Our Events Family

I promised a wordy update when I updated my status a couple of weeks ago… well here it is.

I’ve been a little bit silent on here recently, a heck of a lot has happened.

We lost one of my best friends a few months ago and this was shortly followed by my fathers passing which was a blow to the family. With redundancy talks then underway (and now of course being made redundant), there has been a lot of life changing events happened to us (all) in a very short space of time. In that time however, we have welcomed how awesome our events family has been to us and to each other over the last weeks.

Oh boy how we miss our industry. Eventprofs to me, means so much more than creating really cool sh*t. I love it when we all get together – all the hours we put in, all the drinks that are consumed and all the coffee that flows the next morning. More than anything, I’ve realised how much we miss each other. The physical connection, the banter, the high fives… oof, yea, we miss it a lot.

See events for us isn’t just about the event itself. It’s about our extended network of #eventprofs (or #eventtechprofs) getting together, having fun together and encouraging each other to push a little harder or try something different or just being there to support each other when we need it most.

Our events “family” is changing. It’s challenging. It’s bloody difficult at times…but, we are surrounded by great people and I hope we can support each other through this pandemic.

And this ladies and gentlemen, is where my tangent begins. 

I was listening to a podcast the other day called Science Vs (it’s great for kids and adults alike btw – anyone else dealing with kids at home and working? Yea, this is a good one…) and there was a bit of a random story about ants that inspired this musing.

Yes, yes I am relating ants to the events industry…bear with. 

These weren’t just any ants, these were ants trapped in a nuclear bunker with no obvious means of survival. It was completely sealed with no light, no obvious way in and no obvious way out. They were trapped and it baffled scientists. A little bit like our industry you might say… the feeling of being trapped at the moment, with no clear end in sight.

When this nuclear bunker was sealed, thousands of ants were trapped inside and slowly started to grow as ants that colonised above the bunker occasionally fell down the ventilation shaft never to return to the surface again. They were trapped. When the bunker was discovered, scientists found nearly a million ants trapped inside this bunker and the colony was thriving. They found no queen ants and no ant larvae so these queenless ants had to survive. They were trapped and had no chance to escape. As one scientist said, “They were merely surviving and continuing their social tasks on the conditions set by the extreme environment."

Well, ignoring the fact they survived on cannibalism, I mean, I for one certainly hope we don’t get to that stage, what amazed these researchers was how they thrived to survive and how they adapted to their pretty sh&tty situation. How they worked together to make the most of it… and they survived.

The podcast went on to talk about other ant colonies and how they work together to hunt much bigger animals (termites) and also how they looked after their injured ants by carrying them back to their base for much needed rehabilitation, helping them to survive. 

This essentially was about how a community helped each other to live another day.

Ok, back to events…

This is where (I feel) our events community can relate. All of us have been affected by this current pandemic in some way. I’ve lost close friends and family, pals have lost jobs, plentiful have gone through redundancy, many continue on furlough and more have been locked down for weeks not able to leave their four walls until only recently… but this events community that we call our extended family has pulled together and helped us to get through it, sometimes, just by being there to bend an ear.

The kindness and generosity I’ve seen in the last days let alone weeks and months has been amazing. People offering each other help with CV’s, introductions and even small amounts of work just to help keep, in some cases, food on the table.

It’s not always easy, but knowing there are pals out there virtually supporting you, lending an ear, encouraging you to do better or just helping you through the troubles of life is food for the soul. It fires us. It motivates us to keep going. 

Of course it doesn’t replace our face to face interaction, our physical high fives and hugs, but it keeps us close. It lets us know that there are other busy ants out there who do care and can’t wait to get running with us all again. 

So yes, this was a bit of a rambling, but I wanted to say thank you to everyone that has reached out with offers of help and support to me personally, but I also wanted to let my network of events family know that I’m here to help if needed.

It’s a tough road, but we will survive.

If you have recently been made redundant or your small business is struggling, please do message me, we’re working on something to help.

Thank you #eventprofs

Matt