You've booked your speaker; what happens next?

Speakers Corner logistics team pride themselves on exceptional customer service and attention to detail, working closely with the client and speaker to ensure nothing goes wrong on event day. As a team there’s very little we haven’t encountered over the years.

Travel is tailored to the needs of each and every speaker and venue – apart from mundane car and train journeys we have whisked people in record time from airport to city centres by limobike to ensure they arrive on stage for their slot!  Would you believe it, recently when a speaker was caught in a huge traffic jam on the motorway in France, we even called up a private helicopter company to enquire about having him air lifted off into Marseilles!!   Our database has now expanded to include details of several companies who could provide this service should we need it in the future!

Briefing calls are an essential element of communication between client and speaker – no matter where either party is, we can link them up on the phone – it’s not unknown for us to be in London, the client in Dubai with an adventurous after dinner speaker taking a break from his or her jungle trek!  However, even with the wonders of satellite communication, there’s very little we can do when someone is out in the wilds of Argentina and despite best intentions, has no signal!

We would hate any of our speakers to be caught in a dress code faux-pas – for instance, briefing calls have covered many a debate about what colour dress awards hostesses should wear so that they don’t clash with the stage set or get lost amongst the corporate uniforms.  Dinner suits are often the order of the day – but often not the first thing a speaker remembers to pack when they left their home several days before and have been working elsewhere.  A member of the logistics team received a call early one morning when a poor speaker had forgotten to pack their dress shirt for dinner that evening.  A quick phone call to the client resulted in a trawl round the Birmingham department stores, by a diligent client, collar size in hand, who gallantly saved the day!

But even the best laid plans often fall apart due to events which are totally beyond our tight control!  After an 18 month lead up with all parties really looking forward to an event in Berlin, the speaker left home bright and early to board his plane – only to find there was an unexplained delay leaving Heathrow.  Gradually information filtered through to him from the flight deck – seemingly the problem was an unexploded bomb at Tegel airport – imagine the irony when the person sitting on the plane, relaying this situation back to Speakers Corner was a bomb disposal expert!!!!

Life is never dull working for the logistics team!  We continue to pool our considerable experience and resources to make life easier for our clients and speakers, resulting in some great feedback from people who have used our services.  Bring on the next challenge!