00:01 – Alan Smith (Host)
Arran, so you’re just back from London. You were at Confex. How was it?

00:05 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, it was good.

00:06
So Confex is basically like an events industry trade show and it’s held at the Excel in London over a couple of days, and I’ve actually been there before, probably 15 years ago, a couple of years, we went on the visit scotland stand as part of sounded vision and it was really good because, um, you kind of get to promote your business, but also, when you’re on a shared stand and you get to meet all the other stand holders and I’m still friends with people from 15 years ago from that stand just from like sharing the experience and just hanging out for a couple of days in in london.

00:49
So we got this opportunity to do a similar thing. Um, this year we were on a on a stand called catch the mice and, um, that was just full of different suppliers from the events industry, uh, as well as Stuart and Judith, who are like legends in the events industry. They know everyone. So, um that when the opportunity came, we just jumped on it because, um, as well as exhibiting uh and kind of being there uh as a supplier, we did some video podcasts right so it was really nice to have this kind of central space for us where our lights and cameras were um, and there were like 10 podcast slots a day.

01:35
That, um, the guys pulled their contacts and if they were doing like a fireside chat on one of the main stages, they would then come off the main stage with their contacts and do a deep dive into what was spoken about, and so it was really interesting and it also allowed us to kind of um meet and be introduced to these kind of key industry people. So it was a, it was a massive win um from from us.

02:01 – Alan Smith (Host)
It was really good and I guess these kind of exhibitions you want to. You want to go and speak to people and find people almost that you want to have a conversation with, but you don’t have to go out searching for people.

02:13 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, because they came to us and after a podcast there’s always a bit of a kind of chat about what they do, and so there was a whole range of people who ran events, businesses, or were suppliers or were kind of known characters in the industry and yeah, it was super interesting from all over the world. So yeah, it was really good, and then I was doing the filming stuff and then Lauren was there actually being, you know, business development kind of stand holder as well. So we got kind of best of both worlds.

02:47 – Alan Smith (Host)
It was really good, great, and so what were the key things that came out of the Confex then? What key trends, yeah.

02:54 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
So the events industry kind of has changed a lot because of COVID. So when COVID happened, the industry basically stopped, flipped into virtual and then now it’s come back. But, um, there’s loads of kind of little intricacies that are different um from how it used to be before. Um, for instance, a lot of people um work from home rather than office.

03:21
So it was quite interesting to hear that going to a trade show, for instance, where it used to be, oh, let’s get out of the office for a day now it seemed to be more like there has to be something really important for me to pull me out of my home, because I’ve got child care issues, I’ve got a new dog, I’ve got a home routine of working from home. So a normal kind of event old school trade show, for instance doesn’t really draw me anymore. You’ve got to offer something really important and special. And the same thing kind of translates to events as well as well. Like events now have to be kind of much more um personal um much um more specific to to what the delegates might want, rather than just a big kind of conference of people like talking, reading a powerpoint slide on on a screen and so.

04:20 – Alan Smith (Host)
So when you say special, what kind of things would make an event special that would draw people out of their home?

04:25 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, so much more kind of relevant content, for instance for the people going to the event. Quite a lot of people were talking about why isn’t there more recording of presentations before the event so that then you watch all the powerpoint presentations before you even go there? Like what’s the point going to an event and sitting with 600 people all watching someone present a slide deck where you could actually just watch the video?

04:59
at your leisure, yeah and then you go into the event, wherever it is london, barcelona, whatever to network and to do those kind of breakout rooms, um, and kind of have more direct interaction with, like the, the industry experts, rather than kind of receiving the stuff I see so out of interest.

05:19 – Alan Smith (Host)
Does that mean that the the person who you would normally go and listen to as a kind of a crowd of 600,? Would you be expecting them to almost give the presentation up front and then almost have a bit more of a Q&A type live feel to things?

05:33 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah.

05:33
Right, okay, smaller workshops, interesting, much more personal experience, and then you can split it into kind of interest areas. All that kind of stuff, so much more curated content to who’s going rather than being presented to. And obviously a massive thing after covid has been um, networking, you know, going out on socials, those kind of things which are really important, especially for some industry sectors like associations. You know, if you’ve got a bunch of, like surgeons or whatever, they just want to kind of do a lot of networking and catching up with industry peers, so that’s huge. But it’s the kind of content stuff that you know you’re wasting a lot of time presenting and also presenting kind of old-fashioned powerpoint slides, which is, you know, just reading content off a screen so you must have seen.

06:31 – Alan Smith (Host)
I mean, how many years now in this business for you. Quite a lot, right, right, a lot too many to even. You must have seen hundreds of presentations. I mean, what are the ones that stand out for you like what, what, what?

06:43 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah. So I guess starting like with a kind of worst case scenario is you see loads, you see loads and loads of like heavy text slides. Oh sorry, guys at the back you won’t be able to see this. It’s like why, why do you even make a slide? Yeah, you know you’re. You’re presenting to a room full of people who have to read that stuff yeah so so that’s.

07:08
Those are the kind of words that the worst things are like. Oh, so here’s my slides and then they just like read. They turn away from the audience, obviously like like, if you don’t like presenting, that’s a defense mechanism yes but, uh, you’re just reading slides and, like everyone’s falling asleep in the audience.

07:25
So some of the some of the best ones are where, um, the content’s delivered in quite a short period of time with, like you know, supporting images or big words um, behind. So you know, if you’re doing a presentation, you’re the presentation, not the, not the slide deck. So the slide should like support what you say and then, on the back of that, then going into interactive discussion, because when you’re in a room, like the whole point of being there is to be able to ask questions and obviously talk about the, the stuff that’s being spoken on stage. So more interactivity, I think, is better and I think that’s what people want these days.

08:13 – Alan Smith (Host)
And out of interest. Is there an optimal duration for a talk before it then gets to the Q&A type interactive stuff?

08:19 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
I think 20 minutes you reckon yeah.

08:22 – Alan Smith (Host)
Because I suppose TED Talks are what 18 minutes.

08:25 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, so maybe that I suppose TED Talks are what 18 minutes. I think there’s a reasoning behind that. There’s like science behind it. After 20 minutes you just start zoning out and thinking about what cakes are available at coffee break.

08:38 – Alan Smith (Host)
Excellent, alright. And so, from your point of view in Glow, and how you go about actually helping your clients, what are the kind of the key things that you do?

08:51 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, so, in terms of services, and maybe your approach to those services, yeah, so what we have done throughout the years is we basically pitch ourselves at the kind of higher end of video production and event video, and that’s because we’ve invested a lot in really nice cameras and lenses. Because I’m from a video background. I find that really important. Something should look really good. If people are paying us to make videos or podcasts, they should look nice and sound good.

09:25
So we’ve got good mics, nice cameras and things like that, but um, after that, like our clients, kind of think that’s given, you know when when they, when they bring us in to do a job, like the technology works and that’s what they pay for, but, um, on top of that, it’s it’s kind of it’s the service, so it’s it’s the, it’s the kind of people skills that are super important.

09:53
Like you know, our clients don’t know what cameras we use, like sony fxx, like the most of them 95% would don’t know what they are, um, but what they do remember and recognize is how they feel, for instance, when they do a podcast, so like a Confix or other events that we’ve done podcasts at. You know, people can be quite nervous when they come and sit Maybe they haven’t done a podcast before. Definitely when there’s two or three cameras, camera crew, lights, it’s like, oh, this is really uncomfortable. So if we can make them as comfortable as possible before this quiet, nervous kind of experience, that’s key because that’s what they remember as well. They remember the human experience element of the service. It’s really easy to be super techie, but, um, if we are nice and um, that’s, that’s that’s key, yeah, so what are the?

10:54 – Alan Smith (Host)
what are the little tips and tricks that you use to make people feel comfortable? Because you’re right, it can be nerve-wracking, especially for those people doing it for the first time. So, yeah, yeah it’s really simple.

11:07 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Things like um, so a confex, for instance, like um, we were on a kind of quite low sofa so when I helped them sit down and set things up, like I knelt on the floor at their eye level so you’re kind of there with them and then just kind of explaining why we do certain things and just saying you know, don’t worry about the cameras, concentrate on your discussion. Just all these kind of little things explaining things to them and also just like they look okay, yeah, you look totally fine. You know, just reassuring those kind of little touches, just the kind of human touches. And again, like a lot of the chats and conflicts was all about humanizing everything as much as possible. Like the, the one of the big overarching topics that people were talking about during the podcast was like we just want a human experience now. Yeah, like humans are craving because because all this kind of time on screens and that kind of thing, just craving human connection and then craving just normal human things yeah, so um, that’s really important.

12:19
So like we’re really lucky, like all of our team and the freelancers that we use are just like nice people, and I think that that is really important when you work in a video and tech environment yeah, nice, and, and you know, here we are wearing headphones and and you know, obviously we’ve got the mics here as well.

12:38 – Alan Smith (Host)
Why, why do you choose to kind of do it this way?

12:41 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah, yeah. So, um, yeah, headphones are. It’s really interesting because um many people, including myself, um, we don’t like how we sound. And I always say to people when they sit down to do a podcast is like, put the headphones on. Oh, do I have to? Yeah, yeah, just put them on. Because, just wait, because when you hear yourself through these amazing mics on the headphones, you actually sound really good and people then go, oh, I sound much better than I think I sound yeah and then because of that they relax, and then they, they, because they kind of start liking to hear what they sound like the, the conversation flows much freer.

13:31
Yeah, it’s really interesting it is.

13:33 – Alan Smith (Host)
I mean, obviously I do a podcast, which is which we don’t wear headphones on, but you definitely it’s a different experience.

13:39 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, and also like in a in a busy expo floor, like it’s super noisy, there’s like you will not believe the kind of stuff that happens. So there was a, there was a stand next to us and like, fair enough, 4pm, the DJ comes on and they start pumping out house music. But their speaker was pointing at us and it was just like, look guys, but because you’ve got headphones on and you’ve got these mics nice and close, you can kind of drown out the background noise. And also it just helps when you’re having a conversation, like we are. It just helps kind of form this little bubble. Yeah, where you’re, it helps ignore these cameras, maybe the other crew and some of the other distractions. There’s a guy playing the guitar behind, like there was disco yoga happening on that side and like that’s happening, and people are just zoned in on a conversation well, as you say that I was.

14:40 – Alan Smith (Host)
I had a coffee meeting with someone in a cafe just yesterday and and the background noise was quite off-putting yeah so you know you’re exactly right in saying this just totally gives you that bubble-type feeling. Yeah, I like that.

14:54 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, I’ve noticed that very same thing in a coffee shop, because we used to meet in coffee shops quite a lot. But now, maybe after like years of Zoom calls and stuff, where you’re just kind of on a headphone chatting to someone, yeah, I find it quite distracting as well. Um, maybe, maybe in the future we’re gonna have meetings in coffee shops but people are gonna have mics, it’s very possible.

15:21 – Alan Smith (Host)
It might look a bit odd but, um, tell me a little bit about the, the kind of the client expectations now as well, because obviously you know there’s been a number of changes. I think you mentioned earlier about this idea of fast content. What exactly is that?

15:37 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, yeah. So because our video business is predominantly around events, people and clients are now expecting really really fast turnaround video content. And we do that by having editors on site and having super fast workflows and things like that. But essentially, if you’re releasing a video about an event a week or two weeks after the event, no one’s interested because they’ve just moved on. They might be at the next event or you know, it’s just not relevant anymore and and you know from social media, you know all the kind of social media interactions like peak june event and a couple of days after and then it just fades away and becomes history.

16:28
So it’s really important now to be able to turn around content as quickly as possible while the event’s still buzzy. So just an example like last night we were on the train back from confex. We got back just after midnight but by that time on the train I’d edited a little reel for the client, sent over to the client. So today they’re just going to share, share that on a social post. And then I did a little reel myself, um, and shared that this morning. Because I know like if I just did it over the weekend and on monday, then like it’s too late and I’m doing other stuff and and.

17:11 – Alan Smith (Host)
I’m totally with you. It needs to be right live, almost, or very current. How much pressure does that put on you and the team, though, to deliver?

17:18 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah, yeah, and and also the the clients. So they’re the marketing people and social media people who look after the social media. But there’s loads of this like loads of new technology. That um is really interesting and, for instance, what we are going to start doing is um having everything ready for the event, um on a platform, which then the client can log into during the event and they don’t even need to be there so the social media manager can be, you know, in a different country for instance and then we start sending like little vox pop interviews, for instance, up onto the platform and then they just kind of publish them as they go and that happens like during the event.

18:03
So that’s a really interesting new technology that’s emerging. And then the other thing is we well, our specialities, like these kind of super fast turnaround, high quality um highlights films and social content. So, um, what we do a lot is these kind of end of show films that are shown on the big screen as a wrap-up. So it’s like, okay, guys, last two days here in la has been amazing. Um, let’s just have a look and you know see what it was like. And then they show our films on on the screen. So that alone is a high pressure uh environment to kind of produce those. But we’ve got these really good workflows and we’ve done so many of them that, um, it’s it’s kind of standard procedure now to to to do those and and how.

18:52 – Alan Smith (Host)
How different is that in terms of what you then are able to deliver versus, maybe, what others do? I mean, it sounds like it’s pretty impressive, to be fair yeah.

18:59 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
So it’s impressive because everyone in in the in the room are very impressed to see something really high quality on the screen while they’re still there, and quite often we we might um leave a little gap in the in the timeline um for a clip from the start of that session. So if, like, we were in where was it? Like vienna or somewhere, david cool tart walked on stage and then chris basically uh, delivered that little clip and I just slotted it into the thing and then, rendered it out and then it was shown and he was like on stage and the video has got him walking on stage, yeah that’s amazing.

19:37
Super good for people in the room, yeah, but then it just also means that that is pretty much ready to go on social media while the event’s just kind of wrapped. People are on their way back from the airport on linkedin and then they’ll just share that, um, that video that’s cool, yeah, and, and just with that as well, because to experience that, as you say, it’s impressive.

19:59 – Alan Smith (Host)
So what’s it like then, from a um attracting new business? Because do you get people kind of walking away from a conference in which they’ve been an attendee, for example, and said, right, I need to get you guys in, is that? Does it work that way?

20:12 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah, yeah, yeah, sometimes it does, yeah yeah, so obviously, whenever we produce something like that, that’s a portfolio of the kind of work we do. So, um, yeah, it kind of depends on the, on the audience obviously, but, um, um, it’s, it’s, yeah, very good, nice for us to kind of be able to show that kind of stuff and be shown on the screen. So quite often, when it’s played, I might just get my phone out and film it and then that’s a kind of proof of concept to show other clients yeah, and what it’s like?

20:49
yeah, you know loads of people in the room, big applause at the end, that kind of thing so when, when a client is engaging with you, they’ve obviously got a big thing coming up a big event, yeah and so they’re.

21:01 – Alan Smith (Host)
They literally are placing their trust in you. So how do you build trust with your clients?

21:08 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah, that’s a. That’s a good question. So, um, it’s a lot to do with track records, um. So so we, when, when we pitch for work, we make sure we show them loads of examples of similar events or similar clients, and but a lot, a lot of our, our work, is word of mouth as well. So that’s super important, um, because when you’ve got a client you’ve done a piece of work for and they recommend you to a colleague or an industry peer, um, that is your, your like half halfway through the door already, and then it’s just kind of a lot of us, you know, giving them confidence that you can deliver that kind of event. So we are really lucky because we’ve been around for quite a long time and we’ve had the opportunity to work on quite big, high profile events and shows. That gives that confidence to new clients.

22:13 – Alan Smith (Host)
And can you give us some examples of some of those big, high profile things that you’ve done?

22:15 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
are you allowed to say yeah, yeah, some are, yeah, some some are nda’d, but, um, yeah, just kind of traveling. I think even as as much as being able to say that we travel a lot internationally and I’ve traditionally traveled a lot when the business was smaller, but it’s kind of continued. We’ve kind of become known for being able to do overseas jobs. We’ve got a couple of carnays annual carnays with all of our kit on it, which means we can kind of pick and mix what goes in the carny and then we travel with it. We’ve got a really good workflow for traveling and so we work with quite high profile client in Cannes during Cannes Lions Festival.

23:05
We work for a really big client of ours at davos, at world economic forum, and we’ve got a production company who take us, takes us with us for a big, a global consultancy firm and like last year we were, that was the la job and we were in frankfurt with them. We’re quoting for a job in Madrid, so so it’s all these kind of a lot of them are kind of out of country events. We’ve got a really good IT client from America who takes us all of the all over Europe and the States. Every second year kind of alternates and yeah. So when you’ve got those kind of case studies like it makes, it makes our job much easier to us to um convince people that we kind of know what we’re doing and it’s interesting just as we talk that through then because you know they’re, obviously you’ll have to charge for the travel.

24:06 – Alan Smith (Host)
So actually people have the choice to say I’ll, I’ll, I’ll take a similar company to yours, but just you use it in the host town or city. Yeah, but you still choose to go with you yeah, you know what’s your view on that?

24:18 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
actually someone asked me that we were pitching for for some new work, um, a couple of weeks ago, and someone asked that very question. It’s like why would we use you over an audio visual supplier or a local supplier? And it kind of boils down to once, once you work with us, once, um, it’s literally we we’ve got loads of high profile clients who are like, can we get the same again? Yeah, and then they know they don’t have to write a write a brief, they don’t have to select suppliers, they don’t have to write a brief, they don’t have to select suppliers, they don’t have to brief them, they don’t have to be unsure about what they’re going to get in terms of quality or team. They just know that it’ll be very similar to last time and that means less work for them and a confidence that they’re going to get high quality output which isn’t different from what they experienced before it is an interesting point.

25:17 – Alan Smith (Host)
So you and I have spoken before about a particular venue that I’ve used on a number of times before and the biggest stress is in the morning when you’re just trying to get the eat. I mean, this is just for a basic kind of seminar, yeah, and then that is stressful, yes, now, eventually it always comes right on the the day, yeah, but it’s blooming, stressful and it’s not what you need as a host of the session. So I think that’s the other bit, yes, the output that you create, but it’s also yeah how you make it easy for someone.

25:44 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah and and because my background’s in audio visual really and event production.

25:51
Like we know what’s involved when we deal with av teams all around the world. Like we, we speak their language, we we can talk to them about. You know cables, um video formats sound like like other av companies, so it kind of removes all those kind of questions. You know when it when it is quite stressy for the client and for the for the tech team, you know right before the event the last thing you need is like these video guys come in and not having the right cables and connectors and format not working or not having a box that will make our camera work on on their screens um when, if we can get rid of that um both the client and the tech team um from the venue or local av guys just like it so much more when it comes to working with clients things.

26:46 – Alan Smith (Host)
I know you’ve been working with some clients for a good number of years yeah, yeah and did they come to you and say, look, our needs have changed and we need new ideas? Or are you kind of constantly coming to them and saying, look, here’s what’s new?

26:59 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
yeah, it goes both ways, yeah it goes both ways and quite often we would we would you know suggest oh, here’s something we’ve done, or here’s a client.

