I typically start work around 9:00, but I do my other job first which is to get the kids up and out to school. So, actually, my day starts at 6:30. No two days are ever the same, especially in events and definitely within virtual events. For clients in Asia ,we may be producing their virtual event during their time zone so I can start my day at any time really. But, it’s typically 9:00.

As soon as I log on, I check my calendar for any big deadlines and to see what’s going on for the day. I’m usually managing 2-3, maybe 4 events at the same time so it’s important for me to know what’s going on and what needs to be done that day.

One part of my job is managing event budgets. I’m currently putting together a budget for an actual live event at the end of June (fingers crossed!). It will be in Birmingham, here in the UK, so just down the road from me. We did a real, live site visit last week. It was really exciting to have the whole day out with our client. The budget that I’m putting together today is based on that site visit. I’m really looking forward to being onsite with the crew and working alongside people all day—and the cameraderie that goes with it.

I do try to make time to get away from the desk because I’m currently working at home. So even if it’s just ten minutes, I try and sit at the table and have some lunch. Or, we just started digging out the garden so there’s lots of plants that need looking after. When we’re in the office, I like to coordinate us all going out to lunch at the pizza place down the road. We'll do a Pizza Tuesday or Pizza Friday and then go back to work at the office.

In my role I act as the client liaison. It’s my responsibility to understand their goals and bring everything together to produce the event. Clients always like to have a meeting in the lead up to their event so I do have a few of those in the diary every week. Today, myself and the Logistics team join a call with one client to make sure everything is in place for an upcoming awards ceremony. Logistics was part of the meeting as they’ll send out meal boxes to attendees with a curry and a bottle of wine for them to enjoy during the event.

Next, I work on the technical running order for another event. For a virtual event, I need to understand who the speakers are, what needs to be on the screen at what time and the creative assets involved such as video or motion graphics. Then, I put it all in a running order, minute by minute or sometimes second by second, so that the show crew and I know what needs to be on screen at any one time. I spend a lot of time considering what the platform looks like and how the delegates are interacting with it as well. Recently, I started going into the studio during virtual events. I brief the show caller on what the show should look like and make sure the video techs have the right videos in the right order. Some of these events have 20, 30, 40 pieces of video so it makes for a busy show. In the studio I take on a stage manager role preparing speakers for their presentations. I also make a good coffee for everyone. With produced events, we still add value even if it’s virtual. We can make it look really amazing. We can make attendees feel involved and engaged. I think that’s often overlooked.

Typically, my day ends around 5:30. After work, it’s all about the kids and dinner. Now that I’m at home, I go immediately into school homework. And, I always cook dinner. That’s my half hour or hour away from everything. That’s my decompression time.