Planner Resilience: Julia Williams, The Avadawn Agency Ltd.

How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?

Although I was fortunate to convert most of my client meetings/events to “virtual”, like the majority of my industry colleagues in the meetings and events industry, my business was for the most part, decimated by Covid-19. After a few weeks into the pandemic, it was very clear to me that this was not going away anytime soon, our new normal will not happen until mid to late 2021. I decided, among many of my industry colleagues to complete the Event Leadership Institute Virtual event training. While this course educated us on the various platforms, the focus was not just on technology. It focused on purpose. Now it was time to educate our clients: One of the biggest misconceptions was around cost…virtual events are not as inexpensive as many people think. We had to remind clients that content and design still remained a key ingredient to an engaging and informative meeting/event. We also had to remind clients, the costs they were saving on travel/accommodation and food and beverage, can now go towards employee engagement (this included merchandise, and virtual entertainment).

It was very important for me to continue my education during the pandemic, constantly say “yes” to those virtual demo invites. The virtual platform industry become extremely competitive and everyone was upgrading their product by the second. I was convinced not all platform “fits all”. Additionally I focused on what was new and exciting with event technology, best virtual speakers and experiencing the latest in virtual entertainment. Looking outward instead of in…It was also very important during this time for me to stay connected with my industry colleagues, industry partners and even our industry competitors… collaborating, sharing best practices, offering recommendations and referrals whenever needed. I was confident that together we would be more powerful than ever as an industry. At this point, I found myself coaching and supporting my friends and colleagues as they were struggling to stay positive and move forward. I have since launched “The Lead Navigator” personal growth facilitator/Life Coach platform. I help individuals perform at their full potential and navigate their way to live their life deliberately.

This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where we celebrate the positivity and optimism shown by planners across the industry when navigating the turbulent waters that COVID-19 has brought the meetings and events industry.   Keep an eye out as we release more stories like this over the next few months.