March/April 2021

PEOPLE
SPINNING PLATES
Whilst my laptop is firing up, I check my
emails on my work phone in an effort to
start prioritising the day ahead. I oversee
commercial event and filming activity
here at Harewood, so I’m often spinning a
number of plates at once. I was taught the
importance of prioritising my workload
from my previous line manager early on in
my former role as events and marketing
coordinator, as managing and coordinating
so many different elements and events
alongside each other throughout the year
can prove to be a bit of a juggling act. She
also taught me to always wear sun cream
and wear sunglasses; those long hours
spent in an event field can play havoc with
your skin and wrinkles – some of the most
invaluable advice she ever gave me!
I’ve certainly seen an increase in emails
from the night owls since the start of the
pandemic, possibly as a result from homeworking,
so I hit the ground running from
the moment my emails load on a morning.
Having said that, I think the pandemic
has seen a shift in the industry as a whole.
With many of us now predominantly
working from home for the time being, I
can certainly say that the length of time sat
on phone calls (or more so on Zoom right
now) with clients has definitely increased
– I think people miss the camaraderie of
working in the office!
We’ve changed the way we all work
over this past year and I’m not going to lie,
probably at least once or twice a day I find
myself thinking ahead to later in the year,
wondering what events are going to look
like then and what speed bumps, if any, we
may hit along the way.
Arguably, the biggest challenge we’re all
tasked with this year is ensuring the safe
“THIS HAS MADE ME EVEN PROUDER THAN EVER TO
WORK IN THIS WONDERFUL INDUSTRY WITH SUCH A
RESILIENT BUNCH OF INDIVIDUALS”
delivery of events in these challenging
times, but having said that, safety is what
we do best as event professionals, isn’t it?!
That said, I’ve also seen a positive impact
come out of the pandemic, namely in the
way that my clients, colleagues and myself
are continuously adapting to the changes
and challenges that are put in front of us,
on what seems like a regular basis at the
moment. This has made me even prouder
than ever to work in this wonderful
industry with such a resilient bunch of
individuals.
JAM PACKED CALENDAR
Much of my time at the moment is spent
finalising our, what’s hopefully set to be,
jam-packed calendar of outdoor events
for this year. Work is already starting on
next year too. As you might expect, this
involves a lot of conversations, meetings
and paperwork in making sure we
have all of our ducks in a row, covering
everything from risk assessments and
traffic management plans to licensing
and dealing with the local Safety Advisory
Group. This does however also mean that
outdoor site visits are back in business and
there’s nothing I love more than being on
site discussing exciting future plans.
I can’t wait to start delivering live events
again and I’m lucky that I get to work with
so many hardworking, dedicated and
like-minded clients, both new and repeat,
who are all aiming for the same goal as
me – to deliver an incredible, successful
event, all with the best possible customer
experience.
One of the events that I’m particularly
looking forward to this year is MAMMA
MIA! which is coming to Harewood for its
first ever open air stage show in August.
It’s been a lot of hard work behind the
scenes and is something that has never
been done before at Harewood, but it feels
great to be playing our part in getting not
only the events industry back open for
business, but also in supporting the arts
on their return after a difficult year for all.
We also have a number of other exciting
event announcements coming up over
the coming weeks, so do keep your eyes
peeled for more.
Nearly every day of my working week
is spent working on smaller pieces of the
big jigsaw puzzle and the hours are often
long, but it all feels like a step in the right
direction in getting the industry that we
love back up and running again.
HAREWOOD HOUSE TRUST
DETAILS
CHARLOTTE GRAHAM
Harewood House
Harewood
Leeds LS17 9LG
0113 218 1094
victoria.s@harewood.org
www.harewood.org/hire
74 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM