Whether it's an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event, our event planning specialists have many years of experience running seamless events for our clients from start to finish. Armed with in-depth industry knowledge, partnered with the best suppliers and venues in the industry, and experts in the latest and very best event technology, it's fair to say events are in safe hands with our knowledgeable team.
We sat down with Head of Client Delivery, Fiona Price, to learn about a typical day in her life, why she loves her job, and how Hire Space prides itself on creating outstanding experiences for our clients.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role?
I head up the client event delivery side of the business at Hire Space. We are an established team of event management professionals with decades of experience and a wide network of formidable industry experts at our fingertips.
Hire Space has traditionally always had a vast spectrum of clients engaging with us as their chosen venue finder and as a voice of the events industry, but there was a clear demand for us to add increased value to these event bookings and help grow these relationships further. In response, we now offer a complete end-to-end solution for our clients, which is affordable too (pre-production event support is available from £75/hour). Our event management service is an optional add-on that runs alongside our venue-finding service. I work extremely closely with the venue finding team to ensure each client gets the best possible all-round experience and ROI from their event.
We can flex around the way our clients want to define our roles and responsibilities, meaning that we put together a bespoke quote based on each individual brief.
What type of events do you usually work on?
Our work varies; for some clients, we produce the whole event, and for others, we fill a resource gap they’ve identified internally, such as help with registration, badging, check-in, or supplier liaison. This could also be a gap in experience, knowledge, or simply time capacity. Whether it’s just one of us or a whole tailored team we’ve put together for the brief, we step into the life cycle of that particular event and help our client’s vision become a reality with minimum stress and via sensible and transparent budgets.
Read a case study on a recent event we delivered for Tourism Australia.
What does a typical day look like for you when working on an event for one of our clients?
The number of projects we are working on at any one time varies depending on the size of the brief and what our particular roles are within that brief. We ensure activities are planned meticulously so that we have plenty of capacity available for troubleshooting or whatever else is needed.
Morning
To kick off the day I’ll first check in with the internal Hire Space 360 team, and then with the team of suppliers and partners we have built for each event. Following this, I’ll check in with the project timeline tracker and add any status changes or new factors.
There is often a pre-production call or site visit scheduled at the venue (or subsidiary venue if the event is across multiple spaces). This is usually with the client, as well as suppliers such as AV, caterers, health and safety, and security. The list of suppliers we liaise with for an event is endless, and there’s often a more unusual, bespoke supplier we bring onboard for that real point of difference that requires more attention. We also try to make each event as sustainable as possible, so are always in communication with our suppliers to ensure we're doing everything we can to minimise the event's environmental impact.
Depending on the size of the event, the agenda for these visits could be anything from mapping out branding and way-finding to digital content testing, design creation, or logistics.
Afternoon
My afternoons are often focused on finalising and rolling out plans that have been discussed/amended earlier in the day.
There is always an element of budget management and status tracking throughout, alongside supplier proposals, negotiations, additional bespoke research, mood boards, and booking confirmations. Attention to detail is paramount every step of the way to consider every scenario and outcome from every possible angle.
If we don’t have an event going live that evening, I will be tying up final elements and checking back in with the bigger-picture timeline before usually heading out to a familiarisation trip at an exciting venue. It’s key that we stay connected to our industry and remain at the forefront of venue and supplier knowledge to share with our clients.
What skills do you use to excel in your role?
The list of skills an event planner needs every single day is endless! I'd say the main ones are:
- Drive and energy to keep things moving and provide the best possible outcome for the client.
- Focus and attention to detail, but also keeping one eye always on the bigger picture.
- Solution-focused, organised, proactive, and calm!
- Passion for planning and delivering fantastic events, and genuinely loving the process, is paramount.
- The ability to recognise what is important and what is not, and to really engage with the client's objectives while staying one step ahead.
What is the most rewarding part of your role?
- Making a client's brief come to life. The joy and satisfaction that clients get from a successful event, and knowing that we've been a huge part of that, is incredible.
- Building relationships that can create great things - whether that’s with the client, the event suppliers, or both.
- Working with a specialist team of planners and suppliers, brought together in one moment of time for a specific event, to produce a one-of-a-kind experience.
- The sense of achievement when a new issue arises and you step back and work through solutions, trouble-shooting and finding the perfect result using instinct, knowledge, collaboration, and experience. Reaching a resolution in this way that works for everyone, turning a challenge into an opportunity, is the best feeling!
What’s your favourite part of working for Hire Space?
The team and the variety of every day, as well as the enormous breadth of magnificent buildings and locations I see and work across. My background is a mix of event production and venue management/consultancy and I love buildings and spaces. On land, on water, underground, or up high: maximising the potential of a space drives me.
Browse our vacancies if you'd love to join a team like Hire Space
Where do you see the future of the industry heading in 2023 and beyond?
The emergence of virtual and hybrid events in the past few years have shown us that purely in-person events are not the only way we can reach people and create great experiences. This has been an exciting development for the events industry over the past few years because it has revitalised planners' roles and created new opportunities for learning and growing as event professionals. I think this year, planners will continue to adapt and grow, and technology will be a huge part of that. For more, read our piece around the top trends for corporate events in 2023.
We hope this gives some interesting insight into the day in the life of our event delivery team! We're always on the lookout for hardworking, passionate eventprofs to join our team, so check out our open vacancies if you're looking for a new challenge.
You could also explore our blog for more content around event planning and important topics in the industry such as sustainability, diversity, and so much more.
To see how we can help you bring your event brief to life, book in a chat with our experts.
Author
Izzie Lachecki
Izzie brings a deep understanding of the events world to Hire Space, and keeps busy by writing lots of Hire Space and EventLAB content and managing the Hire Space social media presence.
