RubyBlosse LLP is closing at the end of March 2023

The Lick

We’ve launched The Lick!

What is it?
The Lick is a practical support network for women. “How’s this one different to other networks?”  It’s a completely confidential Forum for women to work through (lick) a specific workplace issue they are facing. It’s limited to six women every time we meet.

How will it work?
One person presents their issue in no more than 10 minutes, with no interruptions from the others. The next 10 minutes is for the rest of the group to ask questions and clarify the issue. The final 10 minutes is for the group to make suggestions for solutions to the issue. Each session will last one hour, with an opportunity for two issues to be presented each time we meet.
Clare Ruby will moderate The Lick and this format draws on her learnings and experience from the work she did at the Tavistock Institute (Consulting in Change Management).

Why be a part of it?
As the presenter you have a chance to really think about the issue you’re facing and how you will frame it. You can learn from a group of women who are all smart and well known in their industries, and may well have faced the problem you are going through. You will certainly get a different perspective and hopefully leave with some ideas of a way forward. As a member of the group you can support other women, take part in active listening and impart your knowledge and expertise to help someone reframe their issue and find a way forward. You may hear from women with similar problems to yours, that can give you some ideas if you’re “stuck”.

Where and when?
We’re starting off in London and this is not restricted to a particular industry. Once we know who’s interested we’ll decide between us when we meet.

Email us if you’d like to be a part of The Lick [email protected]

Joy is bright yellow!

Whilst working with the retailTRUST recently we came across this fantastic small (but massive in ambition) charity called Electric Umbrella. The initiative was set up by Mel Boda and Tom Billington, and is a charity challenging the perception of people with learning disabilities by empowering and enriching lives through music.

What does this mean in practice?

Their sixty members meet weekly at Musical Workshops to be part of a loud, energetic and creative musical team. Everyone has an equal part to play and participate. They also put on great gig nights and shows throughout the year.

Everything they do through music and performance challenges the perception that people with learning challenges are perceived as being less able than others to excel in these areas. They are doing great things and working to really make sure inclusivity is embedded in our society.

Get involved

They have also been running successful team away days for corporates. Recently a group of software engineers came to work shoulder to shoulder with their members for a day to create something amazing and experience the Electric Umbrella approach to the world.

“Back in October, a fab bunch of software developers joined us on a team away day to work shoulder to shoulder with our wonderful members on our Christmas cracker production line! The developers worked alongside our members with learning disabilities to build a production line and create 500 crackers later sold online to raise money for Electric Umbrella and ensure that people with learning disabilities was the talk of Christmas dinner tables up and down the country. We were successful in challenging the perceptions of all those that attended., demonstrating just how much is possible when we work together. The day also included an interactive music workshop over lunch We are running more of these days throughout the year”.

Find out more: visit them at www.electricumbrella.co.uk or email Mel at [email protected]

Support them: Text 70070 with the message “SHOW17 £10” to make a one off donation

See what we’ve been up to…

RubyBlosse would like to thank all of our clients and event partners as we head into our third year of business. Here’s some of what we got up to in our second year of business.  Whether we’ve had a big, or little part to play in each event, we’ve certainly learnt a lot and enjoyed the experiences.  We’ve got another exciting year ahead and are looking forward to working with lots of new (and repeat) clients.

Do you need help with an existing event? Do you have an idea for an event, but just can’t see how to begin?  Perhaps you want some fresh eyes to take a look at your events portfolio/strategy?  Get in touch – we would love to offer a helping hand.  Email [email protected]

The stress test

See our article in this month’s Exhibition News highlighting the research we did earlier in the year about stress in the event industry http://joom.ag/afNL/p32

The RubyBlosse Minifesto to reduce stress

We’ve launched the RubyBlosse Minifesto to encourage event organisations to do something about reducing stress and promote wllbeing.

