Julian Bray can be hired through this office (UK Tel: 01733 345581) and leading agents for corporate motivational presentations, after dinner speeches and leadership courses.

International Confex, Earls Court, London

 

 

Day 2 Wednesday Theatre 3, Corporate 15:15 hrs

Presented by Julian Bray, MetroConsulting Partnership

Mobile: +44 (0) 7944 217476

Tel: +44 (0) 17 33  34 55 81   Email: julianbray@aol.com

 

 

 

This seminar was given during the  2007 Confex and has been updated to reflect 2008 conditions:

 

Post Presentation News Update>>>

 

Due to several requests, the seminar content has now been incorporated into an in-house or residential leadership programme.

Details of avaliability from julianbray@aol.com .

 

Only a few changes were made to this basic script, The question and answer session was short and very to the point as the audience admitted the presentation had answered virtually all their questions.

 

A few discussion areas on a one-to-one basis were then raised after the seminar, mainly on the implications of Corporate Manslaughter, now active on the 2008 statute book.

 

The worrying factor being that the majority of the audience [professional event organisers and high level corporate marketing people - including a sprinkling  of bankers [is that really the collective noun? -ed] were blissfully unaware of the perils. I have already conducted a series of in-house seminars on this very topic.

The popular mistaken belief being the higher profile your corporate name the greater the risk, this is so wrong. Small firms and individuals connected with those firms are equally liable!

 

Over 9,000 laminated copies of the Basic Organisers Kit have now been distributed. This can also be copied from this website.  The seminar is being podcast by Confex and can be downloaded from the site. 

 

It pays to  check out the facilities in advance!

 

 

Please be aware that a comprehensive animated PowerPoint visual package is always used with this base script. The PowerPoint carries additional information and clarification. Reading the script alone will sometimes raise more questions than it answers!

 

Practical Ways to Ice the Cake! 

Handy hints for that little bit extra…

 

(c) JULIAN BRAY 2007,2008

 

·                    Real Life strategies for maximising budgets, strategies that really make the difference

 

·                    The pros and cons of exotic locations- where to go, when to get there and how to make sure you are safe

 

·                    Maximise pre-event briefings and training for guaranteed success from your stand

 

·                    Smile and the world smiles with you – how your public face will achieve your goals

 

·                    Pinpointing effective marketing strategies and sell your event and ideas to the media

 

 

 

1.           Welcome, I’m Julian Bray, the senior partner of Metro Consulting Partnership and in this seminar, we’ll look at practical ways to ice the cake, adding that little bit extra and picking up on little-known factors that need to be addressed.  

 

2.           I will be taking questions towards the end of our seminar so if you can hold back until then, it would be appreciated. You might also find that I’ve answered some of your queries by the time we wrap all this up. I will be available after the presentation to delve a little deeper into any situations you might want me to address .I am also happy to respond (without charge!)to any e-mailed questions on julianbray@aol.com 

 

3.           At the outset, let me tell you right now, whatever you do it won’t be enough and your hard work will not be fully appreciated. Get over that and you have the basis for a long, happy and active business life in this industry. Certainly the mantra to be adopted, when setting out on the event, exhibition or conference route. Your organisation has entrusted you with a major task, the overall organisation and delivery of a successful project.

 

4.           This is however not like a manufacturing process or a conversion of a service or product line. It is a wholly dynamic enterprise with no set pattern or indeed seemingly little logic or process. The perceived easy parts will be difficult, and the difficult parts of the process will simply flow through - you might even gain days on your overall timeline.

 

5.           On the journey you’ll encounter the most amazingly complex problems, sharp intakes of breath from countless contractors and a million and one reasons, why parts of your overall strategy cannot be delivered on time. Even when you foolishly offer to throw money at it…

 

6.           You are not alone, everyone does it! But they are wrong and you are right. I will now seek to prove that you are right!

 

7.           So stepping back, the primary resource. Money. 

How do we maximise the budget? In a few words:  forensic project management, careful strategic planning and daily management accounting.

 

8.           FACT: The earlier you can commit to a course of action the more value for money you will achieve or simply put: the cheaper it gets. 

 

9.           FACT: last minute revisions of conference literature, scripts or late copy – tardy design approval - can easily add sixty per cent to the top of your budget. Reflect on that 60 percent - or in the case of the London Olympics, there is no upper limit! Get as much material as you can physically signed off and as early as possible. After which, from the chairman downwards, it does not change. If it has to change, then the cost overrun is not your concern – make certain everyone knows this!  

 

10.       Be bold, this is how your memo might read: Dear Chairman, If the company asks the designers, plate makers and printers to stop and discard the existing print run, to change a few words in your previously agreed text, it will cost  a minimum of £20,000 and we will also have to scrap the existing wire bound units, adding a further £8,000 to the bill, then there is additional origination costs…. again you see where this is going, the Board of the company is being asked to formally approve and take direct responsibility for the additional cost, adding another £28,000 and sanctioning waste of shareholders funds….. You are effectively watching your own back, as this will also have a knock on effect on your critical timeline..   

 

11.       FACT: The more you can complete in house and transfer electronically to your contractor, the cheaper it will be and the physical turnaround of the element or item will be much faster. It also eliminates several proofing stages

 

12.       FACT:  Exhibition and conference designers are working on several projects at any one time. Yes, really!!! Not just your baby!

 

13.       The greater the amount of time you spend in pre-planning and marshalling all your resources, much easier the overall journey is going to be.

 

14.       Consider that when a Major Incident or Disaster Plan is put into operation, such as a train crash, or in these troubled times, a terrorist incident, those at the epicentre of the incident, do not use computers or ICT but clipboards, paper, pencil, day glo tabards and hard hats.

 

15.       If you don’t believe me go to any major hospital and you will find attached to the wall of each wing or ward the very equipment housed in a glass fronted cabinet marked ‘major incident plan’..

 

16.       The reason is simple, take the hint, if at all possible do not rely on any resource that needs specialist training, external power, will break down, gets scrambled in communication and so on. I’m not suggesting that we are in the grips of a major incident plan but there are lessons and knowledge to be learned from this type of planned eventuality.

 

17.       For example don’t simply rely on cascaded e-mails alone, ensure that you physically talk and discuss matters face to face, always without exception call people back when they leave you a voicemail..

 

18.       Use e-mail as a second line of attack and wherever possible back this up with hard copies. This flies in the face of conventional IT thinking but there again when e-mail was first inflicted on us all, the boffins at Cranfield said that within a few years we would have a paperless office.

 

19.       What utter rubbish.  I respectfully suggest that we have an increasing amount of high quality paper drafts at every stage of the operation, rather than the two or three heavily amended and scribbled over scripts we relied upon before. Global warming and the loss of our forests can be laid at the door of the very non paperless office and middle management worldwide in particular.    

 

20.       Back to basics, in some departments, is sometimes the only way forward. And then there is Plan B. Ah Plan B. What happens when it all goes pear shaped, a chain of unconnected events caused by external factors which conspire, as if attracted by a magnet, to impact on your sphere of operations?

 

21.       Factor this all in at an early stage, like the boy scouts “Be Prepared” and you will double the effective reach or spend of your budget. But by this I do not mean cut in half the original spend, so how you present your original full budget to your organisation will require all the skill and salesmanship of an IT consultant selling unworkable computer systems to the Public Sector or failing that, all  the guile and presentational skills you can muster but again that is why you have been chosen and are also attending this seminar!

 

22.       So practicalities for maximising the budgets,

 

23.       I cannot stress this enough, go overboard on early pre-planning, brainstorming, physically test, cost and rehearse at various stages, your pitch for funding; before D-day – the final pitch – a dummy run or two, in confidence to your immediate colleagues and warmly welcome their feedback and ideas even if they seem on the surface, to be rubbish. Get them involved.

 

24.       Properly delegate areas of activity, at an early stage against an agreed time line. Share ownership of tasks.

 

25.       A few years ago, my firm handled the setting up and launch of Abbey Nationals Cornerstone Estate Agency chain. Brilliant launch but eventually the Abbey pulled out with a black hole of some £30 million on the balance sheet.  

 

26.       The design agency Landour, The ad. Agency BBDO, The below the line agency Clark Hooper, The direct client and the parent organisation, all had  collective heart attacks when I said they had just 35 days to the official launch.

 

27.       I had simply taken out all the bank holidays and weekends so our full thirteen weeks lead time came down to just 35 working days…..this is a very effective way of sharpening minds. Try it!   

 

28.             Aim to establish Board level or very senior level ‘buy in’ to YOUR proposal.  The higher you can get approval or even a benign partial ownership and corporate blessing for your project, the stronger will be your negotiation power and position in the overall corporate structure, it won’t do your career any harm either! 

 

29.             Always have an alternative strategy or programme ready. Not so difficult as it sounds be prepared for all eventualities, for example event staff or keynote speakers not turning up. Here is a classic example:

 

30.       The North East Regional Chamber of Commerce organised a prestige lunch lecture in the studios at ITV Newcastle, to be addressed by a high-level European Commissioner. 400 lunch tickets sold, the regions top brass and MP’s in attendance. 

 

31.       The night before one of my speaker agencies rang me up.  “Julian I have a problem”, it was the delightful and ever affable Mr Barnes. “My keynote speaker the Commissioner has flu and won’t be in Newcastle”   Would I step in and help out? Now what I know about the region, European Enlargement and the adverse political impact this would have on EC funding, I could happy write on the back of a postage stamp!

 

32.        I said give me 30 minutes and I’ll ring back. Trawling through the Internet I came across the European Community office in Washington USA. At 6.15pm UK time it was still open. I telephoned and was put through to a delightful lady attaché, I recounted the situation, within minutes she directed me to the EC website and a series of links that took me right to all the speeches and technical press releases issued by Brussels on that very subject.

 

33.       I called the agency right back. “ I’m on the red-eye shuttle in the morning.” Three hours later, I had the 45 minute script completed and was ready to go. It all went well….  Well apart from the fact that I left my carefully printed out hard copy script at home, and had to use my laptop on the lecturn (our American cousins call it a podium) as an impromptu autocue, simply by enlarging the typeface and manually scrolling through…. They also didn’t tell me that a Parkinson style Q&A was to be held after my set piece…but that is another story.        

 

34.       Handy Hint: Remember the legal definition of an expert. The Expert is the one person in a room (or court) who knows slightly more about a particular subject than anyone else in that same room.  

 

35.       You are that expert so don’t expect anyone else to have the same level of knowledge that you do, or to be as committed to the eventual outcome, The one person within the organisation who will look good internally, if it all goes well, will be you. Make certain they all know it! Externally of course is a different matter. Everyone will want to bask and share in the sunshine of your success.  

 

36.       If it goes bad then expect the whole organisation to get involved. The night of the long knives has nothing on this. What you are striving for is an event or conference that flows so smoothly, that time flies, the convention halls are full and no one can pinpoint anything out of place.  An event where the organisation does not seem to be intrusive but simply very effective and almost unnoticed. A clear case of less is more.

 

37.       We turn to the pros and cons of exotic locations. A year ago I would have happily said turn up at the airport and fly off, however events over the last few months have put a considerable strain on matters and as risk assessments go is now totally unacceptable.  I now put forward radically different proposals.

 

38.       British Airways have also put the final nail in the coffin of air accessible overseas conventions. As from a few days ago (the 13^th) it will now cost on domestic and European flights an extra £120 pounds if you put a second bag in the hold, or an eye-watering £240, for that second bag on long haul return flights. Even if the two combined in weight terms are below the allowable total weight limit.

 

39.       What planet are they on? Willie Walsh, Wake UP! How does that square with the euros you try and negotiate off the delegate day rate….sheer madness. Ryanair charges £7 a bag.  I digress

 

40.       The key to any overseas convention is the very early involvement of a local DMC – the destination management company, when they are good, it is terrific, life is sweet, but if the DMC is below par the problems increase. So be ready….

