It’s that time of the year when I get to see our happy clients again in informal surroundings and also to meet newly referred suspects to the Activate happy client list!

I enjoy immensely the opportunity to get in front of people again. this is the perfect time to listen to their event needs, their aims and expected outcomes from investing time, money and energy into their most important assets….people!

It is also a great time to hone my skills as a listener, as a coach and as an event creator. Training for the team also takes place during these meetings with Laura Temp and Andrea le Clair our Event Consultants joining me for a meeting master class, as well as them meeting their own prospective clients.

A couple of top tips for an effective meeting:

1. Remember that a meeting is an event. Organise yourself as if you were running this event for your client! This is an interview for their business!
2. Call a couple of days beforehand to confirm time, place, agenda, duration and any challenges such as local parking.
3. Call on the morning before you leave the office to sort any last minute challenges.
4. Smile when you meet, use their name, have a firm handshake and thank them for their time.
5. Use your skills and information cleaned so far to assess how they operate i.e.
   1. Red: business like, short sharp info, clear and decisive…no stories!
   2. Green: How are you? They care about you and are happy to chat.
6. Stay on time, on track and finish with a commitment to follow up, add to email newsletter, book event.

Hey, don’t forget to enjoy yourself and people buy people and usually within the first 4 seconds…so make them count!

Sean

When it comes to the colour of your business these days, there’s only one viable option: green, green, green - particularly if you care about the environment and hope to leave a sustainable legacy for your children and their children’s children.

That’s why we are committed to support the Green Tourism Business Scheme - a fully fledged, properly accredited organisation with roots and branches throughout Scotland.

There are three award levels available within the scheme – gold, silver and bronze. Do I need to tell you that here at Activate, we are going for gold?

However, there are strict criteria we need to meet along the way, including reaching certain environmental benchmarks while complying with environmental legislation. On top of that, we will also be making a real commitment to reduce our environmental impact in everything we do by implementing a whole raft of recommended actions.

And just to make sure we tick all the right boxes, we will be assessed by an independent environmental auditor as we go along. Bring it on.

We may not be the biggest corporate events company in the UK (yet), but we are certainly committed to being the most environmentally friendly.

Ever since Activate’s conception nearly 10 years ago (keep an eye out for forthcoming details regarding our 10th birthday party!), our mission has been to actively deliver innovative and practical event solutions that Inspire, Develop and Entertain. 

With this in mind, this year we set out to design a unique event that you can use to reward your hard working teams or entertain your loyal clients.

Summer’s gone, Christmas coming, Nights fair drawin’ in, people glum. COME ON …LETS PARTY!

 Brighten up your next event up with our Autumn Acquaintance & Winter Warmers. event Designed to be wildly different from anything you’ve done before.  Tailored to suit your individual requirements, variety of tastes and exclusive venues.

Reward your teams or entertain your clients with one of these perfect nights.

Email events@activateevents.com.

Building a strong and productive team is always beneficial to your business; that is why companies come to us looking for well-organised corporate events. We are always happy to organise anything that will help teams gel and be more useful to the company. But, wait, how much better is it, if you can do something good for society at the same time as improving your company, help others less fortunate while building relationships between your own team and the outside community?

We are currently putting together a very exciting corporate event for Cairn Energy, one of Scotland’s best known and most socially-aware companies, involving Foursquare, an Edinburgh-based charity dedicated, amongst other things, to helping homeless young people move from the streets and into a stable living situation.

The idea is that eighty or so personnel from Cairn Energy will roll up their collective sleeves for a few days and get busy on the charity’s various venues in a sort of Changing Rooms meets DIY SOS - though without resorting to anything too hideous by way of colours and MDF.

As you can imagine, this takes some organising but it is going to be great fun and enormously rewarding for all concerned.

Everybody wins in this sort of situation, including the staff here at Activate who derive immense satisfaction from putting such a great event together.

Activate was recently challenged by the Tony Robbins’ Life Mastery Course to provide people on the life changing course with an event that would allow people to ‘leap’ away from their fears and the pressures affecting in their lives and to begin to fulfil their true potential. Activate designed and built the Leap of Faith in the picturesque location of the St.Andrews, which sits on the summit of a spectacular cliff formation with breathtaking panoramic views of the silvery Tay Estuary, the Old Course and the medieval skyline of St. Andrews.

As you climb all you can hear is your heart booming in your ears, and the encouragement of your colleagues shouting “One More Step”. As you get to the top you force yourself on believing that you can do it! Your hands shake, your knees wobble…what am I doing here?