27:09
Clients asked us to do something like this we’ve delivered it, and then we make it into almost like a mini case study and then show other clients like have you thought about this, have you thought about end of day sizzles or a day zero sizzle? So quite often, like when we travel internationally, we travel a couple of days early, and there’s two reasons for it. Reason number one is if bags go missing in transit touch wood, it’s super rare, but sometimes they get delayed. It’s not a complete disaster, like if we traveled the day before and then the bags didn’t arrive and you’re hiring tripods and scratching your head like where to get kit overseas.

27:52
And so it gives that kind of safety buffer, but also it allows us to have a day on location to um, have a walk around, kind of sightseeing, but also filming, which means that then we get really nice content from the host city, wherever it is, and then we can make a day zero sizzle, which is like the event is coming like a few shots, like in dana, point in la, we went to the beach, chris shot amazing shots of people surfing and stuff like that. Uh, and it’s just a you can. You can create a little 15, 20 second sizzle, uh, day zero, and show the venue and then, uh, it kind of sets the scene for for the rest of the rest of the event, and we do that in davos at wef um, there’s day, zero sizzle, and then after every day there’s a little short highlight of the day and it’s just a kind of flavor loads of b-roll.

28:53 – Alan Smith (Host)
No, no, no talking heads or anything, but it’s really cool I’ve got a big smile on the face because you’re kind of just dropping in these like davos and la. You’re the best traveled person I know from a business point of view.

29:04 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
But on a serious note, you must get to see an amazing yeah variety of places yeah, we are are really fortunate to be able to travel for work, and also we’re really fortunate because once we travel for work, we get to film places like that, fly the drone and that kind of thing and capture these really, really cool places Like like in. I was telling someone yesterday like we were in Dana Point point and and and the guy was from from la himself and he was like, oh, that’s amazing, they’re a great beach. And I was like, yeah, we were there and we saw whale breach. And he was like what? Never see whales breach? It was like it was just ridiculous we were stood there going.

29:47
I thought we actually like hatching this yeah, this is not brilliant but yeah, so we get to travel.

29:52
Obviously it’s not the same, as you know, traveling on holiday. So, like I, I do moan about it quite a lot as well. It’s like, oh, it must be so cool, you’re going to berlin, but yeah, it’s not we. We don’t actually get to hang out in berlin for a week. We go there, have one day shooting b-roll, so you’re not even. You know sightseeing properly. You’re filming stuff, and then you’re basically in a, in a conference venue, quite often in a dark room, in a quite a pressurized environment, because you’ve got so many deliverables and, um, it’s a lot going on.

30:26
So yeah it’s really it’s really good and rewarding, but it’s uh, it’s pretty hard work as well and and to that, to that point, maybe just end the.

30:34 – Alan Smith (Host)
You know, obviously you, you get to kind of see all the glitz and the glamour of the world, but last night you didn’t get in until after midnight and then here we are shooting this, uh, this, this little podcast. So, um, you know there’s a mix there, but I know you love what you do yeah but what specifically is it that you love about this world?

30:52 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, so well, the events industry is all about working mental, long days, late hours, to pull something off for a client or an event, to create an event. And we are kind of part you know a small part of that, but it’s really rewarding for us because you know we are kind of part. You know a small part of that, but it’s really rewarding for us because you know we are video people. We we like filming and making things like as really nice and to be able to deliver that to a client um, never mind the audience, but the, our clients, like the marketing teams and the events teams or the production company that really showcases their event, that’s the most rewarding thing for me. Maybe the other guys you know, going out for a good schnitzel and Vienna is a good thing, but for me it’s kind of producing that end product and then clients buzzing about it.

31:52 – Alan Smith (Host)
It’s interesting because you know you’re right your client is the one that’s hosting the event, not necessarily the ones who are receiving the event.

31:58 – Arran Moffat (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they are their clients, yeah, so, yeah, yeah, happy clients make me happy.

32:08 – Alan Smith (Host)
Excellent, well done.