 

41.       If you have in mind a particular exotic location ensure that new biometric passports, Visas and Visa waivers and vaccinations are not an issue, this heightened and heavy handed security puts North America right off my current radar. There is also the question of the current one way extradition act where some of our leading businessmen are liable to being arrested as soon as they touch American soil. 

 

42.       All this has the effect of putting Portugal and Spain near the top, so does Gibraltar now the squabble with Spain has been resolved. On vaccinations, places like the Gambia for example are still third world primitive countries and require a full set of jabs and malarial tablets religiously taken before, during and sometime after the visit.

 

43.       Go the website of the London School of Tropical Health and Hygiene to see what is currently required. Do not under any circumstances rely on your local GP or the Foreign Office website and obviously if you or anyone in your party feels unwell when they get back tell the doc exactly where you or they have been and do it quickly!

 

44.       There is of course the issue of corporate manslaughter which could see the hapless event organiser (anyone of us!) being thrown in jail. Conduct rigorous risk assessments, very early on and ensure it is well documented. Make the risk assessment binding on sub-contractors and incorporate the written requirement in all terms of trade.

 

45.       The spectre of unlimited personal liability has always been present and is not a new issue.

 

46.       The real problem is that by simply buying in the service or supply, the matter is thought to be handed  over wholesale to the supplier. The legal position with all services and suppliers, is that a level of corporate responsibility or in old fashioned jargon ‘active continuing management’ is still required as the suppliers, production companies and any sub-contractors are simply acting as agents for the originator or ultimate owner of the event –you!

 

47.       Production companies faced with the intervention of client finance department and accountants driving down costs have reacted accordingly and driven down those costs but corners are being cut. At one time ad-hoc public events if they involved a theatrical build would be up to full theatre standards. All fabrics and wood painted structures fire proofed etc. Do it yourself exhibition kits, and temporary event staff not trained in public safety evacuation drills simply add to the problems taken on by the owner of the event - you!

 

48.       There is no respite from this by simply using health and safety risk assessment programmes. How can you assess something that does not currently exist and is not likely to be finished until a few moments before the first delegates arrive …

 

49.       A way forward is to carry out ‘due diligence’ and use an incident management service, such as provided by Metro, fees range from £1,000 to £10,000 depending on the complexity of the issues involved, by rule of thumb 3 percent of the overall budget in scope.  Developed initially for the aviation industry and marine services (cruise ships). An incident manual is provided which seeks to identify all current and perceived threats, it provides a secure insurance friendly framework for suppliers and production companies to work within.

 

50.       It also provides the basis for a legal defence and a justification for not taking the cheapest quotation; a simple change to the basic terms of supply or order incorporates an insurance backed understanding that the parties all have understood, read and will fully comply with the conditions laid out in the incident manual.  The term incident is deliberate, if you refer to ‘crisis’ it is simply too late and legally places you at a disadvantage. As you acknowledge that you are waiting for the crisis to happen….

 

51.       So we all need a get out of jail card! You can make this happen.  Let us turn to lighter matters

 

52.       These days the all in one printer,copier and scanner is an essential part of the project directors armoury and is almost disposable, the universally available HP PSC 1215, is multi voltage, costs around £100, with a bit of bubble wrap, it fits in my suitcase or I have been known to source and buy one on site and donate it at the close of the event to a grateful member of the local destination management company.

 

53.       I usually ask the convention hotel or at the registration desk to seek permission from the holder to automatically scan their passports in colour, produce two colour copies, retain one  and give one back to the delegate suggesting that the copy is securely held elsewhere or by another member of his her party. Passports these days are highly valuable in the wrong hands, and professional pick pockets in most major cities are very common.  In some countries, Madeira for example you must physically carry the passport with you for identification and they will not accept a colour copy however good it is. 

