Partner Article

bdaily talks with Antony Crerar and finds out why quality wins in the end

The events production industry is evolving rapidly, but as development director of R&B Group, it is Antony Crerar’s job to ensure the company continues to attract new business.

Since leaving university, Antony has always worked in the events industry. After spending a period working at the Newcastle Playhouse he formed his own arts events company, which eventually merged with the R&B Group.

“R&B Group was more corporate, so we complimented each other perfectly,” he recounts.

Today the business specialises in specialist conferencing facilities, awards ceremonies, fashion shows, as well as video and multimedia for company profiles and training videos. However the recent economic downturn has presented difficulties for the business.

“Times are hard, but that’s not unlike any other industry. There has been a downturn in revenues, and we are finding ourselves doing the same events but for less money,” says Antony. “It’s also challenged the way we work, and its not unusual for us to be given three days to plan an event. While it has been difficult, the whole team have adapted well to the new challenges.”

The changing nature of conferencing is also a challenge for the business. “There has been a shift away from 2 or 3 day conferences, and often people want to just dip in and out.

“People still want to interact and come together, but want to ensure they get their moneys worth too. Quite often we are asked to take the same shows to different cities, and these smaller conferences are much more popular and cost effective overall.”

As media technologies become cheaper and more accessible to the general public, R&B Group is constantly looking ahead to ensure they provide clients with the latest technological advances.

“The perceived value of events production has changed, and instead of employing an expensive production company to do the work, people often use PowerPoint or cheap editing suites themselves.

“While this is an underlying threat, it has also presented us with the opportunity to embrace other technological advances. We can offer clients interactive voting, QR codes and a variety of other mechanisms to make talks more interesting – there are lots of ways to use technology innovatively.”

Antony and his colleagues are now working hard to ensure the company keeps focussed on delivering what clients are looking for and demonstrating value added service at all times

“While there has been a decline in the past two years, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic. There will always be demand for events, which help people, come together, and we are continuing to pick up exciting new work whilst operating more efficiently at the same time.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .