Over the course of the CN 30underThirty programme, Conference News will be speaking to members of the programme about their professional journey and the causes they’re championing to shape a more inclusive, forward-thinking industry.
This week we meet Shannon Hunt, event manager at Freshwater.
What made you want to get involved in the industry and why?
In my personal life I’ve always been the ‘planner’, coordinating everyone and getting us from nothing to the finished end result, whether that’s a holiday, a meet up or celebration it fell to me and I’ve always loved that, bringing people together and seeing everyone have a good time knowing that I made this happen.
Then in college during my business diploma we had a mini module on events and something just clicked in my brain, I thought to myself, I do this in my personal life, lets make a career out of it, to me finding a job that I love was crucial and that’s exactly what I got in events.
What is the first career highlight that comes to mind?
There are so many that come to mind, winning this award included, but it has to be the first corporate conference I solo managed. In my earlier roles I had been involved in so many aspects of the event process and from varying industry angles, but this was my first one that I had complete ownership over.
After spending months grinding out the intricate details with my team for a 3-day residential conference seeing it come to success on the day was incredible. The event involved 3 different events taking place in parallel with each other, all with their own programme and schedule that had to fit in and around the other events taking place, combined with an exhibition for all of them. It was a very intricate event with so many different elements that required consideration, but once it clicked and all the puzzle pieces came together I felt there was nothing I couldn’t achieve, and I don’t think that feeling has ever left me.
What have you learned about yourself since entering the events world?
I thrive under pressure, which feels really cliche to say, but in the events world there comes a lot of pressure with the role and I think a lot of events professionals would probably say the same, paired with words such as resilient and adaptable too.
Working in this industry I’ve learned that my brain really can be thinking about 10 things all at once and somehow still manage to tick each element that’s outstanding off the list, which younger me would find impressive!
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice when starting out in events, what would it be?
Youth doesn’t make you less important. So often in many industries, the younger generations come in with incredible ideas that get overlooked, but really we should be looking to the younger generations with these fresh ideas that we haven’t considered.
It just takes one person to hear your idea or note to set the wheels in motion for change and development. Keep talking, keep sharing ideas and everyone will see how valuable you are, the worst they can say is ’no’ to an idea, but the idea will still be there ticking away in their brain until the next time.
How important are schemes such as CN 30under30 and do you believe the industry does enough to support young professionals?
Everyone in life wants recognition and to be told that they’re doing a good job or making a difference and these schemes are a way to encourage young professionals to reach for the stars, when you see about awards online and read what your peers are doing it makes you think to yourself, ‘I can do that’ or ‘I am doing that’ it no longer feels like an unachievable or far away goal and rather becomes a realistic opportunity.
If you’d have told me when I was studying at university that I would win an award in my industry like this I would have never believed you. My managers Charlotte and Aled nominated me for a rising star award last year which I was shortlisted for. From that moment just knowing that this was achievable for me instilled a huge confidence in myself that I knew I had to keep improving and getting to the point where it’s no longer being shortlisted but being awarded that accomplishment.
How do you see the events industry changing over the next five years, and how do you want to be part of that change?
The top 3 hot conversations in events right now for me are:
- Sustainability
- Inclusivity & Accessibility
- Technology & AI
They’re all areas that I want to be involved in and be part of the change and help with the developments that come.
Sustainability is vital, not just in events but in the world right now, the more we can all make a conscious effort to reduce waste and give back to the planet and our environment the better, the events industry helping to shape this in my mind hopefully pushes other industries to begin to follow suit.
Inclusivity & Accessibility, this isn’t something we should be ‘hoping to do more on’ in my mind it is a requirement now, individuals shouldn’t have barriers put in place preventing them from being involved in the same way as everyone else.
AI is evolving rapidly, allowing us to streamline work and processes meaning we can begin to reutilise time to focus on other issues. I try my best to stay up to date with it but in no way am I an expert and have no real prediction on what this will look like. I do think that AI will eventually have the answer to a whole load of the problems we currently face and is a tool that should be embraced by all as ultimately if we don’t, we’ll get left behind by the people who did embrace it.
What is an issue or topic within the industry that you think is important and want to champion? Can you explain a bit about it?
One of the most difficult challenges in the industry is achieving sustainability without compromising experience. For many organisers and clients, the bottom line comes down to budget restrictions, but we have to find creative ways to get around this, even by making those small changes to start with.
I’m passionate about this both personally and professionally. Sustainability shouldn’t be an optional add-on or a ‘nice to have’; it should be standard practice. I want to help create events that leave lasting memories, not a lasting footprint on our planet.
Often items are pitched as ’sustainable’ then go in the same general rubbish bin as a whole load of other recyclable elements and no one seems to take accountability for it, pushing the blame to the other parties, when we should all be taking accountability for this and working towards a collaborative and sustainable end goal.
A small change is better than no change.
Why is this particular issue or topic important to you?
Ultimately we only have one world and it’s the one we’re living in now, everyone likes to say ‘what difference do I make’ but if there’s thousands of people thinking like that, then those thousands making a small change could be making that difference.
If each person holds themselves and those around them accountable for their choices eventually, we’ll all be making sustainable choices and changes in our lives and our companies.
We always look at growth and development, but a part of that also involves maintaining what we currently have and ensuring it can keep up with the growth and development we hope for.
What do you plan to do to continue to champion the topic?
So far, we’ve partnered with You.Smart.Thing on a previous event to provide low-carbon travel plans for our attendees, this resulted in 54 percent of attendees saying they would travel by public transport. We’ve also worked alongside Conference Care to assess our footprint and make more eco-conscious decisions across the event lifecycle, saving 12.63 tCO2e.
I would love to begin using carbon calculators to track our output at all our events and find more ways to reduce our waste and footprint and continue to make our events more sustainable.
Where possible, working with local companies that demonstrate a genuine commitment to sustainability is also important and a small step we can take. While budget constraints are a factor for many clients, low-cost changes such as recyclable materials, donating leftovers and green policies can make a real difference.
What can the industry itself do to better champion this topic?
I think there has to be a standard or regulation set across companies as a whole, as event planners demand sustainability initiatives and credentials from our venues and suppliers it shouldn’t feel like fighting a battle to find out what the policies or elements they’ve implemented are, it should be the standard that comes along with a quote or information.
There are many that are already making this change and planners / venues / suppliers that pride themselves on being a sustainable / green venue, but sadly there’s many more that aren’t and laying out the bare minimum requirement, up to what the actual expectation is for all I think is a great place to start.