 

54.       If you still hanker for the American touch with its high levels of attentive service and crave the value for money that the sterling dollar exchange rate can bring, but don’t actually want to physically go to the USA. Strongly consider one of the American cruise lines now plying their trade with round trip cruises out of Southampton. Royal Caribbean – exhibiting at Confex – Stand Y652, has for the first time this year put on a much larger ship, having over the last two years proved the value of round trip cruises from Southampton, with its smaller Legend of the Seas, when I say smaller the Legend still makes the ageing Cunard QE2 look like a tender!   The new ship this year is the Navigator of the Seas -130,000-tons. I am told that a major new initiative (currently under wraps), is due to break on the 25^th which embraces the American experience – so you heard it here first!  

 

Post presentation update: The breaking news is that the 158,000-ton Royal Caribbean cruise ship Liberty of the Seas due to be launched in May 2007, will be based in Southampton and targeted at the UK cruise market. Ships so large that childen who have their own discos, play/club rooms and 'night clubs' can be safely lost for the entire cruise... or is that really wishful thinking ???

 

55.       Others out of Southampton? Princess Cruises: the Sea Princess immediately springs to mind, and of course P&O now in American hands.

 

56.       You could also consider a three day two night taster cruise to either Ireland or France. The cruise ships, these days are floating fully self contained five star cities, for the convention organiser they have advanced audio visual facilities, equalling Las Vagas production standards.

 

57.       Highly experienced crewing, print shop, photographers, internet cafes and Internet WI-FI through out the ship for your laptop and theatre tech staff 400 to 1,000 seat theatres to die for, TV ring main to all staterooms, separate break out rooms and purpose built conference centres.

 

58.        It is possible to eat around the clock or at eight culinary events a day, lavish entertainment, pools and even an ice rink! All within the delegate rate, all the delegates need directly pay for is the bar bill, tips, and shopping. They also have some of the finest laundry facilities on board with dry cleaning and pressing at less than half the UK land price! The shopping mall is also duty and tax free and will kit you out with everything from cruise wear to tuxedos!

 

59.       Here are some  budget convention Top picks:

 

Marbella, Mallorca, Spain  Melia Hotel Victoria – newly refurbished and near to Peurto Banus

 

Lisbon, Portugal    (consult list)

 

Porto, Portugal       (consult list)

 

Barcelona, Spain.  Superb convention centre and the Hotel ReyJuan Carlosi is a must.

 

60.       In every case, for land based venues, as a starting point, on an early inspection visit, ask the hotels which local DMC, they would prefer to work with. As in every case the earlier you can commit the better it is all round.

 

61.       If your focus is an exhibition stand, a different set of rules apply. Pray that you do not have a client who wants to install a food processing production line and a bottling line using hydraulics and dynamic plumbing as once happened to me at the much fabled Meat Industries Exhibition on the gallery level and the Dairy Show on the ground floor with more industrial plumbing and hydraulics to cater for.  

 

62.       Early planning, intelligent shell schemes and car transportable pop up systems have taken most of the grief away but what seems to be lacking is attention to the actual manning of the stand and the depth of pre-event briefing.

 

63.       We all seem to run out of steam, the day the even opens! I honestly believe it is sometimes better to hire in professional agency highly groomed personnel, who like the actors they are, have learned a script rather than a David Brent or a back office manager on a jolly day out to manage your stand. What is the purpose, why did you spend all that money?

 

64.       To give the visitor a visual and enjoyable experience and a taste of what your organisation is all about, in less than three dynamic minutes. Interactive magician Jon Allen works this type of  exhibition and for his hirers combines all the positive presentational qualities and can deliver a selling message, perform amazing feats of close – up magic and finally deliver a pre-sold happy visitor to your disinterested back office manager? I don’t think so.

 

65.       By the way, you can contact Jon on http://www.closeup-magician.com/. Don’t forget to include in your plan the daily stand business card draw at 4pm for a bottle of Bolly or for those who don’t drink a box of finest chocolates. Try and introduce something related to your product but entertaining and fun onto your stand. 

