Welcome to another week and it’s a rather special
one at that as we are celebrating our 10th Birthday…yippee!
Unfortunately our plans to have a party, get our
new website up and running or mark the occasion with anything special have been
somewhat overlooked as we have been busy doing what we always do, looking after
our client events rather than our own!
Despite our manic schedule it would be churlish to
simply dismiss this anniversary so instead, we thought a little look back at
some of the highlights of the past 10 years and provide a Cloud 9 by numbers….
We have just calculated that in our time we have
now run over 200 awards ceremonies and numerous other events including product
launches, conferences and parties.
We have worked with over 100 different sponsors and
partners, but our client list remains almost the same today as it did when we
first launched. We might have added a few new clients along the way but it’s a
testament to our great service that most of our original clients are still with
us, and will hopefully continue to be so in the next 10 years.
We would also like to thank all of the wonderful
people who’ve worked and now work at Cloud 9 – many of them we’re still in
touch with and who have all gone on to bigger and better things.
Things have certainly changed since we started.
Although Linkedin was founded in December 2002 and launched the following May,
it wasn’t really a big part of our normal working day until 2008. These days,
not only is it invaluable for connecting with people it makes events much
easier to manage and the promotional opportunities are also great, in that you
can engage with your specific audiences both pre and post event.
With almost 900 connections so far, we are starting
to wonder how we ever managed without it!
2008 was also the year we reluctantly decided that
we needed to be on Facebook, and yes we were slow in comparison with many of
our chums!
Whilst we still don’t feel the need to share every
little detail of our lives and are continually embarrassed by some of the awful
photographs our Facebook friends post on the site, we do have to admit that
it’s a great tool for event organisers in keeping everyone up to date.
And then there is Twitter…..
Love it or hate it, you cant deny that this is another
great marketing tool for event organisers and there’re rarely an event these
days where the client does not want to include lots of Twitter activity in the
run up, and during an event.
Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter is now
universally popular and has over 500 millions registered users and generates
over 340 million tweets daily.
Its time consuming, addictive and a great way to
stay in touch with people, but if you are not careful, can quickly overtake
your life and work schedule!
We’ve around 2000 followers on Cloud 9 so we’ve a
way to go before being ranked anywhere near the top Tweeters but we like to
think our audience is mostly relevant and likes what we have to say!
Eventbrite is another new addition that’s
invaluable to event organisers and we’ve been using it for a few years now,
although it was launched originally in 2006. As it allows us to plan, set up
ticket sales and promote events of any size and publicise them across Facebook
and Twitter and it’s a great platform for us here at Cloud 9 Towers!
In terms of our events, there have been some
whoppers and some truly great experiences, but also lots of funny and memorable
moments.
We’ve had a confetti cannon go off ten minutes
before guests were due to be seated at an awards event so it was all hands on
deck as staff, crew and a few guests included, had to sort out the front five
rows of tables.
Then there was the time when an expected audience
of 375 in Birmingham for an awards ceremony was somewhat hampered by
snow. With just 40 odd guests, it was a tough decision whether to present the
awards and hope for the best, and as seating and wine pre-orders all went to
pot, it was one of the more interesting events we’ve staged – and not all for
the right reasons!
We’ve had pink themed parties, public sector
ceremonies, product launches and podcasts. We’ve organised speakers, and
sponsors and even judging in unlikely locations like Stratford or Skegness. We’ve hired out feathers, booked
flights and found missing glasses.
And that’s just the first 10 years, whatever next!
So please join us in celebrating our 10th
year and enjoy your week, we will!
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