketing and PR companies and agencies.

I work around the world and produce, design and consult on live events, I develop bids and pitches for events, I craft bids to host major events, I undertake event and event businesses feasibility and development, I run procurement exercises, I work with architects and property developers on the design of venues and public spaces, I help and support agencies with their work and business development. . . basically, anything related to live events.

New realities

What I am increasingly interested in is breaking new ground by fusing real-world experiences and activity with both digital and traditional mediums and media, in real time, or: live. I’m not talking here about creating an event in one medium and broadcasting it across different media, I am talking about the fusing and manipulation of all mediums and media to create evermore engaging experiences to the point where the boundary between reality and…well, a different reality is almost imperceptible.

Some would argue we already live in a manipulated reality. A tad philosophical perhaps, but make no mistake, distinguishing what is real and what has been manipulated in the name of marketing, communication and entertainment will become increasingly difficult in the future, as the technology you can see coupled with the stuff you can’t see, becomes ever more sophisticated and integrated into our lives.

Crafting and controlling what happens live, in the real world, with so much unpredictability across so many mediums, is an art form, or craft, in and of itself. A craft I’ve spent most of my career developing and a craft I’m using for increasingly ambitious aims.

I have little interest in ‘safe’, but my experience does provide a safety net for people, businesses and organisations who, like me, want to break new ground and push the boundaries of live events – bravely harnessing new ideas, thinking, technology and a broad range of creative disciplines.

I’ll have much more to share on this front in due course. In the meantime, if you or people or organisations you know share this vision – do get in touch.

I gave up safe a long time ago and don’t intend to go back

I still remember the day, many years ago now that, not long after having left a safe well-paid job in a well-respected position, to pursue my ambitions without any real plan – my own business received its first payment. That same day, I happened to be in a gallery, and I saw this framed Edward Monkton (aka Giles Andreae) illustration about 3 foot tall on a wall in front of me. I impulsively bought it. I still have it. It seems increasingly apt.


WHAT IS 'WOW'?

WHAT IS ‘WOW’?

3 December 2018

WOW – is one of the most common and clichéd words used to try and explain or brief live event requirements. It’s also one of the most problematic. If you’re a brand or organisation asking your team or external agencies to create live events or exhibitions that will ‘wow’ audiences or deliver a ‘wow factor’, with little additional context; ‘wow’ is going to be difficult to achieve. If you really want to achieve that illusive ‘wow’ moment, factor or experience, it’s going to require a little effort. Asking for ‘wow’ alone isn’t the answer. 4 minutes of video to increase your chances of achieving something that might actually wow you… and your audience…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Will Glendinning. I’m a live event producer, director and designer.

I want to talk about one of the most problematic words when it comes to live events. And that word is ‘wow’.

If you’re an organisation or brand who wants any type of live event or exhibition and you’re asking your team or external agencies for the wow factor, yes everyone knows what you mean, but in turn, I don’t want to be a killjoy, but it doesn’t really mean very much at all.

The word wow, can sometimes masquerade as other phrases like ‘mind blowing’ and ‘never been seen before’. Or sneakily and more subtly as words such as ‘innovative’ and ‘creative’. Wow and all these other words and phrases are incredibly subjective. They mean very little in any useful sense.

The amount of time, money and effort I have seen wasted by both internal teams and agencies trying to decipher, imagine or, frankly, invent what people mean when they use such words without much, or any, additional context is scandalous. This is all time, money and effort that can be better focused and directed.

Some people will argue that it’s up to your team or any external organisation you’re inviting to come up with ideas, concepts or proposals to work out exactly what it is you mean or what it is you want. Now, there is some validity to that statement. However, firstly, no one is clairvoyant.

Secondly if you’re asking people who have to interpret such requests frequently with little more information or context, they’re not going to be very informed or enthused to come up with genuinely different thinking; so you should expect their results to match.