Stand Up, Get Ready, then Leap…the Rush… I DID IT!

A 40-foot pole, a harness and helmet, safety rope, a qualified instructor… and you.

Fun, adrenaline, personal power & team challenges, the Leap Of Faith provides a unique platform for success. Individual and group bookings available.

Now this is going to be fun. We are organising a vast Highland Games corporate event for 160 guests for early next year.

Admittedly we don’t walk around in kilts here in the office, nor do we all sup on salted porridge at breakfast time but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a couple of ounces of Highland blood surging through our collective veins.

In short, we know how to put together a great Highland games for a corporate event or team building day. We’re still finalising the programme but caber tossing will be right up there - don’t worry we’ll find some smaller trees for those guests who struggle to lift telegraph poles.

Also on the menu - wellie boot throwing, bale rolling and the farmers walk, along with assorted team fun and games. And for anyone who harbours a dislike of Scotland’s national dish, we shall lay on haggis hurling. Just mind your heads for that one.

There’s a serious point to all this of course. While the games are a bit of fun, the sense of camaraderie such an event creates can prove priceless to an under-pressure corporate team.

The sun is shining.

I am heading home to be with my family and as I ponder on how the business is performing financially right at this minute. I am reminded of a quote I read recently from Arianna Huffington Author of On Becoming Fearless…In Love, Work, and Life

“Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It’s the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time than we fall down.”

As I feel the fear of failure I also know there are lesson to be learned from each outcome and the happiness in who I am becoming as I get up again is more powerful than the fear of failure.

To infinity and beyond! ;-) 

After my cycle in this morning I arrived expecting to see the Activate 4×4 sat outside the office. No so…hmmm.

I turned my phone on to see if anyone had left a message only to hear that the team had been stopped by the police - on the way home around 0030hrs after a fantastic warrior night - because the rear lights were not working. Uh oh! (I knew, however we had not sorted out that particular challenge before this event…ooops).

No legal dramas, just no moving of the wagon from Dundee so Andrea stayed at Laura’s flat until the bridge (across the Tay closed Wed & Fri morning between 0100 - 0300hrs) opened so she could get home. Andrea got to bed about 0400hrs, awgh bless.

I was reminded of some of the early Activate team escapades traveling all around the UK with me at the helm. Never a dull moment.

After I got into the office I sat doing my morning visualisations I was struck that all this happened without me and that by empowering the team to believe in themselves they ran another event and made it safely home - whatever the challenges - safely.

Strangely through it all Andrea’s concern seemed to be that I would cycle all the way to the office and not be able to get in or even home because I did not have the keys - which were in the wagon - or indeed the wagon itself.

The ‘Something inside so strong’ is the belief that we are building our team in such a way that we are becoming unstoppable. We are growing, learning and having fun everyday!

I am so grateful for these wonderful people that are joining me in growing Activate into the brilliant event management professionals that I know we are!

Thank you team!

Seanie

They were all there. The warriors, musicians, fire jugglers, the hog roast, a clear an atmospheric castle and excited guests….no Seanie!

Feedback from the team this morning reminded me of when it was just me organising and running these events. I loved hearing how the team felt about the warriors, the music, the impact on our clients.

Our client contact Lynn said” It all looks so stunning I think I am going to cry!”.

Job done! 

The Arbroath Seafest 2007 was a major success this year. A two day festival of the sea held in glorious sunshine. Visitors were up around 20%, takings up around 40%, stall holders and the public offered very positive feedback and are looking forward to bigger and better next year!

Why do I tell you this…well I wasn’t there!

For the the first time Activate delivered a major event that Sean (the owner / director) did not attend. Not needed, surplus to requirements, brilliant! Let’s have more events like this.

“I was actually there for a few hours on the Saturday morning lend my expertise to the team during what is usually the most difficult period of most events…the ironing out, fire fighting, fixing and challenge solving”.

On the Sunday my family and I went to Reekie Linn (Scotland’s Highest waterfall) and my eldest son (Ronan 9) and I (Sean 41) jumped off the rocks into the raging water whilst Lesley (better half age withheld!) videoed and Cara (darling daughter 7 on Sat 8th Sept) and Sam (the little guy 5) watched and hollered supportive comments like “Ooh” and “Mum, I’m hungry”.

We had a great family day oot which has been a rare occasion recently…hurrah for growing a business and building a team. Why did I not do this sooner?

The specialist team put together to deliver this event were hand picked by me for their particular skills and they performed with professionalism, class and poise throughout.

Great job and my thanks to all involved.

TTFN