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Wellness, Wisdom & the Future of Events with Sammy Connell image

Wellness, Wisdom & the Future of Events with Sammy Connell

E17 ยท Eventful Encounters
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This month Leanne and Tanita sit down with Sammy Connell from NASUWT The Teachers' Union to talk all things wellness and its ongoing impact on association events.

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Transcript

Introduction & Episode Focus

00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to An Inventful Encounters, I'm Tanita. Hi and I'm Leanne and today

Wellness in Leadership

00:00:07
Speaker
our episode we're going to be delving into the world of wellness and events with Sammy Connell who is with us from NASUWT and is also co-chair of ABCO.
00:00:18
Speaker
So Sammy we were thinking you could share what sparked your passion for wellness in the event sector with us. Hello everyone, um well for me it was really personal. I received huge amounts of sort of support in my early days in the event sector, but then very quickly got burnout like we all do.

Event Burnout Challenges

00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:00:38
Speaker
So it was that where I felt really lonely and isolated and remember thinking it doesn't matter how hard I work, how fast I work, how it just doesn't seem to be shifting. And also after each event, personally, I was feeling drained from being a participant.
00:00:52
Speaker
um And I just remember thinking we can do better than this. yeah And I think working for NSWT, the teachers union, we know that actually workload, wellbeing and ah mental health is a real big issue for our teachers. They're working you know crazy hours um under you know huge pressure and actually they come to our conferences um and we don't want to add to that. We don't want to add to that burnout. So I started looking at what can we do at NSWT to not just have wellness as a bolt-on, but something that is embedded throughout
00:01:25
Speaker
I think a lot of your events are actually weekends as well aren't they? They

NASUWT Wellness Initiatives

00:01:28
Speaker
are. So taking teachers like personal time. Exactly that, yeah. A lot of it is on a Friday night, they finish school, you know, they come to us and they might have had the most dreadful week and they're going to be spending Friday night and all day Saturday of their own personal time with us. Exactly, yeah. Growing the union and we just want to make sure that they have the best possible experience and on, you know, when they travel back and they go back into school on Monday that they're rested, more educated,
00:01:53
Speaker
and you know feel empowered to continue teaching the young people. Yeah, because it is, I think my sister is a teacher actually and until she began teaching I didn't realise how much work she has outside of the classroom as well and I think a lot of people don't understand that with teachers that actually the work isn't from 9 till half past 3 when the children are there there's actually so much more involved as well outside of the classroom so I think to have part of a union that they can rely on and an association that they can be a part ah of you know and to get kind of that help with their workload it definitely helps doesn't it I think absolutely I'm um married to a teacher um and how yeah actually teacher and yeah were lots of teachers in my personal um life and I think
00:02:41
Speaker
We do think that it's all school holidays and it's 9 till 3, but it's not. It's all the prep work, it's all the marking, it's, you know, they're teachers, they're counsellors, they're nurses, they're, you know, they're educating. It's, yeah you know, teaching is the only profession that creates other professions.
00:02:55
Speaker
Right. And I think that's really powerful. And I think, you know, ah my role is to make sure that when they're at my conference that they feel completely included, that their wellness is a

Creating Flexible Wellness Programs

00:03:06
Speaker
priority. and It's no longer just about providing a quiet room. It's now about looking at the whole experience and what the wellness package looks like. So from us, we've been looking at flexible agendas, sort of looking to reduce fatigue.
00:03:18
Speaker
making sure that venues have got you know natural daylight and that actually what is the programme around wellbeing? Wellbeing so personal, it's not a one size fits all. What's suitable for me will be very different for you and what I'll relate to and will will support my wellbeing. So it's about getting a ah sort of variety of things. um you know We do lots of things around networking, which is not everybody wants to do a 5k. I like that term. Yeah, networking. Not everybody wants to do a 5k run in the morning or can.
00:03:45
Speaker
um I'm I don't think I can or want to. I'm trying to work up to 5k, but it's tough. It's tough, right. and But so what we do is offer 5k runs for those that can or want to, and actually, you know, nice walks in the morning to start your day with um like-minded people that are perhaps at the same conference

