During the pandemic, the ability to deliver seamless virtual events has become an essential part of any event organiser’s arsenal. Here’s our complete guide to help you along the way.
This workshop at EventLAB Online Part 2 explored how we can create engaging events with experience design. Leading the workshop was Kim Myhre (Founder & Managing Partner) and Jordan Waid (Creative Partner) of Experience Designed.
With progress being made towards a vaccine for the coronavirus, we are starting to consider the impact this could have on consumer confidence and the return to live events. We were joined by Caroline Medcalf, Director of Venue Finding & Events at Capita Travel and Events, Mark Bannister, Independent Technical Director and Edward Poland, Co-founder of Hire Space, for the final session of the day.
We were joined by Sarah Virani, Partnerships & Marketing Manager at Regent Street Cinema, Sheena Patel, Director of YonderBeyond, Jenny McNeill, Co-Founder & Food Director of Flavourology and Sanj Surati, Digital Atelier/Founder of Tiger Heart to discuss what immersive events will look like going forward.
In a saturated market where new businesses are popping up here, there and everywhere, we’re having to work harder and smarter for our success. In order to learn more about different forms of professional development, we spoke to 5 women founders about what professional development looks like to them and the tools that have helped them get where they are today.
Leaders come in many different shapes and styles but when you really break it down, there are a few qualities that come up again and again. And, you guessed it - they’re all qualities associated with emotional intelligence! With these 5 tips and a bit of practice, you’ll make the step from a good manager to a truly great leader in no time.
Within People work with leaders looking to create cultures people love and want to be part of.
We were delighted to host a Masterclass at EventLAB 2019 where a group of inspiring leaders from across the events industry came together to explore what it means to lead a successful 21st Century organisation - the qualities of leadership that are essential for growth and the unhelpful stories that are holding us back.
Early on in our season we aligned around what we see as ‘different’ about 21st Century business. Clear themes emerged as the group discussed…
the relentless pace of work requiring continual adaptation and flexibility
the challenge of creating a culture where everyone feels they can belong
increasing awareness of the importance of wellbeing in the workplace
the significantly different expectations of the next generation entering the workplace
a blurring of the lines between work and life and the ‘always on’ expectation that technology brings
a desire to do fulfilling work with people that share your values
How do we need to lead to help people thrive at this time? Within People spent a year talking to progressive leaders around the world to understand what they see as the essential qualities for 21st Century Leadership. From San Francisco to Hong Kong to Cape Town, leaders talked about the same qualities: patience, curiosity, conviction, love, vulnerability, courage, empathy and creativity. And we work with leaders everyday who are showing up to these qualities and creating really powerful cultures that unleash potential and drive growth.
In our Masterclass we explored the 8 leadership qualities together as a group and which ones had served us well on our leadership journey so far. We talked about how leadership is a mindset not a job title, and how if these are the essential qualities we need, more of us can step forward to lead more often as these qualities are inside all of us.
If these qualities are inside all of us and these are the qualities we need to create thriving cultures we all love, why are we still experiencing poor and ineffective leadership? What’s getting in the way of all of us showing up and stepping in to 21st Century leadership?
So we connected to the qualities of vulnerability and courage and started to explore the barriers, the limiting beliefs and ingrained narratives that are holding us back. We talked about what we might need to ‘unlearn’ or let go of to fully step into our leadership power. The group bravely shared their challenges and the following insights came to light:
What stops us stepping fully into ‘courage’ is fear. Fear of looking stupid, fear of asking the wrong question, fear of failure - which all leads us to playing small and feeling like an imposter. The group talked about how framing things as ‘play’ and ‘experimentation' can really help dissolve that fear and create a different relationship with the work that can help us be more courageous and take more risks. We’re seeing leaders that create conditions for experiments and play really reap the benefits with their teams solving problems creatively and bravely bringing all of themselves to their work.
Sometimes we sit with extremely powerful stories about the type of people we are. One of our group expressed such a belief saying ‘I’m not an empathetic person’ and talked about her struggle connecting with others. When we probed a bit deeper there was plenty of evidence to show she could bring empathy to situations but felt more comfortable jumping in to solve problems rather than just ‘being’ with the experience of an other. Letting go of our need to solve and just creating space for connection allows us to step into empathy.
Vulnerability is a big one and it seems we’re often getting in our own way. We’re afraid to show up as ourselves for fear of being disliked or being judged and we don’t like feeling exposed. Yet we know that authenticity is what fuels meaningful human connection. We want to be seen for who we really are and we’re terrified of being seen for who we really are. The group explored the importance of developing greater self awareness and reflecting without judgement at the end of each day, asking ‘how did I show up today?’, ‘what felt true for me and what felt forced?’.
Greater self awareness is what helps us all unlearn and let go so we can step more powerfully into the essential qualities and lead the way we know our organisations need now, more than ever.
If you’d like to talk more about 21st Century leadership and creating cultures that unleash growth in your business then do get in touch, we’d love to continue the conversation. And a massive thank you to the group of curious and wholehearted leaders that joined us for the Masterclass, it was wonderful to share their stories.
Nicole & Nikki
What are the key traits of a modern leader? How important is humility? How to you build a fantastic work culture? Just some of the questions we are asking this episode as we are joined by two experts on the subject. Deborah Ward, Managing Director of Camm & Hooper sits down for our very first “7 Minutes with…”, then Mark Leruste, Motivational Speaker & Founder of the Unconventionalists is sharing his hard won wisdom about what it takes to be a great modern leader.
