Events Are Not All Glamour

Last week I hosted the Queensland Mining Awards. It was a fantastic night. Over 600 people came together in a stunningly decorated venue to celebrate innovation, community support and achievements in mining.

What you usually don’t see is all the hard work and lack of glamour happening back stage. Like this photo.

While everyone else is being waited on, the support team and I were back stage getting ready for the next round of awards, dressed super stunningly, balancing our meals on our laps. Quickly dealing with any hiccups that may happen, guiding recipients to the media wall for photos, ensuring recipients are in the room for their announcements and any number of other small things that happen throughout the course of the evening.

All smiles and glamour regardless of what is actually happening.

I am certain you are the same at your work.

Often the story of the graceful swan is shared, smoothly gliding along the surface while paddling like crazy beneath.

While the event was a huge success, there was so much that went into it. Months of planning to assess the awards, set up for the venue, logistics for sponsors, pre-recorded video and audio, rehearsals of timing, comedy routine preparation (and changes and practice and changes and practice…), media announcement of winners, social media postings, media interviews, and so on.

Events are no small thing to get right. It is so worth having the professionals help make it happen.

What behind the scenes work do you do that no-one else knows about?