Where It All Started
My first major conference production was in 1989, long before laptops, PowerPoint presentations, and digital projection became standard in the events industry.
Back then, conference presentations were built using 35mm slide projectors, often stacked in pairs and programmed to create smooth dissolve transitions between slides during live productions.
Every image had to be photographed onto film, developed, loaded into carousel trays, carefully sequenced, and synchronised manually through show-control systems. If something went wrong, there was no quick software update or backup laptop waiting backstage.
You solved problems in real time.
The 1989 Magazine Publishing Awards was one of the first large-scale productions I worked on professionally. The event used multiple 35mm Kodak carousel projectors running in A/B stacks to create large-format visual presentations across the stage long before modern digital screens became common in conferences.
Those productions required precision, preparation, timing, and technical coordination. Every cue mattered. Every slide change mattered. Every projector had to remain perfectly aligned throughout the show.
Backstage in the Early Days of Live Event Production
By the early 1990s, conference and live event technology was evolving rapidly, but the industry still operated very differently from the digital world we know today.
This photograph was taken backstage during the Beda Club of The Year Awards in 1993, where I worked as part of the live production and technical team. The awards were hosted by Noel Edmonds in 1993 and Jonathan Ross the following year.
At the time, there were no laptops running instant presentation software, no cloud backups, and no digital playback systems quietly waiting in the background if something failed. Everything relied on physical equipment, timing, preparation, and technical precision.
Behind the scenes, productions used large analogue audio consoles, reel-to-reel tape machines, playback racks, early samplers, and manually programmed show systems that required constant monitoring throughout the event. If a machine failed, there was no quick reboot. If a cue was missed, the audience noticed immediately.
Working in those environments taught me discipline very early in my career. You learned to think ahead, build redundancy wherever possible, and stay calm under pressure because live productions moved quickly and there was rarely time to recover from mistakes once the show began.
Those early years also gave me a deep appreciation for the crews working behind the scenes. Long before audiences arrived, teams would already be inside venues building stages, testing equipment, programming cues, running cable, checking audio systems, and solving dozens of technical problems nobody in the audience would ever know existed.
Over the decades, I watched the industry evolve from analogue projection systems and tape-based playback into fully digital conferences, hybrid events, streaming productions, and modern international corporate events across Europe. But despite all the technological changes, one thing never really changed: the pressure behind live events. Successful productions still depend on preparation, teamwork, communication, operational awareness, and the ability to solve problems quietly before they become visible to the audience. That backstage world fascinated me then, and it still fascinates me now.
Those early experiences taught me lessons that still apply to modern conferences today: Technology changes.
Pressure does not.
Over the next 35 years, I continued working across European conferences, corporate productions, live events, and technical operations as a sound engineer, technical manager, and production specialist. I watched the industry evolve from analogue slide projection to modern hybrid conferences, live streaming, digital show control, and international corporate productions involving thousands of delegates across Europe.
But despite all the technological changes, one thing remained remarkably consistent, successful events still depend on preparation, calm leadership, operational awareness, and the ability to solve problems under pressure before the audience ever notices they exist.
That is the experience this website is built upon.