Is this the greatest event photo of all time?
Welcome back to our roundup of essential resources for events and hospitality leaders.
This month voting opens for the Best Ever Event Photography Awards, which with your help will determine the best photograph from the last 10 years of the Event Photography Awards – and you have the chance to cast your vote!
This edition also includes the latest hospitality and events jobs, articles and content we loved this month, plus three easy things you can do right now to prepare for peak season.
One Amazing Photo
And the best ever event photo is...?
For ten years, the Event Photography Awards have celebrated event images capturing those special moments in life.
To celebrate this milestone, we’re letting you be the judge for the “Best Ever” competition which includes photos from the past decade.
Autumn Budget
The industry reacts...
The big news from last week was of course Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget statement.
We'd love to know what you think about the budget and what it means for our industry - let us know your thoughts in the comments.
One Amazing Opportunity
Latest Hospitality Jobs from jobs.offtowork.co.uk
Our client is a leading SME Coffee Machine Provider specializing in offering high-quality coffee machines and related services to businesses, corporate offices, high-end restaurants, and the hospitality industry.?
Off to Work is partnering with one of London’s premier event and conference venues to find an Events Sales Manager. As a key player of the management team, you'll drive revenue growth, nurture client relationships, and deliver world-class events that surpass expectations.
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We are seeking a highly experienced Deputy Account Director?to join a prestigious national catering operation. If you are a driven professional with a proven track record of managing multi-million-pound operations, leading large teams across multiple sites, and have a passion for innovation, sustainability, this is your chance to make a real impact.
One Amazing Venue
Top 50 Boutique Hotels
We now know which venues made it onto the Top 50 Boutique Hotels list for 2024 after the A-Z list was released.
Congratulations to many of our clients who are featured, and to the twelve new venues making the list for the first time.
To find out who took the top spot check out the Top 50 Instagram page at 2pm GMT Wednesday 20 November.
One Amazing Opportunity
Caterer Supplier Awards 2025
As a supplier to several of the industry's leading operators, we love to see initiatives which celebrate the role of those who support behind-the-scenes to help event organisers create incredible experiences.
The first Caterer Supplier Awards takes place in 2025 and will be an incredible opportunity to highlight food and drink brands, sustainability initiatives, community campaigns and other great things being done across the industry.
One Amazing Tip
?? Learn from industry experts
As we head into peak season, we’ve looked back through our interview series with hospitality and events leaders for takeaways we can use to thrive during busier times of the year:
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1) Now is the time to re-connect with your network
“The industry is actually built on people doing each other favours and having good work relationships” says Katie from YES Events.
“I want to work with people that are kind and patient and will help me if I need it, and then I'll repay the favour however I can,” she continues.
Take ten minutes today (don’t put it off!) to review your contacts list and reach out to people you’ve not spoken to in a while.
Try to focus on what you can offer them, rather than what they can offer you.
This is a quick and easy way to strengthen those connections and ultimately grow your career.
2) Plan toil for yourself and your teams now
When planning the events calendar for the festive season, Sophie Linin (Deputy Head of Events at Royal Museums Greenwich) includes a period in late December where no events are booked.
“I rota my team over that period. So, the events inbox is always covered. The phone will always be manned. But [the team] don't need to be sat at their desks at nine in the morning until 5 p.m. on the 28th of December. It's just absolutely pointless, you know, that's when they can use up their toil.”
Knowing that this is booked in can be a big relief for teams as they navigate the busy weeks in late November and early December.
The first step is to look at your calendar and see if there are any periods where you can get teams to use up some of their toil time.
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3) Communicate with your teams early
A key takeaway from our chat with George Foden, MD at Wise Productions, was the importance of taking your team with you on the journey.
When starting the process of moving to employee ownership George found that kicking off the process with a company residential was invaluable.
“I think those two days really helped cement in people's minds what this would mean. And bear in mind, we transitioned to employee ownership in December 2022 - so we did this [the residential meeting] in August,?several months before the kind of actual legal change of ownership occurred.”
Though this is of course a very specific scenario, leaders can apply the learning of communicating with your team early when preparing for peak season.
Book in some time with your team in the next week or so and outline your plans for the season.
Encourage questions and input – your team on the ground will be able to ask questions and provide context which will help you improve your strategy.
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Until then, keep creating amazing experiences.
Off to Work
This newsletter is brought to you by Off to Work, the UK's leading recruitment and staffing solutions company.
Founded in 1999 on the idea that something better could be offered in terms of the people brought into the hospitality industry, we aim to enable amazing experiences for our clients, candidates and team members.