flying across the world to see a room in three different set-ups.” As a global company, with the majority of its business overseas, Utting knows emc3 will be back on planes as soon as they can be – albeit with a different mindset. “It’s about being sensible with it and being a bit smarter,” she says. “Just asking if there’s another way before you jump on that plane, rather than saying “sure, book it, let’s go!” As MD, Utting will be focusing on her employees first and letting the account managers focus on the clients and their needs. “I’ve really focused on what the team have been through in the last year, mentally,” she says. “Mental health is huge for me and I’m working on getting a supplier to partner with us on internal support. I don’t think anyone this year hasn’t had their mental health affected. “In the events industry in particular you’ve gone from going to events all the time in-person, face-to-face, to going and working at home on your own. And a lot of us are living on our own. And now your work is telling you that you’re going to have to go into an event where potentially there’s masses of people again, and that’s your job, and you will have to fly again. It’s super-important not to underestimate the concern and anxiety that could come with that.” And Utting is clear that her role as leader is to help her staff through any anxieties they may have. “As long as the employees are in a positive place and feeling good they’re ultimately going to provide the best work for the clients,” she says. “Coming out of what has been a pretty gruesome year we are all feeling way more positive than we were before the pandemic. It was super tough when it all hit, we had to slightly reduce our team, that was super hard, but now we’re feeling like the sweat and the tears were all worth it and we are all feeling super confident in our ability to do these hybrid events.”
business has dried up for obvious reasons, but Utting sees even this coming back. “What has got us through this year is the conferences,” she says. “People are starting to talk more about incentives now, companies are starting to put dates in as tentative, it’s slowly but surely getting there. “We’ve got hybrid events planned from September, so we’re just keeping our fingers crossed, making sure that they can happen. The good thing with hybrid is that you can always fall back to the virtual.” In her new role, Utting has idenitfied three main missions for 2021: sustainability, mental health and wellbeing, and continuing the empowering, supportive and collaborative culture at emc3. “To be sustainable is now a main aim as we go back”, she says. “Especially on site visits. With clients we used to go on site visits for one event three or four times a year in America. I remember once I went to Texas for 11 hours. It’s
not the best option sustainability-wise. “We are working with technology that can recreate the experience of walking through a venue, so instead of doing four site visits, we just do one. Let’s use the technology, rather than
To be sustainable is now amain aimas we go back”
mitmagazine.co.uk MAY 2021 39
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