At last nights session, Zoe Steadman-Milne delivered a presentation called ‘Top Tips for Producers’. Zoe is currently Project Manager for Festival of Ideas with a background working for many festivals such as Glastonbury, WOMAD, and Secret Garden Party, and to say the least, the woman is an inspiration! We were bombarded with a mass of incredibly useful information that I was scrawling across pages and pages of my notebook. The advice ranged from very general but integral points such as ‘Be prepared!!!’ right down to minute, but equally important details such as ‘Always make sure your tech team get a cup of tea.’ After the lecture she sat down with each of the groups and gave us her advice on how to approach the projects – I wish we could have more time with her just to sit a pick her brain. In fact would our budget allow us to hire her for 24 hour assistance between now and the event ….??? I wish.

I was blown away by the amount of work Zoe does, and how organised and efficient she must be. I was also blown away by the amount of details that have to be thought through when producing a cultural event, but it didn’t put me off in any way, it only fuelled my ambition!