Emily Branston | Inside my placement year: What it’s like working at Outsourced Events

I joined Outsourced Events (OE) last July on my student placement and that’s when my journey into the world of events began. Over the past 10 months, I’ve had the opportunity to support the team across a wide range of projects from sourcing venues and managing speakers to being on-site and seeing it all come to life.

In this blog I share my experience as a placement student and what it has been like to be involved in everything from pre-event logistics to being part of the action on site.

Getting hands-on experience with pre-event logistics

Before an event takes place as you can imagine there are lots of tasks that need to take place for the event to run smoothly.

Some of these are:

• Supplier sourcing
• SPEX (sponsorship and exhibitions) management 
• Speaker management
• Venue coordination

I have been lucky enough to contribute to all of these in recent events. Each pre-event task makes a big impact in shaping the overall experience and each one offers a unique and valuable learning opportunity.

Venue sourcing and supplier management: key learnings

One of the critical aspects of planning an event comes down to selecting the right venue and sourcing reliable suppliers. The choices you make in both can significantly influence the success of the overall event and satisfaction of the client and attendees. At OE we are lucky enough to work with a handful of professional and dependable suppliers, I always appreciate suppliers who are proactive and have clear communication, it makes all the difference when working on different events. From Museums to Grand Hotels each venue offers something different. Some of the key things I must think about when it comes down to venue sourcing is the capacity in each room, location, accessibility, transport, on site facilities and staff support. All of those are important when choosing the right venue as it can really influence the events theme.

Some top tips I have learnt whilst working at OE is:

• Visit venues in person (photos can be misleading)
• Ask suppliers for examples of past work or testimonials
• Always have a plan B in case something falls through
• Build good relationships

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to support the sourcing of a wide range of event suppliers, including team-building entertainment, a live band for a gala dinner, professional florists, DJs, branding and AV (audio-visual) services. Each one of these played a key role in creating a memorable experience for attendees and our client.

Behind the scenes of speaker management

One of the areas I have really valued the experience of during my placement at OE has been speaker management for 80 speakers. Speaker management is a role that requires strong communication, organisation and a calm approach. I found speaker management both rewarding and exciting.

My role in speaker management included many different tasks from start to finish for example:

• Initial communication ensuring they had the correct information before and during the event
• Briefing calls
• Handling presentation slides
• Organising their travel and accommodation
• Scheduling speaker previews
• Creating individual speaker briefing documents
• Acting as a point of contact for any questions and issues
• Providing support on the day

One of the key things I learnt throughout my speaker management process is to build relationships with each speaker. This showed on-site when I had speakers show how grateful they were for my support. One of the speakers sent me an email after the event saying, “Thank you for being so kind and helpful. I very much enjoyed my brief visit and wish you well in your future career” which was really lovely to hear. Another reason why I took particular interest in speaker management is because every speaker has different needs and preferences, it is a role that combines both structure and flexibility. Overall, speaker management has made me enhance my strong communication and organisation skills, allowing me to develop from pre-event to on-site. Each speaker had a very successful session and knowing I helped them was incredibly fulfilling. 

From planning to execution: My on-site event experience

Being on-site is where all the months of planning comes to life. I find it very rewarding seeing an event you have spent many months working on come to life and everything come together. It is a fast-paced environment, often unpredictable and requires quick thinking but for me that is something that I find exhilarating. Over the past 10 months I have been on-site many times as I have progressed at OE, I can clearly see how working on site has pushed me outside of my comfort zone and showed me how much I love working under pressure with a team. 

Some of my roles when being on site at different events has been:

• Registration
• Catering liaison
• SPEX management
• Speaker management

Being involved in all these different roles on site has taught me a range of skills from problem solving to time management while gaining first-hand experience in staying calm under pressure. Everyone on site has a role to play and it is very energising to see everyone sharing the same focus and determination to working together to deliver a successful event.

Reflections on my year at Outsourced Events

Working as an Event Executive at OE during my placement year has been such an incredibly valuable experience. The team at OE have been extremely helpful and supportive in introducing me to the Event’s industry and trusting me to contribute to a variety of exciting projects. Being part of a fast-paced events agency has allowed me to develop a wide range of skills. My confidence has grown significantly over these past 10 months and that is thanks to the guidance and encouragement of the entire team. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a dedicated team and be part of so many projects. This placement year at OE has given me such a strong foundation to build on and I look forward to seeing what the future holds.