Mandy Mahil, founding director of Mango Pie, an event planning company, joined James for this week’s podcast to discuss attitudes in the event management sector. Having worked for event companies that peddle one event after another in a very “mechanical” fashion, Mandy stated she wanted to distance herself from that type of procedure when planning her events. Reflecting on the “factory wheel” of creating events, Mandy said she prefers to take time nurturing relationships with her clients and building each and every event from the ground up. She believes spending more time on each event gives clients better value for money. “Events are very expensive,” she said, stressing that clients who spend money on an event deserve something more than the bog-standard party. Starting her company as a sole-trader, Mandy admitted that she had to learn the technical side very quickly, e.g. the logistics behind setting up the company, the website and the I.T technicalities. However, clients were eager to follow Mandy in her new venture with some claiming: “We never worked with you because of the company you were in; we worked with you because of you.” Taking on only 20 events per year on average and only one wedding, Mandy allows herself the time to give 100% to each event, ensuring each one becomes the event her clients want. Leading onto event sizes, Mandy questioned whether larger events necessarily equalled larger value and stated that some of her clients appreciated the worth of decreasing the size of their events. James and Mandy agreed that businesses that host events require “meaningful” time with their guests. Smaller, but more frequent, events allow businesses to be more attentive to each guest, increasing the likelihood of engagement and custom retention. If you would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please get in touch at [email protected].

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