Wellness Activities at ABCO and NSWT

00:04:02
Speaker
as you.
00:04:02
Speaker
um in the local area around where you're stopping and that's been really popular with our members and we really like networking and it's been an opportunity to talk about what you're looking forward to at the conference and what you've got in common, what sessions you're going into um and then we've been looking at you know more fixed sort of scheduled well-being sessions and that might be a half an hour session but also what we're seeing really popular in ABCO and NSWT is those bite-sized.
00:04:28
Speaker
You know, you've just finished lunch, you've had a bit of a slump, the carbs are kicking in, you're feeling a bit tired, and then all of a sudden you've got a real high energy energizer. Really helps get people back into the zone um and also feeling ah bit more energized and alive. Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
Because you did that Abka, didn't you? We did, we did that at Abka, you? The Vessel of Learning. We had the Vessel of Learning at the Eastside, it brilliant. Thank you. And then... The agenda was great. No, it really was a great ah space for us it was very accessible.
00:04:55
Speaker
And also about the catering, you know, wellbeing's just not about yoga and sound baths, it's actually about what we're feeding ourselves and what we're Yeah, it's such part of it, isn't such a big part of and we know that actually that events are challenging, time-schuming, your inbox is flooding in, the calls are happening, you're away from your comfort zone, you're in unknown spaces.
00:05:13
Speaker
Actually, being very sociable is not for everyone. Not everyone is an extrovert, and that's hard sitting amongst us. We're clearly extroverts, but not everybody is an extrovert, not everybody finds.
00:05:25
Speaker
um sort of you know being able to be with other people as a way of energizing themselves actually it can be a way of depleting their energy levels yeah so wellness rooms and you know not just a room which is with some chairs actually having some thought behind it and yeah we've been working with um professionals in this space to kind of pull together sort of a programme of, you know, wellness rooms which have got a mental health first aider which is with them all the time to make sure that they are actually secure, safe places.

Accessibility of Wellness Programs

00:05:54
Speaker
um And also to have lots of different variety of um wellness activities, whether it's networking, yoga, you know, and also trying to think about being more accessible We do a lot of seated yoga because actually that's very accessible for everybody yeah and seated exercises because not everybody can stand stretch and we just want to make sure that our activities include and not exclude.
00:06:16
Speaker
and And then sort of the last bit that we always try and make sure is that there's something online for people because not everybody wants to do wellness with everyone else. Yeah, that's true. that So some people don't feel comfortable doing that. So we offer um short bite size, two to five minutes wellness videos that we've had curated by specialists.
00:06:32
Speaker
um and they're available on our app and people can use them before the conference in their hotels on site after conference and they've got that available and we you know being the teachers union also make that available to our members to use in their schools so it's things that they're really important yeah and it's about feeding that back into the workplace isn't it um and also you know we know that not everybody wants to do everything in front of everyone so we have a giant teepee with fairy lights of course. so Sounds very nice. We've been in Bags Fairy Lights and we have an area in our exhibition where it's dedicated for wellness sessions so people know that they can go and then it's safe and it's quiet and actually it's somewhere where they can do if they want to scheduled activities but when it's not being used as a scheduled activity it's just a place to chill out. Yeah yeah like that, that's definitely important isn't it?
00:07:19
Speaker
Definitely. I think we saw that at Abco as well a lot of people use the wellness room that you set up and and use it for time away not necessarily to go onto their laptop and check their emails but just to have a moment to themselves yeah i think it's really important and you know everybody will not everybody is comfortable being in loud noisy spaces we know that neurodivergent people like to have somewhere where they can just go to for a moment and just to know collect their thoughts or just to kind of relax or and actually what we've found is our speakers are using it before their speeches
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah can I could relate to that, definitely. I could do one of those before my sessions. Just to go somewhere a bit calm and to collect your thoughts and to get yourself in the zone. There's soft seating, there's lighting, there's scents, there's activities if you want to do, there's a range of furniture.

