1,460 Days and Counting: My 4 Years at YOURGB- Written by Emma White (Senior Event Producer)
On March 2nd 2020, I walked through the doors of YOURGB HQ ready to start my new adventure with the team and now, 4 years on, I thought I would do a quick round up of highlights from my last 4 years.
MARCH 2020 – YEAR 1 – EVENT COORDINATOR
I don’t think I have to go into much detail here about how my first few weeks at YOURGB went, as we all moved into lockdown not long after I joined. My dream of large-scale live events was quickly pivoted to online, as we navigated bringing what we loved to do fully digital.
Not only that, but I had met the team for only one week in person before we were all faces on a screen, and getting to know a team virtually was challenging. Everyone was personally facing their own challenges and difficulties as what we expected to be a short stint inside continued on past Christmas.
Although this all sounds quite doom and gloom, I can’t put into words what I learnt in a professional environment. I became an event professional in the digital field, an entirely new venture for me as we brought “The Massive Get Together” to life, along with online Christmas celebrations for over 600 people.
Slowly but surely, we started to open up again and our first trickle of hybrid events began to come through, but for that first year, I was a full fledged online events manager.
MARCH 2021 – YEAR 2 – EVENT MANAGER
Year 2 started with my first promotion to Event Manager. This came not long after Gilly and I spent 2 weeks holed up in a studio in Edinburgh, bringing a 3D virtual event world to life for an audience across the world.
After this, I was gearing up for mine, and YOURGB’s, first hybrid event as part of COP26, a project I learnt so much from that I still carry today.
We were at the Royal Highland Show, taking the iconic event online for a huge audience across social media and a dedicated landing page on their website.
There was rugby, trips to Orkney and Squad Games, along with several online events supporting charity outreach programmes from America and the UK.
To say it was a varied year would be an understatement but a huge learning curve for me. The step from Event Coordinator to Event Manager involves moving from being mentored and supporting leads to being the lead yourself! It feels like quite a big step at the time, but I learned so much in being able to lead projects, with the continued support of our leadership team, and found a lot of confidence in my abilities by doing this. From beginning to end, I was managing, developing and producing projects directly with clients and it was really exciting, although I will also admit, a little daunting!
MARCH 2022 – YEAR 3 – EVENT PRODUCER
Onto year 3, where I managed end-to-end YOURGB’s largest corporate conference in Birmingham for a veterinary client (sadly no animals in attendance) where I was able to meet the wonderful Katie Piper as well as connect with a new client we’ve now worked with for 2 consecutive years. This one was a big one for me, as the event spanned over an exhibition, action packed 2 days of conference content and an awards dinner, all with guest management, on-screen content and full venue branding.
There were festival parties, private celebrations, a trip up North to watch the Cateran YOMP and even more rugby to keep us busy all year round.
This was the year I felt a “step up” in my skills that impacted me not only professionally but also personally. This was recognised at work as well, as I was made an Event Producer! From here, I began to lead larger teams of our wonderful colleagues as the size and complexity of the projects grew as I moved into the more senior role.
MARCH 2023 – YEAR 4 – SENIOR EVENT PRODUCER
As I started my 2023 with the company, I was looking ahead to another varied year of new projects and clients which I was really excited about. This included rugby activations, an immersive brand party onboard a ship in London, spending the day with Captain America and Spiderman at a shortbread event, a trip back to Birmingham for the veterinary conference as well as working on the new brand for YOURGB which was a passion project of mine as we relaunched our new website and look & feel.
Over the course of my time at YOURGB, the team has also grown and changed as new team members have joined and shaped the team into who we are now. We all have our specialities and passions and it’s created a team environment that’s encouraging, kind and dedicated. It’s been amazing seeing this develop and being able to support the team as we’ve grown.
Now, it’s been four years, three promotions, and more events than I can count, and here I am! Nestled in YOURGB’s new-ish Edinburgh HQ, I’m reminiscing about an incredible journey that’s far from over. This year promises to be a landmark one, both professionally and personally with hotel launches, distillery grand openings, dazzling award shows, and unforgettable festival experiences – and I can’t finish this without mentioning planning my wedding!
MARCH 2024 – SO WHAT’S NEXT?
And here we are, 4 years later and counting. It’s been a surprising challenge reflecting on all of the events I’ve been involved in, and I’m nowhere near mentioning them all!
Looking back, I see so many positives and happy moments. I realise that even when you’re in the thick of a project and just days away from going live with a few bumps along the road, the lessons learned and the goals achieved are always something to truly celebrate.
Written by Emma (Senior Event Producer)