Yes, creating a live event with your wow factor or developing that wow moment is a creative, possibly iterative process, and you may not know what it is you want until you see it, but, you do know more than you think. Like many things in life, you get out what you put in. The more help, advice, direction and insight you can give the more likely it is that you’ll get a live event that’s fit for purpose, that you like, that you can afford and, if those the stars align, can actually deliver you that wow factor.

If you were asking an architect to design you a house with the wow factor, you know full well that you’re going to need to provide a little more context to make sure it’s fit for your needs, that you can afford it and that it wows you. The same applies with live events.

If you want this illusive wow factor, how do you actually go about increasing your chances of getting it? Well, it starts with you. So, if you’re briefing your team or any external organisations or agency, four things to consider.

Firstly, rather than just say you want wow, explain what this means to you. What do you want people to see, do, feel, believe, understand or experience? Avoid only using superlatives and hyperbole. If you can’t articulate what it is you need, or what it is you want, then ask for help. Because until you can, the very purpose of your live event is questionable.

Secondly, if you are looking for genuine innovation and creative genius, be realistic about how much time this is going to take. If you ask someone or an organisation for breath taking ideas, never been seen before technology or innovative creativity that’s more than skin deep, or similar, this almost always takes time. How much time? Well that depends what you’re looking for but you need only ask a few qualified opinions to get a sense of what is reasonable and realistic.

Thirdly, an artist will often tell you great art shouldn’t be bound by financial shackles. I would agree. However, most people need live events delivered to a budget and on a certain date. Money does therefore play a part in any creative. You may not want to limit thinking by declaring a budget but by not declaring a budget, or a least a range, or a guide or comparables, you are limiting thinking if you don’t get any ideas that are affordable, it’s completely wasted, pointless and limited thinking. Alternatively, keep things conceptual if you just want ideas and concepts that can be scaled to any level at any budget. Say that, be explicit.

Fourth, and finally, be open to discussion. Yes this takes time. Yes this takes effort. But like I say, you get out what you put in. If you want people to do incredible things for you, you can’t delegate it completely. Like any relationship, you are part of the equation.

The more those trying to help you can delve into and explore your expectations and desires, the more likely it is they’ll produce a live event you will think is worthy of the word wow.


PRODUCING EXPO AND SPONSOR PAVILIONS

PRODUCING EXPO AND SPONSOR PAVILIONS

1 December 2018

PAVILIONS – expo pavilions, sponsor pavilions, brand pavilions – these are temporary buildings or architecture housing events and exhibitions at expos, major events and similar. Given the scale and cost of pavilions, there can be a huge amount of confusion and misguided assumptions about how best to go about creating them. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. It’s a big subject, but if you work in a government or brand and are looking at creating a pavilion, how do you best go about it? Project management alone is not the answer. 6 minutes of video that may save you a small fortune and produce a better pavilion…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Will Glendinning, and I’d like to talk you about pavilions.

Expo pavilions, sponsor pavilions, brand pavilions, whatever you want to call them, I want to talk about how they’re conceived. If you’re a government or brand, or any other organisation looking for one, how do you best get them set up and moving forwards?

Pavilions are temporary buildings that house experiences, activities, attractions, marketing, promotion stuff… they can facilitate any number of things. I’ve been involved with various pavilions over the last 20 years or so, from concept, procurement and strategy stages, through to design and delivery, and through to the operations side.

I’ve seen what works, I’ve seen what doesn’t work, I’ve seen what kind of works. I truly believe though, that given just how much money these things cost, I mean these are multi-million dollar, multi-million pound ventures, it is almost criminal to not want to extract the most value from them and make them as successful and powerful as possible.

Why wouldn’t you want that?

But here’s the rub though, the decisions you make right at the outset of the process, can have a far bigger impact on how successful your pavilion is than the decisions other people may make further down the line.

Now there are generally, two fundamentally different principals that are adopted with pavilions. The first works quite well, is well proven, the second one, is a little bit more hit and miss.