Designated Wellness Spaces

00:08:06
Speaker
um And it just gives you that opportunity to say, actually, this is for me. And it might be five minutes, it might be 15 minutes, but this time is allocated just for me. And I also think even as every extroverts, sometimes you do just need five minutes away. I mean, sometimes I'll do it with Tanita where I'm just like, I just need like five minutes. Because sometimes when you are an extrovert person, you're talking to lots of people, you're having lots of different conversations. And actually, I find sometimes then my social battery just depletes.
00:08:34
Speaker
You just drain yourself, don't you? It's such a common thing. And I think we're seeing it more and more in events that people are now looking at what does my wellness programme look like? And I think that is a conversation we need to keep having with our organisers, also with our venues that can help us facilitate that. 100%. even when you said about the networking and getting out actually before an event...
00:08:54
Speaker
We've done that ourselves, haven't we? We do that, yeah. I did do a bit of a crazy challenge at the beginning of this year and where we were doing, like I was doing two lots of 45 minutes exercise a day and one had to be outdoors. This crazy woman dragged me out for some 5am walks, I tell you. 5am walks.
00:09:09
Speaker
um So we went when we went to the ICA event in Leeds, we knew that we were going to be in sessions all day and we knew that actually you know the sessions, their educational the agenda was amazing but actually we knew that we were going to be inside for most of the day. So we were out at like 5am doing a walk.
00:09:28
Speaker
Tanita did think I was slightly crazy for dragging around these walks. bo But afterwards, you did say, didn't you, that you felt so much more energized and it like kind of set us up for the day. So I think to include that as part of an agenda for an event, we would 100% do that now, wouldn't we? We definitely wouldn't do a run, but we would do a walk. yeah and yeah yeah Have you ever been on a walk and come back and said that was a terrible idea?
00:09:49
Speaker
No, no, no, no. Everyone comes back after a walk at lunchtime or just stretch your legs and go, oh, so glad I got some sun on my face, unless it's raining and all the rest it. But usually if you go out and the weather's nice, you come back and you're bitter nature, but the time to reflect, bit of slowing down the pace usually makes people feel, there's loads of evidence around it, making people be more energized, more focused, and actually yeah you know we just see that as the productivity goes up and

Safety in Wellness Activities

00:10:12
Speaker
up and up. But I think for me it's just about You've got to have those conversations at the beginning of the planning with the venue that you're working with. Like, do you have 5K runs in your venue around the area? Do you have your walking routes? Because you want to make sure that they're safe places. Of course, because you don't know the area. You don't know the area. And actually for us, NSWT, the teachers' union, we have 70% of our membership is women.
00:10:33
Speaker
We've got 270,000 members. A large portion of those are women. Come on their own. we want to make sure that actually if we're sending them... out places that actually it's fairly safe it's well lit it's you know it's a safe route to walk and um and that's kind of important for us to make sure that our members feel that we're offering things to them that are going to ultimately improve their well-being and wellness but also that are safe and adding to that sector around exercise and diet and so forth yeah i love that i think that works both ways though because we definitely learned from the abco event that importance of a wellness stream and we have actually now implemented
00:11:05
Speaker
a wellness room that we'll have on site all the time.