 

66.       What sort of image does dirty ashtrays, (or even worse stand staff chatting to each other, ignoring visitors, and smoking in full view on the stand) you’ll also see raincoats, briefcases and overnight bags fully in view. Tired sample products, ripped-open cardboard boxes of leaflets, finger marked glass and half filled plastic cups, probably with a cigarette butt floating on the top - a tray of very droopy salad garnished, curled up sandwiches, the best bits of the filling having been extracted …see how the stands in this hall measure up.  

 

67.       A detailed pre-briefing, make it fun we’ll call it the pre-exhibition ‘rumble’, for those who really can’t get to it, a CD-rom and a hard copy (given to all) would be an alternative provided that a rapid one to one  run through by you is given on the day.

 

68.                                     The old telesales cliché stand up and smile when you’re speaking on the telephone, it does work and that is what you have to get over, to people working your stand  - public facing and always on display – your highly motivated, well turned out stand staff. Arrange to rotate them so you will need precisely a third more than you have currently calculated and budgeted for.

 

69.                                     Not more than a two to three hour stint at a time and give everyone sufficient time to network off the stand, wander around the venue (obviously loaded with business cards and for those who don’t have any some blanks will do) On the humanitarian side, a water cooler or bottles of chilled water and soft drinks. No alcohol.  They will be dehydrated enough as it is!

 

70.                                     There is one area that still reeks of the witches cauldron and satanic dark forces. We are talking about Public Relations, the realms of spin, overt marketing and classic media exploitation.

 

71.                                     Running alongside your main project is the secondary but equally important option of leveraging your conference or exhibition experience. Before, during and long after the actual event has faded in memory.

 

72.                                     A burst of media publicity, captioned photographs, press features, contract awards, meaningful newsworthy press releases, all this should be prepared and cleared well in advance and fed into the media long before the exhibition date, leave it too late and everyone else will be competing for the same editorial space. 

 

73.                                     During an exhibition, if there is a press room arrange for a limited number of simple press kits to be delivered and daily physically monitor the take up, tidy and replenish if required.

 

74.                                     Handy hint: No glossy multi colour card folders, a simple slip plastic folder will do – Journalists can re use those, the paper folder is discarded and  rarely leaves the press room.

 

75.                                     If the journalist visits your stand be prepared to spend some time and talk knowledgeably about your products or services don’t immediately hand him or her over to the token PR person unless you are so unsure of what you are there for, which does  beg the question, why are you involved in the first place?

 

76.                                     All the ground we have covered today and it is a lot to take in, the experiences stem from my involvement with metro consulting, very often the task seems so daunting that outsourcing the whole project, cradle to grave, is the only sensible or practical way forward.

  

77.                                     This all encompassing type of involvement  such as offered by Metro Consulting is not to be confused with limited role of say the production company who will take your brief and lay on the theatrical dressing of the venue and provide the evening entertainment.

 

78.                                     Metro Consulting develops the initial brief with you, thrashes out the initial budget, presents the proposal and then with timelines in place will deliver as much or as little of the overall concept as required. Metro uses experienced fee earning professionals to make up the whole team.

 

79.                                     The overall budget cost, if you add back in the clients own management overhead, is on a par or sometimes less than a fully resourced in-house project.

 

80.                                     The enhanced buying power - the knowledge that if this project exceeds expectations - there will be others in the immediate pipeline, does carry a lot of weight.    This enhanced peer group contact and yes you can call it ‘elitist’ but if it does the job properly, who cares?

 

81.                                     In these cases, suppliers and enablers do go the extra mile and materially help to give projects an extra gloss, especially if you are in foreign climes, lost your passport, mislaid your wallet and don’t understand  the local lingo! It can be a very lonely environment, but we love it! I’ll be happy to take some questions.

 

© JULIAN BRAY 2008  

This was taken at a recent London private party, the budget was around £30,000,  a Kensington West London venue (more like a village or masonic hall) was transformed into an exotic eastern oasis, with an eastern cabaret floor show and a variety of circus acts. 

The Snake is a delightful but harmless Honey Python called......... Honey!