On International Women’s Day this year we launched a survey to measure the impact of stress on women in the event industry. A shockingly low 11% said they were were offered any practical help or advice on their return to work from a stress related illness when asked. So, here’s our small way of trying to improve that. It’s by no means a silver bullet, but brings together ideas from the survey respondents and our personal ideas from having both experienced stress and helped people through stressful times in the various events organisations in which we’ve worked.

The practical RubyBlosse Minifesto to address stress in the Events Industry

We’re really pleased to see, and fully supportive of, the first ever industry initiative to promote wellbeing and reduce stress in the events industry #EventWell17 

Please email us if you’d like the full report from our survey [email protected]

RubyBlosse Year One

Check out what we’ve been up to in the last year.  Get in touch if you want to hear about how we can help you shape your events programme.

International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day RubyBlosse Events is launching a survey to assess the extent of stress among women in the events industry. Last month Event Magazine highlighted a US survey that rated a career in events as the fifth most stressful career of 2016. Please help us to raise awareness of this important issue by sharing your experiences in complete confidence: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/rubyblosse

OOPS onsite!

Earlier this week we recorded some of our (many!) onsite ops stories for today’s 24hour Vodcast Marathon Raising Funds for EventWell. You can donate by going to justgiving.com and searching for eventwell.

The events industry has been hit HARD and this 24hour Vodcast Marathon is raising funds for EventWell. Our chat reminded us of the teamwork and onsite families we build around us and the event bubbles we form and how we cope with pretty much anything that is thrown at us onsite! We MISS live events and can’t wait for them to return.

Ten top tips to help make your event more sustainable:

Debbie from Tabitha Eve co recently asked me to write a blog about how sustainable the events industry is…. Initially I winced.  I have spent years saddened by the amount of waste in events. HOWEVER, the industry and all the passionate people who work within it have been working insanely hard to ensure the events industry has as little impact on the environment as possible.  Here is a snapshot and our top ten tips to run sustainable events:

1. The Venue

Most venues are passionate about their own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and will happily shout about it!  They often have great recycling initiatives onsite, use renewable energy, source their food and drink from local suppliers, and ensure their supply chain meets their standards.  Just make sure you are asking about it…

2. Goodie bags

Having a plastic bag stuffed with paper leaflets is (thankfully) becoming a thing of the past.  Go digital.  Almost everyone has a smart phone and can access event apps, there is a lot of tech out there to support attendees in accessing relevant information.

If you are used to giving your attendees a gift, make sure it’s relevant and useful.  There are lots of companies offering green alternatives – keep cups, pens made from disused rubber tyres. Some companies have wiped the gift altogether and instead donate the money to a charity.

3. Name badges/lanyards

These don’t need to be single use.  There are event apps which allow you to have your badge on your smart phone (scannable access control etc).  Or you can look into using wearable tech.  Check out Blendology  for an awesome, sustainable and truly interactive badge.

4. The Showguide

Go digital! Nobody needs or wants to carry around an event bible. Include it within the app, or allow people to download or access it from your website.  You can include interactive maps and way finders in various places around the venue to help attendees navigate the floorplan and conference sessions.  Also… if it’s digital you’re able to UPDATE it and make changes… squeeze in that last minute sponsor for some extra revenue!

5. Exhibition stand design

Shell scheme is sustainable as it’s a modular system which can be adapted (within reason!) to fit within a set space and can be reused time and time again.  For those building their own stands (free design), please consider how you can reuse it all or certain elements.  We saw an amazing stand built entirely out of giant Lego bricks.  Not only did it look striking, it could be repurposed for almost any size and shape.

6. Pull the plug! On power, not the entire event (thanks Boris!)

Ensure that the venue entirely powers down over night to save electricity and reduce light pollution (make sure it is safe to do so, and give everyone proper warning of this and within set times).  A venue full of kit on stand-by still draws down power and is wasteful.

7. Know your suppliers and their supply chains

Make sure that sustainability forms a vital part of the tender process. They need to demonstrate their own CSR policy and have the fire and passion regarding the environment.