Permanent Wellness Rooms at Events

00:11:08
Speaker
And that's brilliant. Like literally, that is such a game changer for organisers. Not having to think I need to contract a separate room, i need to find a suitable room, because guess what, you got you can't have a wellness room with a room with a generator in. and yeah i have actually been given a room at a venue.
00:11:24
Speaker
as a wellness room which they thought would be suitable which had IT generating system in there so it was like humming and buzzing um and that was quite challenging but um I think having a venue that are completely on board with what that means around the food about the lighting about the noise and also around having those spaces that are safe and private and and can be accommodating is really important yeah 100% and looking now at kind of leadership you know and how you kind of bring wellness into leadership into your leadership role but also um it as part of fast forward 15 that you've been involved in as a mentor yes um i think being a leader is really important to kind of incorporate well incorporate wellness into everyday life and we certainly now go out most days don't we yeah outdoors for a walk and we said
00:12:13
Speaker
you know at lunch time it really does refresh us and make us feel better and set us up for the afternoon. think where we would have eaten a sandwich at our desk we are now making a conscious effort to go out for at least 20 minutes every lunch time. Yeah and just to get some fresh air, some daylight, some vitamin D. So how have you kind of incorporated wellness into your leadership style, into being a mentor as well, like how do you kind of incorporate it into all the different elements of the roles that you do?
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really good question. I think you have to look at it at 360. So we all wear different hats, right? We're all yeah and different people to different. And I think I have wellness at home with my children. um I have a dog who's a pet therapy dog. um She's a sausage dog called Lottie. Sausage dogs are the best. So we do pet therapy which is a charity that goes into schools, hospices, care homes and they offer, um it's a charity and you you know you as the sort of the owner of the dog and the dog will go in and offer sort of one hour sessions with some of the most vulnerable people in society um and I think that's where it stems from that need that I feel that actually caring for others and bringing joy to others and that adding to their overall wellness is really important to me so it starts in in my personal setting
00:13:26
Speaker
And then as a Fast Forward 15 mentor, I think what that's allowed me to do, and this is the second year that I've been a mentor, which I'm really, really fortunate to be. Yeah, I saw that too. Yeah, because you were so good.
00:13:37
Speaker
Well, I kept thinking I can't have been terrible. But it's a really important program. Fast Forward 15 empowers women. um to kind of fast forward their career and it's it's all aimed at women's growth and I think what that's allowed me to do is be vulnerable yeah yeah and I think I've had some incredible mentees and also some mentors on the co-programmer and also as mentors we get mentored by a mentor so that that's quite great yeah so you're still developing but it's allowed me to be really vulnerable and to sort of share that actually we don't always get it right we get burnout too what do we do we don't always make the right decisions
00:14:12
Speaker
you know Leaders making decisions all day, every day. They're not always the but the right ones. They can never be right. um But you know it's about saying, you know this is where I've grown and this is the areas that I do. And often when I'm speaking to mentees that want to on the programme,
00:14:27
Speaker
It's all around confidence building, well you know kind of not putting their wellbeing at the forefront and driving themselves into burnout, trying to be competitive. All of those elements can lead to poor mental health. yeah and And online's a frightening place. like I love LinkedIn. I feel like it's a great place. I love the platform, but it's quite daunting, isn't it? like yeah what are you going to I can remember thinking, I don't know what to say on here. Is anyone going to care? and What about if no one engages with it What does that say about my content, about me? Am I going to be credible? All of those questions. And I feel like if you can share, you know, we all have well-being, right? We all have yeah um mental health. And we all have mental health because guess what? We've all got a brain.
00:15:09
Speaker
And at some point, there will be a dip in our mental health. That's just society and where we're in. And I think sometimes... being the mentors allowed me to be vulnerable and to share that. Yeah. And to share some of my lows online. Yeah. And I think that's made me more approachable and also. Yeah. And see you as a person. Yeah.
00:15:26
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's, you know, and I think we need to bust the sort of myth that exhaustion equals excellence. Oh, I talk about this. Because it just doesn't. It's just, we need to set boundaries and you need to build a network where you can support people and also that you can be supported by. yeah And I feel like as a leader, we all have such a key role in showing that, you know, I say to my teams,
00:15:49
Speaker
it's five thirty why are you still alive ah yeah What have you got to do that's so critical? you know And I think it's about having that flexibility and you know having organizations that really support um our staff. and are you know Because ultimately, people are your strongest ally, isn't it? It's your biggest asset. And if you're not supporting your people in the workplace who are running your events,
00:16:14
Speaker
then the delegates are going to feel that too, because they're going to see burnt out event managers, there's going to people that can't hit the money because they can't be detail driven, because they've got too many balls, the workload's too high. and i think it's about getting that balance.
00:16:26
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And also identifying that in your team, like you said, you know, when you recognise that, why are you still working? Tanita had to did a little of chuckle there because I've done that so many times. It's usually when I'm on holiday. Like, why are you online? You're supposed to be on holiday. She's like, oh, she's checking something. Well, don't check it and get offline. Sometimes you need to check these things.
00:16:47
Speaker
Sometimes I completely get that sometimes having a look at something and checking that nothing has happened or you're waiting for something and it's come through is a way of kind of, you know, getting that answer that you need. But I have a real strict kind of policy that,
00:17:01
Speaker
you can do that but then i don't want to see you again. Yeah. Like, that's fine. put your out of office on and go and have a break and guess what, the world won't end. And I think we all think our jobs are really important and of course they are event to change lives but fundamentally we're not heart surgeons, we're not midwives, we're not doing stuff that is if we don't check something all critical that a life is in danger. And in fairness having a proper break and switching off does make us all better at our jobs. It does ultimately.
00:17:27
Speaker
I think it's just important to remember that, that in the perspective of things, if you don't respond to that email immediately, what is the worst that's going to happen? 100%. And I think it's about kind of protecting your boundaries, but also then protecting your team's boundaries as well and making sure that, you know, when we do switch off, when we recharge, that's exactly what we're all doing. Yeah. So it's very important.
00:17:49
Speaker
So... Can you give us then for our event listeners some practical advice or tips on, because you've talked about how you kind of weave wellness into your

