Spring Cleaning Reflections

Team Wins, Client Partnerships, and Event Magic

July 22, 2024 

I have been busy! Really busy this entire year. This week I took a few minutes to go through some pictures and remember the hubbub of activity that myself and SRE have had this year….travel to Greece, success in Toronto, late hours at the FIRST Championship event, seeing Kerrell work with Bryan Cranston on stage from my balcony perch at AV Control, FIRST Robotics Competition Regional family fun, and many other cities and successes!

Amber receiving the Show Ready Events “Kicked Ass Award”

One thing that I smiled at was Amber winning the “Coveted” Show Ready Events “Kicked Ass Award” that was given in Houston at the FIRST Championship event. This award could have gone to so many of my team, for they all work so hard and have had so many routes and choices to find success.  Amber had some challenging events and showed incredible resourcefulness, leadership, and fortitude.  In one particular case, she had a really tough client who was ugly to her, taking out their own issues in a stressful moment. 

Amber told me after “I have dealt with that before and probably will again, and that person was being who they are in distress and I had to be who I am “.

Brilliant. I am so proud to have Amber as part of my team!

I am also thinking a lot about the FIRST Championship and how I had a few changes with my team this year.  It seemed like all of the changes ended up working out really well and although tired, we did a really great job!  Not a lot of people know what it takes to make things seem seamless.  Always having to be on for 12-15 hours each day, going from challenge to challenge- and dropping what you are doing in service to an emergency.  All of this is both draining and rewarding.  Every morning, I get up early and review the public schedules, my notes from the day before, and see the show clearly in my head before I go out the door. I proudly do what I do for a living because I love both the planning aspect and the onsite problem-solving that live events bring.  Why would someone want to be in banking?!?!

After all of these years, I am still convinced that the best delivery of a live event is when you have a true client as a partner- not as someone who dictates, yells, demands, and expects you to (as one client once told me) “Figure it out and make the magic happen.” We can handle those clients and events too, but it always feels like you are doing a job for one person, and not serving the attendees and making a difference.  We are blessed at SRE with having some amazing partnerships.  You know, people that you would invite to your house for Thanksgiving, because you both like and respect them.  My table would be overflowing with the amazing clients that we have!

Okay, done for now.  I hope you all take some time to think about your shows and appreciate what challenge brings, and the relationships that you gain along the way.