Happy Sunday! I’ve had a super chilled weekend following a busy few days hosting an event in Manchester last week. Whilst working in events certainly is good fun and very rewarding, there’s a huge amount of careful planning and prep which goes into pulling them off as seamlessly as possible.

My week started with a long road trip up to Manchester with my colleagues to setup at the venue the afternoon before. We finally checked into our hotel at 6:30pm that evening and I opted to stay in and order Uber Eats to my hotel room.

I ordered a feast from Itsu of miso soup, a veggie gyoza noodle bowl, crispy seaweed thins, chilli prawn crackers and a refreshing peach lychee zen water. It was a much needed cosy night in ahead of the event day enjoying my noodles and watching some YouTube on my iPad.

We stayed at The Alan Hotel which I booked for the team upon recommendation from my friend as a newly renovated space, featuring art deco style interiors with an industrial, urban edge.

The next morning we were back bright and early at the venue to setup for our showcase and meet with the 12 suppliers who had stands too. We had exclusive use of the National Football Museum located in the heart of Manchester, the perfect space for our Innovation Showcase.

Registration setup, 150 goodie bags packed, supplier stands in situ, and AV tested ready for the showcase, it was all systems go awaiting our guests to arrive from 9am. This Xite natural energy drink from one of the supplier entries, fuelled me for a morning of running around as the event got underway.

There are always last minute changes and issues potentially arising on the day which comes hand in hand with event management, but it’s all about being prepared for everything and calling on experience to come up with a solution whatever the situation.

An example of this was when one of our suppliers couldn’t make it to the event on the day, but their products and stand were still delivered to the venue. So me and the team worked together to get their many Twirl Extra bars out on display ready for guests to grab their sweet treat freebie.

After lunch at the National Football Museum, we walked over to the next venue to setup for our Hosted 121s session, during which retailers and suppliers get the opportunity to meet one on one in quick 10 minute meetings, much like speed dating but for business.

I booked a fun bar called BLVD where again, we had the entire venue as our event had grown so big this year, we were at double the numbers to what we usually have for our 121s! The venue was perfect with a casual yet buzzing atmosphere, as our members met and discussed all things business.

My fit for the event day was a pair of navy chinos from Next paired with this matching Zara navy waistcoat, a white Topshop polo neck worn beneath, my trusty flat black chelsea boots and a black velvet headband to complete the look. As the mirror says, it’s giving ‘Girl Boss’ vibes ready for a long day of hard work!

To finish the day, we hosted a Networking Dinner for 120 of our guests at James Martin’s Restaurant within the 235 Casino in central Manchester.

Me and my colleague made the short 10 minute walk over from the bar at 5:30pm to get everything setup and before we knew it, guests were arriving at 6pm.

This ‘Let’s Party’ prosecco wall was a fabulous welcome for our guests to the reception drinks.

At 6:45pm, we took our guests through to seat for dinner and we could finally enjoy and celebrate the success of our event, over a delicious three course meal.

To start was a cauliflower veloute served with focaccia bread and it was divine.

For main course I had the vegetarian option of BBQ curried cauliflower with a lentil dahl, coriander yoghurt and fermented potato flat bread.

To finish was a dessert of hot sticky toffee pudding, toffee sauce and salted caramel ice cream, the ultimate sweet treat, everything was exquisite.

On the whole, a hugely successful event which we organised with precision, resulting in a very seamless execution on the day and a well deserved evening of celebrations with my colleagues that night; life is never boring working in events!