Integrating Wellness in Events

00:18:00
Speaker
agenda. So you're thinking about it for lots of different people, their different takes on wellness and how you can be inclusive to all. So can you think of giving, know, think of some tips that would be really useful to our listeners to help them incorporate wellness into their events?
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's about knowing your attendees, knowing what are they likely and having, you know, we have a great board of teachers that we go and talk to about the program, about what um what what are the teachers' needs. what But, you know, we didn't ask them what are their well-being needs.
00:18:32
Speaker
We just used to ask them what are the, you know, things keeping teachers awake at night, what's happening with the curriculum, what's happening with... yeah And now we say, you know, we need to walk. is and what can they bring back into their workplace so we've been doing lots around mindfulness knowing that actually students and young people are really struggling with their own mental health and teachers often become therapists and actually is there tools that we can give them is there apps that we can give them is there we've kind of commissioned um with the nhs and supported um some feeling good apps which the teachers can use on themselves around mindfulness and around sort of
00:19:05
Speaker
um sort of setting boundaries and and having good good sort of habits but that's for themselves but also they can take that into the classroom and do a session with their students who might be struggling so yeah for us it's about trying to make it really relevant that it doesn't just come to the conference they do something amazing that actually they go away and think could I do that in my workplace we've had like sessions where we've run them around wellness and then they've gone back and ran a similar session with 500 children in assembly. You know, um yeah actually, that's making society a better place, isn't it, overall? So I think it's about knowing your members, getting a suite of ideas. It doesn't have to be costly. It doesn't have to cost the earth. um
00:19:48
Speaker
And they're actually, you know, thinking about how can we weave this in so it doesn't feel forced. yeah i think that sometimes the forced element can put people off so optional is always great you can do this you can't do this and having somebody who's perhaps putting together your wellness program with you having like different ways that they can adapt it so it's completely inclusive it's not yeah just for able bodies it it's for people that um that for everyone that's a key thing but also start talking to you know, other people in this space. There's some brilliant organisations out there um that, you know, Event Wow, we work closely with.
00:20:23
Speaker
um Neurodiversity, we've got a toolkit now that's from Welcome Brain that is a great way of looking at how how we can be more inclusive. So I think it's about not knowing all of the answers yourself, but even having the conversation with your stakeholders about should we really be thinking about wellness at our events?
00:20:40
Speaker
yeah And ask actually, put in your evaluation, you know, but How inclusive was this event? Did you feel that wellness was a priority? Do you have any ideas of what we could do to include wellness going forwards?
00:20:52
Speaker
I'm not saying that you should get pet therapy dogs and have dogs running everywhere. Sounds nice though. Sounds nice though, or a sound bath. But I'm just saying that your members will have the answers themselves because they'll often to be doing things in their personal lives or want to try things.
00:21:05
Speaker
We've done Bangra dance when we're in Birmingham. We've done the Highland dance when we're in... Yeah, we've made it fun. It hasn't all been... and But it's just an opportunity to pause, reflect, and you know recharge yourself ready for the next day or the next session. 100%. I think I like that idea as well of putting it out to the audience, perhaps in your feedback. Yeah.
00:21:24
Speaker
you know, when you're gathering feedback, so actually, yeah, you're getting it straight from the ground, yeah people that are attending the events. And from there, it's always evolving, isn't it? Wellness isn't an activity that's ever done. You've never completed it. It's always going to be evolving. And I think there's something that we can all do. You might recall at the start our ABCOFest of Learning, I started with the welcome where this is your event. You need to experience it your way. yeah but If you want to get up and stretch your legs, if you want to go and get a brew, if you want to go the loo, if you want to sit somewhere else, like just move. Like you sit in there thinking I can't move because it will look rude or people wonder where I'm going or you need to take a call.
00:21:56
Speaker
We've all been there when the the schools rang and your heart's dropped. yeah you know Just take the call. This is your conference and you should experience on your terms. Definitely. i love that. And how about future in wellness? Have you got any kind of tips for anything that you've seen or looked at on the horizon that you think might be a new trend that's coming into the wellness

