Lessons Learned in Lockdown - My Covid Story

The BNC’s film making partners Bloomsbury Films has just released a series of candid and moving shorts focusing on four event professionals and how have coped with the series of challenges and crises brought about by the last year.

Here Bloomsbury’s Director Andrew Cussens tells Melissa Paulden all about the beginnings of the reactions to Lessons Learned in Lockdown.

“In the midst of our third lockdown over Christmas I had the idea of creating some documentaries as a way of bringing the industry together. As a filmmaker I wanted us to do 'our bit'.

We’ve all sat through webinars and ‘lives’, but I wanted to curate the content in a more focused way that would connect with viewers and be worth their time.

Sometimes the relief we really need is understanding we are not alone. So, I figured the experience of others, especially with a lot at stake would be helpful to understand and also be informative and inspiring.

I felt it would be useful to understand and explore how different people in the events industry have tried to adapt and survive, so others would feel encouraged. My objective was to provide hope and perspective – I wanted to know what the subjects felt about the future, what their predictions were.

Glen from Eventist talks about the sleepless nights caused by losing staff but his optimism about a ‘new roaring twenties’; James from Bridelux predicts that hybrid events will become the norm and ‘in person experiences will be the new luxury’. Milan Thakrar HRP talks about mapping physical assets and leveraging their venue virtually, he also discusses how big London is in the incentives market and he things that’ll return. Stuart from BlueStrawberry makes interesting comments about using tech to repackage their business offering.

The feedback on the films so far has been fantastic. Molly Ronan, founder Blue Strawberry Group, said: ‘It makes me so proud to be part of this business. Each person came across so well and the feeling of support and camaraderie couldn’t have been stronger. It was a wonderful idea to do this and I am so pleased and honoured that we were part of it’.

Sarah Haywood (top UK Wedding Planner with TV show The Wedding Fixer) said: ‘It’s a really interesting watch and comforting to know everyone in the industry is very much going through the same motions.’

There are some incredibly sage people in our industry and so it was a pleasure to ‘pick their brains’ and find common perspectives about the future we could act on.

We are hopefully heading towards happier times and these stories remind us of the true determination and resilience event professionals have.”

My Covid Story | https://bloomsburyfilms.com/mycovidstory