The experts speak: Martin Jack
Martin Jack is managing director of event management company Think Different Events. Martin has seventeen years experience in managing, developing and directing a range of conferences, events and training programmes. He is an executive committee member for the Association of British Professional Conference Organisers.
How useful is unpaid work experience?
Many event organisers, probably most, are always on the lookout for volunteers to support their events, obviously the larger ones like the Olympic Games, music and film festivals, etc. are well known but within the business to business world there are a wide range of events - conferences, product launches, award ceremonies, etc. where onsite and other support is required.
I realise the term 'volunteer' means you are offering your services for free, but by showing a willingness to support events, gaining valuable knowledge in the sector, etc. you are putting yourself in the shop window when real/paid event jobs do become available, gaining valuable experience at the same time.
How important is a degree?
The sector covers such a wide variety of skills and while your degree may not be readily identifiable with a particular role, in itself it shows you have the aptitude to learn and that's what employers are really interested in.
What is the best thing about your job?
I genuinely love my job, the different people you meet, the clients, the venues, the suppliers - potentially hundreds in each category. There's a real buzz to organising events, a real thrill when it's event day and a sense of achievement when all goes well. Yes there are bad days but these are far outnumbered by the good days and there are so many skills required across the whole sector I'm sure the vast majority of people could find a worthwhile role.
What kind of skills do you need to enjoy this work?
If you can say yes to most of the skills below then you should seriously consider the events sector: excellent communications, customer focus, creativity, basic budgeting, flexibility, team player, common sense, patience and a sense of humour, even irony wouldn't go amiss either!
Strong management skills are a key requirement of any business sector and this is no different within the events industry. What is uppermost important is excellent organisational skills, inter-personal skills and an ability to work under pressure.
Technology is at the forefront of most events nowadays so anyone with a background which can understand the true benefits that technology brings to events will be in a strong position too.
What are the things that make the events industry great to work in and what are the common misconceptions about the industry?
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the events industry and one which puts a lot of people off following a career in it, is the idea that it is all champagne guzzling, hob-nobbing with celebrities and walking red-carpets.
Yes there are events where the great and the good are wined and dined and there is a great razamatazz around the event. However this is the sexy aspect of the sector, one which a lot of people may aspire to. The reality is that you can only get so many people organising these events.
I know a lot of young people who say they want into the events industry to work on T in the Park, Scotland's largest music festival. Yes, people work on it, and yes it would be great for their CV but the skills you require can be had by working on less glamorous but far more numerous projects.
I'd love to be the project manager for T in the Park myself but if I were I'd be looking only for the best candidates, with the greatest experience. I think people can improve their chances if they widen their scope initially, get that valuable experience, work up the career ladder and one day have a key role in the high profile events. It's far too much of a risk to the project manager on these events to have staff that doesn’t have the experience.
What are the downsides of the events industry?
Can it take over your life? Unfortunately it can and you just have to be careful. Make sure you have good friends who tell you you're on course for a burn out and do something about it.
In our experience event organisation is very much like an exponential curve. it starts slowly and gradually, as the event nears, the workload builds and builds, until the event itself when you are trying to appear calm on the outside but running about daft on the inside making sure everything is going well, if not you're fire fighting and then before you know it the event is over. You don't actually become relaxed, if anything you're totally deflated with little energy left.
If you don't manage this properly with yourself and your team then you can get burn out. If you don't manage the pressure you make bad decisions. If you make bad calls you exert more pressure on yourself.
As identified above entering the events industry is not an easy option. It's hard work no matter what role you have. The client expects a great event, the audience a quality experience and you are responsible for various aspects of this.
But hey, that's why I get up every morning looking forward to the next challenge and opportunity.
For me I am interested in the aptitude of people to grow into a particular role. The fact that you are already volunteering and gaining valuable experience would be important to me as a conference and event’s organiser and potential employer.
What I would say though is that attending a college or university course will give you the breadth of knowledge you will find useful when looking to build your career within the sector.
There are many conference organisers who require volunteers to support the delivery of events large and small. You could get lucky and work your way into a role via this route but it should be remembered that the students on courses have a requirement to have so many hours work experience as part of their course so you will be up against them too.