Pre-Conference Wellness Events

00:22:16
Speaker
space? Well, interestingly, yes. I went to the meeting show earlier this year and um as a hosted buyer, and it's a great opportunity for me to go and meet with exhibitors and peers.
00:22:26
Speaker
And what one of... um the organisations that we do work with ICC Wales did, was hosted a wellness pre-conference event. Oh, I like the sound of this. So in the afternoon. It was about wellness, business wellness. So you came along, was all like-minded people in the events industry, event organisers.
00:22:47
Speaker
um And the food, you know, they had lovely nutritional food, great brain stimulating food, lots of hydration stations. yeah had a little bit of networking. And then we did some sort of taster wellness sessions. So there was some journaling, there was some mindfulness, there was some um sound baths.
00:23:05
Speaker
There was some gentle stretching, there was some yoga, really small bite-sized sessions. They gave you your own little yoga mat, your own, it was all very nicely personalized. And then afterwards we went to the terrace and had some you know smoothies on the terrace and we got to network with other people from the industry who would go into the event the next day, the meeting shows really full on you know, you have to have lots of appointments, it's all indoors, it's all kind of very stressful. And I did that on the first afternoon. It was a couple of hours, it wasn't very long, but I just felt so refreshed and I thought,
00:23:37
Speaker
This is, I don't want to be invited to the evening dinners. I probably want to be in bed. I don't want to go. a bit like that too. I don't want to be, um you know, you get invited to so much. You've got to, because this is like being at the meeting show and maximizing your time, and especially as at an in-house PCO is really vital. We don't get to go to all of the shows and it's important that we're spending members money wisely. And actually for me having these couple of hours out,
00:24:00
Speaker
to refresh myself and I felt so energized. I slept like a log that night. Normally the first night at a hotel I can never sleep. We talked about this, didn't we? Yeah, it was long time. But I honestly out like I had a great night. So I was like nine, ten hours solid sleep. Oh wow, that's good. I know, right. Literally woke up and was like, felt refreshed. I'm ready for the day. I'm ready for the day. I think there's more shift to sort of suppliers looking down that route to engage with their audience rather than the typical boozy nights or um And also ABCO have been looking at other things like mock towels and and sipping um while you paint.

Invisible Cities Walking Tours

00:24:36
Speaker
So doing activities like that. And you might be familiar with Invisible Cities, who are a social enterprise that was set up to tackle homelessness in cities. So they host walking tours around your city and you can bring them on board. And they train homeless people in their cities to become tour guides.
00:24:56
Speaker
so give them training and also to give them um you know obviously help them with their their housing crisis that they're in but also who's better to give you a tour of the city than someone's literally lived on the streets of it yeah so we've been incorporating them where we can um because also giving back to society it's a legacy project but also it fits into the well-being if they're going to do a tour and maybe they want to walk around the city but they don't know where to go and you know so we've been programming those into That's fab, isn't it? That is really good.
00:25:24
Speaker
So, Sammy, have you got any final thoughts on anything we've discussed today, anything you haven't got chance to say, anything you just want to share with the listeners?

Prioritizing Event Staff Wellness

00:25:31
Speaker
I think it's about us as um event professionals really setting the pace and looking at, you know, do you have a wellness chart what does that look like? Who do you partner with? Pick your partner as well.
00:25:42
Speaker
um And also just making sure that wellness is accessible to all and that you know that you are looking at the more hybrid of approach approach to it. But also event organisers, my plea to you would be don't just focus on the delegates, focus on your staff too. That's so important. If they look burnt out, running ragged, no scheduled breaks, no staff room, no nutritional food, actually that's not going bode well for your delegates.
00:26:09
Speaker
um So um I would absolutely focus on um and your delegates were also very mindful of your own staff. That's such a good tip isn't it? Yeah, because you would think of that, you always think of the delegates and the guest experience.
00:26:23
Speaker
But actually you're only as good as your team and if you've not thought about them then that will show and the cracks will fall. Good takeaway, definitely a good takeaway. Thank you for joining us.
00:26:34
Speaker
Thank you for having me. No, thank you. Sorry about the battery issue. And the struggle in getting dates in. I know it's been a bit of a... but We got there in the end. We did. For event professionals, we can make this work. A hundred percent.
00:26:46
Speaker
As ever, step date with all things Eventful Encounters, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn at The East Side Rooms. And you can catch the Eventful Encounters podcast on Spotify, Amazon and Apple.
00:26:56
Speaker
Thank you so much, Sammy. Thank you. Bye. Bye.