Contributors

 

Name: Nigel Cooper
Position: Divisional Managing Director

Nigel Cooper is the Motivcom Divisional Managing Director for the event divisions of Motivcom PLC. He is the Managing Director of P&MM Travel, Chairman of Zibrant and Chairman of AYMTM.

A graduate in politics, Nigel joined the incentives industry in 1990 spending 10 years with a subsidiary of Bank of Scotland where he went on to become Deputy MD and a Director in the Business Banking Division. Nigel joined the board of P&MM in January 2000 and was instrumental in developing the business to mount the secondary MBO in 2003 and the AIM flotation in 2004.

He has a strong commercial approach and provides a healthy focus for solutions that deliver against business objectives at all levels.  Since joining P&MM he and his team have been responsible for securing many high quality clients.

Nigel was elected to the board of the ITMA in 2004, the events industry association, and in August 2005 he was elected its Chairman. In 2006 Nigel merged two complementary trade associations: the ITMA and the CEA, to form Eventia and served a full term as Chairman until July 2007.  Voted Number 1 in the Conference & Incentive Travel Magazine Power 50 in 2007 and 2008 Nigel is a regular columnist in industry magazines and forums contributing his wealth of expertise to the industry.

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 Name: Chris Clarke
Position: Director of Events and Communications
Years in the industry: In travel in the wider sense 25 years! C&I   Industry 18 years

First event: Organising ABTA’s annual conference in Palma de Mallorca in 1992!

Event most proud of: Probably those where we have pioneered somewhere really new and exciting for the C&I industry – examples would be Nepal, Galapagos, Greenland and Peru.  Specific examples are too numerous to mention

Disaster story: Hmm – a few of these come to mind, but how about taking a UK group to Rhodes as part of an international convention.  We flew into the new Athens airport the day it opened, and the very same day that the whole of Greece’s public servants decided to strike!  They started their strike as we were in mid air (due to land after 12 midnight).  We arrived at the airport where there were was no staff to help, no other customers, no signage had been put up at the airport since it was brand new and only just opened, and no one to help me and my 40 guests!  I felt like the pied-piper with the group following me around the airport for what seemed like an eternity.  We were to have a lounge pass for the 5 hours wait before the onward connecting flight.  I eventually found a cleaner, who did not realise she was on strike (but was also perplexed as to why she was the only person in the airport!)… I bribed her €50 to open a lounge and serve us coffee! 

Entertaining elements that have happened to you on events: Numerous… how about a baboon stealing my calculator from my bag, which was on my bed in Zimbabwe??  I went in to my room after giving a general talk to my clients about the perils of leaving doors or windows open whilst in the ‘bush’.  I had done just that and this baboon was sat on my bed going through a bag that I had just left – it had everyone’s passports, tickets and departure tax in it… he disappeared with my calculator… lesson learnt?  Follow my own advice in future!

Or

A bear in a lift in a hotel in Istanbul?  Not something you see every day… it was ownerless and somewhat lost!

Next big events that your planning: We have car launches, road shows and international incentives for some of the UK’s biggest clients… busy, busy, busy

Dream event: Managing my own party after scooping top prize on the Euro-millions!

An event you wish you had attended: The launch of the first mobile phone!   I can remember operating events before they existed, almost inconceivable now.  They are a pain in the backside, but I could not imagine our industry without them.

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Name: Alex James
Position: Account Director  
Years in the industry: 13 years

First event attended/organised: 250 delegates to Banff, Canada

Event most proud of: It’s a close call between the team that recently delivered a conference in Baku, under challenging circumstances, and the team which delivered a fantastic cruise based event last year

Disaster story: Aerolineas Argentinas going into administration with 300 guests to get to Buenos Aires 

Entertaining elements that have happened to you on events: Having lunch with David Beckham in Madrid prior to a Champions League game

Next big events that you’re planning: June 2010, three different events in Brazil, Portugal and Russia

Dream event: A month long Real Ale festival at the London Olympics

An event you wish you had attended: Jimi Hendrix playing at Woodstock

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Name: Susan Sexton
Position: Sales Director – P&MM Events & Communications
Years in the industry: 30 odd (very odd!)

 First event: Can’t remember that far back but believe it was Optical Industry Dealer incentive to the Golden Triangle which in those days meant Los Angeles/San Francisco and Las Vegas

Event most proud of: First ever corporate incentive from the UK to Australia

Disaster story: Bunch of UK dealers in Monaco the weekend that Princess Grace died

Entertaining elements that have happened to you on events: Turning motor dealers away from their arrival at Heathrow due to a coup in Bermuda. Many hotel strikes and collecting all the luggage from 12 floors myself!

Next big events that your planning: 2500 conference one week event in London

Dream event: Gala Dinner at St Peters in Rome

An event you wish you had attended: I wish I could attend all of our P&MM Events because they are brilliantly managed and creatively produced by our  fantastic team!

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Name: Paul Lake
Position: Creative Development Manager
Years in the industry: 10- 15 years or so!

First event attended/organised: An AGM in Stoke on Trent – oh, the glamour of it!

Event most proud of: Taking groups down to all of the England games at the 2006 world cup in Germany.  We basically hired some seriously funky band busses which had a limo style living room downstairs and bunk beds upstairs (each with their own Playstations).  The thing that made it most memorable for me though was not the football (we were rubbish), or the busses, it was the people.  The incentive was run by a corporate but targeting consumers (on a ring in and win basis).  Some of these people didn’t even have a passport when they received their invitation down to see England play, so were blown away by everything we did for them.

To top it all off we won a few awards for it – I enjoyed the ITMA awards dinner that year!

Disaster story: I don’t do disasters – just challenges… 

Entertaining elements that have happened to you on events:        So, so many.  We are in a people industry and you meet so many characters along the way that it’s hard to remember one specific incident…  perhaps getting stuck under a bridge in Amsterdam on a pedlo waiting for 3 hours waiting for the rain to stop (the people I were with had a sense of humour for the first hour!). 

Next big events that you’re planning: I’m no longer operating, so I don’t have ongoing projects.  However right now I’m writing proposals to Cuba, Tanzania, Kenya, The Caribbean, Dublin, Chicago, Marrakech,  New Orleans and Vevey

Dream event: Product launch – Agent Provocateur.  I’ve been waiting for that brief (no pun intended) for years!  I see a private beach club on South Beach, Sunseekers in the Intercostal way, the Setai and thirty bronzed beauties falling in love with the event manager!

An event you wish you had attended: The 1966 World Cup Final.  I was not born at the time, but I I’d sell my first born to get a ticket  see England win the World Cup at Wembley (I think I should point out that I don’t actually have children, and that the expression ‘sell my first born’ was simply used to highlight my desire to see that event)