8. Roll out the red carpet and pave the way…

Just make sure it’s recyclable.  Similarly with signage and banners, ensure they can either be reused again and again (avoid printing a year/date on signage if at all possible), repurposed or made from fully recyclable materials – carboard is great (indoor use!) and you can also get some great flat pack cardboard furniture too.

9. Catering

Catering forms such a large part of an event and often can make or break an event (always try a venue’s coffee before signing the contract!) but often grabbing a quick bite to eat or a coffee significantly impacts landfull.  Ensure all catering outlets are using compostable items. Does the venue have water fountains so you can refill your own water bottle? Can you buy a “keep-a-cup” for your coffee or tea?

10. DONATE! One (wo)man’s waste is another (wo)man’s treasure!

We actively encourage, have seen and heard of, some wonderful initiatives to pay it forward. Donating carpet to community initiatives (Homeless initiatives/Beaver/Scout halls), taking any left over food or edible items from goodie bags to food banks, donating drapes (which have to be fire treated to be used at an event) to not-for-profit theatre companies.  Furniture being donated to schools.  The list is endless.  If it looks too good to throw in a skip then it most likely IS.  Engage with local groups and communities and support them.

We could go on and on about how we can continually improve and we continue to do so by asking the right questions. The biggest factor is that everyone is accountable, not just the organiser.  I’ll just summarise using Tabitha Eve’s awesome strapline… “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito” #bethemosquito.

End.

Do you appreciate sponsor engagement in event production?

It’s very rare to produce an event without the support, encouragement and financial commitment of sponsors, partners or supporters (for the purpose of this article I’m going to refer to them as event sponsors). Yet we still hear complaints about sponsors feeling as though they (and their money) are taken for granted. We spoke to some sponsors we’ve worked with and asked them what makes for successful engagement, and have added in the benefit of some of the things we’ve learnt over the years.

1. Get to know them

We can’t overemphasise this enough. Clearly, not so well that you know intimate details (!), but having a personal connection counts for a lot. Be authentic and share some insights into your life that help them understand how you tick. Sharing will engender trust and help oil the wheels of the event cycle/process.

2. Understand the strategic objectives of the sponsor organisation

Ideally, this should be an integral part of the negotiation process. How does the sponsor’s involvement in event/programme of events link to their organisation’s strategic, or tactical objectives? If it doesn’t, then may be question why they are supporting this event?  That’s a risk in terms of income, but again, will engender trust and help them find the right vehicle with you to meet their objectives.

3. Find out exactly what they want (in addition to what they say/the contract says they want)

A natural progression and extension of getting to know the people. It may well also be that different people involved in the process have different objectives (e.g. the marketing team may want different things to the sales team). Understanding these differences, no matter how subtle, will help you deliver what they want (remembering that you may not be able to please all the people all the time).

4. Measure ROI (return on investment) or ROO (return on objectives)

Once you know what the sponsor/s want, make sure you can measure and deliver it. Qualitative and quantitive measurement tools are available in many forms. Again, this should ideally be part of the negotiation process.

5. Know the decision making process in the sponsor organisation

Find out who has sign off and how long it takes for sign off to happen – before you need something signed off. Try and get a plan of when they set their budgets, so you know when to approach them…..and when it’s too late!

6. Flex – be intuitive

Change, change change… To the local, global or geo-political environment; personnel; alterations to the event design… All of these things (albeit in the sponsor or client organisation) can change the course of the path. Be flexible and intuitive and try and sense how these will affect the sponsor and the event.

7. Over communicate – consistently

Find out how the sponsor wants to receive information and what information is important to them. Then deliver it. Consistently. Regular updates are super important.

8. Follow up during and after the event

It’s over, we did it! Oh, the post event relief (hopefully!) Resist the tendency to relax into the post event lull and follow up quickly with the sponsors . In addition, talk to the sponsor during the event. You’ll find out how happy they are, and can head off/temper any dissatisfaction…

9. Know what you will do, and who will do it if you fail to deliver

It happens. For all sorts of different reasons, the sponsor is not satisfied. Deal with this quickly and know what do in this scenario. Don’t dither. Know what can you offer to turn around the situation.

