So … in a word, how was your year?
Now, answer again … but without the swearing.
For me, whilst words like “tough”, “confronting” and “stressful” came to my mind multiple times throughout the year, I end it with one word very much in its forefront:
“Hopeful”.
Now, I know. “Hopeful”, as a word, isn’t quite as positive as, say, “optimistic”.
It’s not the sort of word that an inspirational leader would choose to use to rally the troops. Who would remember a Churchillian speech that began, “I am hopeful we will fight them on the beaches …”?
But … and here’s my point: ‘hopeful’ is definitely a much better word than I was thinking just two months’ ago.
In recent weeks I have noticed three things that give me hope for a brighter 2021. I’d like to share them with you. Perhaps you’ve seen other signs and you could share them, too.
1. CONFIDENCE IS GROWING
After seven months of no work, the past five weeks have been among my busiest ever.
Clients (existing and new) have finally found the confidence to hold events. Sure they ‘umm-ed’ and ‘aah-ed’ for a long time before making their decision (making for some quite short lead times) but, in the end, they couldn’t help but recognise that events should be held … even if hands couldn’t be.
In a year of separation, events are one of the few things that deliver people a sense of togetherness. Businesses are increasingly acknowledging the importance of that.
It also means clients are beginning to regain some confidence in the ability of their organisation to afford an event.
And it indicates a growing faith in the ability of online technology to deliver the results they seek.
If our nation continues its strong management of the virus, I think we can expect this confidence to continue to grow in the new year. Surely THAT’s hopeful news.
Just be prepared for those relatively short lead times!
2. THE INDUSTRY IS BATTLE-HARDENED AND RESOURCEFUL
Whilst an upsetting number of operators have not been able to see the year out … and my e-newsletters continue to get a disheartening number of bounce-backs from email addresses that no longer exist … for those of us who have made it through, we have fought hard to survive and made the tough changes to get through.
I’ve heard of service providers in the industry who have been VERY creative in adjusting their service offerings to completely new fields.
My favourite is the one who has now added live streaming of funerals as one of their services! Who’d have thought??!!
[Side note: I’m a little jealous. I wonder if there’s an opportunity to MC those events? A Master of Cremation, perhaps?? Mmm …]
But I digress.
The point is, the year has been quite Darwinian, in a way. It has asked us to “vary or vanish”.
And so many of us varied and, with the help of JobKeeper, it turns out that our industry is, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, like the TV Show Full House. And, no Nigel Collin. That does NOT mean you are our industry’s Bob Saget.
Or John Stamos, for that matter. That, clearly, is Ian Whitworth.
What I mean by the comparison is, people have very fond memories of both ‘shows’ … the 1990s TV show AND the shows that were the events our industry organised.
For the makers of Full House, changes in taste, fashion, and the age of their stars found them without a demand for their output.
For our industry, it was the pandemic.
In the case of the TV show they tweaked their formula (sure, it took 21 years!) and, in 2016, they brought us Fuller House.
As for the events industry, we were able to tweak MUCH more quickly. The shame is we had to title our revamped effort Empty House …
My point is, we have shown flexibility, resilience, resolve … and a really remarkable ability to endure.
And we have been very supportive and encouraging of each other’s effort to get through this.
How can you NOT feel hopeful when you’re in an industry like this?
3. WE ARE INTREPID LEARNERS
The third encouraging thing I have noticed is that we have all learned a lot about ourselves and our businesses this year.
Things like:
How resilient am I?
How adaptable am I?
How do I respond when my calendar suddenly empties?
Or how do we deliver a completely online event, with speakers and delegates dotted all over the world?
It has been absolutely inspirational to work with PCOs who have learned with incredible speed how to switch from delivering completely live events to running the equivalent of day-long, completely-live TV shows.
Even people who work in in TV don’t do live shows that last all day.
And these skills will stick around for as long as we do.
Not only that, but learning these new skills is a big boost to our confidence.
As is the fact that we’ve survived a very trying time.
If, as you read this article, you are still a part of the events industry, that means you made it through the messiest and most absolutely awful year in living memory.
Whatever 2021 throws at you, you should feel confident that you learned enough lessons and skills this year to get by.
You know, until five weeks’ ago, I’d never performed in front of a bank of cameras, in a studio, doing live interviews with panels of people that weren’t actually there.
I’ve now done it multiple times and feel confident that if someone was to offer me an opportunity to host my own TV show, containing a mix of hard-hitting interviews, satirical current-affairs pieces and even an opening dance-number, I could absolutely do it.
I’ve even got a name for it … based on a very popular TV Show from the 1990s.
Fool House.
Wishing everyone who has read this far the most marvelous festive season and a way better 2021.
DARREN ISENBERG IS ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S BEST-LOVED MC'S, CREATOR OF GRIN & TONIC™ REELS AND A SPEAKER ON POSITIVE INFLUENCE. CHECK OUT HIS WEBSITE AT www.dipresents.com.au