Let’s first look at the approach, that to me anyway, makes the most sense and produces the best results. First up, this is you. You then need to go about finding the right idea for your pavilion. This consists of three things: Building design or the architecture, the content or experience, what happens in it, on it, or around that pavilion, and then the operations side. How does it all work and function?

These are the three fundamental parts of any pavilion, because make no mistake whilst you’re looking for a pavilion what you’re actually creating is an event. The stage: your building, the performance or experience: whats in it, and how it works. The building, content and operations are simply individual components of that overall event, or pavilion. You could find all this from one person, and yes, such people do exist! Or it could be from a design or event agency or some such, or it could be a consortium: a designer or architect, with event, content or experience producers and an operations specialist. As long as that consortium has strong and clear leadership, rather than acting like a committee, it can work perfectly well.

These three things once created by this entity, can also be called something else, the vision. The vision for the look, feel, identity, and experience of pavilion. Once you’ve found something you like, you move forwards, and this entity then oversee or manage the delivery of the construction, either directly or through a main contractor or project management company or some such, the fit out and its operation. And as they do, they’re constantly maintaining and leading their unified overall creative vision across each and every element.

Simple.

Let’s look at the second approach. Again, it starts with you. And as pavilions can often be seen as a building, more than an experience or an event, there can be an assumption that appointing a construction project management company, or some sort of similar committee, is the best route forwards. This management company then set about separately finding the right building design or architect, then someone to design and create the experience and content and then someone to look at the operations side. And once those have been found or approved, each party will then oversee the construction, the fit out and operations side of things. And in this mix there will be all manner of advisors, consultants and experts, in various ways supporting the effort.

It makes sense. Or does it?

Whilst this approach will result in a pavilion, possibly a beautiful one, that beauty may be overly-expensive and only skin deep. What you can end up with when adopting this approach, is silos of activity.

A team looking at the building with their ideas, a team looking at the experience and content with their ideas, and then the operations bit bolted on too. Of course – these teams collaborate and work together in an aim to create something joined up. But you inevitably have different ideas and philosophies competing. And because boundaries blur between each, you can end up with everyone involved competing amongst themselves, and at your cost, for different contracts and fees. You can end up in a mess of contracts, variations and escalations as one party makes one decision affecting what the others are doing too.

And of course remember, the date your pavilion opens is fixed, which adds further pressure to all of us.

Now, yes, you have the management company there to try and manage all this, though their expertise is often borne from the construction industry, rather than creative or entertainment worlds. Project management alone isn’t enough. There also needs to be this vision. A vision that leads everything, just as a conductor conducts an orchestra. You need that singular creative vision conducting every element: the architecture, the experience, and how it operates.

It is only when the pavilion’s design, or architecture, what happens in it, its content and how it works, are all designed together beautifully and seamlessly, to get the best results. It’s quite different, for example, to designing a museum. Where you get the museum, design and built, and over the course of however many years, has its different experiences, events and exhibitions, programmed and design to go in it. These pavilions are moments in time, temporary events.

Your pavilion and its architecture and what happens in it, have to work together for that short period of time. It is that overall vision that pro-actively and with authority leads everyone forwards, overseeing all design and delivery work, resolving all conflicts or issues, and making the decisions necessary to maintain the overall creative integrity of that initial vision or idea you originally bought in to.

So if you’d like my advice… don’t do this [the second option], do this [the first option]. You can still have all the project and contract management, cost controls and risk management you get with the other approach, but this one will likely save you an awful lot of time and money, hundreds of thousands or millions potentially. You’ll enjoy the process a lot more too, which shouldn’t be underestimated as that immovable deadline accelerates towards you. Most importantly though, you’ll end up with the most amazing design, hosting the most amazing experience that both you and your visitors will get the most from.

That’s all from me in this video, I hope the insights and principles provide food for thought.

Thanks for watching.

Speak to you again soon.