10. This is no 10, we just like lists of ten things….

So… What can you add?

Contingency Planning

We were reminded of the importance of contingency planning again last week when we supported the Nuffield Trust’s annual two day Health Policy Summit during one of the UK’s coldest weather snaps in our memory. We’re used to planning for major incidents like terrorist attacks, but sometimes it’s the smaller incidents that require just as much consideration. Here’s a few things we did last week;

Scenario Planning

Weeks before the Summit, we had discussed, and more importantly, mapped out, what we would do in various scenarios (from major incident to food poisoning and bad weather). Pre planning is essential. As well as the usual major incident planning and risk assessment and management of the event, we had a contingency plan for every session in the programme should any of the speakers not be able to make it to the venue.

Roles & Responsibilities

Make sure everyone knows what their role will be in the case of an incident. The Trust’s Director of Communications was lined up to be the front facing voice of the Trust should the need arise. My colleagues and I were primed to be active at the operational level (communicating with attendees, suppliers, venue, etc).

Messaging & communication channels

Know which channels you’re going to use and most importantly, have the data readily to hand to email segmented groups should the need arise. We had established that we would use email as the primary channel of communication, along with Twitter. We sent multiple communications with updates on the weather situation, national and local travel advice and the local event situation.

Flexibility

Two days before the event we booked coaches to bring people from the local train station to the venue (and one to take people back at the end of the event). Once we knew how many attendees had checked in on the first day we reconvened, checking the weather forecast again and decided to truncate the second day of the programme to allow attendees to get away at lunchtime rather than mid-afternoon, before the next wave of bad weather set in! This was no mean feat as it meant liaising with multiple speakers, including the Chief Executive of the NHS, Simon Steven’s office.

On arrival, attendees expressed gratitude at the level and detail of comms sent to them and the fact that we advised not travelling if it was unsafe to do so, in line with national advice. The event was live streamed for those not able to make it (only 14% in the end).

If you want to talk through your crisis or contingency planning, call Clare on 07881 923136 or drop us an email at [email protected]

The Blosse to the Ruby!

Lots of people ask us how we came up with the company name, RubyBlosse. Well, the Ruby bit is obvious, it’s Clare’s surname and she’s often called ‘Ruby’ in affection by friends, new clients and associates. We thought RubyMorgan sounded a bit like a law firm, so we navigated away from Sophie’s surname, which is already used for a number of existing, strong company brands.

Having moved out of central London and into Welsh Wales (Well, Cardiff… some people say Wenglish!) Sophie bought a pretty old school house which used to stand alone (it’s now end of terrace) and therefore the original road name ‘Blosse Road’ from the 1800’s has pride of place on the front of the house. Standing proud.

On a trip to see friends and colleagues at the Amsterdam RAI, Clare and Sophie were in the back of a taxi from the airport heading into Amsterdam batting some names about and RubyBlosse came up and stuck.  By the end of the day they had purchased their domain name and their very first company was born.

So there you have it.  The Blosse to the Ruby. Long live RubyBlosse Events.

When one door opens…

We live in the 21st century and boy am I glad! I have an office job… well sort of. I set up an events company with my business partner 18 months ago and have never looked back.

I’ve worked for several companies in my time climbing the ranks, some who offered flexible working and others who didn’t. Staff morale (especially in women) was higher in the former let me tell you.

We live in a society now where women CAN have the senior roles, the careers and the 6 figure salaries. We’re up there with the men (in some cases… not all!) technology may have advanced but science is pretty finite and it’s still us women that give birth. Which appears to put us at a disadvantage in the eyes of some companies.

I planned to, and was keen to, go back to work (it’s true what they say… being a parent is the hardest job you’ll ever do!) but my employer didn’t see the benefit of flexible working hours and with nursery fees at a whopping 1k a month I needed to re-think my strategy.

