With the Talking Tables Festival just a week away the excitement is real! We could not have planned and organised any of it would the help of Laura Randles, who has planned it to perfection! With the events industry having taken a beating in the last year we have been reminded how important and missed this industry and those within it are. We asked Laura about her thoughts on the last year and the upcoming festival! 

Hi Laura, tell us a bit about you and your job?

 I have worked in the events industry for nearly 20 years.  Initially organising largescale events such as airshows, festivals etc.  In 2014 after the birth of my first daughter I launched Studio81 Events organising internal events for corporate clients and weddings where I specialise in marquee and exclusive use venues across the UK.

How have you found organising the TT Festival of Freedom?

It's been a lot of fun, TT had a great vision of what they wanted the Festival to look like and it's been wonderful putting it all together and recommending amazing suppliers who I knew would be able to fulfil the brief.  We've got everything you'd want from a festival, music, street food, circus performers, glitter artists, workshops and much more.

How have you found the uncertainty surrounding the industry, due to the pandemic?

It's been a difficult 18 months with the industry having little support and there has been a lot of changing guidance as to whether events can run or not.  But, as an industry our job has always been to create safe and secure events for large numbers of people and now with the information we have, we are confident that we have all the steps in place to do this in a post pandemic world.

Have you seen a change in how people enjoy events? Are they creating their own mini versions?

Absolutely, people have missed interacting and socialising with family, friends and work colleagues for so long. It's been wonderful to see events starting to happen in groups of 30 and now in larger numbers.  Businesses have been incredibly creative in pivoting their products and services to be able to cater to smaller groups of people and deliver incredible experiences.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the workshops.  There are so many inspiring small businesses working with individuals, businesses and groups to work towards a more sustainable lifestyle.  The timetable for workshops is really exciting, and my hope is everyone leaves feeling motivated and having had a lot of fun!