Bex is a Senior Events Executive at Live Union and a member of EVCOM’s shadow board. Before this, she embarked on many educational journeys specializing in different fields, such as obtaining her undergraduate BA degree in Drama and Theatre Arts. Afterward, she earned her diploma in Producing for Theatre and Live events, and most recently, she obtained a Level 7 post-graduate diploma in Events Management and Marketing.
At Live Union, Bex is helping to create live experiences for some of the world’s top corporate clientele. With only one year under her belt, Bex is looking forward to continuing her journey in her events career and joining the EVCOM shadow board, where she hopes to help evolve the future of events. She looks forward to being able to be a voice for the upcoming generation of event professionals.
We spoke to Bex about starting out in theatre, working collaboratively and making a positive difference.
Tell us about where you are now, and what you love about your job/ course.
I work as a Senior Events Executive for a creative events agency called Live Union. Our focus is to re-imagine the way we present our client’s experiences. At Live Union you are given a plethora of opportunities to get involved with all different aspects of the deliverables we produce, whether that is within the office or onsite through our live shows. Something we pride ourselves on at Live Union is how collaborative we are as a team. No idea is a bad idea, and anyone can contribute. The team I work within gives me great opportunity to work more closely with our client’s day to day, but I am still able input on creative brainstorms and help the production department onsite if needs be. At this stage of my career, it is a brilliant role to be in as you can experience and learn so much from those around you, especially onsite if you are willing to through yourself into anything you can, which is something I have loved doing so far.
Tell us a bit about your journey to get there.
I started my journey through the love of theatre. I have always had an intricate interest in the arts and how things are made. I think the first indication I was interested in more than just the stories would be my extensive research I would do to watch the behind the scenes of all the movies I watched. I would find out about how the filming production process worked and who the actors were telling these stories. This is even something I do in my own time today. I am very much a full picture kind of girl. This interest in the passion put into creating something then lead me on to studying Drama and Theatre Arts for three years at university.
It was there that I was introduced to the world of creating, planning and looking at the bigger picture as well as performing. Learning what you need to do to prepare for a role, how you set a stage and who needs to be involved to make a production come together. I learned there was so much more preparation to consider before you could go and put on a showstopper.
This, in turn, has translated into exactly what I do for my job now. How can we prepare and plan in the best possible way in order to help our clients achieve the most spectacular event for their employees or clients. What is the story we are telling with this event, what lighting and staging can we use to emphasise this, what content can we deliver to implement the message of the story?
So, in 2020 after a couple of failed attempts to find my new self after graduating university the year before, the pandemic hit. A time I used to figure out where my true interests lie. Then after a few months of specialising in events and marketing, here I am, one year completed and more driven than ever before.
For those readers still considering whether this industry is the right place for them, tell us what you most love about it. What appeals to you about this industry?
There is so much room to explore. One thing about picking a career is that there is so much to choose from and sometimes it can feel quite confining to have to decide and then stick to it. This is one of the only industries that you can explore so many sectors of other people’s industries and still stay within your chosen field.
As a corporate based events agency, we work with some of the world’s most prestigious companies. We are lucky enough to get to work closely with our clients and get a good understanding of the business that they create. What is so lovely about when it comes time to hold an event that these businesses are open to exploring new avenues of presentations, entertainment and experiences. We have seen many corporate companies delve into the immersive side of events. Whether that be through VR, creating innovative formats or using immersive actors to bring their message to life.
It can be hard to choose what is the right path for you but what is so wonderful about today’s day and age is that most things are not confined by labels and titles any more or they mean different things than they did 10 or even 5 years ago. We as an industry are constantly changing and adapting. Now more than ever, there is space to explore.
Looking forwards, what do you think the future of the industry is going to look like? What changes are you excited to see?
Like most trends we are seeing currently, the industry seems to be going for bigger and bolder. More recently the focus has been on immersive as an industry trend. How can we make our visions come to life and wrap the audience into the story with light installations, projection visuals or 3D props and 360 sound systems. The industry wants to do more than just make you think and see, it wants to make you feel and be consumed with what you are experiencing.
As exciting as this is for the industry, there are still gaps regarding inclusivity. It will be exciting to see what more the industry can do to help involve as many people as possible, despite, gender, language and accessibility.
Will this be through experiential design, or could it come down to how sustainable events should be? I believe the industry is trying to do their part to make a positive difference going forward. It will be nice to see how this evolves over the next few years.
If you could say one thing to the wider industry right now, what would it be?
I would say to keep sharing. Talk about the events that you have gone to see, talk about how something you saw could be integrated into the work you are doing, has something sparked an idea that could take the project into a different direction. Take peers with you when you want to attend an event. Create an environment which allows people to talk and think objectively about the industry that is evolving.