So I set to work with my friend Clare and shortly after we put our minds to it RubyBlosse events was born. I work from a home office now which, I love. I don’t commute daily, I don’t spend an extortionate amount of cash on daily coffees and Pret lunches. I don’t deal with office politics. I get up, make a cup of tea and crack on. I work hard, I work smart, I work the hours I need to. We work in events, often working hours are long, but when you work for yourself you don’t resent those long days, you feel empowered by them. Some days I don’t need to work at all and I don’t need to answer to anyone on those days. My washing doesn’t pile up (I even get to keep up with Home and Away… shhhh that’s our little secret).

I owe my thanks to the 70’s and 80’s (and the 60’s for the birth of my wonderful business partner!) The invention of the mobile phone and the World Wide Web. Big shout out to Martin Cooper and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Hats off to you chaps. I can literally work wherever takes my fancy and nobody is any the wiser. In fact my business partner once sent me a card which has pride of place in my office which says ‘when you work from home you only have to sound dressed at 9.30 in the morning’

It’s true, working from home takes discipline. It’s not for everyone. You need focus, determination and self motivation in the bucket loads. But those of you that have cracked it you’re likely to cite that you’re less stressed, have a better work/life balance and don’t suffer from those Sunday night blues. In 2011 Staples conducted a survey which show some really positive results including a huge decrease in stress levels and increases in productivity. Win win.

Of course there are days when working from home is tough… when juggling family life and work doesn’t quite hit the right balance (ref pic!). I recently shared a story in the pub which I’ll share with you too… we were doing some home renovations and my quiet (child free) office space was under attack as we took deliveries of new sofas. It’s okay, I can get wifi in the lounge, I de-camped. When I received a call I desperately scrambled from the lounge (with cbbc’s music offering as my background noise) leaving the toddler with daddy day care and headed towards the office. Naturally I answered the call en route and when I closed the door to create a professional zone I realised my husband had taken it off the hinges to negotiate sofa movement. So if dealing with a toddler isn’t hard enough, sometimes you have to juggle whole doors too. There was another day (before my child could talk and continually repeat ‘mummy mummy mummy’ whilst on a call) when I had to hang up on a client because my daughter decided the toilet duck disc in the toilet bowl would be her lunch. She may have smelt ocean fresh for the rest of the day but she thankfully wasn’t hurt in the process. I may not feel the guilt that others feel when they have to leave their children to go into the office but a mother’s guilt is never far from you!  Thankfully as our business has grown, I now get to focus solely on our clients and I have a wonderful nursery who take full responsibility of my daughter and they assure me she no longer ‘snacks’ in the bathroom!

It may not be right for everyone but it’s sure as hell right for me and I’m encouraged and empowered by the number of mums around me who have started their own businesses and are writing their own futures. I salute you all.

World Mental Health Day 10 October 2017

The theme for World Mental Health Day 2017 is workplace wellbeing, something we’re passionate about. Last week RubyBlosse Events went to an industry networking event centred on “Wellbeing in the Event Industry”, organised by EWL @ewlclubuk. The discussion centred around what wellbeing means in practice, how we can create a  culture that fosters wellbeing and what factors prevent wellbeing in the event industry. The debate could have gone on all afternoon. Clearly a topic rich for discussion. Here’s a few things RubyBlosse believe can lead to workplace wellbeing;

Encourage an open environment to talk about wellbeing and stress, and actually talking about it.
Allow everyone flexible working arrangements that suit both the company AND the employee.
Highlight external resources such as counselling services, mentoring or coaching and facilitating time off for people to access those external resources.
Support colleagues going through difficult periods in their lives, albeit mental, physical or emotional.
Support national & local initiatives on mental health and wellbeing.

We’re not perfect at it by any means, but we’re trying. See our “Minifesto to address stress in the events industry” for some more pointers: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rubyblosse-minifesto-address-stress-events-industry-clare-ruby/